Slow stitching this week...

I love sunflowers!  

Along the road

And growing in my garden, too - 

So, I'm sure it's no surprise to you that I enjoy stitching sunflower designs, too.  This week, I finished up the August Year of Hearts block from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting.  

Sunny Sunflowers

Since it's September 1st today (and how is that possible?!) it's time to work on the monthly Woven Wreaths design from Kathy Schmitz.  Looks like we'll be stitching up some oak leaves and acorns!

This afternoon I'll watch Kathy's video with tips for stitching,

and then I'll spend some slow stitching time working on it.

Linking with Kathy and the slow stitches at Kathy's Quilts!

 

Table Scraps for August

My small finishes for August were inspired by this chunk of fabric - 

Pretty fall leaves in orange, birds, and acorns!

and some orphan blocks - 

I saw these on someone's blog in the last few years and had to make a few,

but lost interest.  It's a lot of little pieces in a small block!

While you might be thinking that I combined the above items into one project, I actually ended up with two.   The August color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is orange, so it wasn't too hard to include that, but the additional challenge from Joy was to include baskets and that I struggled with.  Basket blocks?  An embroidered basket?  I couldn't come up with something that inspired me!  Until I thought about making something three dimensional.  

Then I remembered this tutorial from Freemotion By the River, and turned my fall leaf print into a fabric basket!

I've been using a plastic left over dish for a thread and trash bin on my sewing table, but this will be a lot prettier!

I used the six scrappy blocks to make a table topper.  I enjoy making small quilted pieces for around our house - they get a lot of use and are washed and dried a lot.  It never hurts to have a new one!  

There is really every color of the rainbow in this one - so maybe you can see some orange here and there!  

The backing is cut out of the little penguin print that Nann sent me.  They do have adorable orange beaks and feet!

Sharing at the August Table Scraps link-up at the Joyful Quilter 

and at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

ScrapHappy Saturday at SoScrappy

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

 

I Like Thursday #403

I like getting out of town now and then, and it had been a few months since we had the opportunity to go somewhere.  After we got our new car, my brother asked if we'd like to meet in Palisade, Colorado, for a weekend, and we said "Sure!"  It was a beautiful and scenic drive, too.

Starting up into the mountains just west of Denver -

At the top of Vail Pass - 10,000+ feet of elevation!

Not my photo, although we did drive right past this sign!

Mountain views - 

And then, really different scenery over on the Western Slope - lots of buttes, mesas, and cliffs.

Lots of peaches and grapes are grown over there.

And there are wineries!

This was a Malbec Rose - look at that pretty color!

And time spent with extended family is always a good thing!

I think they were having fun, too!

Hope you're having a great week! 

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

Midweek Update

Since we were away from home for four days over the last week, not much sewing has been happening.  But I did get to spend some quality time with these special people!

My brother, Steve, and my sister, Susan, and me!

So this week's Midweek post is more of a To Do list of projects that need some attention.  It's the end of August, and that's usually when I'm finishing up some small projects that fit in the Table Scraps category.  There are actually two of those this month - one needs some buttons sewn on and one needs the quilting finished up and some binding.

More about these later in the week.

And Melva posted the next block for Pieces of My Life, so it's time to work on that, too.  This one is called Chimney and Cornerstones.  This afternoon (Tuesday), I got all the parts cut out for this block, and even started the sewing.  It's not going to take long to finish up.

I need to get back to the quilting part of the second section of this quilt, too, so that's on the list for the week as well.  This section is sewn together, but the sandwiching and quilting still need to be done.  

There's plenty to work on, so you know what I'll be doing!  Sharing at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

 

Slow stitching the rainbow...

It has been one of those weeks with not a lot of time for the sewing machine, but I could sit down at the end of the day for some hand stitching, so I did.  That helped me get four big blocks of hollow nine patches sewn together.

Just a few more long seams and the top will be together!

I'm planning to hand quilt this, so there's plenty more stitching to do.

This weekend we are in Palisade, Colorado, for a family get together, so I brought along the sunflower embroidery just in case there's some time for a few stitches.  Hard to know if I'll even touch it, but I always like bringing something along, just in case!

I might even be stitching a little bit with this view, out the back door of our room!

Sharing at all my favorite weekend parties:

ScrapHappy Saturday 

Oh Scrap

Slow Sunday Stitching

I Like Thursday #402

 We had a guard bunny at our house the other day...

He sat there for the longest time!   Usually they lay in the grass or hide under the trees, but this guy was just sitting at attention like this, on the landscaping log, looking over his territory, or something!

I received some more happy mail the other day, this package was from Libby!  It is the cutest penguin pattern and some pretty blue fat quarters to use in it.

Thank you, Libby!

Happy 93rd birthday to my mom!  We had a really nice lunch out on the screened porch at her place, and lots of people came, including my sister and her daughter who share the same birthday as Mom.

LeeAnna's question of the week is about your favorite meal of the day, and do you have a favorite food for that meal?  I suppose my favorite meal changes with the seasons, but right now it's breakfast.  I always eat a bowl of Wheat Chex with some fruit on it, and when Colorado peaches are in season, my cereal tastes like dessert!  Yum!

Hope you're having a great week!  We're getting ready for a little weekend getaway up to the mountains,  and really looking forward to it!

