To-Do Tuesday #7

Good morning, friends!  It is Monday morning as I write this.  I'm at the Portland airport waiting to board the plane to head home from a lovely vacation.  A day or two ago, I was wandering a beautiful beach on the coast, something like this...

Now, of course, you know what I'm facing...

And this, too...

Thank you to Google for helping me to illustrate this week's To-Do list!

Meanwhile, since I've been away from my sewing machine for a week, I have lots I want to do in the sewing room.

• Get caught up on my Tiny Tuesday blocks - last week's Bright Hopes block, seen here, and whatever comes out as this week's block.  I think I want to make one more of each color so that I have at least 6 each of 9 different colors, for 54 total Tiny Tuesday blocks.
• Depending on October's color choice for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I will definitely have other things I want to work on - string blocks, color gradient blocks, crumb blocks.
• I want to cut out some pieces to stitch some hand-pieced pumpkins like Patty at Elm Street Quilts is sewing.  I wasn't able to get to that before we left town.

On our trip I started working on this sweet embroidery piece from my Gail Pan book.  I definitely want to make progress on it this week!

The variegated blue floss is so soothing to embroider with.  

No decisions to be made, just stitch along!

That's it for my list this week - it remains to be seen what I actually accomplish beyond tackling that big pile of laundry!

Hope your week is getting off to a great start!  Sharing my list at Home Sewn by Us.

Scrappy Purples

I've been away from my sewing machine this week, but before we left home, I stitched up a purple crumb block.  I've been sewing these all year with the bits and pieces that didn't fit anywhere else.

This block is about 8 x 10 inches.

I've made a lot of these crumb blocks throughout the year, and had some fun playing with them on my design wall the other day.

You can see that my crumb blocks are all different sizes!

Sometimes I just need a leader or ender to put under the needle, 

and then I throw it in the crumb box where it is forgotten!

I can kind of see a Scrap Vortex design happening here, 

but with a colorwash effect going on.  

I think I'll keep working on this!

We have so enjoyed our week in Oregon! 

There are a couple more days ahead of us before we head home.  Happy weekend, all! 

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #153 - Vacation!

I have just a quick check-in today for I Like Thursday, because I am on vacation!  Whoo hoo!

Mike and I are visiting the Oregon Coast - a place we love and enjoy coming back to.  So here are three peeks at what I've liked here so far!

We've enjoyed some Oregon wines -

And a beautiful, but windy, day created these amazing waves - 

And finally (but not really because we have several more days here) - the best birthday present ever!

Hope you're having a great week!  Don't forget to visit all of the I Like Thursday bloggers at Not Afraid of Color!

Sawtooth Stars Quilt Top

There's something so satisfying about sewing a pile of quilt blocks that you've been working on for awhile into a quilt top!  And that's what I spent some time doing this week.

This project started as a challenge to myself in 2018 to use up a fat quarter bundle of Blush and Bloom by Melissa Ybarra for Windham Fabrics in a way that featured the pretty floral fabrics.

So I started by making Sawtooth Stars in various sizes, always making sure I had blocks that finished at 12 inches.

I think the smallest one is my favorite!

As the scraps from the fat quarter bundle got smaller, I started making alternate blocks based on four patches to fill in between the star blocks until I had 20 blocks in all.

This measures about 49 x 61.

It turns out I'm pretty happy with the way this quilt top has turned out!  And it did use up almost all of the fat quarter bundle, except for some pretty small pieces.  I've been sorting them by color and size and seeing where they might fit into other scrappy projects.

Now I just need to get some batting and the backing fabric picked out, and get this one quilted!

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

Design Wall in Purple

More little bits of purple have been stitched together for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects this week!

You can see that I'm going to end up with two more purple Tiny Rails blocks, one in lavendar, and one in the darker purples.  The one on the bottom is last year's purple block, and is a combination of darks and lights.  I need to do an inventory of those blocks and see what's left to make.  I think I'm getting close to my goal of 30!

This week's Tiny Tuesday block - Card Trick - thanks, Angela!

And I finished up the purple color gradient block.  Here are all the blocks I've made.

