Fun With Scrappy Coins

The start of my first coin quilt. I will add to and rearrange the strips

I have mentioned before that I am a fan of Rachel LaBour, who used to be Rachel Hauser, and who is the blog author of Stitched In Color. I started reading her blog in 2013 when she still lived in the US. Being a fairly traditional quilter, I was mostly astounded at her fearless choices in fabric and colors. I did not want to try to be her, but I enjoyed reading about her boldness.

Rachel's thrift store chairs and pink walls

Along the way, she has been beautifully transparent about her private life - the heartbreak and loss of her baby, a move to The Netherlands, a divorce, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, becoming a Dutch citizen, moving in with a boyfriend, moving out, getting back with ex-boyfriend - it has been quite the read! A recent end to a relationship and a change in living plans lead her to a move to an apartment for just her and her daughter. And the decorating reflects her current state of freedom and independence!

NOT my quilt - this is Rachel's new Rosie Coin Quilt in her new pink bedroom!

Go read about her pink bedroom - it is a fun post about exuberant joyful self-reliance. In it she features the gorgeous quilt she made for herself - she calls it "Rosie Coin Quilt". When she first started the quilt, I reacted as I normally do - "oh that's too much pink, it isn't matchy-matchy, why does she have all those other colors in it". Then I began to appreciate the harmony of it all, and now I am obsessed with it!

Months ago I purchased a few fabrics from the Barbie World collection and started a pull for granddaughter Laney's Barbie quilt. I had a completely different pattern in mind, but after I saw Rachel's pink room I decided to emulate her pink coin quilt, adapting Barbie colors instead. Having not made a coin quilt, I followed Rachel's advice and sewed strips of 3" fabric together then cut them into 4-1/2" pieces - big enough to showcase the fabrics. I added stash and scraps with wild abandon.

Photos of her quilt are scattered on my cutting table (along with Gus) to encourage me out of my color comfort zone. Just when my mind says "no that won't match" I look at Rachel's quilt and think "why not!

I pulled some long hoarded fabric such as Carrie Bloomston Painted Cups, a piece of Heather Ross Brides, a couple of Basic Grey PB&J floral cuts, and three pieces of one of Mom's old dish towels!

I am joining these blog linkups:

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch

Brenda's Monday Musings

Melva's Sew and Tell

Little House SAL Blocks

As usual, it took more time for me to choose fabrics for the blocks and the log cabin frames than it did to actually sew them together! Melva's sew-alongs are so entertaining with her stories and posts. Her choice of the Little House on the Prairie series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, which are the inspiration for these pretty blocks, was a perfect pick for this sew-along.

Block #3 - Harvest Basket block is based on the Farmer Boy book about the childhood of Laura's husband Almanzo Wilder. Melva's post about it is here.

Block #4 - Shoo Fly block represents On The Banks Of Plum Creek. Read about how Melva ties it to the grasshopper devastation here.

Block #5 - Rails block depicts traveling by train in By The Shores Of Silver Creek, which Melva writes about here.

Block #6 - Snowflake block symbolizes the blizzards in The Long Winter, and Melva has a great post about it here.

Here are the 6 blocks completed so far. If I had to choose a favorite, it would be the Rails block!

Rosie has been supurr-vising every block and is exhausted from helping me

This has been a relaxing and fun SAL, and Melva's patterns and instructions are easy to follow. It has been a joy to work with a jelly roll of Indigo Garden by Riley Blake, along with a bit of stash and a few scraps as well.

I am linking to:

Melva's sewalong link

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch

Brenda's Monday Musings

Melva's Sew and Tell

April Reboot

Swapping rooms last month shifted my focus and tapped my energy, but what a joy to be back in my happy place. Here is a look at a diversion and ongoing projects:

Disappearing Four-Patch Diversion

A little doll quilt for granddaughter Delaney, being modeled by Marvin

Bari J, who is one of Art Gallery's fabric designers, had a disappearing four-patch quilt on her Instagram post, and I found instructions on her blog. It is quite a simple little pattern, made by taking two 4-patch blocks and sewing outer seams together, then cutting on the diagonal to make quarter square triangles. The resulting units are arranged and sewn together. I used some fat quarters from Sea Cookies Island Batiks, which I won in a giveaway from Brenda at Songbird Designs - aren't they pretty!

