I Like Thursday #412

Happy Halloween!  I've decorated as much as I'm going to.

The mason jar design is one of Melisa's that I stitched last year and fully finished this week.  She has a bunch of mason jar projects, but this is only one I've made so far.

Some people in our town go all out with their decorating, though!  There was an article in the newspaper about this house, so we drove downtown to see it and I had to snap a picture to share here on the blog.  

Can you see the giant skeleton playing the organ keyboard that is on the roof?  And there is a giant spider (on the fence behind the corn stalks) playing the drums.  

"Bonzart and the Spinnerets!"  Apparently at night they play music, too.

I don't expect much in the way of trick-or-treaters tonight, but we have a little bit of candy if anyone shows up.  Smarties are a safe candy to have in our house because I'm not tempted by them.  Anything chocolate and I can't stay away from it!

Have a great day!

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

Midweek Update: a Finish!

I had a "Drop Everything and Make It" project this month, and it is finished!  I always enjoy Carole's (From My Carolina Home) fall projects and this year's was no exception.  Her plan was for a mini quilt/wall-hanging/table-topper that was fall and Thanksgiving themed and that hooked me right in.  While hunting around for fabric in my stash for this project, I came across a half yard of a sunflower print that I purchased on vacation in August and decided to use it as the focus fabric.

I paired the sunflowers with a cream/stars neutral, 

and a dark green with stars for the borders.

I embroidered the center design (find it HERE) and surrounded it with lots of flying geese.  More sunflowers for the cornerstones and the binding finished this off perfectly.  

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you might know I've been a little bit obsessed with sunflowers recently.  They are one of my favorite flowers, and I even grew some in my garden this year!

But now that the growing season is over with, I can still enjoy sunflowers made with fabric and thread indoors!

Sharing at Quiltfabriction for Midweek Makers.

And at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.

Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

 

Slow stitching this week...

There are a few days left in October, so perfect for stitching up this little Pumpkin Basket! 

I'm still working on hand quilting the Hollow 9 patch quilt, too.  I've made good progress, but still more to do.

First, though, I have some binding to stitch!  That's what I'll be working on today.

I hope to have a finish to share in my midweek post!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

 

Tablescraps for October

Can you guess what these are?

This month's Table Scraps project was made because of a request from my DH, who saw a need for something for our new car.  I used both light and dark scraps of some gray batiks I have, a little bit of batting, and some Velcro.

What are they?  They are covers for the center console arm rests in the car.  Since the interior is black, and we rest our bare arms there all the time, Mike wanted to protect the upholstery from possible discoloration.  So voila!

I was really pleased that my quilty math worked out correctly and these little pads fit just right!  I had to make two because this opens in the center for a storage compartment.  

Joy's extra challenge for month was to include cats in the project, and that was a struggle for me.  Until I noticed the design in the dark gray fabric.  Can you see the cat?  There might even be two of them, lol!

I'm calling it good!  

Thanks for these monthly challenges, Joy!  They're always fun!  Linking up with:

October Table Scraps Challenge at the Joyful Quilter 

and at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

I Like Thursday #411

I voted!  So thankful that we have this right in our country.

Younger son has been into bread baking recently, and made some delicious rye bread over the weekend.  It's an old recipe that my mom discovered back in the 70s, I think.  Besides rye flour, it also has cocoa and molasses in it.  It is really yummy!

I finished up the sunflower embroidery for my Fall Fortnight mini quilt.  Isn't it sweet?  

The next step is to add the first border around the center, and sew the flying geese border together.  It's coming along!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about haunted houses and scary movies.  Do we like them?  No!!!  Lol!  I have crazy enough dreams without adding extra content to them.  I do remember there being some kind of haunted house ride at Disneyland that was fun - in a kid-like way.  Younger son loves horror movies and watches them all the time - he even participated in an online challenge to watch 100 scary movies and document them last year!  I'm glad I don't have to watch with him!  😜

Happy Thursday, friends!  Joining in with I Like Thursday at Not Afraid of Color.

 

Midweek Update

Block 20 for the Pieces of My Life QAL over at Melva Loves Scraps is out now, so it was time to sew it up!  This is a Broken Dishes block, made completely of half square triangles, and I really like it!  In fact, I was thinking it might make a good Rainbow Scrap Challenge block, with the dark triangles (in this block, they are a dark green) being something consistent throughout the whole quilt, and the monthly colors being the other triangles.  I'll have to think about that! 

"Broken Dishes" is all about raising our kids and how we handled chores and responsibilities.   I've written about our two boys before - Andrew and Kevin.  They're in their 40s now, so it's quite the exercise to think back to those days in the 80s and 90s when we were a busy family and trying to keep up with everything.  Of course, the kids did have chores like helping with dishes and keeping their toys picked up.  I guess the first thing you have to learn is about personal hygiene!  

