Halloween Stitching

 It has been a fun week for some Halloween stitching - both fast and slow!  I finished the main part of my Autumn Jubilee quilt top.  Check out Carole's version at the link.

At this point it is 36 inches square, a good size for my table. 

I could add a final border, which the pattern calls for, 

but I may stop right here!

Meanwhile I played with the scraps, and dropped everything else to make this little hand-pieced mug rug!

I spent a couple very pleasant evenings, piecing these little squares together, adding some hand quilting stitches through all of them, and finishing it up with the binding.

And then there's the Pumpkin Patch!

Just a little of this left to stitch!  That will be my Sunday Slow Stitching today.

Sharing at:

Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching  

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Mmmquilts for the October DrEAMi link-up 

Happy Halloween!

Piles of Blocks!

I have to admit something to you - it's my quilty little secret... I love making quilt blocks.  With all the inspiration out there in blogland, and the rainbow of scraps and stash in my sewing room, I get to this time of the year, and I have made piles of blocks!  The problem is that I stall out on turning these into quilts...

My sewing room used to be our basement family room,

and it has a fireplace at one end.  Guess what piles up there?!

Lots of blocks!  Wonky stars, crumb hearts, bonus HSTs, Easy Breezies, and chandelier blocks... so far.  

Over the months of 2021, as I've added to my block collections, I've had multiple ideas for how to finish them into quilts: block layouts, alternate blocks, background fabrics, combining blocks, you name it.  I even purchased some background fabric choices to possibly go with some of my blocks.  I shared some of my ideas here on the blog, but none of them really stuck.

Kona Aruba and Tula Pink's Fairy Dust

I love these and want to use them somehow!

So, some of this week's sewing time has been devoted to trying again to make some decisions about my block collections.   

• Chandelier blocks: there are only 18 of these.  I'm putting them in a project box and will continue making more in 2022.

• Easy Breezy blocks: there are 25 of these.  I like the chain they make here, but I tried the Tula Pink fabric as an alternate block, and it's too busy!  These were fun to make as leaders and enders, but the truth is I've kind of lost interest in them.

• Crumb Hearts:  I love these and I think I'm ready to work on something with them.  This week I put them on the design wall and added squares of the Fairy Dust in between.  I'm saying this one's a "Yes!"

Okay, but what about those two blank spots in the bottom right corner?

My first thought was, what scraps have I not used for crumb blocks?  There were lots in the gray bin, so I tried this:

That's sort of interesting - it's like I switched the photo to gray scale!

Another thought was to make a heart with all the colors in it, like this.

I like that!

So, now I have them filling the empty spaces.

I had planned to use the Kona Aruba and the bonus HSTs with these blocks, too.  Maybe something like this for a border?

This could work!

• The last set of blocks are these wonky stars.  I started making them as an alternate block to go in between something  - the Easy Breezies? the Crumb Hearts?  Anyway, there are 12 of them.  I think I'm just going to turn them into a mini quilt - something quick and simple.

So, for now at least, I have a path forward with the Crumb Hearts, and that's what I'll be working on!  Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #258

Happy Thursday, and Happy Halloween Week!  I had to raid my mom's sock drawer for some festive socks this morning.  These just make me smile!

And because it's pumpkin time, I finally cut open the little pumpkin I grew in my garden and roasted it in the oven.

Then I mashed up the pumpkin and made my favorite pumpkin bread recipe, Pumpkin Orange Bread, from Carole at From My Carolina Home.

Carole's recipe doesn't call for chocolate chips, but Mike suggested we add them,

and the bread is very yummy that way!

My page turner for the week is Elin Hilderbrand's latest book, Golden Girl.  It's a really good story!

This rose has been blooming over at my mom's place for the last several times I've been over to visit her.  This photo was taken on Tuesday, October 26th! Wow!

And, finally, I've been having fun playing on my design wall this week.  While working on the pieced border for my Halloween (Autumn) Jubilee, I also put up some of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  Just playing with some possibilities!

More about these in my weekend posts!

Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday, 

hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  

To-Do Tuesday #109

 Good morning!  I'm joining in with Linda and friends at Texas Quilt Gal for the To-Do Tuesday link-up, sharing what I've been working on and my new list for this coming week.

This past week I worked on the Autumn Jubilee QAL project from Carole at From my Carolina Home.  This is where I left off:

The center out to the maple leaves is sewn together.

The next border is the squares that you see on the top and left.

I also got the backing for Positivity pieced and it is now spray basted and ready to quilt!

The other thing on last week's list was to finish up my October Table Scraps placemat, which I did, and you can read about that in my Saturday post here. 

So, on this week's list:

• Keep going on Autumn Jubilee - two borders left to go, then finishing.
• Get started quilting Positivity!
• Assess where I am with other Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks/projects, and decide on one to move forward in the coming months.

I think those things will fill up my week!  What's on your list?

Hand-Pieced Progress

 Friday afternoon, I had my hand-pieced Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt to this point - two eight block units and the bottom four block strip.

Friday evening I stitched like crazy and got the whole quilt top finished up!

I'm so happy with how this is going!  Next steps are pressing it, figuring out a backing, and getting it ready to hand quilt.   So, back to embroidery for now.  

