I Like Thursday #414

 November in my garden looks like this:

Marigolds still trying to bloom amongst the fallen leaves and leftover dried blossoms.

I let them go to seed so that they will fall in the garden and spread more plants for next year.  Marigolds are one of my favorite flowers!

We watched and enjoyed season 1 of the Marlow Murder Club on PBS the last few Sunday nights.  It is from the book series by Robert Thorogood.  I enjoyed the TV show so much, I decided to read the books, too!

These are the actresses who play the main characters.  I recognized the middle one right away from... somewhere... Do you recognize her?

The actress' name is Samantha Bond and it turns out she was also in Downtown Ashe played Lady Rosamunde, the sister of Lord Grantham.  Plus she played Miss Moneypenny in some of the James Bond movies.   It was kind of fun to figure that all out!

Do you drink Chai tea?  I haven't had it a lot, but a friend served me this the other day, and it was very tasty.  She mixed it about half and half with milk, and heated a cup full in the microwave.  I think she said you can get it at Sam's.

It's that time of year when we're all getting ready for Thanksgiving.  I bought a turkey today (Wednesday) and have my list started of what else we'll need.  Our older son is planning to drive down from Nebraska for the long weekend - weather permitting.  We do a pretty low-key meal: turkey, potatoes, stuffing, veggies.  When we used to have bigger extended family meals, I was always asked to bring homemade bread.  Maybe this year I'll get younger son to make some!  🍞

I finished up the crumb heart I've been making for my friend, and it's ready to send off to her.  I really enjoyed hand quilting it.  I don't know if you can see in the photo, but I used the hearts in the white background fabric as part of the stitching design.

Stitched with love!

Hope you're having a good week!

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

Midweek Update

It's time for Block 22 out of 24 that we need for the Pieces of My Life QAL at Melva Loves Scraps.  After this final 12 inch block, there are two 6 inch blocks still to be made and then I'll have to really get serious about the final construction of this quilt project!  Block 22 is Jacob's Ladder.

Melva shows this done in just two colors in her post, but I did a little googling and saw that I could make it in three, and that would still be appropriate!  I wanted to add in my floral focus fabric, and it fit well for the HSTs.

This block signifies moving up the ladder of life, and we're thinking about our spouse, their family, and our career path in life.

My husband, Mike, grew up in a family of 6 kids, with his mom and dad, Glen and Goldie, mostly in the southern Wyoming, western Nebraska, and Northern Colorado triangle.  He was born in Ogallala, Nebraska, and graduated from high school in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Mike's dad was a truck driver and his mom was a cook for a living.  When we met, Mike's mom owned a diner in a small town in eastern Colorado, and we spent a lot of time there hanging out with the family.  Sometimes I even waited tables!

This is one of our favorite pictures of the family, taken before the two youngest sisters were born.  Don't they look like the quintessential 50s family?  I love Mike's mom's hairdo!  Mike is the youngest brother sitting on his dad's lap.

My in-laws took me right in, and I became another daughter to them - I felt so blessed that way.  Not everyone has that experience with their in-laws.  Many times I have felt closer to my sisters-in-law than to my own sisters.  I don't have many photos of me with the sisters, but do have lots of good memories of time spent together.

Here's one more of the siblings with Mom, minus middle brother, Ron, who was ill himself at the time.  This was our last Mother's Day with Goldie in 2021.

Tammy, Mike, Glenn, Jr., Bobbi, and Sandie.

Mike was in the Navy from 1969 - 1973.  It was the time of the Vietnam War, of course, and he chose to enlist in the Navy rather than get drafted.  I've written about his Navy experience before. He was a helicopter crewman, based out of San Diego, California.  He spent a lot of time on aircraft carriers in the Pacific.  His buddies from the HC-1, Det 3 group have become our dear lifelong friends!  

Another favorite photo of him with his folks - he says this is from Christmas of 1969, right after boot camp.

We lost Glenn in the 1990s - way too young, 

but had Goldie until 2021, and I miss her still.

Over the years of our marriage, I've had multiple jobs - I even worked part-time at Walmart for a couple years when the kids were little!  I had been a stay at home mom for about three years when they were first born, and we wanted to go to Disneyland!  So I got a job at the new Walmart in town so we could save up enough for a big trip.  That happened in 1988!

As the boys got a little older, I taught preschool for several years, and then was able to go back to school and participated in a post-baccalaureate program for people with a Bachelor's degree who wanted to get their teaching license.  After that I was lucky to get a job teaching 5th grade at our neighborhood school, and did that for 20 years!  I loved being a teacher - sharing books, and teaching reading, writing, math, history, and science to the kids.  One of my favorite science/health units was the respiratory system.  We got to dissect sheep lungs at the end of the unit each year.  It was fascinating!