Things I remember from those days:

• Boys collect lots of Legos.
• It hurts when you step on them!
• A dust pan is really good for picking up lots of Legos at one time.
• Don't give a little guy a full plate of spaghetti to carry from the kitchen to the dining room - you can guess what happens, lol!
• Sometimes the way to get a chore done is to trade one of yours for one of theirs.  "I'll mow the lawn if you want to make dinner!"
• One of my proudest accomplishments as a mom is that I taught both boys to do their own laundry when they were each in about 7th grade.  That worked out well!

Both of our boys were in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and in fact they both achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, which is the highest honor.  Those achievements came with lots of jobs and responsibilities and they did well with those, with only a little nagging! 😘  These activities kept Mike and me busy, too, because we were leaders for the troop and helped the kids with their various projects.

I'd been putting off getting the next section of the quilt blocks together, but got started on that this week.  I'm second guessing my decision to use the darker blue sashing because it really stands out, but I'm hoping that when all four sections are put together this will look like they are tied together with a bow!

Or maybe these are the pathways we follow through life -

all joining together in the end.  (Wink!)

Sharing at Melva Loves Scraps for the Block 20 link-up,

and at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

Fun with sunflowers!

The weather turned cold and gray here, but it's sunny in my sewing room!  I started stitching on this sweet sunflower design on Friday evening.  This is Melisa's August Doodle.   It's going to work perfectly as the center for my version of the Fall Fortnight quilt project over at From My Carolina Home!

I've been working on the flying geese and cornerstones that will surround the embroidered center, too.  Continuing the sunflower theme!

The center will be surrounded by a narrow green border, 

which is that dark green dot fat quarter you see to the left.  

There's a final wider green border, too.

This little embroidery shouldn't take too long to finish up, so if I run out of slow stitching, I'll get back to work on quilting the Rainbow Hollow Nine Patch quilt.

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

And Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

  

All the blocks are made!

There wasn't much left to be done, but for some reason it took me a few weeks to get around to it!  What I'm referring to are the last two blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Patchwork Hearts project.  But now they are finished!  Here's the multi-color heart.

The other block is a light green four patch block, which I didn't photograph separately, but you can see it here to the right of the multi-color heart in this layout.

I didn't have a specific reason for laying out the blocks this way, except for using the lighter blocks more in the center and moving outward to the darker blocks.  I made one change, switching the orange block with the light blue, and I think this is where it will stay.

Before I start sewing these into a quilt top, my plan is to finish one of my older quilt tops that have been waiting their turn in the to-be-quilted closet.  That shouldn't be too difficult a task because I have a couple backings pieced and there's batting available to be cut to size.  Meanwhile, I'm making good progress on hand quilting the Hollow Nine Patch quilt, too!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

I Like Thursday #410

Do you read the comics in the newspaper?  I have several that I enjoy every day, and one is "Pearls Before Swine."  This one made me laugh because I, too, actually like the buttered popcorn Jelly Bellies! 

I got out a few Halloween decorations out this week for the entry way chest.  I don't decorate in a big way, but these are fun!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about carving pumpkins, which I love to do, and have loved all my life.  I found an old picture of my siblings and I with my dad, all working hard on our pumpkins.

I don't carve one every year anymore, but I did do one in 2020.

Lol!

Nowadays, I'm more likely to stitch a pumpkin, which is what I was doing last night.  This is Melisa's Pumpkin Basket.   A teeny tiny pumpkin!

Hope you're having a great week!

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

Midweek Makers

My sewing brain seems to be pulled in multiple directions this week - all good, but lots to do!  Carole, at From My Carolina Home, is hosting an event called Fall Fortnight over on her blog, and of course there is a little quilt project I can't resist.  You can see the project at the link above.  

Carole's version is Thanksgiving themed with appliqued wool pumpkins, but I ended up being inspired by some yardage of a sunflower print that I purchased back in August at a quilt shop over in Grand Junction, Colorado.  The background will be the cream with gold stars that came in Nann's box of goodies a while back.  Thank you, Nann! 

Some border fabrics are needed - something that coordinates with the sunflowers.  

I'm still thinking about that!

I starred by making some of the flying geese that are needed.  The center will be this sunflower design by Melisa of PinkernPunkin Quilting that I'll hand embroider.

I still need to get that traced for embroidering, and when I do, I'm going to leave the August part off.  Those happy sunflowers in the wheelbarrow with their bird friends should be perfect in the center surrounded by the flying geese!

But there are some other current works-in-progress that also need some attention this week.  I would like to finish up the last two blocks that are needed for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge patchwork hearts project.  The final heart is on its way - these rows work well as leaders and enders when sewing on other things.

It's also time to finish up the quilting on section 2 of the Pieces of My Life QAL, and get the section 3 blocks sewn together and ready to quilt as well.  

