To-Do Tuesday #53

Happy Tuesday and also the first day of September!  I'm checking in today with my weekly to-do list and linking up with Roseanne and friends for the To-Do Tuesday linky party at Home Sewn By Us. 

It's been a good week for getting things done here at the Little Penguin house!  Last week's list included finishing the Tiny Rails quilt, which I renamed Rainbow Rails, and it is done!  Read more about it in my Saturday post here.

I also finished up the purple zigzag row for the rainbow zigzag project, and laid out all of the rows I have so far for a photo.

I just need yellow and red to complete this!

And the pink block for the August Color Challenge is finished, too.

And now we have a new month, which means for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, a new color - RED!  So sorting through my red stash is on the top of this list weeks's list.

1.  I need 4 pairs of about 8 inch squares of red prints mixed with coordinating fabric to make the wonky trees for my RSC project, the Rainbow Jungle.

2.  After that, I'll start working on the HSTs for the red zigzag row.

3.  Piece a backing for this small quilt top I stitched up a couple weeks ago.

This was taken before I had actually sewn the borders on, but they are sewn on now! :)

4.  I'm giving myself permission to play with something mini-sized.  Today it was these blocks that I started awhile back - they were meant to be Wonky Plus blocks, but they look more like X's, so I added a couple of O's and ended up with this:

I think the yellow X's are winning, don't you?!  

These will make a 12.5 inch square, and with some border fabric, 

will become a placemat sized mini quilt.  So, that's where I'm headed!

There's my list for this week.   Sounds doable, I think!    Sharing it at To-Do Tuesday at Home Sewn by Us.

August Color Challenge Block

 Just in the nick of time, I finished up my August Color Challenge Block!  Designed by Jen of Patterns by Jen, this month's block is all in pink and celebrates the flamingo.  If you've made one of these for the challenge, you might notice I had to modify mine a bit - I ran out of the dark pink!  

After I finished the block, I realized there was a section that bothered me.  The arrow points to it in the photo below.  Too bad it was just about in the center...

Deciding I just wouldn't like leaving it that way, I did some careful surgery, and replaced the light pink square with some of the bird print.

That's better!

Here are all my color challenge blocks up on the design wall.  I'm thinking I'll use some of that red nest print for cornerstones eventually.  

This photo does show the color better in my pink block!

Speaking of that red print, the July block is still bothering me!  More surgery may be needed...  Just for fun I remade the large corner HSTs with a cream fabric and the red print, and just laid them on top of the original block.  With a cream square in the center it looks very different!

I think I like that better!

Sharing at the August Color Challenge Link-up at Patterns by Jen.

Rainbow Rails is a finish!

I'm closing out August with a finished quilt - my Tiny Rainbow Rails, all 1250 tiny pieces, is all done!

50.5 x 50.5

I had to hunt around a bit through the past couple years worth of blog posts to find out when I actually started this project and it was way back in September of 2017!   It began, as many of my quilts do these days, with an "I wonder what would happen if..." and some little scraps.

1.5 x 2.5 inch bits of a print sewn to the same size of a neutral = 2.5 inch squares.

25 of these squares sewn together = a 10 inch finished block.

I kept making  these blocks throughout 2018 and 2019 as leaders and enders in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month until I had 25 of them.  A dark, medium, and light version in each colorway, plus one brown and one black/gray block.

Rainbow Rails is quilted with a large spiral, which I started by drawing a diamond shape in the very center square, and then used the points of it to guide the beginning of the spiral.  

I found the perfect backing and binding fabric at Bernie's shop, Needle and Foot Fine Fabrics.  It's called Measure Up by Michael Miller Fabrics!

Although the quilting process isn't my favorite part of a project, I do love the chance to look through all the blocks and see favorite scraps that are in the quilt!

Of course there are penguins!

With Santa hats!

And owls

Cats on purple

And candy corn!

Lots of text fabric

Even a wine bottle or two!

And of course, flowers, swirls, dots, buttons, letters of the alphabet - just about anything you can think of!

In spite of the 90+ temperatures we've been having here this week, I've been determined to finish up Rainbow Rails for this post.

Hand-stitching the binding - 

Note the fan!

I even remembered to add a label!

Can you tell that I am happy to be sharing this finish?!  😍 

Sharing at my favorite weekend link-ups:

SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching 

I Like Thursday #199

It's  Thursday and time to share positives of the past week for "I Like Thursday!"  I think this says it all...

We have to have something to laugh about, right?

I'm not laughing about this, but I did enjoy getting started on a little knitting project the other day.  I haven't done any knitting for a long time, so I thought I'd try a simple dishcloth, and found this tutorial: Easy Knit Dishcloth

The neat thing about it is you only cast on 4 stitches, and then you yarn over once every row to increase up to 45 stitches.  

And look at the pattern it makes.  I'm enjoying working on this!

I like BLT sandwiches, especially when the tomatoes come from my own garden!

The other night we went to the sculpture park near our house to watch the sunset.  The forest fires in our state are making for some dramatic sunsets!

We really liked this sculpture that we came across on our walk.

Just the two of us...

And then, just being silly!

Hope you're having a great week!  I'm joining in with LeeAnna and friends at Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday.

To-Do Tuesday #52

To-Do list #52 - that must mean I've been joining in with this link-up for a year now!  Thank you, Roseanne, at Home Sewn by Us, for hosting the To-Do Tuesday linky party and always encouraging us to get the things on our lists accomplished each week!

And I accomplished a Biggie from my list this week, too - I have my Tiny Rails quilt spray basted...

