I Like Thursday #291

 This week around the house:

I shared this photo on Instagram the other day.  My flower pots are cracking me up this summer!  With the intention of having a mixture of red and white petunias in my two big pots, I planted the same amount of each color.  Apparently the white ones are much happier than the reds!

We're getting a new roof, and Monday the nice young guy we're working with came over with samples so that we could pick the shingles.  Of course, nothing looks quite the same as what we have now, but hopefully we'll be happy with our choice.

We picked the shingles on the right.

Reading and watching:

My favorite "guilty pleasure" author has a new book out, and it's a good one!

I noticed that the streaming network Peacock was showing the new Downton Abbey movie, if you paid $4.99 for their premium service.  So we did it, and enjoyed the movie very much!   

Now we have Peacock Premium for a month, 

so if there's anything you want to recommend for us, let me know!

Out and about:

I needed a day out of the house so we went up to Estes Park and played miniature golf.  So fun!

I found a new (to me) quilt shop up there, too, so we popped in and I hunted around for a few purple fat quarters.  My stash is sadly lacking in purples for my RSC blocks!  Now I should have enough, though.

These will be fun to play with!

Hope you're having a great week!

I'm joining in with "I Like Thursday" at Not Afraid of Color.

To-Do Tuesday #142

 Good morning and happy Tuesday!  It's To-Do Tuesday at Texas Quilt Gal - thanks, Linda for hosting this fun link-up each week!

I'm  enjoying these weekly to-do posts - they give a little structure to my time in the sewing room and also something to blog about later in the week!  

There were lots of small projects on my list last week, and I finished several!  I wish I could pick a favorite... maybe my mom's mug rug.  She sure was pleased with it!  I should have taken a picture of it when we were over there this afternoon.  She's got a nice spot right next to her favorite chair for her water, phone, TV remote, and all the important items!

An unexpected bonus - my Full Spectrum mini quilt, from Kelly Young's book, Scrappy Improv Quilting, is almost finished!  Just some more binding to do.  I'll give you a sneak peek of the back.  The quilting makes a fun design!

The other quilt I wanted to work on is the crumb hearts top I last showed in February.  The center of the quilt top measures 36 inches square.  I had added a bunch of borders to make it bigger, and have ended up not liking it.  I think the borders were overwhelming the pretty center.  So I cut off the borders!  I left a narrow inner border of the aqua, and unstitched the Tula Pink Fairy Dust strips to change them to a single border, like this:

This quilt will end up about 45 inches square, and I think it will make a good one to donate to a children's charity.  During Hands2Help I sent a baby quilt to 

the Cool Kids Campaign in N. Carolina, and I would love to send them more!

So on this week's list:

• Get the crumb heart quilt's borders sewn back on, and start figuring out a backing for it.
• Start on my purple blocks for July - purple is the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I don't have a lot of purple in scraps or stash, so there may need to be some shopping... but I did find two fun fat quarters in purple!

The grapes will become two more new cloth napkins for our dinner table.

The penguins on purple will probably show up in all sorts of projects!  💜

That will keep me busy!

 

Slow Stitching Finish, and what's next?

 I have one more small finish to share for this week.  Last week I showed this little embroidery design from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting, and it didn't take long to finish up.  At Melisa's link there, it shows that she surrounded her embroidery with a churn dash block, so I thought I would do something similar.

I did a little machine quilting and a little hand quilting on this one just for fun!

The backing and binding are a pretty floral scrap leftover from my "Follow the Garden Path" quilt.  I just love this print!

This little mini is hanging on my fridge now (birdie side out!) 

for a summer decoration.

So, what to work on next?  I should trace another embroidery design, because it's always nice to have that ready for some slow stitching.  As soon as we know the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for July, I'll prep some plus blocks to hand-piece, too.

But recently I was the lucky recipient of a package from Mari because of Hands2Help and it has me wanting to try something new!  

Thank you, Mari!

Here I've zoomed in on the yarn:

This is 100% Cotton Chunky Thread by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet.