This needs an orange block and a turquoise block.  Wonder if I can pull those colors together in a good range from dark to light?!  I'll be giving that a try soon!

Hope you've been having fun with your purple scraps this week!  See more purple goodness over at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #152

Welcome and thanks for visiting my weekly post of things I've liked!  So many different ones have caught my eye this week.

This, found on Facebook the other day -

Who knew?!  :)

The bushtits have been visiting our suet feeder this week.  We love seeing them and hearing the cheerful sounds they make!

They definitely hang out in groups!

Colorful cherry tomatoes from my wild and crazy plant - 

used to make some tasty salsa!

Fresh everything - tomatoes, jalapenos, onion, and cilantro.

Yummy!

A new embroidery piece I'm working on - not from my Gail Pan book - but a cute one I saw on someone else's blog.  "When life gives you scraps, make quilts!"

Go HERE to "The Painted Quilt" to find this free download on her sidebar.

This blog is no longer active, but the quilter has generously left her patterns up for us.

And speaking of embroidery - this is a really good book!

Have you heard of it?  It is historical fiction, so based on a real historical event - the women who did all of the applique and embroidery on Queen Elizabeth's wedding gown in 1947.  Not much is really known about these women except that they worked for the man who actually designed the gown, but the author has done a great job of telling what could be their story!  

A peaceful spot along the trail from a hike we did last week - 

And "Cheers!" from me to you!  We enjoyed a picnic at our favorite winery in Estes Park after our hike. 

Have a great Thursday!  Don't forget to check out the other positive Thursday posts at Not Afraid of Color!

To-Do Tuesday #6

Good morning, friends!  Hope your week is getting off to a good start!  I'm working on my To-Do list for the week so that I can share it at Roseanne's Tuesday link-up at Home Sewn by Us.

Last week I wanted to :

1.  Work on one of my WiPs - Floral Sawtooth Stars - and I did!  Although I spent more time *thinking* about working on it than actual stitching time, lol!

One of the alternate blocks I had made was bothering me... too many dark blues in that big four patch!

So, I took it apart, cut up the big blue pieces, and remade it.  Here are all 20 blocks up on my design wall, as of Sunday afternoon.  The remade block is the second from the left in the bottom row.

Without driving myself too crazy, I tried to spread out the dark blues and the bright pinks, and I think I can be happy now with this layout.

2.  Of course, I worked with my purple scraps, and finished up the Tiny Tuesday blocks - more about that HERE.

3/4.  I finished a couple of small embroidery pieces during my evening slow stitching.  These are destined to become pincushions and will be gifts for friends!

5.  I made those phone calls, and got some appointments taken care of!  When I called for the mammogram, the person said, "How about Thursday at 10?"  Okay, so that's over with.  Unfortunately I got the dreaded phone call to come back for a second mammogram and an ultra sound - darn it!  That will be happening tomorrow.  

Definitely on the To-Do List :  Try to think positive thoughts!  

Also for this week - 

1.  Make some more progress on my Sawtooth Star quilt - sew the blocks into rows at least!

2.  More with purple - finishing up a few of those blocks that are in progress, and the Tiny Tuesday when Angela posts it.

3.  I'm combining my to-dos for slow-stitching into one item.  It probably doesn't even need to be on the list because I really do stitch every evening, but one thing  I do need to  do this week is make myself up a kit to take on an upcoming trip!

This is my travel project bag.

4.  Get ready for the trip - finish up the planning and pack!  Whoo hoo!

Looking forward to a little of this in my future!

Have a great week, everyone!

Playing in the Solid Scraps

Say hello to my drawer of solid fabrics...

It's pretty full, with everything from yardage to pretty small pieces.

I haven't used much from this drawer  in awhile.

But then, I saw that Lori of Humble Quilts is having a quilt along called Almost Amish.  Solids are called for - certainly I have enough of the right colors in my drawer to sew along?  And we're making a small piece - about 21" square, if I remember right.

Lori's color recommendation are brown, black, maroon, green, blue, and a light or white.

Here's what seems like it will work from my drawer - 

Black, ivory, light blue, a darker (greenish) blue, a plum/maroon, and a khaki for the brown.

