I Like Thursday #452

I had a birthday earlier this week, and older son sent me this card that made me laugh out loud!  

My sister made me a peach pie - so yummy!  We joke about how she got the pie-making "gene" from our mom and I got the sewing "gene."  I always give her something quilty that I've made.

I bought myself a present when we were in Oregon.  My new favorite mug -

I just finished a really good book!  It's for my October book club meeting.  I usually enjoy historical fiction, but this is a different time period than I usually read.  Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval lived in France in the 1500s, so not a lot is known about her, but her story as told by this author is fascinating!  The title, Isola, refers to an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence that Marguerite was marooned on.  

LeeAnna's question of the week is about gingerbread recipes - do we have a favorite to share?  I do love cut out gingerbread cookies, and have made them before - probably just the recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. 

But what I am really craving is something made with pumpkin, so I think I'll make some pumpkin bread this weekend.  Or how about something that combines pumpkin and ginger?  This one sounds good!   Pumpkin Gingerbread Cookies

Joining in with Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday.

Midweek Update

It's a bit anti-climactic because I have shared so much during the making of the orange peel quilt, but it is now finished!  Whoop, whoop!

It was a long time in the making because so much of it was hand stitched - the applique and then the quilting - and I am definitely a slow stitcher.  But I am very happy with this finish.

I enjoyed participating in the Orange Peel SAL at the Crafty Quilter 

last spring where lots of tips and inspiration were offered for the project.

You can see all the finishes from the sew along at this link.

Including the binding for the orange peels, I feel like I've spent all week sewing bindings!  Last week's placemat finish, the Table Scraps Challenge runner, and finally the binding for the October heart.   More about that one in my Sunday Slow Stitching post.

Meanwhile, I'm going to get back to work on the quarter star blocks for one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects!

Linking up with The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

  

 

Almost there...

I'm so excited - I finished the quilting on the orange peel quilt!  I've only been working on this project since April, but it has felt very slow on the finishing side of things.

Binding is on, and finishing the hand stitching step of that will be my slow stitching project for today.

This week I also put some stitches into the Celebrate Fall embroidery, and moved the hoop to the lower area.  I'm ready to stitch some pumpkins!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Film Strip

A table scraps project for September! 

  

Do you remember film strips in school?  As a teacher I used them once in awhile - especially if they went with a certain unit we were teaching.  I know that's really old technology now, but way back when, they were a helpful way to show a group of kids pictures of things we were studying.

When Joy challenged us to make something inspired by "television" I thought of happy blocks that featured the novelty beach fabric I bought on vacation in Oregon earlier this month.  This looks a little like a television, right?

Then I made four happy blocks in combinations of blues and browns, and sewed them together.  This changed my television into a "film strip" that is 7.5 x 28.5.

I like this color combination - very beach-like!

This was a quick and simple finish - I pieced a backing from squares of the novelty fabrics.  The binding came from the 5th fat quarter that I bought at the same time as the four that I used for the main project - it has shells and stones in a little darker brown.

And here is the finished front.

I made this for a specific spot - on top of my desk - long and narrow like this fits that space perfectly.  At the end of the desk sits our digital photo frame which shows our photos whenever we want to look at them. 

I do have to admit that this table "scraps" project did not start with scraps, but it created some in the end.  I'm sure you'll see these scraps show up in other quilts!

Sharing at The Joyful Quilter for the September Table Scraps link-up.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday 

SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

And at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

I Like Thursday #451

Fall came in on Monday, and brought with it a change in the weather!  On Tuesday it rained here the entire day - we got over an inch of rain in about 8 hours.  For people who live in a dry climate like we do, that was amazing!

I spent much of the afternoon wrapped in a quilt, reading.  It was so enjoyable!   Michael Connelly is a favorite author of mine, and I finally got to read his newest book, which introduces a new main character.  A good story!

Goodreads

Our regional airport here had an air show going on this past weekend, and we were able to see the Air Force Thunderbirds practicing for it right above our neighborhood.  They make quite a roar as they zoom by!  They entertained us for a good hour on both Thursday and Friday afternoons last week.

And the fall leaf colors are entertaining right now, too.  We went for a scenic drive up in the mountains yesterday, and the aspen are at their peak right now - just gorgeous!

The rain we got on Tuesday brought snow to the mountains above tree line, and it was beautiful, too!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about our learning styles.  In thinking about that this week, I guess that I am a combination of things.  In college, I took notes in class, and then re-read and highlighted them at home, and when studying for a test, I read them out loud to myself.  So - a combination of visual and auditory learning.

As a quilter, I do a combination of things, too, when trying out a new pattern or quilt block.  I read and re-read the pattern, take notes, plan out the fabric choices, talk myself through making a trial block - sometimes out loud!  I imagine many of you do much the same thing.

These are my notes and preparations for 

mmmquilts' Beothuk Star QAL from a few years ago.

Joining in with Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday.

Midweek Update

A finish to share and a fabric bonanza!

My little challenge to myself to use up every last bit of the jelly roll that I made Glowing Hearts out of is complete!  Here's the last part - the placemat.  In last week's post I showed how the two blue squares were touching and that really didn't look very good, so I did fix that.  It was easy to do - just rip out one long seam, flip that section around, and re-sew.  It looks so much better!

The backing and binding are the same blue-green batik that I finished Glowing Hearts with.

And here are the three things I made with that jelly roll!

And the fabric bonanza - a dear quilting friend gave me two paper grocery sacks filled with leftover pieces from projects that she didn't anymore.  She mostly sews from kits and doesn't use the scraps afterwards, so I got to bring home some goodies.  This is from one of the sacks - a few pieces were what I would call scraps, but a lot of them were at least fat eighth sized or bigger.  These will work wonderfully for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects!

There's another whole bag to go through, which I will probably look at today, and then I think I will pass what I don't want on to a church group here that takes donations for charity quilts that they make.

Have a great Wednesday!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

Three projects, Pt. 2

I did end up working on each of my three hand stitching projects over the last week, and progress was made!  These two saw a little bit of stitching on a few different days -

Apple Mini Sampler and Gail Pan's Pumpkins and Sunflowers

But I spent the most time on the Orange Peel project and got all of the orange peels quilted!  It took me awhile to get that task accomplished, but I finally got it done. 

Now I am quilting a diagonal line through each of the background squares in both directions.  Things should go a little faster now!

There'll be plenty of stitching to do while football is on at our house today!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

And at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.