Happy Halloween!

The other day I finished my Sew Spooky pumpkin mini and hung it on the fridge.

This might be the only place in my house where some quilty project is not already being displayed!  😄  (Now that gives me an idea...)

Anyway, however you are spending the day, I hope it's fun!

30 Minute Pouches

Way back in June I discovered the 30 Minute Pouch tutorial by Kelby Sews, and made this one.

Right away, I knew I would be making more of them, but it took me until this week to get around to it!

These little pouches are fun, fast (yes, really just 30 minutes!), and useful!  And you can make one with just two 12.5 x 5.5 inch scraps of fabric, plus one piece the same size of batting, and a 7 inch zipper!  

I was in need of a couple of quick gifts, and zipper pouches always make a good gift!  My mom is a bridge player and enjoys having a little change purse to keep her quarters, nickels, and dimes in, to be collected or given out when winning or losing!  To make a smaller version of the 30 Minute Pouch for her, I cut the fabric and batting at 5.5 x 8.5 and ended up with this cute little result.

The little charm on the zipper says, "Laugh!"

Another friend has a birthday next week, and I thought it would be fun to make her a zipper pouch, too.  She loves to run, hike, and bicycle, so hopefully having a little pouch that will fit her phone, driver's license, chapstick , etc., will be helpful!

Isn't that the perfect fabric?!  On this one I added a loop with a swivel clasp, thinking that might be useful for someone who's always on the go like she is!

 And here's the lining - 

Be sure to check out the tutorial (here) if you want to try one of these pouches.  They really are fun, fast, and useful!  Hope you will enjoy making some, too!

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

The last of the pink...

Back in September I started making these little blocks as leaders and enders.

They are 1.5 x 2.5 chunks of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month sewn to 1.5 x 2.5 neutral scraps.  When sewn together they make a 2.5 inch square.  

I decided to make 25 of each color grouping, to eventually create a larger block which would be about 10 inches finished.

I had made these little blocks out of orange, yellow, and black/gray.  This month I made pink ones, and started sewing the larger blocks together.

Pink...

And orange...

After a little trimming - voila!

These work great for leaders and enders and use up some little scraps, too!

Sharing at SoScrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday.

I Like Thursday #53 -

I found this somewhere online the other day, and it is so true -

There are so many troubled people and places in the world today.  I am thankful daily for my home, family, friends, health, and blessings.  You, my online friends are definitely included in that!

This little corner of our house caught my eye yesterday, so I thought I would share it here.  The chair came from my grandparents' home and my mom needlepointed the seat cover for it many years ago.  Some of my favorite quilt projects are hanging on and around it.  It all makes me smile whenever I walk by!

Mary in Peoria Handmade recently shared her string backpack that she had made and enjoys using, so I thought I would share the one I've made, too.

It's all wrinkled because I use it a lot!  It's so handy for when you want both hands free or don't want to carry your purse.  The tutorial I used can be found HERE at Sew Can She.  It's called the Easy Peasy backpack, and it is!

I like these little charms I found to add to the zipper tabs of pouches I'm making.

I'm making one for my mom, and she has some trouble with her fingers these days, so I thought adding a little extra something to the zipper would make it easier to grip.  A little added bonus is that they say fun and positive things!

And here's what I do when the world gets to be too much - 

And that's where I'm headed right now!  🤗  Happy Thursday!  Be sure to check out all of the other I Like Thursday posts over at LeeAnna's Not Afraid of Color.

Midweek WiP

I finished up all of the blocks I need for the table topper I'm making as part of Carole's Stars on Autumn Lane QAL, and I really like how it is looking!

It will be too large for my dining room table, but it is destined to be a 70th birthday gift for a special friend, and she regularly hosts 12 or more people at her table, so I think it will be just right for her!

Ready to sew the blocks together and get this one finished up!

Linking up with Sew, Stitch, Snap, Share at KokaQuilts!

Fall Projects, Part 2

Stars on Autumn Lane QAL

Carole of From My Carolina Home posted the directions for Block B for the Stars on Autumn Lane QAL on Friday.