When I googled it, I saw tutorials for crocheting with it, so I got myself the size crochet hook that's listed on the label.    I crocheted a tiny bit many years ago - do you think it will come back to me?  Off to search YouTube!

Meanwhile, I'm keeping my yarn and crochet hook in this adorable zipper pouch that I also won recently for participating in From My Carolina Home's Stashbuster Challenge this year.  Thanks, Carole!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Table Scraps for June

Every month this year (and last year, too) I've been participating in the Table Scraps Challenge hosted by Joy of The Joyful Quilter.  I usually coordinate my project with the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and whatever extra Challenge Joy adds on each month.

This month in the RSC is dark and bright blues.  And the extra challenge for Table Scraps is Stripes.  So what did I start with?  Red and white squares!  

This was truly a Drop Everything and Make It project, scrappy in that I used up 12 leftover charm squares from a pack of Grunge White Paper.  The two reds are from my stash.  I just *had to* make this!

Sharing at mmmquilts for the June DrEAMi link-up. 

But completing that one did inspire me to try a gingham design in blues, and I ended up with this:

So I got to the blue scraps this time - the dark blue left from PopStar, the bright blue (the medium value) with penguins I've had in my stash awhile, and the light is a low volume with little snowmen drawn on that I also used for a previous Table Scraps project.

I had a scrap of this world map fabric for the backing, and I thought that went well with the penguin theme!  The only problem is that Antartica seems to be left off this section of the map.  I did hand quilt this little mat - it measures about 10 x 15.

My penguins needed a home, so how about right here, next to the comfy chair where I sit to read and sew?!

That took care of the blues, but it's still all squares.   I needed to find a project that included some stripes.   They turned up in this little mug rug I made for my mom.  

Isn't this perfect for this time of year?  Mom likes it!

You'd think I'd be done with the table scraps for the month, but not quite.  I'm just getting started on this one- a table topper requested by our oldest son for a new side table he has for his living room.  And look - some dark blue and stripes!

This is obviously not the final layout, lol!  

I've just made 12 of these 5 inch rail fence blocks.  

I'll need to un-sew the gray piece 

that's sticking out on the right and move it to the left.

So there's my June in Table Scraps! 

 

Sharing at the Joyful Quilter's June Table Scraps link-up,

at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #290

Happy summer, friends!  How's your week going?  I love this time of year - the long daylight hours are so pleasant.  My garden and flowers are growing!  

I've been getting lots of sewing time in.  Awhile back, I shared some crumb blocks I had been making, and they're turning into this mini quilt called Full Spectrum.   It's from Kelly Young's book, Scrappy Improv Quilting.   I participated in her book release blog hop last fall, with a different quilt, but have always wanted to make this one.

Nine blocks made, now to sew them together!

I've been a serial book starter this week!  Do you ever do that?  I just couldn't settle on a book to stick with, until I tried a few.  Then I landed on this one:

Wendy recommended it last week, and when I saw that it was available on Hoopla,

I decided it would be one to try!  

I liked getting my dental appointment out of the way this week.  My dentist's office looks a bit like a log cabin and is even on a small lake, so you can watch the birds out the window.  And you have to love a dentist who decorates the waiting room with quilts!

Joining in with LeeAnna and friends 

for "I Like Thursday" at Not Afraid of Color.

To-Do Tuesday #141

Good morning and happy Tuesday!  It's To-Do Tuesday at Texas Quilt Gal - thanks, Linda for hosting this fun link-up each week!

I've had a good week, with a finish, some progress, and even a squirrel or two!  I posted about my PopStar finish here, and the squirrel project here.    The progress I made this week included finishing up the basket blocks I'm making each month for a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  June has been blue month, and I made three blue baskets.

On this week's list are a couple small projects I'd like to finish up.

• My Table Scraps project for June.  
• A summery mug rug for my mom - it needs to be quilted and bound.

And I'm in decision-making mode about how to finish up one of last year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt tops.  I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but now I've changed my mind!  More next week!

