Traveling Hexies

We're getting ready for a fall getaway this week, and I can't take my sewing machine with me so I'm packing up my hand-stitched hexie project to bring along in case there's a little down time.

Here's where I was the last time I posted about this project.

In the last couple of weeks, I've connected all the diamonds made out of the mini charm pack of Persimmon by Basic Gray.

This piece is about 26 inches long, but only about 8 inches wide, so it definitely needs to be made wider.  The blue Kona started out as a scrap piece, but I liked it so much, I went and bought another yard of it at my LQS!

So, now I've been making more blue hexies to continue a blue round while we're traveling.  Then maybe a final border in a neutral?  I'm bringing along a fat quarter of Grunge Dots just in case I get that far!

And I've got all the supplies packed into my handy zipper pouch!

Sharing at my favorite Sunday linkies - 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap and

Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching!

The last of the blue scraps

Well, for September, that is!  I always seem to find more... :)

I finished up my medium blue Tiny Rails block this week.

I guess it actually has light, medium, and darker blues included!

Here are my three blue blocks all together!

And the whole set so far - 

700 little bits of color!  

Lots more of these 10 inch blocks are needed, so I'll keep working on them into 2019!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #101 - Out and About

Happy Thursday, friends, and Happy Fall!  We've finally had a change in the weather patterns here where I live, and it is so much cooler.  It's starting to feel like fall!

I like these photos Mike took from our fall color drive the other day.

When we were looking for far-off swatches of color, here's what we saw -

It seemed as though the aspen were a mix of still green, a little bit of gold, and lots that were past the peak and had fallen.

But close up, here's what they looked like.

And, although not of aspen, this was a cool sight!

My book club has been participating in "Loveland Loves to Read" for several years now.  This week we enjoyed dinner out together and then went to hear Anthony Doerr, the author of All the Light We Cannot See, speak.

He was fascinating!  What a great speaker!  And he encouraged everyone to create - whether it is with words, or paint, or fabric, or yarn - whatever you can do.  He believes that creating is good for us and the world, even if no one ever sees what we create.  

This week, Mike and I enjoyed the movie, "Christopher Robin."

And we enjoyed Discount Day, too!  Only $5 each!

It is a sweet movie, part live action and part animated.  I loved the scene at the end where Pooh asks Christopher Robin what day it is, and Christopher replies, "It's today, Pooh." Pooh exclaims, "Today is my favorite day!"  Good to think of Today as your favorite day!

And because it's that time of year where we are seeing pumpkins everywhere, I just had to play with them in my sewing room!

Fun with strings!

After my Saturday post asking for advice about using phone book pages for string foundations, I decided to keep sewing with them, and it's working out just fine!

Hope you are enjoying the beginnings of fall where you live (or Spring, if you are in the southern hemisphere)! I really enjoy the changing of the seasons.

Join us at Not Afraid of Color for more "I Like Thursday " posts.

Home is where the heart is!

I finished up my squirrely village earlier this week!

I quilted it with mostly straight lines going every which way, and bound it with one of the dark turquoise Konas that is also used in some of the houses.

The backing is this blue floral that I had in my stash.  I don't think it's a batik, but I couldn't tell the back from the front of the fabric which is a little unusual!  :)

I really had fun adding some buttons to this project, another suggestion from my quilty friend, Vicki!

For doorknobs!

And how about a lady bug for the garden?!

I'll be putting this in my house somewhere, but I'm not sure where yet.  Until I decide, I'll just enjoy having it hanging around!

Hope you're enjoying some Sunday stitching today!  

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

And linking up with a new Friday party, Brag about Your Beauties with Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty

And Sandra's DrEAMi linky over at mmmquilts!

Progress and an experiment

This week I finished up my September blue Scrappy Sprouts.

Now there are 18 of these!  You can see the four blue ones running from top left to bottom right.

What's left?  Maybe dark green?  And a few more Dresden sunflowers for the top part - I need to work out a plan for sashing and borders, too.  I'm enjoying the slow process of working on this over time and thinking through the choices.

The other day, Mike was cleaning out a closet and found some old phone books to get rid of.  I snagged one from the recycle bin to keep because I want to experiment with using the paper as a foundation for string blocks.

It's a small size phone book and I decided to try making rectangular blocks to use up a full page.

I ended up with a 5 x 9.5 inch block after trimming.

I know some of you out there have made string blocks pieced on phone book paper - do you like this method?  I know that gives you the extra step of ripping out the paper - after you take out the paper, is the block stable enough?  How about the rectangle shape of the block - if you've made a string quilt with rectangles, can you point me to your blog post about it?  Some inspiration is always a good thing!

Looking for fall color up in the mountains, we went for a hike yesterday.  The aspens were disappointingly either done or barely changed where we went, but the sky was a pretty blue!

Happy Fall to you!  I'll be linking up with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday - #One Hundred!

Welcome to "I Like Thursday!"  This is my 100th post about things I like/love/or just plain enjoy in life!  Thanks to LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for getting us all started on being positive and celebrating the good things.

I love this rustic old whiskey barrel planter in my backyard that just won't quit blooming!

The leaves are falling all around it, but this still looks like summer!  I think these flowers like the unseasonably warm hot summer-like weather we've had for the last few weeks.

I like discovering this white-lined sphinx moth enjoying another pot of flowers that is still blooming.  They come out at dusk, and that's when I am usually out watering everything.  Mike caught this photo with his fancy camera.