After finishing up the cutting, trimming, and organizing of the bits and pieces for this project -

 the five stars for the first part went together really quickly!

There are two choices for Block B, depending on what we want our final setting to be.  At first  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do because I like them both!  I decided to lay out some cut pieces in both blocks, thinking that might help me make the decision.

This...

or this...

Having always wanted to include Depression Blocks in a project somewhere, I decided to go with the second design, and have sewn one so far.

Only three more are needed so they should go together quickly, too.

In my slow stitching time this week...

I finished up all of the applique on my pumpkin block and added some hand quilting around the shapes.  I really enjoyed planning out what to do and choosing scraps for each part.

A little more quilting is needed and the binding (which matches the bird's wing) sewn on, and then this one will be all done!

A fun and satisfying slow stitching project!

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

and at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Monkey Business!

It's pretty clear that I am not calling the shots when it comes to this quilt... the monkeys are in control!

While finishing up the final outer border this week, here was my plan:

A 5.5 inch strip of Kona Maize to match the sashing around the blocks.  But no...

Monkey cornerstones were suggested demanded... and so, of course, four more were made!  Since it is pink month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I made sure I included a little pink in these guys!  

Finally!  A finished quilt top!

Apparently these monkeys are Scrappy in more than one way, if you know what I mean!  I wonder what will happen when I try to quilt this one... 😂

Sharing at SoScrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #52

Welcome to I Like Thursday!  Doesn't this fun little glass make you smile?

I found it at the dollar store, and actually bought two, so both Mike and I could have one.  Sure makes drinking a glass of water more fun!

I like these funny little birds who have been visiting our yard lately.  They are Red-breasted Nuthatches, and they are almost always upside down!  Their larger cousin, the White-breasted Nuthatch, has been around, too.  We've been enjoying watching these birds at our feeders.

I like my local public library - for many reasons - but lately because of these bookbags that they stock for book clubs.

This section of the library is called Priscilla's Bookshelf, named after a longtime library patron who loved reading and books.  Priscilla's friends donated money after she died to honor her memory and promote her love of reading in our community.

This is the book my bookclub read this month, which came out of the bag from the library.  I loved this book, and would recommend it if you enjoy historical fiction set during World War II.

I love this cross-stitched pillow that a friend made me for my birthday!

It's meant to be Christmas-y, but I'm leaving it out all year!  Joy!  

This week I've enjoyed working on this little block which is a free pattern from Cheri Payne, through the Quilts by Cheri Facebook page.  A big thank you goes to Jocelyn of Canadian Needle Nana who enjoys this kind of stitchery and told us about it.

Here is how my block looked on Sunday - 

And here is how it looks now -  

I glue-basted the pieces and stitched them down as raw-edge applique.  It has been fun choosing the fabrics and doing the hand stitching.  Where the buttons are placed, the pattern shows circles, but I thought buttons would be fun instead.  I'm planning to finish this up as a mini quilt with a little bit of hand quilting and binding.

I just realized that this is my 52nd I Like Thursday post, which means I've been writing these for a year now!  Thanks go to LeeAnna, as always, for getting me started on this endeavour, and one that I now look forward to every week.  Be sure to check out all the other Thursday bloggers at Not Afraid of Color!  

Fall Projects

On our recent trip to McMinnville, Oregon, I visited Boersma's Sewing Center, and brought home a small fat quarter bundle from a fabric line called Autumn Road.  I really like these fun prints, especially the bicycles!

As soon as I saw the quilt along that Carole at From My Carolina Home had planned for her Autumn Jubilee series, "Stars on Autumn Lane," I knew what I could use these for! (Click the link if you would like to learn more about the QAL.) Five fat quarters and some background fabric would be just the right amount to make a table topper from her pattern, so I got to work cutting!

I am pretty much a slow poke when it comes to making and trimming a large number of HSTs, but I'm on the way, and even had a chance to put together one large star, which is this week's step.  (We are to make five of these.)

