Author: Karen
Published: February 10, 2026
I didn’t post any progress on Noriko’s Star for a couple days so I will get caught up from the last two or three nights of quilting?
This part starts the center of the quilt – again nothing fancy mainly straight lines and outlines through all these seams.
Some double lines here and there in some short areas.
I got the fabric selected for the background and the background squares for the Mercantile Sampler block called Nine Penny and then the blue for what looks like a flower to me. A tulip. This will give me two blue blocks. Some of the fabric might look like green but it is a dark aqua and it is for the stem and leafs.
At first I wasn’t sure if was enough blue to be considered blue so I put it up on the wall by a green block – yes it’s blue.
We still have a little bit of snow left in various parts of the yard – only in the shade areas that are shady all day long. Here is one bit by the workshop – it got up to 72 degrees yesterday – this week will continue to be above normal and they say one day will bring rain – we actually still need it and even with this slow melt they say we are still in a drought. When I was walking around the yard to see if there were any daffodil buds getting ready to open I didn’t sink in any areas from snow melt, it melted so slow it has been soaking in good just the way you want it to. I checked some of the strawberry plants that are under a light layer of pine needles for mulch and they look good – new growth happening.
When I lived in Wisconsin, Idaho and Connecticut for my first 28 years we always had snow – plenty of it and when it got to be this time of year there was always piles of dirty snow around from the snow plows – and it was referred to as “dirty snow” well here in Arkansas people are tired of the snow now after 2 1/2 weeks of slow melting and seem to be amazed at how dirty it is. They are referring to it as “Snirt” a combination of snow/dirt. I have never heard this before and wonder why the heck someone came up with this and who did? Have you ever heard of this? My first winter in 73 years of hearing this!!
In Arkansas, dirty, melting, or leftover piles of snow and slush are commonly called
“snirt,” a combination of the words snow and dirt. These piles are often seen in parking lots or along roadsides following winter weather events as the snow mixes with sand or salt.
- Definition: “Snirt” refers to the gray, dirty, and grimy piles of snow that remain after a winter storm passes, often seen as an annoyance that residents wait to melt.
- Origin: The term combines “snow” and “dirt,” reflecting the mixture of fallen snow with road grit, salt, or sand used for traction.
- Usage: It is frequently used by residents and local media to describe the remnants of winter weather.
Author: Karen
Published: February 9, 2026
This star block has a lot of pieces in it – I decided to work on it yesterday afternoon after I had done a little knitting.
I thought I would do a blue block to have two blue in the quilt and didn’t even think when I started in green instead – I guess as I have been working in green it was on my mind and I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t even think about it until I was almost done – that is ok though the quilt has 25 blocks in it – so most likely I would have ended up with 3 of one color anyhow. When I start a scrappy block I normally take out my small boxes to work with first.
If I need more I have these two boxes under the frame partly full.
When I have quite a few colors in a block like this one I line them up with tags so I can make sure I like the color selection.
I was on the last block when I noticed I must have been in a rush and did this one wrong – I needed to cut a few more blocks and start it over. I certainly wasn’t watching what I was doing.
But I got it done right.
For doing the block the Lori Holt way I did buy her circle ruler which I will be able to use for more than just this quilt and I got the interfacing in the easy big squares from the Fat Quarter Shop that sells her products.
Pin your foundation to the front of the block centering it over the pieced block.
I sew the line and then cut with about a 1/4 inch seam, cut the excess paper off and careful cut the center out as well.
Pin your circle on your background – I press the circle first
Then applique the way you want to – for me that is by hand with tiny whip stitches or use an applique stitch of your choice by machine. I finished it last night while watching/listening to the half time show on the super bowl. I’m not really interested in football all that much but Mike had it on so we watched – ok I should say he watched the football and we both watched the half time show – I usually only tune in for the show and sometimes keep an eye out for the advertisements.
And it is done and added to the wall – I moved a few blocks around so all the green wouldn’t be next to each other – they will all moved here and there before I am done. I most likely won’t work on this one now until next months RSC color is announced but I might make another of one of the colors that is already on the wall – just not green!!
Author: Karen
Published: February 8, 2026
Slow Stitching Sunday link up today at Kathy’s Quilts and I will continue with some piecing, quilting and knitting and maybe some fabric selection as well. Linking to Kate’s Life in Pieces.
This is what the Jigsaw Puzzle looks like now – there are a lot of pieces to connect still – each piece has about 20-22 seams if I remember last time I stitched the green one on.
I got the border on the Pickle Dish but I do not know when I will quilt it – for now I think I will fold it up and put the binding with it and put it away.
This part was hand quilted on Noriko’s Star from Friday night
I might get the fabric picked out for this Mercantile Sampler block – I think this one by far has the most pieces in it that I have done on this quilt. Or maybe it just looks that way. I think by looking at it I need 5 or 6 different greens plus the background pieces.
It was a little cooler yesterday and I didn’t spend time on the porch but it was in the high 50’s that is a little cool for me to sit out stitching.
Author: Karen
Published: February 7, 2026
I will link up today to the Angela’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge group and to Frederique’s Quilting/Patchwork link up over in France and check and see what everyone is working on. I will link when I get to the computer in the morning.
For the RSC group these are my blocks for January and February – The Flowering Snowball. A couple of the blue pieces on the lower right block almost look green or gray on my computer but they are blue. No idea what size this one will end up being right now I’m doing two of each color and might be more in the end.
