One more tiny project

A friend in my local quilt group is decorating and donating a small Christmas tree for a charitable silent auction, and I wanted to contribute something to her efforts.  All of her decorations are to be sewing/quilting related.

After finishing up my Tiny Christmas Runner a few weeks ago, I realized that I could use those tiny embroidered designs to make some ornaments.  In order to do that, I traced the embroidery designs onto a larger piece of background fabric with some space between them, and stitched them up one evening this past week.

To make one ornament, I cut the embroidery into 2.5 inch squares, and made a tiny quilt sandwich with a piece of batting and a scrap of flannel.

A scrap of Christmas fabric, 1.5 x 8 inches was pressed, folded, and sewn into a loop for the hanger.

To give the ornament a little more shape, I added a smaller piece of batting behind the embroidery.  Then I pinned everything together and stitched around the square, 1/4 inch from each edge.  To finish the edges, I dug out my mom's old pinking shears and trimmed all the way around!

Sweet and simple!  

An hour or so later, here they all are!

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

Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Tiny Tuesday is a flimsy!

Part way there...

All the way there!

49.5 x 57

I've been going back and forth about borders or not.  I don't have anything in my stash that would work, and I kind of like it the way it is right now.  It is "big enough" for my purposes!  I think it does need a bright binding - I'm thinking red!   Hopefully, I'll come up with backing and binding for it this week.

So many favorite blocks - 

I could really share them all!

I sure enjoyed this year of tiny blocks!  Hoping for a finish before too long.  Happy ScrapHappy Saturday to all of you!  Sharing at SoScrappy.

I Like Thursday #162 - Thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends who are celebrating today!

We are not having the Thanksgiving we planned on...

because we got 19.8 inches of snow this week!

But there's still plenty to be thankful for.

Like that snowblower pictured above - it makes uncovering the driveway and sidewalks so much easier!

I'll be missing my sons this Thanksgiving, but I'm so thankful for Facetime and telephones and email - all the different ways we can connect with loved ones these days.  I'm thankful to be warm and safe in my little house, as are my kids in their homes, with plenty to eat and do even though it's cold outside.

I'm thankful for so many good books to read, like this one that I finished on our snow day.

Such a good story about a young woman who is in a plane crash

 and loses the use of her legs.   We follow her through rehab and family relationships, of course, rooting for her all the way. 

I'm thankful to be part of the quilty blogging community!  Look who I had lunch with the other day - 

Milo!  Oh, and LeeAnna and Drew, too!   :) We had a great time sitting out on the restaurant patio in the sun and talking about this and that.   I'm thankful for our "I Like Thursday" community!

I'm thankful for fabric to play with, and lovely little free tutorials that you run across online and think, "I have to try that!"  

Four patch in a square tutorial

from Blue Elephant Stitches

So much to be thankful for!  My husband who makes me laugh daily, my sons who are interesting, hardworking, good guys,  and family and friends near and far that I share life with.  

Hope you're having a great week!  Joining in with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday!

To-Do Tuesday #14 - Change of plans...

This was going to be a week without much of a to-do list.  Pack up the food and a few clothes, get in the car Wednesday, and head out for our annual Thanksgiving roadtrip to visit our kids.

And then they started in on the weather reports.

We live in the area that says 12 - 22 inches!  And we would be traveling up through the northeastern Colorado plains into Nebraska where predictions are very similar.  And no matter where you look, the forecasters are saying the same thing.  "High confidence!   Impassible roads!  Don't travel!"  I say, "Darn it!"  😥

So now this week's to-do list is this:

1.  Make sure there is plenty of gas for the snowblower! ✔

2.  Stock up on food! ✔

3.  Have plenty of good books and sewing projects on hand - no problem there! ✔

Okay, we're ready for the blizzard. 

We are expecting company next Monday and Tuesday, so it won't be too hard to get the house ready since we'll be home all week, rather than out of town.

I did get some things done on last week's to-do list!

