A mini sampler finish...

I finished up the Rose Garden Mini Sampler this week.  There wasn't much left to stitch - I think there were three roses and a green leaf - so it didn't take too long.   Then I turned it into a bowl filler pillow.

Or in my case, a basket filler!  This is my collection of mini samplers - except for the strawberry one which displayed on the entryway chest of drawers right now.  The basket is getting full!

Then I went back to an older project that had been set aside for awhile - the Old Crow Saltbox House.  I need to fill in the windows and then stitch some sunflowers around the outside of the house.

Thank you, Melisa, at PinkernPunkin, for sharing your designs so generously!  

I am enjoying every stitch.

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

More with orange...

I focused my scrappy sewing on the orange 16 patch stars this week.  I started out by cutting as many 3.5 inch squares as I could find from all the oranges I had.  There were a few that could only get one or two.  Then I sorted by brighter compared to darker.  

Not perfect, but these will do!

Sewing these up goes really fast once I've made the star points.

Then - you know me - I have to get out all the blocks and see the results for the first half of the year.   I love these!

Along the way, I finished up a tiny orange 16 patch block, and turned it into a Gameboard block.  These are fun, too!  

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 #439

Things are growing at my house!  Flowers - 

And veggies, too - green beans in the back, pumpkins in the left front, and cucumbers to the right.

We are again fighting with the rabbits over the green beans, so the wire fencing is an attempt to keep them out.  This year they don't seem to want to eat the plants, but they want to burrow down in behind them.  I'm hoping I will not go out one morning and find a nest of babies in there!

Wednesday morning - she's back!  No matter what we do, the bunny finds her way in and digs a big "burrow!"

Naughty bunny!

I was a lucky winner in the Orange Peel QAL over at The Crafty Quilter.  She sent me a whole package of goodies!  Of course, I am most excited about the fabric - a mini charm pack of Strawberry and Friends by Kimberly Kight, and a regular size charm pack of Tilda prints - I've never had any Tilda before!  

A pretty quilt pattern designed by Julie, and some fun tools, too.

Applique needles, bobbin holders, and some foundation paper for square in a square blocks.  That might work well with the Tilda charms.

Thank you, Julie!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about swimming.  Did we learn as kids and what was that like?  I did learn to swim as a kid, and have always enjoyed being in water.  I never have been a strong swimmer - no swim team for me - but enjoy being in and around water.  Many neighborhood people where I grew up in Rochester, NY, had backyard pools, so the swim lessons were set up right there.

But the best memory of swimming comes from visiting my grandparents in Iowa City, Iowa, who belonged to the Elks Club where there was a great outdoor pool.  We would visit for two weeks every summer and they would take us to the pool every day.  We could also eat lunch there.  That is the perfect way to entertain grandkids!

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

Midweek Update/Glowing Hearts QAL

Progress on the Spring QALs:

Glowing Hearts is a top!  I went with a sort of asymmetrical plan for the borders, without cornerstones.  It's kind of fun!

I took it outside for a photo, and even though the day was kind of breezy, it shows the colors better.

The backing is purchased, but batting had to be ordered, so it will take a little longer to get this one completely finished.  Thankfully, the quilt parade, which begins Sunday (I think) accepts unfinished tops, too.

Thank you, Sandra, for a lovely design, and fun quilt-along!

Linking up at the Glowing Hearts quilt parade.

I've been working on my orange peel project, too.  13 out of 24 orange peels are appliqued to the background, so that's good progress! 

I'm a pretty slow applique stitcher - I don't want the stitches to show, so I'm trying to be really careful.

Still more to do on each project, but they're both moving along!  

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

Two small finishes...

My little entryway chest is decorated for a new month, with strawberry designs.  It's making me want to go on a picnic!

Once we were home from our trip and I had a chance to do some stitching, the berry basket doodle finished up really quickly.

I bordered it with some scraps of red gingham,

 and hand quilted around the outside edges.

The monthly mini for the little stand is finished, too.  I'm not sure the dots were quite the right choice for the binding on this one, but I used what I had!

For today's slow stitching, I think I'll try to finish up the Rose Garden Mini Sampler.  I'm not sure I've made any progress on this one since the last time I shared it, but there's not too much left to do on it.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday 

Got orange?

 

Orange is the June color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.   When I started digging into my scraps to see what I had, there wasn't much!  There are two fat quarters pulled out of the bundle I won through the Stay at Home Round Robin, but the rest of the pieces are pretty small.

So I stopped by my LQS one day this week, and bought a few fat quarters to add in.

Bright!

That enabled me to sew up eight quarter star blocks in all different shades of orange.

