The bin of ufos, quilt parts and other stuff if finished. There are two exceptions. Two of the community quilts still need quilting. They won’t take long.

Fall is here. The flowers that were outside on the deck all summer are now in the house. Unfortunately, they don’t like it in here. I’ll spend a few months bringing them back from their decline.

These geraniums were rooted last winter from the mother plant. I have had her for four years. They, now, look almost dead. If they don’t come back, I can root more babies this winter. The mother plant is recovering faster that her babies.

The mystery quilt is up to date. I like the method of precutting all the fabric. The labels are with the instructions

October’s instructions made sixty Irish chain blocks. The fabric was pulled from it’s baggie and sewn in stratas.

The stratas were cut apart and sewn together.

Lea Louise had another version of the Potato Chip block. It is the easiest one to do. It has only one round. The rectangles are 2 1/2inches by 4 1/2 inches. Two rectangles are sewn together for the center. The trick is to make sure the white rectangles are in the right orientation.

The one round doesn’t look like much, but when four are put together, it makes a beautiful block.

The whole quilt doesn’t look like a Potato Chip. This quilt can be made any size by adding more blocks. It’s a great scrapbuster.

Another easy quilt is made by sewing a black strip to a rectangle.

The rectangles are sewn around a center square.

You can make the quilt any size by adding more blocks to the center of the quilt. There is sashing in the center to set off the blocks. The rectangles on the border are 6 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches. This is another easy quilt. A quilt doesn’t have to be complicated.

Now that this project is finished, I have to think about what I’m going to do next. I have several ideas in mind.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Where did September go? It’s October already and I didn’t finish much in September. Pictures of everything that I started have already been posted. I have no new pictures to post so far this month. The weather was beautiful. It was enjoyable to sit on the deck and read a book. I did some handwork out there also.

Most of what I started in September still needs to be finished.

My goals for October are to finish everything from the bin. I have five more placemats to quilt and bind. The rest are finished. Three of the five community quilts are quilted and bound. One is in the process of being quilted. I’m practicing ruler work on it. The remaining one is waiting to get under the needle when that one is done.

The mystery quilt instructions for October have come. It shouldn’t take long to make the blocks. It’s assembly line sewing. The pieces are already cut, except for the background.

In September, I cut all the colored fabric pieces for an easy quilt. I needed 2 1/2 yards of black fabric for an accent. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find any so ordered some black Kona. Yesterday, while looking for something else, I found a 2 3/4-yard piece of black fabric. It wasn’t where it was supposed to be. I have enough black fabric for a long while.

I ordered the black Kona from Missouri Star Quilt Company. When I opened the package there was a Block Idea book enclosed. What a happy surprise. The book was dated 2023, but the articles were for today as well. The articles were about Refresh Renew, Reinspire. All good things to jumpstart your quilting life. I may incorporate some of their hints into my quilting.

The trouble with sitting on the deck is that one thinks about things to do. I’ve been saving pictures of interesting blocks that I’ve seen on the Internet. Lots of pictures. I will never be able to make all those quilts if I made quilts with the same block. It was a “what if” moment. What if I put color coordinated fabrics in a bin. I could make one block from each picture, using the fabric in the bin. Eventually, I would have a sampler quilt, and all the blocks would go together. I’ve started to put the pictures into their own file. I could work on this quilt when I get tired of finishing old ufos. One block at a time.

My inside plants have come back inside from their summer vacation on the deck. They are having a hard time adjusting but have had a little food and will be all right. It’s almost time to clean out the gardens and rake leaves. The leaves are just beginning to turn orange. It’s a beautiful time of year.

I have lots of ideas for this winter. But first, I have to finish up what I started in September.

Hopefully I’ll have pictures for my next post.

Have a great day and happy quilting.