My Thanksgiving tablerunner is finished - 

The Tiny Tuesday blocks are about 50% sewn together into a quilt top - 

They are farther along than this picture shows.

And my Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop project is finished.  Just need to write up the post - I guess there will be plenty of time for that this week, so put it on the list!

The blog hop starts next Monday at Just Let Me Quilt.  My day is Tuesday, December 3rd!  I'm looking forward to enjoying all the bloggers who are participating.

Have a great week, friends!  Hope yours is filled with family and friends, but not snow!  Linking up with Roseanne at Home Sewn by Us for To-Do Tuesday.

Last in the Series

In early October I set out to make a little Fall quilt with some oranges and browns I had found on a trip to the Oregon coast.

Those three fat quarters resulted in these two pieces - one for me and one for my mom.

For the backing of both little pieces, I had gotten this sweet fabric that I just love!

I definitely wanted to make something with this featured on the front.

When Carole of From My Carolina Home shared a tutorial for placemats during her Autumn Jubilee series, I knew just what to stitch up!

I combined two placemats into one tablerunner, 

knowing that I would enjoy having this on my table everyday!

Besides using up a few more scraps from the previous projects, I enjoyed adding some yellow and turquoise this time.

I quilted this one really simply using the serpentine stitch on my Pfaff, and bound it in the turquoise dots.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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

And at Sandra's November DrEAMi link-up!

Chain Piecing

Or maybe I should call it chain "Rowing" because I'm sewing my Tiny Tuesday blocks into rows!  I wonder if calories are burned while I'm rowing, lol!

I have to admit that this stage of quilt construction is not my favorite, but I do enjoy revisiting each block as I feed it through my machine.  So many sweet blocks!

Thank you, Angela, and all of the guest designers for your weekly blocks!  

It's been a fun year of sewing and seeing what develops!

Now and then, as I sew my rows, a squirrel runs by that I have to chase.  How about a Christmas-y sort of rainbow?

More about this one next month!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #161 - British Invasion

I've been immersed in British accents this week!

We've been watching Season 9 of Doc Martin via Acorn TV, which we can get through the local library.  I love this show!   It never fails to make us laugh.

And then there's Season 3 of "The Crown," on Netflix.  The new, older actors are doing a great job.  I enjoy reading about the real, historical events while watching the drama.

Meanwhile, I am also listening to the audiobook version of The Gown, a historical fiction story of the women who embroidered and sewed Queen (then still a princess) Elizabeth's wedding gown in 1947.  I loved reading the book back in September, but my book club is discussing it at our December get together, so I thought this would be a good way to remind myself of the characters and storyline.

I've enjoyed listening to the British reader of the book, Marisa Calin, who does a wonderful job with the different kinds of accents.  Soon, I'm sure I'll be speaking in a British accent myself!  :) 

In other likes this week, I've enjoyed finishing up my little Christmas squirrel.

I think one of the things that draws me to handwork like embroidery and big stitch quilting lately is the textures they create.  I'm going to be one of those little old ladies in the home that needs a fidget blanket to keep herself occupied!

And I love my new wool socks.  Found a package of these at Costco, which I was so happy about because I wore holes in last year's batch.  They are warm, comfy, and fun to wear!

Hope you're finding lots to like this week!  Join me at Not Afraid of Color for lots more I Like Thursday posts.

To-Do Tuesday #13

Happy Tuesday!  How's your week going?  I'm trying to get myself off to a good start with another edition of my weekly To-Do list.

Last week's list included making progress on my two main Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.

1.  The Tiny Tuesday blocks are off the design wall, in piles for each row, and sewing them together has started.

2.  Make progress on the Scrappy Sprouts, including cutting lots of 2.5 inch squares for the sky.  Yes, progress has been made, even more since this picture was taken!

3.  Work on my project for a December blog hop.  Yes, did that!  I won't share a picture of that project, but playing with the Christmas scraps did lead to a little squirrel that has been fun.  More about this Tiny Christmas Runner here.