Then it was time to play with all the blocks!  So far, I'm arranging all the warm colors around the center, and the cool colors will go around the outside.  

52 blocks - shooting for 100!

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 #438

Something we really enjoyed on our trip to San Diego was visiting the San Diego Zoo.  I'm not sure we'd been there since we were first married and didn't even have kids yet.  It's really an amazing place!

Our dear friend, Cheryl, wife of one of Mike's Navy buddies, who lives in San Diego, volunteers at the Zoo, so she was our tour guide, and knew everything about everything.  We walked our feet off for 5 1/2 hours, but we also took a ride in a gondola that goes from one side of the Zoo to the other.

Cheryl loves all the monkeys and apes 

and is very knowledgeable about them.

We enjoyed seeing the orangutans.  Did you know they like to cover up in blankets?  Their blankets are made from burlap.

And there are giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo!  Two of them.  They were fascinating to watch - we were lucky to come across them when they were active and eating.  The Zoo actually grows the bamboo that they eat.

And the giraffes - for you, Vicki!  Who could resist this face?!

And, of course, the elephants - the Zoo has quite a few of them.  One thing they do very well at this zoo is coming up with ways to keep the animals actively thinking about how to find food.  This elephant is getting food out of a puzzle box.  It was so interesting to watch him using his trunk to grab and twist to get the food out.

I had to check out the gift shop before we left, and this is what I came home with.  It is a penguin bracelet!  🐧🐧🐧 The added fun of it is that you download an app on your phone and you can track your very own penguin, learn about it, and see where they live and where they go.

LeeAnna's question of the week is about the game, Monopoly.  Although we haven't gotten it out for a long time, we do have a Monopoly game and over the years have enjoyed playing it a lot.  I like being the banker, counting the money, and keeping it all in nice, neat piles.  And my favorite game piece has always been... the iron!

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

 

Midweek Update

We so enjoyed our week in San Diego - especially being able to spend time by the ocean - 

After returning home there's always lots to do - laundry, grocery shopping, making sure the bills are paid... back to reality!  When I got back into my sewing room, I had to spend some time remembering where I left off, and what are the priorities to get back to first.

Before we left on the trip, I had started hand stitching the orange peels to the background, so there's that to continue working on. 

And my Glowing Hearts are ready for the border to be added.  I'm planning to use some of the leftover jelly roll strips for that purpose, but I don't have four that match.  I do like these colors, though - so I could use them this way - 

Or this way?  Those dark blue cornerstones match the center cornerstones, but I'm not sure I'll use them.

While I'm thinking about this, I'll work on some orange blocks for a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday. 

Travel stitching...

I stitched a grand total of one strawberry this week while enjoying our days in San Diego!  The days and evenings were just spent too differently from the usual times at home when I sew.

We did go to the Coronado farmers market and bought some locally grown California strawberries.  Yummy!

And the view for stitching was pretty neat - the Shelter Island marina was right outside our hotel room for these last couple days.  

It's always fun to go, but I am also glad to be home again.  Maybe there will be time for some slow stitching after I get caught up on laundry and groceries today!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

A short getaway and a little sewing...

Hello from San Diego!  We celebrated Memorial Day by getting on a plane and flying to one of our favorite cities and are enjoying every minute.  Because we are away from home this week, I decided to merge all of my usual weekly posts into one.  Midweek Update, I Like Thursday, this month's Table Scraps, and ScrapHappy Saturday, Oh Scrap, Sew and Tell Monday - all here!

We're staying on Coronado Island and using the ferry to get around, plus putting many miles on our step counters.  (And sleeping well at night!)

One of the things I love about visiting here is the interesting plants, like these huge succulents - 

All the green reminds of my Table Scraps project for May, which is all about green!  Our challenge this month was to use the color green and the inspiration of "freshly cut grass" to use up a few more scraps.   I do love green, and I even like mowing - this was a few days ago before we left. 

So there was no lack of inspiration at my house, either outside in the yard or inside in the sewing room.   I had a lot of green strips hanging around that looked like they would work well for a quilt-as-you-go placemat, so that is what I did.  And I used all the greens, too - dark, light, and in between, and the last bit of my favorite floral that has green in it.

Even a green selvage was thrown in!

And where is freshly cut grass more important than at the golf course?  I've had this fat quarter for several years and didn't have anywhere to use it, until now - and it made the perfect backing!

And so, ta-da!

Perfect for the table in between our comfy chairs in the TV room.  

Sharing at all my favorite link-ups:

Wednesday Wait Loss 

I Like Thursday

Finished or Not Friday 

The May Table Scraps Challenge

ScrapHappy Saturday 

Oh Scrap

Sew and Tell Monday