But, first on today's agenda is to say Happy Birthday to my dear husband!  He wanted to play a round of golf and grill some steaks for dinner.  So that's what we'll do!

Linking up with Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

Moving Along

The last time I shared the hand-pieced Hollow 9 patch project, I had sewn the blocks into four sections.  That was at the end of August!  This week I pulled those sections back out and stitched them together into a small flimsy - 24 inches square.

I found a backing piece in the box of goodies Nann sent me.  It's a pretty floral with tiny bouquets of pink and purple flowers.  It required a couple seams to bring it to the right size/shape for the backing, but that didn't take too long.

I've been in the mood for a hand-quilting project for awhile, so it was really enjoyable to get started on it on Thursday night.  It's such a treat to stitch along and look at each scrappy square!  I'm using white 12 wt. Perle cotton for the thread.

Stars, hearts, seagulls, clouds, even cats!

Sharing at all my favorite weekend parties:

SoScrappy

Quilting is More Fun than Housework and

Kathy's Quilts - because this will be my Slow Sunday stitching!

Melva Loves Scraps

 

I Like Thursday #409

I've been baking again this week!  After making all that applesauce over the weekend, I decided to see what I could make out of it, and found this recipe for Applesauce Cake.  It is yummy!   I substituted chocolate chips for the raisins - that works just fine.  Interestingly, there are no eggs in this cake.  Googling that, it turns out that applesauce can be a substitute for eggs! I'd never heard that before.

This is like a snack cake - no frosting - but very moist.

It's good with morning coffee!

My flower garden is pretty much done, but the sunflowers decided to put out a last hurrah!  I was just about to pull them out the other day when we were doing some yard clean-up, but realized there were buds on them.

Judy sent me a fun surprise package in the mail last week.  She made these neat little fabric baskets that start out flat, but snap together in the corners to make a little basket.  Pretty fall fabrics, too!  Thank you, Judy!

I read the best book this last week - The Music of Bees, by Eileen Garvin.  Same author as Crow Talk which I read back in August.  She is really good at creating a story with characters you care about and adding science into it.  This book is about a beekeeper, so lots of fascinating information about bees.

LeeAnna's question of the week is about hay rides - have we taken one? did we enjoy it?  And I'm not sure I have ever been on an actual hay ride.  I did ride in a parade in a wagon filled with hay bales for us to sit on.  It was a float in a local parade with our Cub Scout pack.  I actually found a picture from back then!  Being in a parade was kind of fun - different than watching from the sidelines, that's for sure.

Hope you're having a great week!  Joining in with I Like Thursday at Not Afraid of Color.

Midweek Makers

Block 19 for Melva's Pieces of My Life QAL is called Rough Road.  Looking at the group of blocks that I've made so far, I decided I needed more red in this quilt, so that determined my fabric choices.  

Melva said in her post that the focus of this block and post is family and travel, which in our household went hand in hand as the kids were growing up!  We have two sons, both born in the 1980s.  Our oldest son loved maps when he was growing up (still does!) so he was always planning out places for us to go.  When my parents bought their winter home in Mesa, Arizona, in 1982, that became a frequent Spring Break destination for us.  Other road trip destinations included Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, and the Pacific Northwest.

But the ultimate road trip for us was a trip to Washington, D.C., in 1993.  I talked about my dad passing away in 1992 in my last Pieces post.  He left us some money which we decided to use for two things - this trip to D.C. and to pay my tuition to go to graduate school.  We also had a fairly new Dodge mini-van which we knew would be perfect for taking a long road trip.

And we had a blast!  We planned out stops along the way that were about every half day.  We stopped in St. Louis and went up in the Gateway Arch, and put our toes in the Mississippi River.  We toured the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and watched fireflies by the river in Charleston, W. Virginia.  (We don't have them out here in Colorado.  We stayed with friends in Manassasas, Virginia, and took the Metro rail into the city every day, and visited all the monuments and memorials and important buildings.

A very special stop was the Vietnam Veterans Wall, because Mike is a Vietnam veteran and his best friend in high school died there.  We were able to find out where Dennis' name is on the Wall and go to that section to see it.  It's a very moving experience.

We took a northern route home, stopping at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and visiting friends in Michigan who took us for a boat ride on Lake Michigan, and stayed in downtown Chicago in a high rise hotel with a roof top pool!  

Of course, there were a few "rough roads" along the way!  Younger son got sick and we had to find an urgent care to help us out.  When driving into Chicago, we took a wrong turn and got into a part of town that we didn't really want to be in.  And on the way home our route got diverted from our plan because the Mississippi was flooding and we couldn't cross where we had originally planned.  But we eventually arrived back home, very tired of driving, but full of memories.  This map is in the front of the photograph album I made of the trip.

4,326 miles!

These days instead of traveling with our kids, we are more likely to travel to see them.  But they are going on road trips of their own - and so are we!  

Linking up with Melva for Block 19

and at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.