Thanks, also, to our friend, Wendy, at Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life,

for her tips on spray basting successfully, because they really helped me do a good, thorough job of it, and that's helping the quilting go smoothly, too!

I've been so excited to get moving on this finish that the quilting is almost done!

Whoot Whoot!

What else was on last week's list?

• Sew together the purple HSTs for the zigzag row quilt.  The top and bottom strip are complete, just need the long joining seam sewn.

• Make more neutral string blocks for the Diamond Strings - no progress.
• Play with a couple new projects - I did get another small quilt top sewn together.

For this coming week:

1.  Finish the Tiny Rails quilt!

2.  Sew up the purple zigzag row.

3.  Don't forget it's the end of the month and it's time to make my August Color Challenge block!  I have the fabric pulled - cutting and sewing really shouldn't take too long!

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

A slow stitching finish and some new blocks...

 S is for Sew is all finished!

I did a lot of hand quilting, sort of big stitch style, around the embroidered blocks and through the sashing and pieced border.

I decided to add this little quilt to the "entry" into my sewing room.

Can you tell that a quilter lives here?!

I've also been working on some hand-pieced blocks this week - four patches in a square - using 30s Playtime and Kona solids.

The top blocks are 6 inch squares.  I think I'll make 9 of them 

and make a little doll quilt, just for fun.  

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Progress in Purple

As I was working on sewing up the purple HSTs into a row for my zigzag quilt, I decided to also see if I could add sashing and cornerstones to the color gradient blocks I made in 2019.

I shared this photo of the blocks earlier this week, laid out on the Kona Aloha I decided on for sashing and borders.

After cutting 2.5 inch sashing strips, and deciding on a darker turquoise solid for the four cornerstones I planned on, you'd think it be a quick project to sew everything together into a small quilt top, right?!

Except that I kept making mistakes, sewing blocks and rows upside down and backwards, and who knows what!  I think I wasted about a half of a spool of thread...

Here's how I left the final row of blocks on Thursday afternoon, with the seam ripper, so I'd remember that the first thing I needed to do on Friday was rip that seam out and start over again!

Finally, Friday afternoon, the center of the quilt was completed correctly and strips cut for the borders.  Here's how it is looking now.

The borders are just laid out here, not sewn yet, but 

that should be easy to accomplish, right?!  (wink!)

This will be a small quilt, about 42.5 inches square, but I have an idea for how I'll use it.  More on that later!

Friday morning, my family surprised my mom with a Zoom birthday party for her 89th birthday!  That was so much fun!  All three of my siblings and 5 out of her 6 grandkids were able to join in, and I think she was pretty surprised.  I attempted a screen shot, and of course you can never get one where everyone looks good all at the same time, lol!

Just noticed my brother isn't in this one - he was at work 

and joined in a little later.

I was so happy we could all do this for her.   Usually Mom is here at our house for her birthday (she lives in Arizona), but you know how this year has gone!  Not a good idea for a person of her age to travel right now.  Fortunately, my sister who also lives down there was able to be with her today. 

Happy Saturday!  Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #198

Fall is coming, people!  And I have proof!

Remember this little green pumpkin?

This picture was taken a little over a month ago.

Here's how it looks now!  I'm telling you, fall is coming!

I enjoy gardening, but I have to admit it's all kind of a mystery to me.  Our current garden is a 3 ft x 4 ft raised bed, which says "small" to me.   But look at our pumpkin plant!

When I looked up closer, I discovered two more pumpkins growing.  Maybe they'll ripen closer to the actual pumpkin time!

We've been enjoying homegrown tomatoes for awhile, and then I discovered I also had cucumbers ready to eat!  Small, but so yummy!

I really like hand-piecing so (needing a new evening slow stitching project) I've been playing with a mini charm pack of 30s Playtime, stitching the squares into 4 patches.  I decided to add some solid corner triangles to get a diamond in a square effect.   These will make something small, probably doll quilt sized.

The other night I realized that these are all sweet little floral prints -

a fabric garden!

Hope you're having a great week!  I'm joining in with LeeAnna and all the I Like Thursday bloggers over at Not Afraid of Color.

 

To-Do Tuesday #51

Happy Tuesday!  I'm checking in today with my weekly to-do list and linking up with Roseanne and friends for the To-Do Tuesday linky party at Home Sewn By Us.   

Last week's to-do list included:

Finishing up the 24 HSTs needed for the purple zigzag row.  This one is done!  

These are ready to sew together, and that will go on the list for this coming week.

I also had planned to work on prepping my Tiny Rails quilt for quilting, and there was progress made on that job, although not a lot.  The biggest (possibly worst!) part of that job is cleaning up the little loose threads on the back - especially when you have a quilt top with as many little seams as this one has!  

Still working on this!

I also made two new 6.5 inch neutral string blocks for the border of my diamond strings quilt.  I really intended to make more than that, but got distracted by other squirrelly projects and forgot about the string blocks until yesterday, lol!  

Making these blocks will stay on my list for this week, too!

So, what did I get distracted by?  Well, these...

So fun to make!

And this...

I made these 10 inch color gradient blocks in 2019, and 

hadn't been able to decide what to do with them.    

Shopping in my LQS the other day, I purchased a yard of Kona Aloha, 

and thought I might use it for sashing and borders to pull these blocks together.

It's been a week with some Quilter's A.D.D. going on, but it's all in good fun, right?!  Looks like my to-do list will continue from last week, while I keep playing with the newer projects, too!