Slow stitching for Sunday...

I've had this Kathy Schmitz design traced and in progress for awhile, but not sure I've ever shared it on the blog.  It's called "Robin Lane."  It seemed like a good Spring design to work on in between other projects.  The robin and the birdhouse stitched up quickly, but the leaves and flowers are a bit tedious.  I think it will be pretty when finished, though!

So, I stitch some leaves for awhile, and then work on something else in between.  The little Spring stamp, "Bluebird and Bees," designed  by Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting was so fun, I decided to try another one.  This was stamp #8 in her Spring SAL, "A Spring Day."  It stitched up so quickly, I didn't even take any photos of the process!

I'll have to figure out how to finish this one.  It's stitched

on a kind of loose cloth that I found in my stash 

(probably out of a kit from years ago) and it really wants to unravel!

Today it's back to the leaves and flowers on Robin Lane!  Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching!

ABC Table Scraps for April

April's color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been purple, and the letters for the Table Scraps Challenge are Y and N...

So what did I come up with?  Another orphan block to do something with?  Yes!

But did I use it in its original 12.5 inch square?  No!  I apparently didn't take any in process photos, but you'll get the idea.  I cut the big square into 4 smaller 6.25 inch squares and sewed them back together in a long narrow strip.  

Finished, this measures 6.25 x 23.5.

It was hard to find anything really good for the backing so I chose this gray check, and a multi-shaded purple/lavender batik for the binding.

The best thing about this long, narrow Table Scrap mini is where it fits - right here on the top of a small desk we have in the corner of our dining room.

Perfect!

Linking up with the ABC Table Scraps Challenge at the Joyful Quilter,

also at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #333

Bonjours!  Comment vas-tu?  Can you tell I speak a little French?  I studied it from 2nd grade through college - many years ago now!  But I still remember a little bit of it.  "Voila la Cote D'Azur!"   That's from the old school language labs we used to do - did you have those in your high school?

Way back in 1971, I was even an exchange student to France for a summer.  I visited Rennes, France, and lived with a French family.  Although I was pretty homesick that summer, I still remember it as quite an experience.

One fabulous part of the summer was visiting Mont Saint-Michel.

It's a pretty amazing place!

More info about it at this link.

Back here at home, we enjoyed this mini series this week, "Secrets of the Elephants."  We found it on the National Geographic channel through our Hulu subscription, but I think it's also on Disney+.

Walking down to visit my mom at the Rehab Center (yes, she's still there.  We thought she would be going home about two weeks ago, but then she went downhill again.  It's been a tough time for her) takes me through the local sculpture park.  Look what I saw the other day - all these happy daffodils!

And in the sewing room, I'm getting started on house #4 for the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL, and it's going to have a blue theme.  I made a Friendship Star for the house in blue to celebrate my book club going out for dinner together and then attending the author talk for our Loveland Loves to Read book of the year, Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt.  It was a delightful evening!

Hope you're having a great week!  Be sure to check out all the I Like Thursday posts at Not Afraid of Color.

To-Do Tuesday #177

Good morning, friends!  It's Tuesday again, and I'm sharing my progress from last week, and my to-do list for the week to come.  Big thanks to Carol at Quilt Schmilt for hosting the To-Do Tuesday link-up!

I've been staying on track with the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL, and here is house #3!

The Tulip House!

Although I like the white on white print (it's scissors!) for the windows and door in person, I'm not so sure about them when looking at the photo.  I couldn't decide on a coordinating color, so just went for something similar to the background of the tulip block.  Maybe I will embroider or applique something in those spaces - not sure yet.

And all three houses so far:

Other items on last week's list included finishing up "Fresh Berries," which I did!  I hung it on the wall in my sewing room near some other embroidered finishes.

On this week's list:

• I still need to make the Mandalorian bowl cozies!
• One more purple project to finish for April's Rainbow Scrap Challenge - my Table Scraps project - just needs binding.
• I'm participating in the blog hop for Kelly Young's new book in June, so I need to make some progress on that, too.

Those things should keep me busy!