Slow Stitching: Choices

It can be really enjoyable to have choices for what you might want to work on, either for machine stitching or by hand.  Today I have three different projects to stitch on, and I'll probably work on one or the other of these all week long!

A blue tabletopper that I'm hand quilting is the first of the things I'll be working on.  This one has a deadline, so it will be my priority for the next few days.

One more plus block in blue is ready to hand-piece.  That will finish up the June blocks for this Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.

And finally, after finishing up the butterfly embroidery last week, I traced out a sweet and simple design from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting.  These little birds remind of the ones we see at our bird bath, sipping away.  This won't take long to stitch, and I think I'll turn it into a small, summery wallhanging for my fridge.

Hope you're able to enjoy some slow stitching today!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching!

More with blue

It's been a week of a little of this and a little of that.  After finishing PopStar, I knew I needed to work on making HSTs for the Bloom basket blocks I'm making as one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.

And I did do that, but... along the way I went down a rabbit hole and paused to make something else!  I completely blame it all on Instagram.  You know how this goes:  I saw something cute @graceandpeacequilting, which lead to clicking on @amerooniedesigns, which lead to this!

I couldn't resist that rainbow!

This little mini quilt is part of Ameroonie Designs Summer Sewing Series.  She is generously sharing several free tutorials for adorable little quilted items just like I love to make.  Who could resist?!

I did get back on task in the last few days with my blue scraps, and blocks are coming together.

A 4 inch blue star for a summer mug rug for my mom:

And pieces and parts for three Bloom baskets in blue.  Two sewn, and one left to finish up.  Once the HSTs are made, the blocks sew together quickly!

Here they are up on the design wall:

So progress was made after all!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #289

Happy Thursday!  I've been so focused on finishing up my PopStar quilt project, that I haven't thought much about what might go in my Thursday post this week.  I definitely do like finishing up a quilt and am really happy with this one!

Right now, it's hanging over the rocking chair 

in a quilty corner of the bedroom.

It's definitely been hot here - even the wild bunnies are feeling it.  We often see them stretched out on the cool, shady grass, cooling off their bellies.

The pretty landscaping at my mom's place is really showing up, and I love these yellow roses.  Mom lives in a campus of buildings that includes independent and assisted living, and skilled nursing, and they do a wonderful job with all of their landscaping and garden beds.

Speaking of yellow, the American goldfinches were at the thistle feeder the other day, and Mike got a good photo of them.  I always enjoy seeing these birds - they stand out among the plainer house finches.

My book club met the other day, and we discussed a fun read!  This was not a typical book for me  - murder mystery or historical fiction mostly - but I really enjoyed this book.  Here's a link to the Goodreads blurb about it if you're curious to know more.

So there's a few scenes from my week... Hope you've had a good one, too!

Joining in with LeeAnna and friends 

for "I Like Thursday" at Not Afraid of Color.

 

PopStar in Blue

It was that time of year - mid-April to mid-June.  Time again for a quilt-along at Sandra's place: mmmquilts!   For me, it's a "don't miss it" opportunity.   2022 is my fourth year to participate and I've enjoyed it just as much this year as in the previous three.

I really thought Sandra's 2022 design, PopStar, would be fun in a two color combo, so it all began in April with a fabric purchase - two blues and a background white-on-white.  

Weekly steps, beginning with the smallest units, helped the construction of the quilt top go so smoothly.  

May 30th

Once I found a backing, and got the quilt layers basted together, the quilting went really quickly.  Over this last weekend, I attached the binding, and voila!

About 40.5 x 40.5

Quilting is straight lines in a diagonal grid every 2 7/8 inches.

Binding is the same dark blue as the main star.

The backing is a light blue with white stars sprinkled throughout.

An indoor photo:

The label:

Thank you, Sandra, for another fun QAL, and with wonderful results!  Here's my collection!

PopStar - 2022                    Centred - 2020

                            Follow the Garden Path - 2021        Beothuk Star - 2019

Sharing at mmmquilts for the PopStar Quilt Parade!