Making progress...

As I've been working on Blueberry Taffy this week, it's been fun to revisit all the scrappy blocks that are going into it.  The aqua blocks are some of my favorites!

I've been slowly measuring, cutting, and sewing the sashing strips that connect the rows together.  Since I decided not to add cornerstones, I needed to mark where the seams were between the blocks so they could match up from one row to the next.

It's all been going together nicely!  Just one more row to do, and the final outer borders.  You might notice that the top border was already sewn on - that was a bit of a mistake, lol!  I originally flipped the orientation of the first two rows when I laid them out to work on sewing them together, and then realized something didn't look right.  Good thing I planned to use the light blue for the outer border, too - no seam ripper this week!

And along the way I sewed up two more Gameboard blocks - the dark blue and the aqua ones in the bottom row.  

                                       Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #448

Today is my dear mom's 94th birthday!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I'm going to take her some flowers a little later this morning and have lunch with her.  The folks at her place were asking what she would like for a special birthday lunch, but Mom can't answer questions like that anymore, so they asked me, and I decided on something Italian because she's always liked that.   And ice cream for dessert because that is a favorite of hers also.  Who doesn't like ice cream?!  

We have a favorite local ice cream place here and we try to go a few times every summer.  It's owned by some people we knew when our kids were all growing up.  They have yummy ice cream there!

My favorite flavor is always something with chocolate in it - 

this time it was mint chocolate chip.

Look what I grew in my garden!  I try to grow a pumpkin or two every year, but this is the first time for four of them.  It has been so hot here that the vines have just been wilting, so I decided to cut the pumpkins off and bring them inside where it's cooler.  The parts that are still green will ripen on their own.

And another good book this week - this is an entertaining story with lots of things in it to make you think about the times we're living in.  I'm really enjoying it!

Hope you're having a great week!

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

    

 

Midweek Update

Thanks to all my encouraging commenters from last Wednesday's post, I've stayed faithful to my plan, and made some good progress on the Blueberry Taffy project!  I had some decisions to make first - sew all the blocks together by themselves or add a sashing strip between each block and each row?  One way would make for a faster finish, but I thought I would probably like the finished look better the other way.  So I decided to add the sashing, and that meant going shopping!

I came home with this Riley Blake Confetti Cottons solid 

in a shade of blue called Breeze.

Then you know what's next - squaring up the blocks, measuring and cutting strips, and sewing, sewing, sewing!

Although this is not the most exciting of quilting tasks, it has to be done!   I do enjoy looking closely at the blocks again, and seeing all the scraps that were used in making them.

I Spy a little penguin!

And here's where I am now - 20 blocks with sashing turned into five rows.  

Next step is to add the sashing between the rows - that is my job for the next few days.  But first, I'll be linking up with The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss!

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

Slow stitching this week...

I've been so excited about the sunflower blooming in my garden this week that I decided I had to finish the Old Crow Salt Box House cross-stitch piece.  And I did!

I was having so much fun stitching that last sunflower that 

I almost forgot to add the chimneys to the house.  

Good thing that didn't take long!

This fits right in with my other sunflower pieces on display for the month of August.

So now I'm back to working on "Hello Summer!"  

There really isn't too much left on this one - just the bottom row of motifs -

some lemons, another watermelon piece, and finish the border.  

I can have this done before fall comes, right?!

I'll be stitching on this today for my Slow Sunday Stitching - 

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts.

More with aqua...

It's been a busy week getting ready to host my quilt group, but all went well and there was lots of fun show and tell.

Quilty friends in the house!

I did manage to get the two 16 patch stars sewn up, and I'm happy with the mix of darker and lighter aquas, too.

Sixteen of them now!

Leaders and enders this week were a tiny aqua 16 patch, and pieces and parts for a blue Gameboard block.  

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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

And at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

I Like Thursday #447

Tuesday is my regular golf day with friends that I have been participating in for years.  This week it was such a nice day - a cooler temperature after weeks of heat, good friends, and an osprey soaring above us to provide distraction from bad golfing skills! 😜   This guy must have been feeding a young one because he came back and caught a fish three times and then would fly off and take it somewhere.

Not my photo - I borrowed this from allaboutbirds.com

The sunflower in my garden that was just starting to open on Sunday is fully open now, and so pretty.  The bees have discovered it, too!

And more zinnias, too.  I've never grown zinnias before - I'm so excited about these!

I've been reading a good book this week.  It's a WWII historical fiction story that takes place on Martha's Vineyard, so I love the setting, and it involves several interesting storylines, too.

LeeAnna's question of the week is about fudgesicles vs orange creamsicles.  Which would we choose?  Ordinarily, for me, chocolate is always the first choice.  But then - orange creamsicles are so yummy - now I want one!  

This afternoon I am hosting my quilt group, so I've been busy getting ready for that.  It only occurred to me yesterday afternoon (after I'd done all the grocery shopping!) that I should have gotten cold treats like fudgesicles and creamsicles for the treats to serve because it is so hot here.)  Oh well - we're having cookies and grapes instead.  At least there will be chocolate!