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

Pieces of My Life QAL - Wedding (Ring) Day

I am finally getting a chance to share my Wedding Ring block - the next block for Melva's Pieces of My Life QAL!  As most of the blocks for this project have been, this block is one I've never made before, which is always interesting to me.  I wanted some orange in the quilt, since August is orange month in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but ended up with more of a peach shade.  It's all good, though - August is also the month that Colorado peaches are in season.  Yum!

Our wedding was a friends and family event.  Both of us had family members as our attendants.  A friend of my MIL made our cake.  A friend of my dad's took the pictures.  My college roommates and high school friends provided the music.  Other friends served the cake.  My mom and dad walked me down the aisle together.  It was a good and happy day!

As I was looking through our wedding pictures, and deciding which ones to pick to share, I decided this one taken with my grandmother, had to be included.  This is my Grandma Dorothy, my mom's mom.  She lived to meet our sons, her great grandchildren, and we enjoyed lots of good times together.  I'm so glad to remember her at our wedding, because my dad's parents were gone by then.

The other thing I've been working on this week is putting together the second section of blocks for the quilt.  Here is how things are looking for the top half of the quilt.  This went together really quickly after cutting the sashing pieces because it's basically just a flip of the first section layout, and it all made sense to me!  Next step is to put the layers together and get this part quilted.

There will be sashing in between the sections to connect them, 

which I haven't planned for yet.   It would be great to get more of the floral focus fabric for the sashing - better go check at my LQS!

Thanks for visiting today!  I'm linking up with Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.  And at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

Slow stitching for a Sunday...

This week I finished up the Sew Day Basket design from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting and tucked it into my sewing corner where I keep everything I need for evening hand stitching.

Scissors, thread, pincushions, reading glasses!

In my box of goodies from Nann, there was a stack of cross-stitch charts!  So fun to look through.  You can't tell here, but it's an inch thick!  Of course, I'm excited to try something from one of these charts.  Maybe a Prairie Schooler pumpkin for fall?

Thank you, Nann!

But first, I should probably finish up these sunflowers!

That's what I'll be working on today!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching. 

 

A hand-pieced parade!

I finished up two hollow 9 patch blocks in orange this week, and that got me to thinking about my hand-piecing experiences over the last few years.  I hope you don't mind if I indulge in a virtual trunk show of my handpieced quilts!

Early in 2019, Patty of Elm Street Quilts and Kristin of Simple.Handmade.Everyday teamed up to offer a hand-piecing quilt-along that I decided to join in with.  That resulted in this little quilt, which was stitched completely by hand, including quilting and binding.  

Sand, Sea, and Sky - 2019

After I finished that one, I wanted to keep going with hand-piecing, so I picked my favorite block from the QAL, and made a bunch of them with some blue scraps leftover from a graduation quilt that some friends and I had made for a former student.

These blocks:

Made this quilt!

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed hand-piecing, and I joined in with another QAL again the next year!  This time the QAL was called Book Club, and each block was inspired by a favorite book.   That year I learned how to cut with templates and hand-piece curves!  This might be one of my favorite little quilts that I've ever made.

Book Club - 2020

Patty and Kristin were back with one more QAL in 2021, and of course, I had to join in again!  This time you could make one (large) block for a mini quilt or four of them for a throw.  I recall I was working from a small fat quarter bundle for this one, so opted for just the one block quilt.

Harmony - 2021

Also in 2021, I started a hand-pieced block for a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  I chose something easy - no templates, curves, or even triangles, lol!  But a bunch of hand-pieced 36 patch blocks resulted in this finish - and I enjoyed every stitch.  This is my biggest hand-pieced and hand quilted project: 48 x 60.

Trip Around the Rainbow - 2021

Two more rainbow quilts followed - and both are right up there on my list of all time favorite quilts!

Dancing Pluses - 2022 

Rainbow Bowties - 2023

Phew!  That's a lot!  Thanks for bearing with me.  That brings me to this year's blocks - the hollow 9 patches.  Sixteen blocks are what I've made, and I realized that I'm ready to be done!  Of course, there's plenty of hand stitching left to do.  My goal is a doll quilt, 24 x 24.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

I Like Thursday #401

Happy Thursday!  How's your week been?  I enjoyed hosting my book club get together on Monday.  We read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine for this month's discussion.  It was quirky, sad, and uplifting all at the same time.

Linda asked me if there were cookies made for book club, but no cookies this time.  I just did little snack type things: mixed nuts with dried cranberries, strawberries, and my favorite chocolate treat - dark chocolate covered pretzels.  Yum!

There were lots of pelicans out at the lakeside trail where I meet a friend to walk, so I sent younger son out there with his camera.  He got several great shots, but I liked this one the best.

Another fun item found in the happy mail box from Nann was this tote bag.  I think it will make the perfect library book bag!

And LeeAnna's question of the week is about how we are coping with this very hot summer.  If you had asked me this question a week ago, I would have said it's making me very cranky.   The fan has been my best friend all summer long!

But last Thursday a cool front came through, lowered our daily temperatures by at least 10 degrees, and brought quite a bit of rain.   It has made our house much more comfortable and I'm way less cranky, lol!   And I think we're getting a hint of fall, too.

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