I Like Thursday #364

Good morning, friends!  Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  Thinking back to last Thursday, hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  We had both kids here, plus went and got my mom for a few hours.  It was a really nice day.

We often exchange Christmas gifts at Thanksgiving in case the weather isn't nice enough for us to get together in December, and here is one of our gifts from our younger son.  Did you ever watch "Northern Exposure?"  We loved that show, and haven't been able to find it anywhere on our streaming channels.  Now we can watch it!

I bought myself a present this week, too!  This is for a monthly stitch-along with Kathy Schmitz starting in January.   You purchase a panel that's printed at Spoonflower and have the choice of doing it in red, green, or blue.  I picked the blue version, and have bought the matching embroidery floss, too.  I'm looking forward to getting started on this!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about Christmas cards - do we send them, and what kind?  I love Christmas cards!  I love getting them, so I try to send some every year.  Sometimes it's a few, sometimes a lot.  I try to keep in touch with college friends and faraway family members that way.  I try to include a newsletter, too - not the kind that everyone jokes about where your life and kids are perfect, lol! - just a catch-up for friends I don't talk to very often.  I enjoy photo cards, so we make them ourselves through the Walmart Photo Center.  In fact we just ordered and picked up this year's cards today!

Sorry about the glare - it's hard to take a photo of a photo!

This was taken on our trip in September - we were at an overlook above a favorite spot along the Oregon Coast.

Now that we have the Christmas cards, I guess it's time to start working on getting them sent out!

Midweek Update

I'm making progress on another Christmas project this week - inspired by the Joy wall-hanging that I finished last week - and made from some of the same holiday prints cut into 2.5 inch squares.   The eight 16 Across blocks I made have been sewn into a top for a tablerunner.

I'm liking this zigzag effect that is created by the lighter squares!

I flirted with the idea of piecing the backing, but when I realized I could get the whole back out of a half yard of fabric, I decided to just go find something at Joann's.   Lucky for me, the holiday prints were all still on sale from Thanksgiving, so I got this backing for $2.50!

So, the layers are all basted, and I've been working on the quilting.

I'd like to start decorating my house for Christmas, 

so it would be great to get this finished!

I'm also still working on sorting through the scraps in my Little Penguin Scrap bin, and making 4 patches out of any 2.5 inch squares that I can match up.  But I also found some little HSTs in the bin, which trimmed up to two inches.  After making a few extra - I came up with this fun design!  I think I'll make them into a little mug rug.

Sharing at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

Slow Stitching this week...

Here's the view out our front window from Saturday morning.  Snowing like crazy, and one little wild bunny out hopping around in it.  The day before Thanksgiving it was 70 degrees!

So it's a good time for some hand stitching!  I've added a few stitches to "Home."  Next will be all the leaves in green.  

The leaves are done in a new-to-me stitch called the cable chain stitch.  I had to look up a tutorial on how to do it and found one here. 

Here's my first try.  I think I need to add some green color to these leaves with my colored pencils, too.  It'll be really enjoyable to stitch some green this afternoon with all that white still outside!

Linking up with Kathy and the slow stitchers for some Slow Sunday Stitching!

 

  

November ABC Table Scraps

The other day, Mike and I were out playing golf, and I took this photo of some geese by the pond.  Quite a large group of Canada Geese winter here, and they spend their days hunting around for food in the corn fields, and flying here and there between the ponds and lakes in the area.

My idea for the November Table Scraps project was inspired by the geese that live around here and the colors of the season.

I started with two more orphan blocks that I hadn't used up yet - a light neutral and a dark neutral.  I especially liked the large flying geese blocks, since they go well with my inspiration.

As with other months, I took them apart into their separate sections, and sewed them back together into a new design.

I really liked how the original outer sections of the light block 

made a star when I sewed them together!

Along the way, I had a little squirrel moment (and this is the DrEAMi part!) when I decided to piece the backing - inspired by a crumb block I found in my neutral scrap bin.  It contained a couple pieces from the front flying geese, plus some other old favorites - like a coffee text print and wine corks!