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

    

Midweek Update

This week:

I've been working on just what I thought I would be when I wrote my midweek post last week.

• Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks made with aqua scraps and 
• a Scrappy Chain block for Many Hands and Many Hearts.

It's good to stay on track!

This year:

Many people write a new year's planning post in early January, which I did, and most go back to it about half way through the year, but I just managed to do that this week.  So, I'll call it a "Two-thirds of the Year Update!"  You can see my planning post here.

I was pleasantly surprised to re-read that post and see that I've kept up with the quilt projects I'd planned on way back then, too.  There have been several finishes from that list:

• Pieces of My Life, 
• the Stay at Home Round Robin "Bunny in the Garden," 
• Masala Box, and 
• Glowing Hearts 
• and I've kept up with making monthly blocks in the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and
• making small scrappy pieces as a part of the monthly Table Scraps Challenge.

This one is my favorite of the year - January Table Scraps

But... one project from that list is still sitting in its project box, and hasn't gotten any attention at all.  😥  Remember Blueberry Taffy?  I think I started these in 2022 by first making crumb blocks in all the shades of blue.  In 2023 and 2024 I sewed the outer sections on to make the crumb blocks look like wrapped candies.  There are 20 of these blocks!

I'd sure like to sew them into a quilt top this month!

Before I can get to that, though, I'm hosting my quilt group tomorrow, so you know what that means.  Lots of vacuuming, dusting, and figuring out what to offer for treats.  I'm almost ready!  

Linking up with The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

Flowers and stitches

One sunflower has been working hard to bloom in my garden (and the zinnias, too)! 

So, in its honor, I thought I would stitch another sunflower on the Ole Crow Saltbox piece.  There are more leaves and the center of the flower to do, but you get the idea!

I couldn't decide which project to focus on, so I also stitched two little cherries on Hello Summer...

And I had promised my self that I would get some more quilting done on the orange peel project.  I did do a little bit of work on it, but it was super hot here in Colorado this week, so it was hard to have a quilt on my lap, even a small one.  This is orange peel #11 of 24, so some progress has been made.  It's cooler today, so maybe quilting will be possible!

A little of everything this week!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

And at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

Aqua, teal, or turquoise?

I've been playing with my aqua scraps this week, and I think I have a little of everything.  Light to dark, green/blue to more blue/green - whatever name you would give them.  These squares will become two 16 patch stars in the next few days.

But first, I made some quarter star blocks.  I've been making eight of these each month.

There are 68 total now - 32 more needed to complete my goal of 100.  It's time to decide how I will fill those spaces in.  Add more of the rainbow colors?  Or some neutral stars?  I'm not sure yet.  And that will just make a small quilt of about 40 inches square.  So, then, add some borders? 

Decisions, decisions!

Meanwhile, here are the 64 rainbow blocks laid out in the star shape they can make.  I like this, too!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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

I Like Thursday #446

One of our favorite things that we did in Steamboat Springs was visit their botanic garden.   It had been recommended by several people, so we thought it sounded like a place to check out.

It turned out to be lovely!  Lots of nice trails to walk, lots of blooming things, and lots of birds, too.    We both got some nice photos of what we saw.  Here are a few favorites.

A hummingbird moth enjoying the flowers. 

My favorite flower!  

A great spangled fritillary enjoying the echinacea.

Loved this sculpture, too!

And LeeAnna's question of the week is about hula hoops - did we have one when growing up?  Yes, I did, and I remember getting cheap ones at Woolworth's.  Maybe they had little beads inside them that made noise when you were twirling the hula hoop?  I remember them being a lot of fun!  But the hula hoop came back into my life when I belonged to Curves, a fitness center for women.  They had hula hoops that looked like this:

Fitness hula hoops

It took awhile to get the hang of it again (I was in my 50s!), but I did get it, and that turned out to be a fun way to work on my core muscles.  Who knew?!  

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

Midweek Update

This last week has been the busiest one of the summer for us, so not much sewing has been done.  We spent three days up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, with family, came home for one day, and then went up to Estes Park (a mountain town near us) to play golf and visit our favorite winery for lunch.  I need a rest from all the fun!  

It was great to get away, though, and I certainly enjoyed the cooler temperatures,  mountain views, and time with family! 

So, this Midweek Update is more of a To Do list than an update about what I've gotten done.   For August, Angela chose aqua for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  My first job when we got home and I had some time was to dig out all the aqua, teal, turquoise scraps.  I found more than I expected to, including an orphan block!

I always work on the little quarter star blocks first, so cutting and sewing for those in process.

I thought I'd make more progress on the orange peel quilt in July for purple month, but I haven't touched it in quite awhile.   So it's time to get back to this one.  Nine of the 24 orange peels are quilted, and then I'll need to do some quilting through the background squares as well.

And not turquoise, but something I need to get back to are these Scrappy Chain blocks for the Many Hands and Many Hearts summer block drive.  They had been put away in a project box and forgotten about!  I'm planning to make a few more of these and get them sent off to Cynthia in the next week or so.

So there's plenty to do this next week!  Linking up with The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday!

Cheers!