I Like Thursday #459

Turkey Day is coming!  This is my little homemade turkey, made from a pinecone and pipe cleaners.  I'm not sure where it came from,  or even who made it.  One of my kids? Maybe years ago in Cub Scouts.  I get it out every year around this time.

Have you been watching Ken Burns' The American Revolution on PBS?  It's been on every night this week.  I used to teach colonial American history in 5th grade, so this is fascinating to me.  There's still lots to learn!

I finished a really good book this week.  It is historical fiction, about the development of the Space Shuttle program in the 1980s, and specifically the first women to become astronauts.  It's a very powerful story.

The weather has been so unusual here that I have played golf twice in the last week.  It has been so fun to be outside with friends, getting in a good walk, lots of conversation, and now and then hitting the ball in the hole!

I think the weather is finally supposed to change to something more November-like, maybe even some snow, by tomorrow.   We could definitely use the moisture!  

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

Midweek Update

Starburst relaxing in the living room!

After a finish that has occupied my brain and sewing room for weeks, I always have a hard time settling on what's the next thing to work on.  Does that happen to you?

So Sunday afternoon I just went through some project boxes and baskets, and thought about what I want to focus on next.  My other RSC block set for 2025, the 16 patch stars, need to be sewn together.  I'm going to contribute these to the current Many Hands and Many Hearts block drive.  I'll send them as a completed top only.

I've gotten a start on my November Table Scraps project with these strippy pieces.  This one does have a deadline (self-imposed, mostly) of the last Friday of the month.  At this point, I'm just hoping my idea for this project works out!

I Spy penguins!  Thank you, Libby!

I got all the pieces cut out for the little Christmas version of the quarter star blocks.  I'm going to call this "Christmas Cats," because this setting makes me think of cats peeking out a window.

It occurred to me that I should finish this up and 

send it to my older son and his girlfriend 

who have two cats who are very entertaining.   

Which gives me another deadline!  Well, decision made, and once I started sewing, it didn't take long to make progress on the Christmas Cats.

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

Some binding, some hexies, and a new project...

This week in slow stitching - 

I have been so excited about finishing the Starburst quilt this week, and that included hand stitching the binding down as the last step.  So I spent a couple evenings on that.

You can read my post about the quilt finish here.

There was time to sew the quilt-as-you-go hexies into a small tabletopper, too.

It fits perfectly on this little wicker side table that I think I've had since I was a teenager.  It's where my husband sets his camera for quick pick-up in case he wants to take a photo!

The new project is some Christmas redwork embroidery designs that I found at PinkernPunkin.  Melisa posted a whole parade of her cross-stitch and embroidery designs for the holiday season.  Thank you, Melisa!  Some redwork embroidery sounded like just the thing for this busy time of year.  

And got a few stitches in it already this evening (Saturday)! 

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Just finished!

Starburst is a finish!  It began with the pink blocks I made in January, inspired by the blue sashing fabric I used in Pieces of My Life.

One hundred quarter star blocks - using 100 different fabrics - were sewed for this quilt all throughout the year, and this month I pieced them into the top.  I have been quilting it this week, and got the binding on Wednesday afternoon.

A couple evenings of hand stitching the binding down and voila!  Starburst!

Aren't scrappy quilts just the best?!

I love this backing!  So glad there will be more to use for future quilts.

I think this might be the first time I have ever finished a Rainbow Scrap Challenge in the month of November, in the year I started it!  (I'm such a slow finisher...)  I'm not sure if Starburst will be given away or live at my house, but for now I'm just going to enjoy it right here.

Sharing this finish at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

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

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday 

Patchwork and Quilting with Frederique

I Like Thursday #458

You guys!  We saw the Northern Lights at our house Tuesday night!  It was amazing!  Definitely a first for me.

Front yard

Back yard

And there were wild turkeys in a neighborhood we drove through, going from one part of town to another.  They are so fascinating - and so big!  We have a couple flocks that we see around town, but you never know where they will show up.

LeeAnna's question of the week is about how we decorate for Thanksgiving.  For several years, most of my "decorating" has been with quilted things.  I love tabletoppers and runners and have made many.  Here is our dining room table this year - with my hexie topper that I made during Carole's Fall Fortnight.  There's a pumpkin, and some angels, and a candle for the season.

I zoomed in on this little angel because he is one of three that were gifts from a long ago 5th grade student.  There's one for Halloween, this one for Thanksgiving, and one more for Christmas.    They are holiday favorites of mine!

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

Midweek Update

I got some squishy, happy mail yesterday.  I won a prize for participating in the Fall Fortnight event at From My Carolina Home!  Carole sent me the 2.5 inch strip set of Give Thanks from Benartex.  It's going to be fun to figure out how to use it!

Thanks, Carole!

I just happened to see this design on Facebook and took a screen shot of it, thinking it might work for this fabric.  It could be fun and easy!

Meanwhile I have been quilting Starburst.  I've finished what I think of as the "main" quilting, radiating out from the center star through each of the blocks. 

But I think I'll be happier if I add more quilting, 

by stitching in the ditch on either side of where the quilting is now. 

So that will take a little longer to finish up.

I did stock up on the blue thread I'm using for quilting, and already made the binding, too, so I'm all set for the next steps!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

Slow stitching this week...