Adding a little more here, and a little more there, I ended up with this:

From there it was a quick finish to end up with this little quilt - some easy quilting and a neutral binding - and voila!

It measures about 8.5 x 20.5

This fits perfectly on top of my desk with some November decorations!  And what about the ABC part of this challenge?  The letters for this month are K and W.  

The flying geese honK their "Welcome" to you! 

Sharing at the November Table Scraps link-up at the Joyful Quilter.

Finished or not Friday at Alycia Quilts

At SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at

mmmquilts for the November DrEAMi link-up

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap

Melva Loves Scraps - Sew and Tell Monday.

I Like Thursday #363

 

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you're spending it in your favorite way.  I am happy to be home this year with our sons here, and very simple plans.  I'm sure we'll eat good food, play some games, and there will be football on.  I decided to trace a Kathy Schmitz design to work on when the guys are watching the games.

This one is called "Home."  

You can see Kathy's versions at the link there.

I love November - it has its own kind of beauty.  Bare branches against the sky, brown leaves that crunch underfoot when you're out for a walk, and once in awhile you see a still beautiful leaf like this one.

And I love my electric knife!  It's a vintage one, given to me by my MiL way back in the 70s, when Mike and I were first married.  It must have been the first time I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the in-laws.  "You don't have an electric knife!?"  Guess what I got for Christmas that year?  😊

Every November when I get this out to carve the turkey, 

I think of my MiL and it makes me smile to remember her. 

Happy Thanksgiving!  Have a wonderful day!

Joining in with LeeAnna and friends at Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday.

Midweek Update

I have a finish to share today - Joy! 

This is a design I found on Pinterest which links to this site.  I didn't follow the construction method they talk about there, just cut lots of 2.5 inch background squares, various bright holiday prints, and a few 2 inch squares for the stitch and flip corners.  Then, just sewed up the rows into blocks.

Once I had the layout figured out, this went together quickly and easily!

The backing is that fun Christmas text print I shared a few weeks ago, and the binding is a dot fabric that also is in the Joy letters.  I wish I could show you that it has a little sparkle to it, too!

I did add triangle pieces in the top corners on the back for hanging this somewhere.  I think it would make a great door banner!  This will be a gift for a friend - so happy to have it finished even before Thanksgiving!  

Sharing at Midweek Makers at Quiltfabrication.

Gobble, Gobble!

This week, I finished up Mr. McGobble, but not without a little glitch that had to be fixed.  If you saw my Thursday post, here, you might remember that I didn't cut my Aida cloth wide enough to fit all the letters in the size they were turning out according to the pattern.  So I ripped them out and restitched in a new font, and voila!

On Friday, I finished this cute design into a small pillow, about 4.5 x 7.

Look at this fun backing - isn't it perfect for the season?

And now Mr. McGobble is celebrating Thanksgiving with his friends, the pilgrims!

Now that I've stitched a turkey, it's time to move on to something Christmas-y!  Just in the nick of time, Melisa put out this post, with all kinds of generous freebies to make.  I chose a little one to start with - Bringing Home the Tree - particularly because it has a little red pickup in it, and that's what Mike had when we were first married.  We brought more than one Christmas tree in that little red truck!  Progress so far - 

I bet you know what I'll be working on today for Slow Sunday Stitching!

Linking up at Kathy's Quilts.

Stitching Along

While my to-be-quilted RSC tops are still simmering on the back burner, I did get quite a lot done with the little hand-pieced bowtie blocks.   Sixty of them are now sewn into groups of four, twenty more left to work on for this step.

It's always hard to pick a favorite, but this one is on the list.  I love the different backgrounds, and the mix of scrappy bits that make up the bowties.   

A few in progress for the last group of four in the fourth row.

This coming week, with family coming into town for Thanksgiving, it will be good to have some hand sewing to do while we're visiting.  These bowties will be perfect for that purpose!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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

Quilt Schmilt - To-Do Tuesday 

I Like Thursday #362

Happy Thursday, friends!  We've passed the midpoint of November already - hard to believe it will be Thanksgiving in a week.  I am looking forward to having our older son home, and our whole family in the house together for a few days.  It's been awhile since we were all together.

