An in between week...

This was a good week to get my orange Tiny Rails block finished up -

and to lay out all of the blocks I've made just for a quick look!

Depending on what color we work with in September for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I'll add another blue or a green block.  Since I seem to keep adding scraps to my scrap bins, I can always find enough pieces to make one of these blocks!

While a few orange scraps were still out, I decided to make us a couple new coasters - in Denver Broncos colors to celebrate the football season beginning!

I decided to make Quarter Log Cabin blocks, and sewed the strips onto a piece of batting, quilt as you go style.

This time I decided to try adding a layer of clear vinyl inside the backing piece to see if I could make the coasters waterproof.

A yard of this from Hobby Lobby was really inexpensive, and turned out to be easy to sew through.  Now that I have it, I'm planning to try making a zipper pouch with clear sides.

And here we go, all ready for some football!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #97 - This and That

Happy Thursday, friends!  As always, I'm joining in with the weekly celebration of the things we've found to like throughout the week.  Thanks for visiting, and be sure to check out the other Thursday bloggers who are all linked up over at LeeAnna's place, Not Afraid of Color.

My sewing room really needed a cleaning, so I made myself spend some time on that earlier this week.

Of course, you know how that goes - it gets worse before it gets better!

But I really like the results!

I have enjoyed hand stitching on this little piece of Kenyan fabric that Cathy sent me.  I finished it up this week!

I just used colors of embroidery floss that matched the design and stitched here and there to add some texture.

I like this orange Fiesta Ware cup and saucer with it!

I love having fresh tomatoes right off my own plant to eat for lunch or dinner!

We splurged and made BLT sandwiches the day I picked these.  Yummy!

I enjoyed a night out at the local dinner theater with friends last Friday.  Lots of laughter, good music, and a favorite show - one of my favorite things to do!

Grease is the word!

Hope you're having a great week!  I'm going to enjoy visiting with my I Like Thursday friends - see you there!

Just for Fun!

You know how it is...

I've had company for the better part of a week.  I couldn't escape to my sewing room for some time to work on something - it would just be rude, right?!  I was chomping at the bit just to go and play with fabric and thread.  I think that is probably how many squirrel projects are born!

So as soon as I was able to, after my mom went home, down I went, and this mini charm pack of Color Wheel Solids that I had gotten in my recent Connecting Threads order was calling my name.

I pulled out 36 little squares, trying for a good mix of colors, and started sewing them into pairs, and then into 4 patches.

Pretty color!

These went together into a 36 patch.

I added some Kona Maize for a border and this for the backing.  Tomatoes!

Aren't they perfect for it?!

Some diagonal grid quilting, and a tone on tone yellow for the binding.

Just right for a doll quilt!

I think she likes it!

Sharing at Sandra's DrEAMi linky, and

at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

August in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

I never knew I would love sewing with orange until I joined in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge a few years ago!  I didn't have many orange scraps until just recently, after purposely adding some orange fat quarters to my stash a few at a time. 

That being said, I had to look back at all my August posts to see what I sewed in orange this month!

I made a few more orange bowties to help in finishing up my bowtie quilt top.

I also added to my rainbow WiPs - Squared Away, Scrappy Sprouts, and Tiny Rails.

And then I remembered that I hadn't pulled out my Floral Sawtooth Stars blocks in awhile.  There isn't any red in the fat quarter bundle of Bloom and Blush that I'm using for this project, so I didn't play with these July.  But there is lots of orange, especially this piece, which is one of my favorites - 

I like the little orange flowers, but also the subtle orange background!

So, one more Sawtooth Star has been added to the collection!

Cheers to orange - hope you've enjoyed an August in orange, too!  

Linking up with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

A Finish

Just a quick check-in to show you that I finished up the binding on my Hodgepodge quilt just the other day while watching a movie on Netflix.

For the binding, I used a bit of the wide backing fabric that had just arrived from Connecting Threads - it's that pretty royal blue with tiny flowers at the bottom of the pile there.  I think it makes the perfect frame for all these blues.

The next time we go to visit my MIL, I'll take it to the nursing home.  But before it goes, I just had to try a "quilt in a tree" photo!

Okay - that was kind of fun!  :)

Linking up with Alycia for Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday!

I Like Thursday #96 - Visiting

Happy Thursday, friends!  I've had a good visit this week with my mom here, and found many things to share for "I Like Thursday."

I liked making the peach pie with my mom.

And we've really enjoyed it!

Yummy!

I liked having some time together with my mom, sister, and niece. 

All three of them share the SAME birthday (can you believe it?!) so there is always a get together.  I *might* feel a little left out, but they share their cake with me, so it's all good! :)

I love my sweet niece, Maya, who is an ER nurse in Denver, and she now has this adorable puppy, Winston!

