I Like Thursday #84

Happy Thursday, friends!  Thanks for visiting today!  For more I Like Thursday posts, don't forget to check out LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

This week, I liked that my bloggy experiment worked!

Leaving my own comment on my published post, and then checking the "Notify Me" box underneath brought comments back to my email!  It's a ridiculous thing to have to do, but until Blogger (or whoever) fixes the comment problem, I'll continue to do that.

This week, I enjoyed this email note and photo from our son who lives in Nebraska.

"What is this bird?

It was outside the office today. The bright yellow belly caught my eye. It’s bigger than a finch, I think."

Our kids know that Mom and Dad love birds, and we also really enjoy seeing their photos now and then.  (It's a Western Kingbird!)

We enjoyed one of our favorite hikes this week - the Lumpy Ridge trail near Estes Park.  I liked these rocks - 

Doesn't it look like someone is giving a friend a piggy back ride?

Later on, we were in town walking on the path by the golf course, and Mike caught this fun picture of some golfers waiting on the elk.

The elk were definitely not worried about delaying the golf game!

These pretty snap dragons are blooming in my garden!  I love their bright color!

I also like this pot of petunias in the backyard.

See the sunflower?  It's a volunteer in this pot, and it is really happy!  I'm just letting it go to see what happens.

Have a great Thursday, everyone!

An Experiment

This morning while doing my usual blog reading, I came across an idea from another blogger that might work around the comment to email problem we're all having.  More about that in a minute!

To try out my experiment, I decided to do a quick post about the Happy Bird blocks I've been working on.

I realized this morning that I should have a bit of a plan for these blocks, so I drew up a quick sketch.

I need 48 blocks - 24 with light borders and 24 with dark borders - for a 6 x 8 layout.

So I've made a few more since yesterday's post - 

They're kind of addicting!  :)

After I publish this post, I'm going to leave a comment on my own post, and check the box below the comment box that says "Notify Me."  Maybe that will get comments made after the first one to get emailed to me.  Leave me a comment and I'll let you know if my experiment worked!

Linking up with Sew, Stitch, Snap, Share at Koka Quilts!

Easily Distracted!

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Sometime between my post on Thursday and yesterday's post, Blogger stopped sending your comments to my email inbox.  Please know that I really appreciate your comments, and will definitely try to reply to them as soon as I can!  I hope Blogger will fix this problem quickly, since I haven't been able to figure it out myself!

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Meanwhile, earlier this week, while straightening up my sewing room, and supposedly planning to finish cutting pieces for my Mellow quilt project, I got distracted by this pile of scraps -

"I'll just make a bowtie block out of some of those," I thought to myself.  So I did.

But there was still quite a bit of the penguin fabric left, so I thought I would make one of these - 

Cathy, at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting, calls these "Happy Blocks," and I had been thinking I might start making a few here and there.  Why not use the penguin fabric to get started?

Well, you know what that leads to!  "What if...?"    I started cutting 5 inch squares out of all of my bird fabrics, and 2.5 inch strips for the borders, matching up darks with lights to get some contrast.

I had more than I realized - not just penguins, but owls, cardinals, swallows, and more!  

These blocks are 9 inch squares.

And just like that, a new project gets started...

So here's how my sewing table looks now - 

Pieces cut for bowties and bird blocks - always something to do!

Linking up with Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  

May Blocks for the RSC

Do we say this at the end of every month?  I can't believe May is almost over!  I have enjoyed sewing with pink this month and finished up everything I set out to make at the beginning of the month for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.

This week's blocks to complete were a couple of pink Scrappy Sprouts -

Aren't these looking like fun all together?!

I'm thinking that some kind of flower blossom at the top of these would be fun, too.

And here is all my pink sewing for May - 

Happy ScrapHappy Saturday to all!  Linking up with SoScrappy.  Be sure to check out all the pretty pink sewing that has been happening over there!

I Like Thursday #83 - Inside and Out

Welcome to my latest "I Like Thursday" post!  I've been joining in each week with the party at Not Afraid of Color where we celebrate the good things going on in our lives.  Thanks for coming to visit me!

Inside, I like this new "toy" we got the other day - a Roomba vacuum cleaner!

We're still in the mode of learning how to use it and understanding how it works.  It's quite fun to watch - like it actually has a bit of a personality!

So far, it has picked up quite a bit of dirt off our floors (I'm embarrassed to admit...:), but I am glad to know it's doing its job.

I love to read, and love our local public library.  I've had a library card there since 1977 when we moved here!  Things have really changed in our libraries these days because of technology, though.    Anytime I want to, I can check what books I have checked out and when they're due by logging into my account.

Roseanne, did you get me started on David Baldacci's Amos Decker series?  I've been enjoying them, and just finished book #3!

Outside, it's that lovely time of year when we can be out enjoying our yard.  We've had lots of rain, so everything is green and growing!

I might be out here reading this afternoon!

I added a new rainbow spinner to my deck area this week.  These are so much fun when there's a bit of a breeze.