Doll quilt for youngest granddaughter measures 22-1/2" x 22-1/2"

Backing

For the batting, I pulled out a receiving blanket my Mom had stored in a box for years. I don't remember who it belonged to in our family, but it is quite old - probably 80 years or more.. As you can see it had been mended neatly. It is very soft, and why not use it inside a quilt for Mom's great-granddaughter Delaney, who was 10 years old yesterday!

This is Bari's version - I love her colors

Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) Blocks

Completed snowball blocks and nine-patch blocks in March reds and April pinks. I am making a dozen of the RSC color along with a dozen snowball units each month.

A Quilting Life BOM

Blocks so far - I accidentally made two March blocks!

Today I am working on Melva's Little House blocks. The blocks are really cute, and I love picking out fabric for each one. It takes me a long time to pick out fabrics for the log cabin frame!

I will be adding to the links below during the week:

Melva's Sew and Tell which is being hosted by Patricia this week!

Brenda's Monday Musings

Alycia's Finished Or Not Friday

2026 SAHRR Flimsy

For my Stay At Home Round Robin this year, I made sampler blocks based on the prompts provided. This worked well for the goal I had in mind - a quilt for my husband with blocks surrounding a panel he had admired. For the blocks, I picked out colors from the panel and tried to stay with a rustic, masculine feel. 

The blocks look different on point!

I made two 10-1/2 inch blocks for each prompt and made two extra corner blocks for a total of 14 blocks to fit around 34" x 43" panel. For the layout, I gave the blocks a new look by turning them on point. I added setting triangles for the blocks to end up at 14-1/2". There was extra space between the middle blocks of the top and bottom rows, so I added a couple of creative fill-in pieces. I would love to add a border, but there is already wrinkling from the on-point process, and my husband will be happy with a lap quilt.

The unfinished quilt measures about 64" x 74". I will post again once I decide on a backing and finish it up!

I am obsessed with the light fabric I used in the setting triangles - Grunge Roasted Marshmallow

A big thank-you to these ladies who chose the most creative prompts for us. I could hardly wait to see what they picked each week!

Brenda @ Songbird Designs

Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts

Gail @ Quilting Gail

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Be sure to check out all the Parade of Quilts at Kathleen's linkup: Kathleen McMusing

I am adding my post to:

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch

Brenda's Monday Musings

Melva's Sew and Tell

The Disappearance of Texas Quilt Gal

Looking from the hall into the "new" sewing space

I'm still here! Here is what has been happening. In 2023, I switched my sewing room with the guest bedroom, detailed in this post. That move was made for all the right reasons, but during the past few months I have been longing for that former space.

Broad view of my new space; window looks over the garden (which only has onions right now!)

Then at the end of February, the grands spent a few nights with us, and grandson Everett (age 6) asked if we could switch the guest bedroom back to where it used to be. I asked him why. He said he likes being close to the kitchen and being able to wake up and walk right into it and see us in the mornings! Awww! I told him I would seriously consider it, and I did. Over the course of a couple weeks, my husband and I made the switch, and then I had the task of organizing, swapping closet contents, electric cord setup,  picture hanging, etc. Now it is done, and I am very happy with the arrangement. Come and take a peek:

Looking left from the door

Ironing station - sits in front of the door to the guest bathroom

Cutting table - an IKEA table on risers

"Longmire" - my Handi-Quilter Simply Sixteen named by my husband

Closet with a little bit of everything including yarn and vacuums

View from Longmire

Fabric and projects

My sanctuary -  “Jemma” Janome, my Horizon Memory Craft 8900QCP,

a convenient printer, and all my important things that give me joy

The "new" guest bedroom, currently occupied by kitties on top and under the bed

This is the current state of the design board. My plan is to redo the board and take up the entire wall. In the meantime I am hustling to catch up on the SAHRR quilt, Little House SAL, and A Quilting Life BOM, as well as making "red" blocks for the RSC. Stay tuned!

This table next to my sewing machine holds my laptop but more importantly, a napping space.

I am belatedly linking to Alycia's Finished Or Not Friday

2026 SAHRR - Round 6

Dutchman's Puzzle Blocks

It is week 6 of  the 2026 Stay At Home Round Robin, and Anja of Anja Quilts provided the theme for the final prompt. It is "Quilter's Choice"! She has a beautiful group of blocks, and you can view them right here.

I will make two more star blocks for the corners, and the final layout will be a surprise!

See the geese flying over the barn in this panel? They are the inspiration for my quilter's choice of the Dutchman's Puzzle block, an arrangement of flying geese blocks. As with the other prompts, I made two blocks. One group of geese are on the grass (green on the bottom) and the others are still in the air (blue on top). The next time you see this group of panel and blocks, it will be modeled by the person for whom it is intended - my Quilt Holder!