In this picture, the kids were labeling the parts of the lung, 

and I was helping them make sure each label was in the correct location.  

I retired at the end of the 2015 school year - hard to believe it has been that long ago now.  I loved teaching, but am happy to be retired now, too!

Sharing at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers and at

Melva Loves Scraps for the Block 22 link-up.

Slow stitching this week...

I took some time away from other projects this week to make a mini heart quilt for a friend.  You can read a little more about its story in my Saturday post.   Hand quilting this little project has been my slow stitching for the last few evenings.  It's about ready for the binding now.

I've also continued to work on the Ole Crow Salt Box design from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting.  I'll go back to this as soon as I finish the little heart quilt.  

I decided to change the house color from Melisa's called for gold to blue, mostly because I have a lot of blue floss!  But I do think the blue will make a pretty house!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching. 

Playing with the crumbs...

I got some news earlier this week that you never want to get.  A dear friend who I have known since kindergarten, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Feeling the need to do something for her, I dug out my box of crumb scraps and looked for all the reds.  Some were already sewn together, so they were definitely invited!

To make what I had in mind, I needed two 3.5 x 6.5 rectangles.  That was pretty easy to come up with!

Using the free pattern for scrappy heart blocks from Cluck Cluck Sew, I made this block.

I made a whole quilt of these a few years ago - find it here.

This time I wanted something small that my friend could use for a mug rug, 

or just a mini comfort quilt to show I'm thinking about her.

So, I layered this with batting and backing, and decided to hand quilt it.  It shouldn't take too long to finish up.

Late afternoon photo!

Rummaging around in that crumb scrap bin gave me an idea for this month's Table Scraps Challenge, too.  What will these turn into?  I have a couple more weeks to take care of that project!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

And at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday. 

 

I Like Thursday #413

My blog is pretty much a politics free zone, so I will just say this as my response to the election results:

Meanwhile, I will continue to escape into good books.  This was a recent finish that I just found fascinating!

I'll enjoy my time with family and good friends.  My book club met on Monday - always an enjoyable afternoon.  (This for you, Linda! 😘)  One of our snacks was these tasty little biscuit type cookies, called Cape Breton Oat Cakes.  Our hostess had recently been to Cape Breton for a vacation that included a Celtic music festival.  She said these little treats are sold everywhere there and they got hooked on them.  When she got home she figured out how to make them.  These are the sweet version and they were delicious!  

Another good escape from the constant bombardment of news and politics is always sewing and crafting.  I haven't had a lot of time to actually sew this week, but I did pull out one of my scrap bins and looked at all the red crumb pieces I could find.  I have an idea for something I want to make - more on that in my Saturday post.

And finally, LeeAnna's question of the week is do we have a favorite Fall movie?  I have to admit that my mind was blank on this one at first!  So I googled movies about Fall, and found this great list of 50 movies that take place in the Fall.  Several favorites were on it: Coco, Legends of the Fall, and The Breakfast Club among others.  Over the years we've enjoyed a lot of the animated movies that have come out - supposedly for kids, but enjoyable for adults, too - and especially if there's music in them.  So, I'll say that Coco is my favorite on the list!

Have a good Thursday, friends.

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

 

Midweek Update

I am doing lots of "adulting" this week, and it takes up valuable sewing time!  Monday morning was my yearly Wellness exam with the doctor.  Even though it was only scheduled for 30 minutes it felt like it took up the whole morning!  In the afternoon I went to my book club discussion group which is purely for pleasure, but, no time for sewing!    Then today (Tuesday) groceries were needed and I spent a bunch of time on the phone scheduling a mammogram and a bone density test.  Tomorrow I get to go for a blood draw and get a haircut.  Somewhere in there I need to visit my mom!

So, what's a quilter to do when there's not much sewing machine time?  I popped in to my LQS and did a little stash enhancement!  It's time to work on a Christmas gift project for my quilt group gift exchange.  I have a plan for it, but needed some holiday fabric.  Here's what I came home with:

The red with white that looks like K's - those are actually doves in flight.

This cute little project turned up on the Crafty Quilter blog - "Cookie Plate Crumb Catcher."  Perfect for a gift with a matching plate and maybe even some cookies!

I did manage to finish quilting the Zipper quilt, so another part of my purchase was a 1/2 yard for binding.  I thought this blue with white dots would make a fun binding!

While on hold waiting for the appointment scheduler, I was able to get the Zipper quilt  trimmed, and hopefully I can get the binding made and sewn on before too much more time goes by!

Sharing at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

Slow stitching for a Sunday

Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the month - my book club meets!  For November's discussion we read Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin.  If you haven't read this book, I definitely recommend it.  It's a good story about women and their friendships, family, and crows!  I learned so much about crows from this book - they are fascinating birds.  So I decided to stitch some crows!  