I'll continue to work on cutting, trimming, and sewing the rest of these stars together this week, and look forward to the next step coming up on Friday.

I also decided to get started on a small applique project that I found out about through Jocelyn from Canadian Needle Nana.  I always admire her embroidery and applique work, and she mentioned a Facebook group, Quilts by Cheri, where some free applique patterns are shared.

After joining the group, I found and downloaded this fun little block, and have been getting the pieces cut to work on this afternoon.

I thought I'd try glue basting the pieces to the background (thank you, Cathy, for sending me this fabric adhesive - it's working perfectly for this!)

Since my applique skills are limited to raw edge applique, that is my plan for this, and I'm planning to enjoy some slow stitching this afternoon while watching some football with Mike.  

Linking up these fun fall projects to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework and Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

Corralling the Monkeys

The little pink monkey in the top left of the photo below is one of my favorites made in 2016 for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge pink month.  I had fun fussy cutting that pink bird for the center!

My goal this week was to get the monkey blocks into nine groups of four. 

And then to sew all these bigger blocks into rows, and the rows together, with the first narrow border in Kona Navy surrounding the center.

This measures 42.75 inches square so far.

I hit one of those points this week where I wasn't sure I was happy with how this quilt was coming together so far.  But after getting the whole center sewn together and the first border on, my feelings about it changed, and I like what is happening!

This week, I'll add a second, wider outer border, using the Kona Maize, and that will bring the quilt up to about 52 inches square.  I'm not sure yet about backing and binding for this project - hopefully, I'll know it when I see it! :)

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

I Like Thursday #51 - Fall!

Welcome to Fall in Colorado, where one day it can look like this -

And a few days later, there's this!

I really can't complain because I like all the seasons and because today, a few more days later, we are back in the upper 60s with sun and blue skies.  Unfortunately, though, these early snowstorms can result in this -a large limb broken off of one of our trees.

This fall we have also had a huge migration of Painted Lady butterflies coming through, and they liked my marigold garden.

It's been to see bunches of them flitting around everywhere we go.  There was even this funny report about them in the news!

This 70 Mile-Wide Blob Over Colorado Turns Out to Be Migrating Butterflies

The gist of it is that they saw this on the weather radar and thought it was a flock of birds, but it was actually the Painted Lady butterflies!

The butterflies also brought back some good memories of my teaching career!  I loved teaching Science, and in the last year of my teaching, we had a new unit that involved (among many other things!) observing some Painted Lady caterpillars make their chrysallis and hatch into butterflies.  Here's a peek into my classroom from the Fall of 2014.  

Can you see the caterpillars attaching themselves to the top of the cage?

Happy Thursday!  I hope you're having a lovely week!  I'm joining in with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for our weekly party to celebrate being positive!

Quilty Friends

On our recent trip to Oregon, I had the opportunity to get together with Cynthia of Quilting is More Fun than Housework, scrap quilting mentor to many and host of Oh Scrap!  We met for lunch and enjoyed getting to know each other in real life, as well as exchanging a few fabric gifts.  Cyndy was so sweet to give me this fun bundle of solids and a mini charm pack of Kate Spain's Early Bird line.

Right after we got home I saw this tutorial for a sewing machine cover by Elm Street Quilts, and I think this collection of fabric would be perfect for that purpose!  What better way to use a fabric gift from a friend than for a useful sewing item?!  Thanks, Cyndy!

When we arrived home from the trip, a package was waiting for me in the mail from Cathy of Cathy's Crazy by Design.  We had plans to meet for a couple days up in the mountains here in Colorado to sew and get to know each other, but a death in my husband's family kept us from going.  Instead of meeting up, we both sent each other some fun things in the mail -hopefully Cathy's from me will be delivered this coming week!

Thank you, Cathy, for the great zipper pouch and all the goodies!

Included in the package was some Essex Linen which I have never sewn with, but am excited to try making something with it.  I've seen so many bags and pouches that use linen, and now I can give that a try!  Cathy, I hope we can try again to meet in the future!

Thank you, quilty friends!  You're the best!

Sharing at Oh Scrap!