4.  Roast a turkey!  ✔  All done, cleaned up, and put away, although no photos were taken.  Leftovers are packaged up to take along on our annual Thanksgiving road trip to see our kids.  I did make some yummy turkey soup for Mike and me to enjoy this week!

So what's on this week's list?  More of the same in the sewing room, with one addition.

1.  Continue to make progress on the RSC projects.

2.  Finish up the blog hop project - it's a small one so that should be doable.

3.  I still have one fall/Thanksgiving project to finish up.  This tablerunner is all pieced, just needs quilting and binding.  I really *ought* to be able to finish this before Thanksgiving, right?!  :)

This design is based on Carole's pattern for fall placemats at From My Carolina Home.  I decided to turn two placemats into one tablerunner. 

4.  Around the house this week - I need to dust!  Is that anyone's favorite housework task?  Definitely not mine!  But if I write down that I will do it, I'll have to hold myself to it!  (wink!)

Thanks go to Roseanne at Home Sewn by Us for hosting the To-Do Tuesday link-up.  I'll be sharing over there!

A little squirrel...

and some Slow Sunday Stitching!

Lately, I've really been enjoying some simple embroidery combined with patchwork, so when Kathy shared this Tiny Christmas Runner in her post last Sunday (designed by Gail Pan), I knew I would need to make it!

Earlier in the week, I printed off the design and traced it out.  It only took a few evenings to stitch up the fun little shapes in a variegated red DMC floss that I had.

Since I just *happened* to have some Christmas fabric scraps out on my cutting table, :) I quickly sliced off the strips I needed for the patchwork, sewed everything together, and there it was!

For my Sunday afternoon stitching, I'll be adding some hand quilting to this little piece and maybe even sewing on the binding!

Thanks, Kathy!  Sharing at Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's Quilts. 

Moving Along

When I left off with Scrappy Sprouts last week, I had deconstructed one column of blocks from the right side of the quilt and was working on rearranging them into a narrower, but taller group.

Meanwhile, all the Tiny Tuesday blocks are finished, and grouped into rows, ready to sew together.

I knew I'd need an additional sprout to even things out, and decided it needed to be a lighter color - so I made one in lime green!

With the addition of some more Kona grass green, the sprouts were sewn back together, and I'm happier with the size now.  This section measures about 48 x 48.

You can see that I've started working on the sky section now, too, laying out 2.5 inch squares, starting with low volumes like I used in the sprouts blocks and transitioning into blues.  The top needs to be about 12.5 x 48, so that's a lot of little squares to cut!

But Scrappy Sprouts is moving along, and I'm so happy about that!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #160

Welcome to my regular Thursday "I Like" post, and thanks for visiting!  Thanks as always to LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for hosting our positive posts.

The other night I was not inspired in any way to cook dinner, until Mike said, "How about pancakes?"  (Aha!  Lightbulb moment!)  And yummy, too!

I'm enjoying this little Gail Pan embroidery project that Kathy at Kathy's Quilts shared in her Sunday post.  I got it traced and started stitching on it last night.  

This will be a quick one to finish!

Monday morning I was interested in seeing Mercury transit the sun by "watching" it on NASA's website.  But, meanwhile, we went to Starbucks for a coffee date, and this man had set up his telescope outside for people to look at Mercury and the sun in real time.  So neat!

Tuesday was my day to go read aloud to a 3rd grade class at one of our elementary schools.  I love reading to kids, and used to do it daily with my 5th graders.  The best compliment came from one of the little girls as I was getting ready to leave - "When are you coming back?"

We enjoyed this movie on Netflix the other night - it's in the Hallmark Christmas movie genre - light and sweet.  And hey, Africa, baby elephants, and Rob Lowe - what's not to like?!

And, finally, I confess to being a bit of a Chapstick addict, so when I saw this online the other day, I just had to laugh!

Hope you're having a great week!