A New Pincushion

Like many of you, I've been enjoying the blog hop over at Crazy Mom Quilts celebrating the release of her new book, No Scrap Left Behind.  Although I don't buy a lot of quilting books, this might be one I need!

I especially like the Mini Nine-Patch quilts that have been shown.  Amanda Jean has a tutorial for a mini nine-patch pincushion that is easy to follow, and before I knew it, I had sewn one up!

A few scraps were all that I needed.  I pulled out some white, a bit of Kona pomegranate leftover from my improv quilt, and a chunk of the stripey Good Neighbors fabric that I'm using for the backing of my Scrap Jar Stars quilt.

That nine patch measures 1.5 inches square!  So cute!  

I did some simple quilting for the top, and used some more pomegranate for the backing.  I use crushed walnut shells for the filling.  (I think I might have a lifetime supply of those things! Lol!)

Fun and fast!

Looking for more scrappy inspiration?  Check out the Oh Scrap link-up over at Quilting is More Fun than Housework today.  See you there!

An RSC Goal for May

Just about a month ago, I finished up the top for my Scrap Jar Stars quilt -

and this week, I decided that it's time to get this one finished up.  The batting and backing have been purchased, cut to size, and are ready to go.

It's snowing here this afternoon, and it's supposed to continue into tomorrow, so I think this weekend will be the perfect time to get the layers basted and the quilting started.  I'm hoping to have this quilt finished by the end of May.  That seems like a reasonable goal!  :)

Also... the monkeys came out this week, and before I could put this little pile of scraps away, they insisted they wanted a polka-dotted friend! 

Have a great weekend, quilty friends!  

Sharing at SoScrappy!

And I'm linking my Scrap Jar Star quilting goal up to the May One Monthly Goal link-up at Elm Street Quilts.

I Like Thursday #27 - Inside and Out

Did you know Tuesday, April 25th, was World Penguin Day?  I didn't, until my friend Vicki at Vicki's Crafts and Quilting sent an email to wish me Happy World Penguin Day!  Thanks, Vicki!  I do like penguins, and the name of my blog came from this little wall-hanging that I made right before I started blogging.  I think it was originally supposed to be a Christmas/Winter decoration, but it has been up on the wall since I made it, about 4 years ago!

April 25th also happens to be the one year anniversary of the day I had surgery to fix up my broken wrist.  I can't believe it has been a whole year since that happened!  I sure like that a year has passed, and I am back to doing everything I enjoy doing!

The other day, I snapped this photo when I was on a walk around my neighborhood.  I love that the lilacs are now in bloom.  They smell so good, and I thought these were so pretty!

Even though the weather is still very changeable around here (we're supposed to get snow this weekend!), I like that we are able to be outdoors more and more and can enjoy our back porch and yard.

After last week's I Like posts, Mickie, at Three Poodles and a Nana, and I were talking about our retreats, and I decided to give you a glimpse of mine!

We enjoy being out on our porch a lot during the spring, summer, and fall.  Green grass, bird feeders, a birdbath and a fountain, along with a few rainbow spinners, give us a lot of pleasure!

I have never done a lot of embroidery, but somehow I seem to have quite a stash of embroidery floss! Maybe it grows while you aren't looking, just like fabric scraps do!

I was looking around for a hand work project to work on while watching TV in the evenings, when I found that I had printed out this pattern awhile ago, and even traced it onto some fabric and gotten it all ready to embroider.  It came from the Splendid Sampler project that lots of people were participating in a few months ago, and is a design of Jenny of Elephantz.  Click the link to check out her beautiful website and patterns.

So, I got started on it, and have really been enjoying re-learning some basic stitches and seeing my progress.

Happy Thursday to everyone!  I hope you are having a great week.  I'm joining in with the I Like Blog Hop over at Not Afraid of Color, and looking forward to enjoying what everyone else has to tell us about.

A Plethora of Polka Dots

Last week, while making multi-colored blocks for my RSC projects, I got side-tracked by some fun fabrics and kept making different blocks until I had an 18 x 18 table topper pieced.

This week I finished it up!  There was plenty of the yellow and block dot for the binding.

I quilted it with a some curving cross-hatching, which created interesting diamond shapes.

The back is just about as much fun as the front!

My hubby got a kick out of me trying to "stage" some photos with some of my Fiesta Ware!

But here is how my table looks with its new decoration today.  I'm going to enjoy this one!

Hope you're having a great weekend!  I'm looking forward to checking out the scrappy inspiration at Sunday's Oh Scrap! link-up at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.  See you there!

String Star Progress

It's the third week of April, and time again to share what we've been doing for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This week I got out my paper plate of string blocks, checked the plan, and decided to make some of the low volume/neutral blocks that I need.

I cut some muslin squares for the foundations that I needed - 

and went in search of a few low volume strings that would work for these blocks.

Before I knew it, I had stitched up a few more blocks for my String Star!

Here's a bit of the layout, and you can see in the corners where the neutral blocks will go.

