Girly Hearts

Here's a sweet lap quilt for Valentine's Day that's fun and easy to sew.

Pink scrappy hearts float on a lavender floral background, with a border of parallelograms around the perimeter. Girly Hearts is 48” square, and quilted with white thread in a free motion meandering stitch. I stitched and quilted on Janelle, my Janome MC9450 machine.

The Half Hearted die from Blue Wren is definitely one I'll use again. I actually sewed this quilt in December 2024, before packing up everything for our move. 

I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head that I don't know what to do next. Good thing I have a pending projects list, although it is getting longer and longer.

My current focus is cutting into my mountain of remnants. I can't stand to throw away even the smallest bits of fabric! Thankfully some of my dies can cut tiny pieces so I don't have to do it with scissors like our grannies did. Watch for lots of wild colorful quilts later this year.

Dies used:
Blue Wren
  6911 Half Hearted 9” block
  6015 Strips 1½”

Accuquilt
  55004 Parallelograms 3”
 55008 HST 3”

Knockout

Knockout

All these colors and circles make me so happy! It was a pleasure to design and sew this bright 50” square lap quilt. It started with a slightly different layout, but sometimes I let the fabric tell me what it wants to be.

The large Amy Butler print gave me color guidance and I pulled scraps and pieces from my stash to coordinate the prints. Yellow, blue, pink, green, melon, aqua, and lime make a glorious splash, don't they?

Simple 12” blocks made with Blue Wren's Curve in a Square 6” die made quick work of this one. I quilted in randomly spaced rows with yellow thread and a rolling wave ruler on my Janome. The backing is a solid yellow sheet; binding is wider than normal to showcase the large print.

It is, I believe, a Knockout! I'll make it again with different colors.

Dies used:
Blue Wren 6602 Curve in a Square 6” quarter square
Accuquilt 55032 Strips 3” finished (for binding)

Update on the week's weather: We did not get 24” of snow last Saturday, it was more like 2” with the unfortunate 1/4” ice topping that made everything slick and dangerous. No power outage for us, however our home town had to deal with slightly more snow and twice the ice, causing nearly a week without electricity and limited travel due to falling trees, power lines, and unsafe roads. Winter in Tennessee can be a challenge.

 

SNOW? ICE? and Striped Christmas Stars

Striped Christmas Stars

Hey y'all, I'm waiting for this weekend's upcoming weather system: snow-ice-sleet-rain (Snowmageddon or Icepocalypse). Our forecasters can't decide between 24” of snow or 1/2” of ice but they do know it will be very cold for several days.

I figured a Christmas themed quilt for today's blog might bring on some simple snow. I am still catching up on projects that I cut out in 2024 before our move. This one I finished in early December 2025 and displayed on our bed during the holidays.

Red dots, teal print, and a coordinating plaid look nice with natural muslin. This pretty die from Blue Wren is called Eight Point Star of Stripes. Even though it looks complicated, it is very easy to sew. It was fun to design in EQ8. I added plaid sashing and a perky border of half-square triangles.

Quilting was done with cream thread using a utility zig-zag stitch in vertical lines every 2 inches. A bright teal blender for the backing and binding finish it off beautifully. Striped Christmas Stars is 48” square.

Whether we get record breaking snow or dangerous ice remains to be seen. Nashville's record snow was 17.2” in 1892, more recently 8” in 2016. The most I've ever seen is 10-12” in 1964. Cookeville's record is 15” (1966) and the county had 17” (1993).

The Tennessee weather forecasters and the internet have people in a panic, emptying grocery shelves of bread, milk, eggs, cheese, and lunch meat three days before the event. We have food and water and will be fine. At least I have hundreds of quilts to keep us warm if the power goes out. Plus, a Singer with a hand crank so I can sew by lamplight if necessary.

Dies used:

Blue Wren
    6466 Eight Point Star of Stripes 12” finished

Accuquilt
    55021 Value die 2” HST, square
    55017 Strips 2”

Change In The Air

Finally, a quilt! This one is aptly named, since change was definitely in the air. I cut the pieces way back in November of 2024, just before packing up the sewing room for our move. It's one of several that I prepared in advance so I'd be ready to sew once we arrived.

Now forward to December 2025...Change In The Air is at long last finished! The fresh blue fabric, bright melon dots and coral print look gorgeous together. 

I wanted something large, so used six inch sections to make 18” finished blocks. Chisels, half-square triangles, rectangles, and squares made a fun design using EQ8 software to fine tune the layout.  Finished size is 56" square.

I set them on point, filling in with half blocks and hand cut corners. I added 2” blue sashing plus cornerstones and binding in a navy & light red strawberry print. All work was done on Janelle, my Janome 9450 machine. I quilted free motion in a large meandering stitch using blue thread.

It felt awesome to complete a quilt in my new space! I whipped out a few more in December, they're lined up to share with you soon. I haven't set a blog schedule just yet (too busy sewing!), so watch here or on Useful Remnants/KatieScarlett Designs Facebook page for updates.  

See you later!

Dies used:

Blue Wren

  6274 Chisels 2” x 6”
  6047 Rectangles 2” x 6”

Accuquilt

  55000 Square 6”
  55059 Squares 2”
  55021 Value die 2” HST
  55017 Strips 2”
  55399 QST 8”

Back Where We Belong

We've come full circle. I'm happy to be starting a new year in a newer home located where we began as newlyweds over 50 years ago.

2025 was a crazy, hectic, and busy year. Buying our home last January was the easy part. Packing, moving, and getting the old one shined up and sold took time, much effort, and considerable stress. 

We had long days full of hard work. We sold, gave away, or tossed out of a lot of excess stuff. We learned new skills together, took our time, and did most of the work ourselves. Not bad for 70+ year old seniors, and it's been very satisfying to accomplish.

We met some delightful people along the way. Unfortunately, dealing with delays, stupid rules, and incompetent idiots taught us a few lessons. Our patience was tested a couple of times, failed once or twice. And our stress relieving hobbies were packed up for over nine months...no quilting, no electronics...never thought we could survive that!

Still, we enjoyed most of the process of planning, moving, and settling in at our new location. Goodbye Sumner County -- Hello Cookeville!

We're here now, right back where we belong, already relaxing and enjoying life. And that's all that matters.