Fresh Berries

is sashed with the strawberry print and quilted, too!

15.5 inches square

I've machine sewn the binding to the front and today's slow stitching will be to hand sew the binding to the back.  I'm so glad I chose the red and white check for the binding - it gives this little project a sweet summery look.  (And we need that around here because it's been cold and snowy!) 

Meanwhile, the gardening Easter Bunny is all stitched, too!  This one's going to need the perfect border fabric - I wonder what will turn up for it...

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching 

 

My sewing week...

began with finishing up two more split 9 patch blocks in purple, so there are four for the month.

This week I added in some little penguins on purple!

I'm really liking this layout for the split 9s, so maybe this is what I will end up with at the end of the year.  This makes an 18 inch block, when the four are sewn together.

And a start on my April Table Scraps project - it's ready for the binding!

Along the way, I've also worked on house block #3 for the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL.  It's a pink-themed house!  

I have to make some decisions about the windows and door section,

but once that is figured out it won't take long to sew these sections together.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

 

I Like Thursday #332

Needing a getaway day last week, Mike and I drove up to Estes Park.  It was a beautiful day up there, and we did all our favorite things.  Picnic lunch at the winery, a hike around the lake, and a cookie for dessert!

Such views!

It always smells so good up in the mountains - fresh and piney.  One of my favorite aromas.

Overhead several ospreys were circling.  Mike got a great photo of one of them.

This isn't a great photo, but I had to share it - this is where we go for a cookie.  "Laura's - Spoiling dinner since 1970!"  Loved that!

We came home to another favorite aroma - dinner in the crockpot!

This was a pork tenderloin which I shredded up and we turned into a bowl meal.  Rice, black beans, shredded pork, and all the trimmings: cheese, green onion, tomato, avocado.  You get the idea!

Yum!

In the sewing room this week, I decided I wanted to make a tulip block for the next Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL house.  After hunting around on the internet for different designs, I realized that Sandra has included blocks that look like tulips for the twin size version of the quilt, so I made a set of them.  It turns out that the finished size block for the quilt (6 x 8 inches) is not quite right for the size I want in the house block.  So I reduced everything by a half inch and ended up with a block I think will work (4.5 x 6).

I think the green and blue prints will 

find their way into this next house, too.

I'll use the bigger tulips in a new mug rug for my mom.

Hope you're having a great week!  Be sure to check out all the I Like Thursday posts at Not Afraid of Color.

To-Do Tuesday #177

Good morning, friends!  It's Tuesday again, and I'm sharing my progress from last week, and my to-do list for the week to come.  Big thanks to Carol at Quilt Schmilt for hosting the To-Do Tuesday link-up!

This week, I had a lot of fun working on the second house block for the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL at mmmquilts.  This is the "House where Spring Came!"

I found the blue sky with clouds fabric at a new LQS I

visited last week, and knew it would be perfect for these house blocks.

The grassy strip at the bottom is actually four leaf clovers, called "One Fine Day," by Bonnie and Camille.  Perfect!

I also made some progress on purple blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  See my post here if you're curious!

Thinking about this week's To-do list, there are various things I have in mind to work on...

• House #3 for the Rainbow Neighbourhood - I'm thinking this one will have a pink theme!
• A little bit more with purple, including something with this purple orphan block - my Table Scraps project, maybe?!

• I found some fun Mandalorian fabric at Joann's and want to make a couple bowl cozies out of it for my son whose birthday is this week.
• And, the little strawberry embroidery quilt top is ready to be finished up.  

Looks like it needs some more pressing!

Plenty to work on over here!

Slow stitching this week...

A little squirrel caught me this week, and I had a Drop Everything and Make It moment with a cross-stitch design.  I shared the start of it in my Thursday post, and today I can share the finish!

This is Bluebird and Bees, designed by Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting.  The little bluebird caught my attention, and I had a scrap of Aida cloth that was just the right size.

I finished it up into a little pincushion, about 3.5 inches square, but filled it with polyfill instead of walnut shells, to make a little Spring decoration.