I still need quite a few more of the neutral blocks (20 total), so I'll keep making them as the year goes on. The purple blocks are not actually the row right next to red in my plan - that honor goes to orange.  Maybe next month?!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #27 - a Little Road Trip

Over the weekend, my husband and I took a trip to see our kids who live in western Kansas and Nebraska. It was a good weekend for a road trip - great weather and beautiful Spring green color was seen all across the plains and prairie as we traveled.  We saw tons of wild turkeys and ring-necked pheasants.  I was wishing I had been able to get some pictures of them, but since we were driving along, and just catching sight of them as we drove, alas, no photos!

Something I enjoyed in the small town in Kansas where my younger son lives is this building -

It started out as one of the 1,689 Carnegie Public Libraries built around the United States by a philanthropist and businessman named Andrew Carnegie between 1883 and 1929.  According to this article from NPR, he was once the richest man in the world and he gave his fortune away to fund public libraries across our country!

Nowadays, this building is the Carnegie Arts Center in Goodland, Kansas.  We took a walk over to the Arts Center last Saturday afternoon and went in to visit the exhibit that is there for the month of April.  I like this painting that I found there.  I can see turning this into a quilt, can't you?!

Whenever we are with our kids, we play a lot of games.  We really like card games like Cribbage, Skipbo, and Phase 10!

I arrived home to a package on my doorstep!

It was the fabric I had ordered from Connecting Threads last week.  They had a sale going on that I couldn't refuse!  It's the last bit of Amanda Jean Nyberg's Good Neighbors fabric.  At somewhere in the "neighborhood" of $2.50 a yard, I decided to stock up!  The stripey yardage is going to become the backing to the Scrap Jar Stars quilt I've been working on.

And also greeting me when we got home the other day is this pretty daffodil - just about the last one to bloom in my Spring garden.  So pretty!

Happy Thursday!  Thanks for visiting my I Like Thursday post!  Thanks, as always, to LeeAnna, at Not Afraid of Color for hosting this weekly blog hop!

Polka Dots and Lady Bugs

I did some thinking this week about what kind of multi-color maple leaf and nine patch I wanted to make for my April Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks, and it always helps to dig around in my stash while I think.

When I found these, I knew they would make some fun blocks!

It didn't take long to cut the pieces and layout one of each type of block.

This color combination was so much fun to play with that I knew right away I wasn't finished! So I added some HSTs to the mix.

How about a bow tie?

I just couldn't stop!

I think this will become a fun table topper - right now it's measuring about 18 x 18.  I'll finish it up after we get home from a quick weekend trip to visit our kids.

Happy Easter to all of you!  I'll be sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!    

I Like Thursday #26 - Shapes

One day last week, I went for a walk at my favorite spot, and started paying attention to the shapes I was seeing.

I liked this bench - whoever was commissioned to make it for this natural area had the right idea!

I liked these leaves (or maybe an open seed pod?) from last year - looking at them, I wondered how I would recreate that shape with fabric.  That would be a good challenge for me!

I liked these new emerging leaves - they have a circular shape.  I love the spring green colors of all the new leaves we're starting to see around here!

At home, Mike was mowing the lawn for the first time this spring.  I like the long, rectangular shapes he made this time.  I also like the smell of freshly mowed grass!

My tulips bloomed, and I like the cup-like shape they formed.  They are a pretty variegated yellow-y/orange, which I also like.

The birds have been liking our bird bath recently!  This was the scene Sunday afternoon - lots of robins and cedar waxwings coming and going.  It was a bird party!

Hope you're finding many things to like about the emerging Spring where you live!  I'm joining the I Like blog hop over at LeeAnna's place, Not Afraid of Color, and you're invited, too!

Wild Thing - an Improv Sampler

I took a leap of faith back in February, and joined in with the Play Improv Quilt Along over at Elm Street Quilts, and I'm so glad I did!  I tried a bunch of different techniques, struggled a little bit, and learned a lot!

From the beginning, Patty told us that this QAL was about playing with color, shape, and fabric, but without a pattern or rules.  That made this quilt along fun, because everyone followed it in their own way.

Earlier this week, I finished up my quilt top for this quilt along - it measures about 30 x 33.

I've taken to calling it Wild Thing - because it really is about the wildest thing I've ever made!

Some favorite parts - 

all the different ways to make triangles!

an improv quarter log cabin, that I stuck in because I needed something there!

curved piecing, letters, a word!

I quilted it with horizontal curved lines, very simple, but going along with the modern feel of this quilt.  The binding is Kona Pool.

Today, my Play Improv Sampler, Wild Thing, is done!  I took it out in the backyard for some photo ops - 

Love this one!

Thanks, Patty, for hosting this great QAL!  I'm already thinking about what improv kind of sewing I might like to try next!  

The final link-up for finished Play Improv projects is happening right now, over at Elm Street Quilts, so I'll be linking up there to share this Wild Thing!

Also sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.