Step 1 was posted on Friday, HERE, so I sewed up some four patches.

They are the maroon and ivory together, and brown and light blue.

Should be interesting!

Fun to play with these scraps and turn them into something!  Sharing at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Bits and Pieces of Purple

Sometimes progress in my sewing room is measured in bits and pieces, and this week was like that!

You can see, there's lots of purple pulled out to stitch up!

After finishing last week's Storm at Sea, it didn't take long to be ready for a lantern block.

Along the way, I worked with 2.5 inch squares, 1.5 x 2.5 inch rectangles, and crumb pieces that don't fit into any particular category.

Some of those pieces are very dark purple!

All caught up on September's Tiny Tuesday blocks.  Yay!

I'll leave you with these pretty purple wildflowers that we spied on a hike this week.

Happy ScrapHappy Saturday!

Visit Soscrappy for lots more purple inspiration!

I Like Thursday #151

Good morning, friends, and Happy Thursday!  Thanks for visiting as I join in the weekly get together over at Not Afraid of Color!

This cherry tomato plant (bush? tree?) is cracking me up!

It never produced any tomatoes all summer, but all of a sudden it is going crazy!  

I love these little tomatoes, but am not sure what I will do with so many of them.

I love rain!  So refreshing!

We haven't had any measurable precipitation since the beginning of July in our part of the state, but this past week, it has rained a couple different times.  One storm even woke us up in the middle of the night!

I love my husband!  Last Saturday was the CU - Nebraska game.  Mike was born and grew up in Nebraska, so on this one day of the year, he has to root against the University of Colorado.  He always wears his Nebraska ball cap that day.

Our son, Andy, who grew up here in Colorado, but went to college in Nebraska and lives there now, always roots for the University of Colorado.  Andy was the happy one last Saturday!

I like this book that I checked out of the library the other day.

The subtitle is what caught my attention - 

"English Paper Piecing beyond the Hexagon."

I'd like to try some different shapes for this kind of hand stitching.

And I like how my Tiny Storm at Sea  block turned out.  At least I can say it's not too bad!  It was paper pieced and has some bulky spots where the blocks come together so does not lay flat.  But I'm keeping it!

Hope you're having a great week!  I have to go get a mammogram today.  Not my favorite thing, but good to get it out of the way.  See you soon!

To - Do Tuesday #5

I've been enjoying writing a To-Do Tuesday post each week for the last month or so, and joining in with Roseanne at Home Sewn by Us at her Tuesday link-up.  Now it's becoming a weekly habit, like my other posts are!

How'd I do on last week's To-Do list?  Let's see!

1.  Finish the Little Baskets quilt.  ✔ Done!  More in my Sunday post about this project HERE.

2.  Work with my purple scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. ✔  Not necessarily done - purple goes all month - but definitely worked on.

My Tiny Tuesday Storm at Sea in progress - 

3/4.  Hand stitching projects - always in progress!  I'm continuing to work on embroidery pieces from my Gail Pan book, and also finished another hand-pieced blue and white block.

5.  Get ready to host my book club.  ✔  Yes!  House cleaned, cookies baked for a treat, book read.

Peanut butter cookies are one of my favorites!  

It's always nice to have an excuse to bake!

So, what's on for this week?

1.  I'd like to make some progress on one of my longer term WiPs.  I finished up the alternate blocks that go with these Floral Sawtooth Stars back in July.  It's time to get the quilt top together!

2.  Working with the purple scraps - always.  I need to finish up that Storm at Sea block, plus the new one for this week when it comes out.  There are other things to sew in purple as well!

3/4. Hand -stitching projects are always on the list as I work on them every evening.  I have pieces cut for another blue and white block, plus more embroidery designs traced.

5.  Around the house - I have some phone calls to make.  September is my birthday month, and this year, it's the birthday that qualifies me for Medicare.  That means I have to connect with some new doctors, and (oh yes) schedule that mammogram appointment. :)  I'll get right on that!  

Linking up with Roseanne at Home Sewn by Us for To - Do Tuesday!