in which: the blogger starts 3 new RSC22 projects...

yikes! here it is, for all intents and purposes, the middle of February, and i've started 3 new RSC22 projects! (click here to see what all the other colorful quilters are working on) 

 but: in my defense, i'd have to say- i felt pretty scattered and unorganized 6 weeks ago at the beginning of the year, and didn't have a clear idea yet of what i wanted to work on. even though i don't post much (even as often as i'd like to) i do faithfully visit all you guys, and other blogs (and Instagram) nearly every day. it's a source of great inspiration, and now i finally know where i'm going...

on one of my *very infrequent* trips to Wal-Mart a few weeks ago, i happened to stumble across this issis of American Patchwork &  Quilting magazine. i instantly recognized the quilt on the front as one by Jo Kramer. i wasn't interested in piecing the cover quilt, but on a whim picked up the magazine to page through it. 

i was thrilled to see a pattern for a paper pieced house included in the projects of this issue! and better yet- in 6" and 12" block sizes! I've always wanted to do a house quilt, but in 40+ years of quilting, I've never checked that off my bucket list... BUT: here's the thing that was the absolute clincher for me: the solid color is Kona School Bus- one of my favorites!!! 

I'm thinking to make a few houses in the COM each month, depending on how much of that color i have. and also, I'm planning to do this a bit more *fancified* than i might normally- I'm pondering 9 patch sashing and cornerstones (indigo?) and maybe finish this to hang on my stairwell wall. 

so, somewhat impulsively, this project (I'm doing the 6" houses) was added to the queue for RSC22. i ordered 5 yards of kona school bus from FQS, and I'm all caught up! 

still: the 3" squares! another inspiration from Jo was her Two-Step quilt. (i think I've seen a few others around on bloggy land, too) and i thought i'd weed out some of the singletons from my 3" square stash and do one of those, too. i still had lots of the LV 3" squares from the waffle quilts last year, so why not? 

(although, in going back to Jo's post to link up, i see that my memory was a bit off. the blocks are 2/2, not my 2/1 as i've pieced them here. i guess that's why it's called a TWO STEP, right? oh, well...) 

lastly to be started is what I'm going to call a Framed 4 Patch. when i was cleaning off the computer desk, i found a diagram i'd scrawled on a piece of scrap paper, outlining this block. (that means i saw it {was inspired} somewhere from you guys. if this is your design, let me know; i'd be glad to link back and give you credit!) 

i have a "home made" jelly roll of these Kona colors. ( the colors I'm using for the sashing are black, ash, snow, coal, charcoals, titanium and silver. I'm considering adding in expresso to round out the tan/brown spectrum) i thought they'd be perfect to outline the 4 patches in each color of the month. each block will finish at 9", so not sure how big this quilt will end up being. 

finishes and progress!

life has been busy here... a "big" upgrade started here in our house 2 months ago, when the 4ft.  lightbulb in the laundry room died. what started as a quite simple "hey, Dave, can you please put a new light in the laundry room fixture" turned into:

1. buying a NEW light fixture for the laundry room. (in the 13 years since it was installed, those 4ft bulbs became obsolete, requiring another fixture altogether...) 
2. drywalling the laundry room ceiling
3. finishing ALL. THE. TRIM. in the laundry room
4. painting the laundry room ceiling
5. installing new "luxury" vinyl plank flooring in the laundry room
6. closing the access hole between the  laundry room and the master bathroom
7. installing new "luxury" vinyl plank flooring in the mudroom
8. finishing ALL. THE. TRIM. in the mudroom
9. painting all the trim in the laundry room (white)
10. painting all the trim in the mudroom (tan)
11. painting the bathroom ceiling (!?)
12. painting the bathroom wainscoting
13. replacing the sink base cabinet in the kitchen
14. getting a new sink/faucet for the kitchen
15. installing new quartz countertops in the kitchen
16. installing a new granite island countertop in the kitchen
17. finishing ALL. THE. TRIM. in the kitchen
18. painting all the trim in the kitchen (white)
19. painting MORE trim in the kitchen (yellow)
20. i think that's the end of the list... 

so, actually, our *tiny* home improvement project became a lot like the book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. (there are several books like that- If You Give A Moose A Muffin... If You Give A Pig A Pancake...) I'm sure you're familiar with these delightful children's books...

anyway- NOT complaining at all! we really stalled out in the home improvement/DIYprojects in the last 10 years or so. it's really nice to have these 3 rooms DONE! 

so: on to the quilty stuff- i know that's why you really came! 

February is aqua- and i have more than i thought... i made all these HSTs, in the "magic numbers" of 3, 6 and 9. (read more about them, and magic numbers here.)

while cleaning/tidying some of my baskets in the sewing room last month, i came across these fabric sayings on a panel. i divided them up into quilty sayings, Christmas sayings and bible verses. i decided to work with the quilty sayings first. 

i remembered that i had some pieces left over from a Kona cotton honey bun after piecing this quilt for my 3rd granddaughter, AK. i thought to improvise log cabin piecing around each saying. again, i used the "magic numbers" theory, cutting each block/rectangle some variation of a 6", 9" or 12" square or rectangle. 

 and finally- here's the shoo fly and donut quilt (one of them) that I pieced during RSC21. it's all finished and on its way to the PA Relief Sale. 

so, now you're caught up on the recent happenings in our neck of the woods. (mostly, anyway!) thanks for stopping by. I'll be linking up to Angie, our hostess with the mostest for all things RSC. and stay tuned: i started a few more RSC projects that I'll be sharing about shortly... 

if you care to see our kitchen in its raw, recently purchased state, and follow along on our progress in fixing it up, just click here. 

and here's a bit of the back story (and cool features!) of our mud room. (just read the first couple posts. they're the most relevant)