Be sure to check Gail's' blog on March 25 for the final parade of quilts!

I am adding my post to Anja's linkup.

My Inner Alysa Liu and Another Mercantile Block

Alysa Liu may be the most joyful human I have ever seen. This young woman makes me smile every time I watch her. I love her No Rules and I Don't Care If I Fall and I'm Doing It My Way attitude, and yes even her frenulum piercing and halo hair have grown on me. She is mindful of others as she follows her own heart, and I just think she is a much-needed breath of fresh air in the skating world as well as in life.

Halo hair!

I am channeling my inner Alysa Liu this year. You might say this is my Halo Hair moment as I look at sewalongs and old and new projects and even organizing my space with a new sense of freedom. For the first time since I started quilting, my approach is based on emotional response rather than rules, and this is the right path for me. This is probably not a new concept for you, but it is for me. Something changed for me this year, and my angst, depression, feeling overwhelmed, and lack of motivation has faded away. Thank goodness!

Mercantile Block - Grandma's Quilt

Grandma's Quilt block, fourth block in the 2024 Mercantile Sewalong

I am no longer thinking of the amount of fabric in Lori Holt's Mercantile block patterns as "waste" but rather as extra for future projects (thank you Nancy!) And after reading a few great suggestions, I gave thought to the sensible option of trimming fabric after appliqueing but ultimately decided against it (although if I was hand quilting this quilt, I would trim away that thickness). Here are the persuading quotes I selected from Lori's tutorial regarding why she does not cut away the extra fabric from the back of the appliqued pieces:

"I do not trim away any of my fabric after applique. This goes for ALL of my

applique quilts. I enjoy the texture and stability of the layers of fabric ... 

... and may I also add that the appliques also look amazing when quilted

because they really pop because they are ON TOP of the fabric!!

They look like round quilty sugar cookies on top of a 4-Patch"

That last sentence did it for me! You can read her whole entertaining conversation about it right here (scroll down past midway).

This fabric arrived today, and it is for a new project that has me quite excited! My to-do list keeps growing, and I hope I can do it all. But if I don't, it's OK, it is just fun trying!

I am adding this post to Melva's Sew and Tell

Sunday Not-So-Slow Stitching and Little House SAL

Sunday Stitching

This quilt was a flimsy finish in April 2019 (when I was blogging as "My Sew Called Quilts).  It was interesting for me to see that some things have improved in almost 7 years. I spent 30 minutes last night restitching the edges where I did not backstitch the seams - every single one. And after sandwiching it, I see a few waves and ruffles. And that is all OK with me, it shows me I have improved, and it will all even out with quilting and laundering. Once it is quilted and bound, it will be my "Baker's Dozen" finish for February.

I will take a break this morning to go mattress hunting for my husband. We have an adjustable bed with two twin XL mattresses so we can each have personal sleeping positions, and the two mattresses on the adjustable frame make a king-sized bed. We laugh about this, because we slept on a standard/regular mattress for several years early in our marriage, and now that would feel like a twin mattress!

Little House SAL

This is the second week of Little House Sampler Sew Along, hosted by Melva of Melva Loves Scraps and inspired by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House series. Melva is a master story-teller and has the ability to relate simple stories to beautifully designed blocks. This makes for a rich and rewarding experience when you join one of her sewalongs!

It isn't too late to join in, and you will find details for the block for this week by clicking on the logo above. The patterns are free for the duration of the sewalong - AND - there are prizes to be had! Melva emailed me this morning to inform me that I had won a fat quarter for the first week - so yay! 

The block for this second week is Native Star and is based the visit from The Natives in my favorite book of the series - Little House on the Prairie. The blocks are 16-1/2 inches unfinished.

 I used a lighter print on the points, so you need this closeup to see the star in the center block

My experience with "natives" does not compare to that of the Ingalls family. I have no "Indigenous people" ancestry, but I grew up in northeastern Oklahoma, which was and still is dominated by the Cherokee Nation. From 1966-1970 we attended Northeastern State College (now University) in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the historic and present capital of the Cherokee Nation. Our yearbook was called Tsa-La-Gi, the Cherokee word for "Cherokee". Tahlequah is located in the beautiful foothills of the Ozarks and is worth a visit. We have it on our bucket list this year to go see what has changed!

I am joining  Melva at the Little House linkup and Kate at 15 Minutes to Stitch