I got the border cut for the pickle dish table runner but that is all the further I went with it yesterday. Maybe I will get them sewed on today – it will be about 20 degrees cooler than yesterday.
It got up to 70 degrees yesterday – a lot of the snow is melted, but I was sitting on the porch enjoying the sun knitting – and about 20 -30 feet from me was melting snow in the front yard – still a bit left.
The afghan – it’s getting longer.
Quilting on Noriko’s Star from Thursday night
When I get done with getting the border on the Pickle Dish I will probably go back to some blocks on the Mercantile Sampler. I have 2 green but not two of any of the other colors so I will probably go back to making a couple more of that quilt with second blue block for January. I also have 3 Pineapple Blocks in blue on the wall, I ordered more foundation papers for that quilt and got them a day or so ago I think I might do that one in the RSC colors too. The last pineapple quilt I made was in blue and cream (all different blues) this one seeing as only 3 are made I can do it how I want – shades of cream, ivory, white for the neutrals and then RSC colors for the other part – a truly scrappy pineapple quilt.
That should keep me plenty busy for the year I think especially when you throw in hand quilting in the evening, knitting and crochet and hand piecing the Jigsaw Puzzle pieces I will need to take an updated photo of that one – some have as many as 21 seams to sew so it is going slowly.
Author: Karen
Published: February 6, 2026
I took low light photos of the quilting on Noriko’s Star to get the stitches again as they seem to show up well. This photo and the next were taken from the right side, not standing in front of it – this was the area I needed to go back to as I have drew the lines wrong and needed to spritz them out on Tuesday. The quilting was done on Wednesday night.
The white area and flowers had been quilted on Tuesday night.
I rolled it down and I’m now ready for the next stretch across.
Here is the middle in full view now- linking to Alycia’s Finished or Not Friday
Diann of Little Penguin Quilts had mentioned a show she saw with a female version of the Bee Gees and it made me want to listen to the music again – I pulled it up on the tv while in the sewing room
I did work on green blocks for the Flowering Snowball but I will share that on Saturday for the link up.
Author: Karen
Published: February 5, 2026
Today I am ready to piece three Flowering Snowball blocks for one of my RSC26 quilt’s. I decided to make two blocks of each color – these are made with my accuquilt die and finish at 12″ – I believe I would need some more to make a nice size quilt so it might end up being 3 of each color but I will decide that as I go on with it. Picked out colors then pressed and cut.
The little extra bits of which there is a bit because of the odd size got cut into 1.5″ squares
Noriko’s Star work done from Tuesday night – it wasn’t the area I had planned to quilt as I made a mistake drawing the lines on with the blue wash out pen and noticed it right as I stitched one short line – I took that line of quilting out and redrew those lines on that area last night to work on so got this end done instead. The blue/green/gold needs to be worked on last night. It is the area I draw and then quilt the X on.
The crochet as I peddle is coming along I have made a few mistakes here and there but not really to the point of standing out. All the ends will need to be weaved in at some point but I’m not bother with that will I peddle-that will be a job for sitting still. I forgot one spike stitch and didn’t notice it for awhile on so I will just thread a needle and put one in and weave the ends in and it shouldn’t be noticed.
The knitting on the afghan is going slowly but it is growing I work on it most days but not always for long – I need to get back to stitching hexies together on the Jigsaw Puzzle pattern as well but haven’t touched it in a bit.
And 12 days on the ground – the snow is melting but it is still decorating the yard – some of this is just in the shade so much – the back yard is almost clear though where there are no trees but once you get into the woods in the back and side of the house you can see a lot of snow in there.
New batch of Riley Blake pre-cuts are on sale at Green Fairy for 50 – 70% off follow the link in red.
This part starts the center of the quilt – again nothing fancy mainly straight lines and outlines through all these seams.
Some double lines here and there in some short areas.
I got the fabric selected for the background and the background squares for the Mercantile Sampler block called Nine Penny and then the blue for what looks like a flower to me. A tulip. This will give me two blue blocks. Some of the fabric might look like green but it is a dark aqua and it is for the stem and leafs.
At first I wasn’t sure if was enough blue to be considered blue so I put it up on the wall by a green block – yes it’s blue.
We still have a little bit of snow left in various parts of the yard – only in the shade areas that are shady all day long. Here is one bit by the workshop – it got up to 72 degrees yesterday – this week will continue to be above normal and they say one day will bring rain – we actually still need it and even with this slow melt they say we are still in a drought. When I was walking around the yard to see if there were any daffodil buds getting ready to open I didn’t sink in any areas from snow melt, it melted so slow it has been soaking in good just the way you want it to. I checked some of the strawberry plants that are under a light layer of pine needles for mulch and they look good – new growth happening.
When I lived in Wisconsin, Idaho and Connecticut for my first 28 years we always had snow – plenty of it and when it got to be this time of year there was always piles of dirty snow around from the snow plows – and it was referred to as “dirty snow” well here in Arkansas people are tired of the snow now after 2 1/2 weeks of slow melting and seem to be amazed at how dirty it is. They are referring to it as “Snirt” a combination of snow/dirt. I have never heard this before and wonder why the heck someone came up with this and who did? Have you ever heard of this? My first winter in 73 years of hearing this!!