Winston is a Golden Doodle.

When my mom is here, there isn't a lot of time for sewing, but this lovely bundle of fabric came in the mail, so I've been admiring it and planning what to make out of it.

It is the August Blogger Bundle from Bernie's shop Needle and Foot, chosen by Carole of From My Carolina Home.  I splurged and got the half-yard bundle, so now I have lots of pretty late summer colors to play with! 

My mom's been enjoying listening to an audiobook and watching the birds at our feeders, so I have sat with her and read quite a bit.  I finished up this book, which I really enjoyed!

Although this author, Miriam Parker, isn't new to the field of publishing, this her first book, and I loved this very last paragraph at the end of her author's note.

I appreciate all of you, my readers, too, and thank you for coming to visit my blog on Thursday or any other day!  Hope you're having a great week!  

Don't forget to visit LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color and read the other I Like Thursday posts, too.

My Hodgepodge Quilt

Way back in February of 2017, I last posted this picture of a quilt top I made out of a hodgepodge of orphan blocks leftover from abandoned projects.  It was one of those, "I wonder if I can..." efforts.  Read more about this quilt's construction HERE.

I had even pieced a backing for it.

And then, like some quilts do, it sat, waiting to be layered, basted, and quilted...

Until this week!  I had been reading up about using pool noodles (or pipe insulation works, too) to help with the layering and basting process.   Evidently, it follows along with how a long-armer puts the layers on the quilting frame.

Each layer is rolled onto its own pool noodle, and then (a little at a time) you pull out the backing onto the table first, next the batting is rolled out over the backing, and finally the quilt top.  You continue to roll out the layers, little by little, smoothing, pulling everything tight, and pinning until the whole quilt is basted.

There are many videos on YouTube showing the process - all you have to do is search for "Basting a quilt with pool noodles."  It was easy to try it with a small quilt like this one which is about 46 x 50.

I quilted a "liberated" curvy grid throughout the center of the quilt -

This is a view from the back.

And followed the outline of the orange peel border around the outside of the quilt top.

In spite of a few blips and bobbles in the quilting process, I finished it up pretty quickly, and am enjoying hand-stitching the binding on while I visit with my mom!

My hodgepodge quilt will be done before too much longer, and I'm planning to donate it to the nursing home where my mother-in-law is currently staying to be used by a resident as a wheelchair quilt.  It feels good to have this older UFO just about finished!

Sharing at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

And Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

A Little More with Orange

I had a little bit of time to work on some orange stitching this week, so I finished up two orange Scrappy Sprouts.

That makes 16 of these fun blocks!

While digging around in my orange scraps, I found some bits and pieces that I had forgotten about, so I started cutting them up to make another Tiny Rails block in orange.

Here's the first one I made from earlier this year.  

Since I need 20 or more of these 10 inch blocks, it won't hurt to make more than one in some colors.  Especially if I have completely different scraps for the second one, lol!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #95 - the middle of August!

It's hard to believe it's the middle of August already!  My teacher friends who are still working have gone back to school this week, and the kids in our town go back next week.  This will be my 4th year NOT going back to the classroom, and I have to admit that I like that!

Instead I'm getting ready for my mom's yearly visit where we will celebrate her 87th birthday.  I've been cleaning, planning some meals, and figuring out some fun activities.

We will definitely be baking a peach pie.  I LOVE peach pie, so that is a yummy annual tradition, especially because this is the time of year that Colorado peaches are in season.

Delicious!

I was pulling some things out of my closet the other day to see what I could get rid of, and found this tote bag.  I have no memory of where this came from, and it looks like it's never been used.  I like the positive words on it, so I think I'll keep it to use!

I liked what my little great-nephew, William, said when he saw these - 

"Why do you have pool noodles, if you don't have a pool?"

Good question!  I tried as best I could to explain to him that I was going to use them to baste a quilt.  Whether he understood me or not, whatever I said seemed to satisfy him, and then he was on to the next thing. :) God bless 4 year olds!

So, finally this week, I did use my pool noodles to baste a quilt, with pretty good success.  More on that in a later post!

Also in my sewing room, I like this pile of goodies that arrived recently.

Connecting Threads had their wide backings on sale, so I decided to buy a few yards of one.  Of course, a few other items had to come along just for fun!

These happy marigolds in my little garden are making me smile right now!  They're one of the few flowers I can grow successfully year after year.

And finally, because these two topics seem to come up whenever I am talking with friends these days - getting enough exercise and not getting enough sleep - I loved this Maxine cartoon!

Hope you're getting some of both - exercise and sleep - as the week goes on.  :)  

Happy Thursday, and thanks for visiting today!  I'm joining in with the rest of the I Like Thursday bloggers at Not Afraid of Color for our weekly celebration of all the good stuff.