My tiny beginning!  This is PinkernPunkin's

Ole Crow Saltbox.   Click the link to see Melisa's design.  

I've never stitched any of her saltbox houses before, 

but I think I'll enjoy this one!

Before starting this I did finish the two embroidery pieces I shared last week - my October heart and the November Woven Wreath section.

Hard to believe there is only one more month to stitch on this project!

I'm going to have to decide how I will finish it up.

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

 

Working on a finish and looking ahead...

I'm determined to get another Rainbow Scrap Challenge project to the finish line this month, so I decided the next up would be my zipper block quilt top.  (This one needs a better name!  Anyone have an idea for me?)  I had made the backing for it a few months ago, so getting layers sandwiched and ready to quilt didn't take long.

And quilting has begun!  Using my favorite serpentine stitch along the seam lines to start.

Sometimes, though, you need a break from the tedious machine quilting, so I took a little time to play with these blocks that I saw on Cathy's post a few weeks ago.  I think she called them quarter stars.  I love them because they are simple to make - four patches with a combination of squares and HSTs.  Perfect for scraps!

These:

can turn into this:

Or how about these?

Can you tell what scraps have been out on my cutting table lately?  

(From this project, and this one!)

So, I think I have arrived at my next RSC project.  These will be fun to work on while I chip away at the backlog of unfinished quilt tops in my closet!  

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

And at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

Midweek Update

Block #21 for Melva's Pieces of My Life QAL was posted last week and I had a chance to sew it up over the weekend.  It is a maple leaf - one of my favorite blocks to make!  To go along with the maple leaf, our reminiscing is all about Fall.

Fall has always been my favorite season!  Especially September, even though Fall technically doesn't come along until the third week of the month, because September is the month of school starting.  I loved school growing up and always wanted to be a teacher - which I became and taught at various grade levels for the 30 years of my working career.  For most of the years of my career, I taught 5th grade at our neighborhood school, which my boys also attended from K - 5th. 

   

Fall is also the time of changing leaves and beautiful colors, which we all enjoy seeing.  In Colorado we don't have a lot of maple trees, but we do have the amazing aspen trees that give the mountains such a beautiful golden color.  That's why I made my maple leaf gold!

I do have to share this photo I took while out on my neighborhood walk yesterday.  Is this a maple leaf?  I'm not even sure - but it fits right into this post!

As a teacher, I both loved and dreaded Halloween, lol!  It was a fun day at our school with everyone dressed up in costumes, all the classes parading through the school for a Halloween parade, and a party at the end of the day.  We were all exhausted by 4:00!    As a mom, it was fun helping our kids come up with their costumes.  For boys, it was so easy to use sweat shirts and pants as the base and add extra things to them to create the costume.  Here is older son dressed as Darth Vader (sweatshirt with felt pieces sewn on and a simple cape I made) and younger son as a football player with a hand me down football helmet from some friends whose boy outgrew it.

Hard to believe this is the 21st block I've made for this project - that means (I think) there are only three more!  I've also gotten the blocks for section 3 of the quilt sewn together, and ready to sandwich for quilting.  I'll be working on that step in the next few days.

Sharing at Melva Loves Scraps and at

Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Two of my previous slow stitching projects featured in Sunday posts were finished this week!

Fall Sunflowers

         

and Rainbow Nine Patch.

So, what to work on next in my slow stitching time?  Back to a couple of ongoing embroidery projects.   First, I prepped and traced the October heart for Melisa's A Year of Hearts project.  Seeing as it's now November, I'm a little behind, but it won't take long to catch up.  

This probably needs some coloring, too. 

And - seeing as how it's November, it's time to stitch up the eleventh little design in the Woven Wreaths project.  It's a sweet cornucopia full of fall motifs.  I've watched Kathy Schmitz's video, so I'm all set to get started!

What are you working on today?

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

Small but Mighty!

I have another finish to share today.  That makes two this week!  (See my sunflower mini quilt here.)  Rainbow Nine Patch is one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects for 2024.  I started making the blocks in about March or so because I wanted a new hand-piecing project.  I had never made Hollow 9 Patches, but thought they'd be perfect for hand-piecing, and they were!

I ended up with 16 six inch blocks, so this measures 24 inches square.  To finish it up I also hand quilted it. 

  A sweet tiny floral print that was in my goodie box from Nann made a great backing, and I decided on Grunge White Paper for the binding.  I'm not sure I've ever used a white binding before, but I love it on this quilt!  It highlights the white centers of the blocks.

The hand-piecing and hand quilting always

make a quilt very soft and drapey.

This little quilt makes a great doll quilt, so here are Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Kevin cuddling up in their new quilt!  These guys were made by my mom for our boys when they were little so that is how they got their names.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

And at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.