A little Santa in the summer...

Here's what I've been slow stitching on this week -   

Santa (from Melisa at PinkernPunkin) is completely stitched.  He really didn't take too long at all.  Now I'll put him away for awhile until it's time to decorate for Christmas.

I did make the bees in gold and black in the Summer embroidery.  I like them!  And I think I'll add some more gold in a few other places, too.

Plenty more work to be done on this one, 

so that will be my Slow Sunday Stitching!

Linking up at Kathy's Quilts.

A scrappy placemat for July...

Last week I shared my beginning of a placemat in aquas, and this week it is finished!  Those blocks I came up with - a 2.5 inch square sewn to a 2.5 x 4.5 inch rectangle turned into this design:

A piece this size gets quilted and bound quickly, so the finish doesn't take long.  I love that!  

I still had a good chunk of this pretty blue-green batik 

that I've used on other quilts for the backing and binding.

Here's the rainbow - it's growing every month!  Some of these have been used and washed already, others set aside, maybe for gifting or donating.

But for now, I'm sticking the aqua placemat in my happy place!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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

I Like Thursday #492

It has continued to be very hot here every day, so we decided to get away for the day yesterday and went up to Estes Park.  It was probably at least 10 - 15 degrees cooler up there - so pleasant!

We played golf...

It was golf with a view!

And also with geese!

We visited our favorite winery for lunch.  Sometimes we take a picnic lunch with us, but this time we ordered a pizza.   It was so nice to sit outside and watch the people passing by.  Estes Park is a busy tourist town in the summer!

After lunch we walked around town a bit - our favorite area is along the river and there were hummingbirds hanging around.  Mike had a good time photographing them!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about picnics.  If you've read my blog before, you probably know I love picnics, and we go for a lot of them, especially when we are traveling.   We pack the usual lunch stuff: sandwiches, chips, fruit, cheese and crackers.  The food is actually not that important. What's important is the view!

Hope you're having a great week!

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

 

Midweek Update

In the tale of the never-ending quilt-as-you-go project here at Little Penguin Quilts, there has been some progress!  I had been wanting to try figuring out how it was going to work to start connecting the rows of Patchwork Hearts that have been quilted.  You might remember that they look like this - 

The first three rows have been completely quilted, row 4 is halfway there, 

and row 5 is prepped for quilting, but yet to be started.

I purposely cut the batting and backing for each quite a bit wider than needed, thinking that I could use that overage to connect the rows.  I just needed to come up with a plan for how to do it, and that's what I've been working on the last few days.  

Here's how it's working:

I'm trimming the backing to 1.25 inches beyond the quilted section - that will be the sashing on the back that connects row 1 to row 2, and so on.

Trim the batting to 1 inch beyond the quilted section - that stays as the batting in between the quilted sections.

And I chose a white Grunge to be the front sashing that will show on the finished quilt - cutting strips of that that measure 2 x 60 inches (the width of each quilted strip).  It covers up all the connecting seams and the batting to finish the front!

I sewed the front sashing on to the top of row 2's quilting first.  Then trimmed the batting and backing and sewed row 2's back sashing onto the back of row 1 with the .25 inch seam allowance.  Because it's all the same backing, you really can hardly see that's been done!

After pressing that seam on the back, the batting is tucked up under the seam allowance, and the front sashing strip is pulled up and folded over to give the finished look on the front. 

I topstitched that down all the way across, added another line of quilting through the sashing, and voila!  The Patchwork Hearts quilt is 3/5 of the way to a finish!

Figuring all this out has given me a renewed enthusiasm for finishing this quilt - I just have to finish the quilting on rows 4 and 5.  I'm even starting to think about what would work for the binding!  It's getting there!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Quilting Learning Combo for I Quilted This!

Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

 

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! 

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

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.