These little guys have been enjoying our yard, too, and are fun to watch.  Maybe it's too much to hope that they won't find the lettuce that's growing in the garden?!

Happy Thursday, friends!  Hope you're having a great week, and have some fun plans for the long weekend!

Finished!

Even though yesterday was a dark and dreary day here, and not good for quilt photos, I took some anyway because my Penguin Mystery quilt is done and I have to share it!

It's fun to see what quilting (even a minimal amount like I did) and binding adds to a quilt!

Curvy lines through the seams on the diagonals and in between created some fun rectangle sorts of shapes.

I backed this little quilt in my favorite black and white cat print and used a black with white dots fat quarter for the binding.

I machine stitched the binding this time since I'm donating it for a child.  It's not my best skill, but I think it turned out okay!  A run through the washer and dryer and I think this will be ready to send off to the Little Lambs Foundation as a part of Hands 2 Help over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  It measures about 33 x 40 before washing.

Happy Sunday from the little penguins!  Hope you're enjoying some stitching today!

Linking up with Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Charleston Pink

A whole year ago, Mike and I took a trip to South Carolina, and on the way into Charleston we stopped at a little quilt shop where I bought six fat quarters of, yes...

Charleston

I loved these sweet prints and knew I would enjoy making a little something for myself to remember the trip by.  The best kind of souvenir!

 We loved seeing these houses, called Rainbow Row - how about that pink one?!

And here they are in fabric version!

Fast forward a year, and I finally did come up with an idea for my Charleston fabric, and sewed it up this week!

I wanted something that wouldn't cut the prints too small, and no HSTs, lol! (I've been trimming a lot of HSTs recently, and I was feeling lazy!)

So, I cut several 2.5 inch strips out of each fat quarter and sewed them together, trying to alternate darks and lights.

I cut those into 6.5 inch squares, and ended up with this layout.

Measures about 12 x 36.

Leftover pieces and strips made the backing and binding.

And a curvy grid for the quilting - 

Perfect for my dining room table, and a place to display my South Carolina shell collection!

Plus, a few of the leftover bits turned into some pink bowtie blocks and a couple of 9 patches!

This was definitely my favorite kind of quick project!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

Also sharing this at Sandra's DrEAMi linky!

I Like Thursday #82 - Colorful!

I love this time of year! Don't you?!  The leaves on our trees are that bright Spring green, the lilacs are blooming and smell so good - it really is my favorite.

Right now,  the Columbine are blooming in our garden.  We started these years ago, and they come back every year.  Did you know they're the state flower of Colorado?

I enjoy planting my garden and pots on Mother's Day, so after we talked to our kids that morning, I did just that.  Everything seems pretty happy so far!

Several of these beautiful Western Tanagers have been visiting our yard this week.  Their bright orange heads and yellow bodies really catch your attention!

Speaking of color, I received this fun set of Aurifil thread in the mail recently.  It was a prize I won from participating in Project Quilting earlier this year.  I'm going to enjoy having these pretty threads to choose from!

My last like to share today is that I like making progress on a Work in Progress!  I got my Penguin Mystery Block quilt basted and quilting started.  It shouldn't take too long to finish it up!

I hope you're having a great week!  You can find more "I Like Thursday" posts over at Not Afraid of Color, hosted by Lee Anna.  See you there!

Decisions, Decisions...

Yesterday, in an email conversation with Karen, of Karen Quilts, etc, I was telling her that I really enjoy playing with fabric and trying new blocks - thus ending up with several WiPs at the same time, lol!  And that is exactly how this project started - my blocks for Libby's Magical Mystery.

I had a fat quarter bundle I had purchased around Christmas time, and no real plans for it, so when Libby announced her mystery QAL, I thought, "Why not join in?!"

This fabric bundle has penguins, polka dots, and bright primary colors.

At one point, I added in that peach-colored fabric in the center, for some reason, but I've since put it away.  It didn't really fit with the rest of the colors!

After learning how to cut each pair of fat quarters and sew the blocks together, I've been working on making four at a time every so often, and now I have 20 blocks total.

Now I think it's decision - making time.  I've played with this fun fabric, learned how to make these blocks, and - bonus! - learned how to "spin" the center seam of a four patch block.  That's something I've never done before, and I can see where doing that can be really helpful when sewing many blocks together.

So, I'm ready to move on!  After playing with many layout possibilities, I decided to stick with something really simple, and arrived at this - 

Of course, I'm noticing that there's a ton of contrast in these fabrics, and even though they were picked to go together, they don't mix up in these blocks.  I can see (and I hope you can, too) the diagonal pattern that's created when the blocks are laid out this way.  I like the way these blocks create that design.

I think I have ended up liking the dot fabrics the most in this bunch.  The polka dots have all the colors of the penguins' hats in them, so look fun with any of the other fabrics.

I'm definitely left with scraps from this project, but I'll enjoy having these in my stash to pull from for future projects.

I'll be working on finishing this little quilt up this week, and finding somewhere to donate it.  I think it will make a fun and bright comfort quilt for a little one somewhere.

Hope you're enjoying some stitching today!  

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