Sharing at Sandra's April DrEAMi link-up at mmmquilts!

Meanwhile, I've also been stitching on Ms. Gardening Easter Bunny from last week.  So cute with her green outfit and a pink flower sticking out of her pocket!

There's lots more stitching to be done on this one, 

so that will be my slow stitching for this Sunday!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts.

Getting a little bit done...

It has been a bit of a crazy week here with not a lot of sewing machine time, but I have gotten a little bit done.

Two (of four planned) purple Split 9 Patches are made.  I've been trying to make two darker ones and two lighter in the previous colors - for purple I may not have that much of a choice.

Here are all the blocks I've made so far in a different layout than I've tried before.

I had one more zipper block to finish up for purple month, for a total of three.

These blocks are going to make a fun quilt!

A little progress was made on the second house block for the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL.  I really liked Sandra's advice on trying out some choices for different sections of the block.   This is going to be a green-themed house!

So far, I have the quilt block completed and the sky/roof sections.  

I did get some happy mail this week!  I was the winner of a prize for participating in the Stay at Home Round Robin, hosted by Quilting Gail and friends, earlier this year.  My prize is a Prairie Spirit Alpaca wool pressing mat.  So exciting - I've never owned one of these!

Thank you, Prairie Spirit Alpacas and

SAHRR hosts!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #331

Are you an early bird or a night owl?  That is LeeAnna's question of the week.  Can you guess which one I am?

Tuesday morning just before sunrise - look, no snow!

I have always been a morning person, even when I was a college student.  Some of my roommates would stay up all night to get their work done, but I had to go to bed.  Then I would get up at 4 am to study.  And, of course, years of getting up at 5 am to get ready for the school day as a teacher have kept my body clock that way.   Nowadays I don't usually have to go anywhere too early, but I'm up anyway, enjoying my coffee with the newspaper and blog reading!

We've had lovely weather here the last few days.  We did a bunch of yard cleanup and got our deck ready for the summer.  I got out my flip-flops and we had wine on the deck!

Things are greening up and the little grape hyacinths in my flower garden are popping up all over the place.  It's so fun to have some color there!

We watched a sweet little movie on Prime the other night, "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris."  We watch a lot of murder mystery type shows, and this was a nice alternative to that.  Plus the clothing and scenery was a lot of fun!

A squirrel got me the other day, and I just *had to* try another cross-stitch design from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting.   She's got a Spring stitch-along going on, and I wasn't quite ready to take on the whole project, but I thought one section would be fun.  This one is called Bluebird and Bees.  When I saw the birds in this project, I decided I really wanted to stitch one of the little designs. 

Can you tell I'm trying to use up a "scrap" of Aida cloth?!

Hope you're having a great week!  Be sure to check out all the I Like Thursday posts at Not Afraid of Color.

To-Do Tuesday #176

Good morning, friends!  It's Tuesday again, and I'm sharing my progress from last week, and my to-do list for the week to come.  Big thanks to Carol at Quilt Schmilt for hosting the To-Do Tuesday link-up!

Last week, I was making churn dash and four patch blocks for the Compassion Quilt drive at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.  I finished those up and got them in the mail this morning.

I also finished up the first house block for the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL at mmmquilts.  

Work on purple blocks for my April Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects is always ongoing.

Split 9 patches and zipper blocks - that bright yellow is 

leftover from the house block above!

On this week's list:

• House Block #2 for the Rainbow Neighbourhood - I started by working on the quilt block for the side of the house.  This is a 54-40 or Fight block - my first time making one of those!  

• Continue working on purple blocks for the RSC.
• Make a decision about this little project.  The strawberry embroidery blocks are from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting.  On Sunday afternoon, I decided to order a yard of this pretty strawberry print from Joann's for in-store pick-up and it was ready this morning (Monday)!  I really like that blue background - it brightens everything up.  I think I'll use this fabric to make the mini quilt and the red and white check from this photo for the binding.

Looks like there will be lots of color in my week!

What's on your to-do list?