A little bit more summer stitching...

The heat dome has reached Colorado... this is hot!

But the humidity is only 15%, which helps make it bearable.

In my comfy chair with the fan blowing on me, it is good stitching weather.  So I have the Summer stitch-along project finished and I have enjoyed every stitch!

For stamp 9, I chose the original design that Melisa offered us, Canning Season.  I love the fresh produce of summer, and I love those tiny canning jars!

Plus that red bowl of peaches reminded me of my bowl of cereal with fresh Colorado peaches sliced on top.  So yummy!  I even have a red bowl, lol!

I guess this means I can start a new project???  I have the chart saved for Hello Autumn from Primrose Cottage, and this would be a good time to start that - to have it ready for fall.

So that's a possibility.

But there's also a lot of people talking about Christmas in July, and after looking through all of Melisa's Christmas designs in her post here, I remembered that I had started this Santa - probably last December.  And all that's left to stitch is Santa himself, and some snowflakes.  

Maybe stitching Santa and some snowflakes would make it feel cooler?  😊

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Gameboard Blocks Progress

After getting a red Gameboard block made earlier in the week, I thought this would be a good time to take stock of where I am with them.  I think the last time I shared the full collection was in March, and there were sixteen complete blocks made, with four 16 patch centers waiting in the wings.

I know I made more pinks and oranges in April and May.  This month it was time to add a couple aqua blocks to the bunch, so I did just that!

A yellow and a green block were added, too, just to catch up, and now there are 24 blocks!  I'm shooting for 30, so just six more needed.  I think another purple block, for sure, a yellow, and maybe some in black prints.

In other aqua sewing, I've been playing with an idea for this month's scrappy placemat, starting with this bunch of fabric.

At first I thought I might try a color wash of the dark to light, but I just couldn't get inspired by that.  So then, I decided to play around with more squares and rectangles, and pulled out some leftover scraps of a wide backing that has aqua sprinkles in it.  Out of that I cut some 2.5 inch squares, and then 2.5 x 4.5 inch rectangles of the different aquas.

This kind of design could be fun in a rainbow of colors!

Plus I have lots more of that "Sprinkle" print left to use up.

I hope to have a scrappy aqua placemat ready to share next week.  

Linking up with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

And at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

I Like Thursday #491

Colorado peaches are here!  Yum!  I look forward to them every year.  They are early this year - I think because we had such a warm winter, the peach trees must have bloomed early.  These are all grown on the western slope - across the mountains to the west of us.

The rabbits are eating everything I've tried growing in my little flower garden, except the alyssum.  I decided I'd better share a picture before they start snacking on these next!  Fortunately they can't reach my large pots!

I found a new author that I've been enjoying, Ethan Joella.  I read two of his books in a row over the last week.  Interesting characters and stories.  They start out kind of sad, but then the characters figure things out and the endings are good!

I got some happy mail yesterday - it was a package from Melva at Melva Loves Scraps, a special treat for participating in her Little House sew-along.  Thank you, Melva!  

LeeAnna's question of the week is about potato salad - how do you make it?  I just happened to have made a batch of potato salad for the 4th of July.  Of course I use Mom's "recipe," which might be written down somewhere, but I just know how to make it.  Red potatoes, purple onion, celery, and hard-boiled eggs.  I season the potatoes with a little vinegar-sugar mix, plus salt and pepper.  Then mayonnaise to mix it all together.  

My mother-in-law made hers completely differently, 

with mustard, mayo, and pickle relish mixed in with the potatoes.  

Of course I ate it, too, because... all potato salad is good, right?! 

But when I make my own, it's my mom's recipe every time!

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

 

Midweek Update

There's been a little of this and a little of that in my sewing room the last few days.  I have been wanting to make some blocks for the current Many Hands Many Hearts block drive, so I started with those.  They need a 4.5 inch center square and six 2.5 x 4.5 inch border rectangles, like this:

I ended up making four of them so far in reds/greens and blues/oranges.  The other color combination is purples/yellows, but I don't have many purples so may not make any of those.   As soon as I make a few more, I'll send them off to Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.  She's collecting them until the end of August.

Making these reminded me that I also needed squares and rectangles for the Gameboard blocks, and another one of those in red would a good addition to the collection.  So I cut more!

It's so interesting to me that these two blocks are made basically the same way, but just changing a couple design elements gives a whole different look!

Along the way, I came across this sweet selvage to share with you.

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

Slow stitching this week...

Just in the nick of time, on Friday night, I fully finished this little summer design from Melisa at PinkernPunkin.  She calls it Summertime USA, and you can find the chart for it here.  I actually stitched this one last July, and left it to finish up this summer!

Happy 4th of July!

Also this week I stitched up stamp 8 for Melisa's Summer Stamp SAL.  I enjoyed all the bee related items on this one!

Just one more to go!

And a little more work was put into the Summer embroidery from Gail Pan, too.  

• Red strawberries ✔️
• Red flowers ✔️
• Red bird ✔️

But red bees?  That sounds like something from a scary movie!  Maybe I'll take a hint from the apiary stamp in Melisa's design and add some gold and black to this design.

Plenty to stitch on for Slow Sunday Stitching!

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts.

Getting started with aqua...

This happens to me every year, when it is aqua month.  I have scraps in so many shades of blue-green that I can't decide quite where they fit.  So I googled and found this - 

Source

I think my scraps fit all the shades!

For block sewing, I started with the Jacob's Ladder project.   The darker block was hard to photograph - that solid is more in the Teal shade, and pretty dark.  See the top left grouping in the above photo.

Fourteen 12.5 inch blocks now!

July is on its way!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

And at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

I Like Thursday #490

Remember my baby cucumber from last week's Thursday post?  It was harvested this week!  It is tasty, too - and more are coming.

Mike and I played golf at a favorite course in the next town to the north of us the other day, and I discovered they have some beautiful rose gardens there.

Younger son and I went to a neat event at the library the other day, too.  The local Astronomy Society members brought their telescopes with special filters on the them and you could view the sun!  In a couple you could even see solar flares.  It was very interesting! 

The gals at my mom's place never disappoint with their holiday decorations.  I particularly love the gnomes!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about the 4th - describe a particularly memorable 4th of July celebration you've had.  This made me think of when we were young married and didn't have kids yet.  We went with some friends who had a jeep, up into the foothills west of us to Horsetooth Reservoir - and you could see the fireworks in at least three different towns down on the plains below us.  It was pretty neat!  

I wish I had a photo of that, but too long ago!  But since I love fireworks, there are plenty of photos of them in my archives, so I will leave you with this one.

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