The sweet and simple "Giving Thanks" stitch from PinkernPunkin was a quick finish this week, and I even fully finished it to put with my November display.  

I added a little bit of the pumpkins on aqua fabric to the side to make this a rectangular pillow.   It fits right in with the November heart!

Seeing lots of people working with hexies out in blogland got me inspired to pull out my set of Quilt As You Go hexie templates and make a few with my fall scraps.

Those two, above, turned into seven over the week and maybe I will stop there for a little mat.  They sure are pleasant to stitch up!  I think it takes longer to cut all the pieces and prep them for stitching than it does to sew them.

I've been wanting a new embroidery project, and a friend shared this Gail Pan book with me.  There are several in here that I'm considering starting.  I hope to get going on one this week!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

More with quarter stars...

Since my midweek post, I've gotten some quilting done on the RSC 2025 quilt that I've decided to call Starburst.

I wanted to quilt in radiating lines out from the center star.  

This next picture shows what it looks like so far.

When I'm quilting along, my mind wanders and I start thinking about new projects.  Does that happen to you?  I started making these quarter star blocks last December with light neutral backgrounds and some were made out of scraps from a Christmas gift project.  So my mind was wandering to - what could I do with these leftovers?

I just happened to get an email newsletter from Diane Harris of Stash Bandit that was all about quarter star blocks!  Reading through her ideas helped me decide to make one more block from the Christmas scraps for a nine block setting.  And then adding a consistent sashing and cornerstones will tie everything together.  

This will eventually turn into a little Christmas mini quilt, about 18 inches square.

But for now, back to quilting!

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 #457

Hello from Mom, sis, and me!  We were visiting Mom together last week on Halloween.  I don't know if you can tell, but she has a little witch's hat on.  It was a fun day there with kids coming in to trick or treat.  In the background there is Jerry.  He is a younger (than the typical resident) handicapped man who also lives in my mom's house.  He loves to do puzzles and is always sitting right there working on one.

I have found a new author that I like - this is the second book I've read by Pam Jenoff and I have another one waiting.  If you enjoy historical fiction, she might be a good choice for you, too.  This one is about British women who were spies in WWII.  

Speaking of reading, LeeAnna's question of the week is about podcasts.  Do we listen, and what do we recommend?  Although I know many people who love podcasts and listen to many, I have never been into them too much.  But one that I have enjoyed off and on over the years is "What Should I Read Next?"  The host talks to guests about their favorite kinds of books and titles and recommends more for them.  I've gotten good book ideas from listening.

We've been doing some more fall yard clean-up and took a load down to our city's recycling center.  Driving in, you're met by this sign.  Someone found a tree stump in the shape of a heart and painted it like this!

And finally, last week someone commented about the bread that younger son had baked and wanted the recipe.  This is an old recipe that a blogging friend sent me as photographs of magazine pages, so that the best I can do to share it here in that same way.  Hope this works for you!  If you click on these photos, you can enlarge them.

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

 

Midweek Update

Since I finished up those small projects towards the end of last week, I've been focused on getting the pile of 8.5 inch quarter star blocks into a quilt top.

I webbed them all together with only one boo-boo that required a bit of surgery!

Oops!  This one is facing the ⬆️ wrong direction!

Then there was lots of pressing to get all those seam allowances to go in the right direction!

Monday afternoon - adding the outer borders.  I wanted borders that matched my blue Grunge background so that the exploding star would be floating in the dark sky.  And here it is - hot off the ironing board!

Tuesday's job was to prep the backing and get the layers sprayed basted together.  Look at this great backing fabric I found - it's called "Head in the Clouds."  It's a wide backing from Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Isn't it perfect for this quilt?!

Finally, I cleaned my machine, put in a new needle and filled up a bobbin.  Now I'm ready to quilt!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And I'm going to add this to Melva's Sew and Tell post from Monday because she featured my progress as it was on this quilt a couple weeks ago. 

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

A week for small finishes...

I've been on a roll with some small finishes this week, starting with an unplanned detour to make this hexagon tabletopper.

And then there was my Table Scraps project for October - Denim and Pumpkins.

Finally I got to the November heart embroidery - and since the leftovers from the hexagon topper were still sitting out, I decided that pretty turquoise pumpkin print would make a good border for the embroidery.

Finishing that meant it was time to change over the little chest of drawers from October to November!  This is always fun to do because I can pull various things out of the drawers and see what I have to go with the seasonal theme.  I found "Gobble, gobble," but where are my little pilgrim figuerines?  I'll have to dig around a bit more for them.

I stitched a lot of binding during my evening slow stitching time this week, but I did also manage to finish Little Hoot.  He needs to be fully finished into a bowl filler that can join the others for November.

And speaking of scraps, I found one smallish scrap of Aida cloth, about 5 x 8 inches and decided Melisa's Give Thanks design would be a good one to get started on for November.

So I have now run out of Aida cloth for cross-stitching.  My go-to place for buying it was always Joann's.  Where do all of you buy (or order) it from?  I haven't ventured into stitching on linen yet, but that could be something I'll try in the new year.  Maybe in the meantime, I'll prep a new embroidery or hand-piecing project.  I don't want to run out of things to stitch on!

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

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

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.