I like watching people do a job that I can't do and don't really know anything about!

The tree trimmers were at our house the other day.  You can't see the lettering on the side of their truck, but they call themselves "Plant Health Specialists."  I thought that was a very lofty title!  But I'm definitely glad they care about our trees and keeping them healthy.

They make a lot of noise and a big mess before all is said and done!

A lot of thumps and bumps and clangs and crashes!

This is a tree we planted when our 37 year old son was born!  It's pretty special to me.

They left us this cool slice off of one of the big branches.  What should we do with it?

And in the sewing room this week, I'm enjoying making slow, but steady progress stitching my Happy Bird blocks together into a quilt top.  This will be a fun quilt!

And before I go, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who left good wishes for my MIL!  She is adjusting to her new living situation in the nursing home as well as we can expect, I think, and seems to have some good moments and some not so good ones.  There are many sweet people there to support her, like the kind woman who does everyone's hair, and the nice maintenance man who helped us with her TV remote, and the sweet nurse who helped Mom try on some new clothes that my SIL brought her.  I am truly thankful for this kind of support system to help my MIL and my husband and his sisters navigate all of these changes.

Hope you're having a great week!  Join us over at LeeAnna's place for more "I Like Thursday" posts.

Dream!

It's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival again over at Amy's Creative Side and I haven't joined in with everyone for a long time.  So I thought I would share my Dream mini quilt, which was originally made this past February for the Project Quilting Challenge "Brave and Bold."

This piece was inspired by the words of Martin Luther King, Jr's "I have a dream" speech, as well as those of one of my favorite musicians, John Lennon.

The letters that make up this mini quilt were free pieced, using rectangles and squares, with stitch and flip corners to create angles.

The background is a blue Grunge and the letters, sun, and binding are bright yellow Kona Sunflower.  I really love blue and yellow together, and this was such a pleasure to work on in cold and dark February!

This mini was not destined to stay with me - instead I sent it off to my niece and her family who were living their dream with a home in Puerto Rico until Hurricane Maria came through and changed all of that.  I just wanted to encourage them to continue to Dream!

Here is the picture my niece sent me of the Dream mini in their new home in Florida.

You can read my original post about creating Dream HERE.

Thanks for visiting today!  Be sure to check out all of the Blogger's Quilt Festival entries at Amy's Creative Side!

WiPs for a Sunday

I have many ongoing Works in Progress, but these are the ones that are on my mind today!

Evolving

My current slow-stitching hexie project:

What I thought was happening two weeks ago -

And how they look right now - 

Can you tell I've been focusing on the blue hexies recently?

I know this will become a table-topper eventually, but it needs to be longer and wider.  I have two more diamonds to attach somehow, but I'm thinking I will also add in a new color - something low volume, cream tone-on-tone.  This project is definitely still evolving!  I work on this a little bit each evening, and am enjoying the slow progress very much!

Almost There

the Squirrel, I mean, Village:

Last week -

This week -  I added these two sections - 

then stitched all the blocks together into a final layout, and worked on the quilting -

It won't take much longer to get this one finished up.  Maybe I will even be slow-stitching some binding later on today!

And one last WiP that has been Overlooked recently!

I last posted about my bird blocks a couple weeks ago, and they are still in this same pile!  Once I finish the quilting and the machine stitching part of the binding for the Village, I'll be able to start sewing these together.  First things first, of course!  

Hope you're having a great weekend! I'll be sharing over at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching and at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Pieces and Parts

Despite my best intentions this week (and a persistent little squirrel:), I didn't complete any blocks for my various Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, but I did work hard on assembling the pieces and parts.

That counts, right?!

There are 25 tiny rails ready to be sewn together.

Earlier in the year, I made a light blue and a very dark blue of these blocks - 

The new block has a mix of light, medium, and dark blues - so a nice transition!  

Pieces and parts for two more Scrappy Sprouts, too!

a medium and a dark to complement the two light ones made back in January!

Progress - just slowly!

Linking up with the RSC ScrapHappy Saturday party at SoScrappy!

I Like Thursday #99 - it's the little things!

Well.  It's been A. Week. at our house - a week of worry about my MIL, whose health is really deteriorating, and has had to be admitted into long-term care - so it's been a week to appreciate small things.

Like this pretty bouquet of marigolds that I cut from my garden to bring in the house the other day.

Or the view out the window where I sit and read every day.

I don't know if you can tell, but there's a hint of fall in those turning leaves out there.  I love the changing of the seasons!

This little bushtit was part of a larger group that found our feeders the other day.  We think they must pass through in spring and fall.  Usually there are 6 or more at a time flitting back and forth, but they are quick, so it's hard to capture them all at once!

This funny sign seen at our favorite Boulder, Colorado, winery when we managed a few hours to get away.

Really, we eat a lot of salads - really!

I've enjoyed adding a few more bits to my village project.  How about a sun, and some birds?

Well, 1 1/2 birds so far!

Or some flowers?

Thanks for the idea, Vicki!

We also enjoyed a walk around our downtown the other day, and watched some artists decorate the sidewalks with their pastels.

I think this one was my favorite.

And finally, I'm liking the apples we're picking right now.

They aren't the prettiest apples you'll ever see, but they do taste good!  Maybe I should attempt a pie?!  :)

Happy Thursday, friends!  I'm joining in with LeeAnna and the other Thursday bloggers over at Not Afraid of Color!