Today's slow stitching will be to finish this design up...

Almost done!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Table Scraps in Bright Green

This month's Table Scraps placemat started with some Kaffe charm squares and a small piece of Kona Butter out of my solids drawer.  (It's a very pale yellow, and hard to photograph correctly!)  I decided to make hour glass blocks (3.5 inches finished) this time.  

I was able to make 12 hour glass blocks, and then in order to bring the piece up to size, I added a couple strips of Kona Grass Green to two sides.   Here it is prior to quilting.

And, ta-dah!  Placemat #10 for the year!

This photo makes the yellow look really bright, 

but look at this one...

This time the yellow is all washed out!  

However, this does show the bright green backing - a fun print!  There was just enough left of the backing and Kona Butter to piece the binding.

Here's the whole rainbow of placemats!  Pink, red, orange, yellow, two greens, two blues, a turquoise, and a purple.

My LQS has a group that is sewing placemats for Meals on Wheels, so I'm hoping to pass these on to them in the next week or so.  I'll still work on Table Scraps projects in November and December, but I'm thinking mug rug size now.  I've got some ideas and plans - more on that next month!

Thanks, Joy, from The Joyful Quilter, for this fun year long challenge!  I think maybe I've used up a few scraps! 

Sharing at SoScrappy  for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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

I Like Thursday #257

 

Happy Thursday!

The skies have been interesting in our neck of the woods recently!  There was an air show out at the airport here, east of town, and the Navy Blue Angels did a big performance.  They started practicing last Thursday and then performed on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.  We didn't need to go out there with the crowds to see them, they flew right over our house!

So fun to see!

Back on earth, I just finished an entertaining page turner!

The president's daughter has been kidnapped, and only the president (who is a former Navy Seal) can save her.  I couldn't put this one down!  It's the second in the series.

This adorable design is the One Stitch at a Time club's October design.  I'm planning to get it traced so that I can work on it this coming week, with Halloween coming.

Pumpkin Patch

Hope you're having a great week!

Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday, 

hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  

To-Do Tuesday #108

 Good morning!  I'm joining in with Linda and friends at Texas Quilt Gal for the To-Do Tuesday link-up, sharing what I plan to be working on this week.

Last week, I was determined to finish up the little 4 Patch quilt, and I did, along with the orange row for my Full Stop sampler quilt.  You can read about both of them in my Saturday post, here.  

I also wanted to work on some blocks for the Autumn Jubilee QAL hosted by Carole at From My Carolina home.  Four out of eight maple leaf blocks are made as well as the center star.  This will end up as a 40 inch square tabletopper - I'm using Halloween prints for this project.

On this week's list...

• I want to get going on the next quilt to finish, Positivity.  Backing fabric is purchased, batting and spray basting are on order from Amazon!   The next step will be to piece the backing.

• Time to finish up this month's Table Scraps project in bright green.  I've been playing with some Kaffe charm squares and a light yellow solid, making hourglass blocks.

• And, of course, keep working on the maple leaf blocks for the Autumn Jubilee QAL.  The next directions come out on Friday.

Have a great week, everyone!

Slow stitching this week...

 has been all about sewing these hand-pieced scrappy trips blocks together.  

First in twos - 

Then into fours -

It won't be long until the whole top is together, even with hand-piecing it!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

One finally finished and a little bit more...

**I'm recycling an older post about one of the quilts I'm donating for Hands2Help this year.  It's a favorite finish of 2021, and a great way to use scraps in a simple design.  I call this quilt Rainbow Four Patch.**

Hooray for a Rainbow Scrap Challenge finish!  I started making these rainbow 4 patches as a leader/ender project sometime in early 2020.  It was a way to use up more of the smallest scraps, this time in 2 inch squares.  This is the first photo I could find of them from last February.

3 inch finished blocks - I made 112 of these!

Then, of course, I started combining the 4 patches with a light blue Grunge to make 6 inch blocks, and worked on a layout I liked.

Figuring out what I needed!

So... this week, the Rainbow 4 Patches are finally finished!

This makes a nice child-sized quilt, about 43 x 49.

And the back is fun, too!  Little Red Riding Hood pieced with some dark green Grunge to make it long enough and wide enough.

I think this will be a good one to send to Little Lambs of Utah!  Sharing at Mari's H2H link-up for Sunday, March 27, 2022.

I Like Thursday #256

Happy Thursday!  Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday, hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  

One day last week, we went for a scenic drive to see the Colorado fall colors, and it was beautiful.  We came across this scene - leaves and llamas!

A flock of blackbirds visited our neighborhood for a day, and they were interested in our yard because of all the bird seed.   This photo just shows maybe 1/5 of them.  I wish you could have heard the noise they made!

Speaking of the neighborhood...

I finally got around to making some applesauce out of the apples we picked recently.  It is so yummy!  I don't think there's a better scent than cooking apples with some cinnamon mixed in.

Also this week, my book club met.  We read the best book!  I definitely recommend it.  There is some sadness to it, but worth the read.

And last, but definitely not least, I've been enjoying this Kathy Schmitz embroidery design this week!   Slowly stitching along with my favorite DMC variegated blue floss, Laguna Blue, is such a lovely pleasure!

Have a great day!