This week, I liked that the weather here is still letting my group of friends play golf!  We had a beautiful day for it on Tuesday.

This week's air fryer success was salmon - so yummy!  We made teriyaki bowls out of it.  We also cooked some cod in the air fryer for fish tacos, and it was tasty, too.  

Carole, at From My Carolina Home, had a fun post the other day about holiday books to enjoy, and I have already read one from her list.  A sweet and fairly short story about some women who start as strangers, but end up making a quilt for a family needing some love and support.

I got this far on Mr. McGobble last night, and was quite pleased with my progress, plus thought the "Gob, Gob" was kind of cute and funny, so I stopped and took a photo.  But then my pleasure with it turned into an "Uh oh..." when I realized I hadn't cut the cloth wide enough to finish up the rest of the words!!!   Darn!

So, on to Plan B!  I'm ripping out the big font and going to use a smaller font to stitch the words.  It will look a little different than Melisa's design, but have the same idea at least.

Our question of the week is: Would you rather go to Oktoberfest or a pumpkin festival?  I've never been to Oktoberfest, and picture it as mostly an event to celebrate beer, which I don't drink.  Although, there's probably some fun music to listen to, which I would enjoy.  So, I'll pick a pumpkin festival!  Thinking about that reminds me of taking our younger son's Cub Scout den to a pumpkin festival years ago.  They must have been about 8 or 9 years old.  That was a fun event!  

Nowadays I try to plant my own pumpkins every year.  Here's this year's harvest, lol!

Joining in with "I Like Thursday" at Not Afraid of Color.

Midweek Update

What have I been working on this week?  Well, "Joy" is about halfway quilted.  This has a December 14th due date, so there's still plenty of time to finish it up.

I finished the remaining (of 8 total) 16 Across blocks to make a December tablerunner for our dining room table.  These are 8 inch finished blocks, so the runner will be about 16 x 32.  That's a good size for our table.

And I've been playing with scraps!  This is just one of the multiple buckets, bins, or baskets where I throw scraps.  This one sits on my cutting table, and was just stuffed full of... who knows what?!  It measures about 6 inches tall and 6 inches in diameter.  You wouldn't believe how much it holds!

I decided to challenge myself to see what I can make out of the scraps in this bucket.  I'm starting with any piece that can make a 2.5 inch square, and then sewing up 4 patches with them.   With just a half hour on a couple afternoons this week, I ended up with a few 4 patches and pieces for more.  I think these could be the start of a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt for 2024.

So, a little of this and a little of that - an enjoyable way to spend time in the sewing room!

Linking up with Midweek Makers at Quiltfabrication.

 

Turkey Time!

In last week's Sunday post, I think I left off by saying it was time to stitch a turkey, and so I am!  This is a Melisa design, called Mr. McGobble, and perfect for something to make this month.  You can find her post about it here.

It wasn't until I had been working on this for a little while that I realized Mr. McGobble is dressed as a pilgrim, so, of course, when finished he will live right here with his pilgrim friends.   Hopefully he will be finished up by Thanksgiving!  

This week, I'll also be working on hand-piecing together another two rows of the bowtie project.  You can see the rows I've already worked on in yesterday's post.  Here is the next set laid out on the bed so that I can pick them up in groups of four to work on in between putting stitches into Mr. McGobble.

Linking up with the Sunday Slow Stitchers at Kathy's Quilts.

Progress!

But before I share this week's progress, I have to say Happy Veterans Day to my veteran.  It hasn't been the best week dealing with Covid, but he made it through, and is feeling better already.  

Cheers!  

Meanwhile, this week I've continued to make progress on my 2023 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt projects.   Rows 1 - 4 of the bowties are sewn into foursies.  

And the split 9s are a quilt top.  I just love this - it's an anything goes quilt - my favorite kind!

I've stocked up on batting and some wide backing yardage, 

so it shouldn't be too hard to get this finished up fairly soon.

Although, to be honest, there are two older RSC quilt tops in the 

"to-be-quilted" line ahead of this one!

Here's another favorite block I revisited this week.

Ice skating penguins and little tiny skiers!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!