Happy Winter Solstice!

I finished this stitching this Winter project just before the first day of Spring last March, so it seemed important to fully finish it just before the first day of Winter!  

I had been struggling with just exactly how to finish it, and finally decided to treat it like a little mini quilt with backing and batting, flipped it right sides out and machine stitched all the way around the edge to hold everything together.  I don't know if you can tell, but I put a few ties in the corners between the "blocks," too.  I happened to have a bit of that striped ribbon for a bow, and it goes well with the hat, mitten, and bowl.  Kind of a fun finish for a cold, gray day!

If you missed it earlier this week, I did finish the embroidered hexie tabletopper, too.  

So, then - what to stitch on during this Christmas week while waiting for Santa to come?  My favorite source of stitching designs and inspiration - Melisa at PinkernPunkin - just happened to share a Santa mini sampler, so I had to start it.  You can see a b c d and the top of Santa's hat there.  Plenty more to work on for Slow Sunday Stitching!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts.

And at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

I Like Thursday #463

I like my quilt group!  We have all been friends for more than 25 years - that adds up to lots of quilty inspiration.  We had a fun Christmas party last week, and here is one of my friends looking at her gift, the pillow I made for the gift exchange.

Besides the cute sewing machine ornament I got, I also brought home a neat knitted bag with a book about Christmas songs.  I think that will be some fun reading, and the knitted bag could carry a stitching project in it.

Speaking of stitching project, my hexie tabletopper is finished!  Except, oops...

I sewed one in going the wrong way!  

Of course, I had to fix it, which didn't take too long.  And now it looks just right!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about Christmas colors that we like - just red and green, or are there others.  You can probably tell from projects I've shared recently that I like to sew with the traditional colors of red and green, but I have made things that included other colors.  Here's a table runner from a few years ago - I think 2019.  It was also a gift for my quilt group's Christmas party!  I love the addition of the turquoise.

Our older son is coming for our traditional pre-Christmas weekend tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to enjoying having him home for a bit.  So I probably won't be posting over the weekend, but will link up both yesterday's and today's posts in the usual places.  I'll be back next week!

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

Midweek Update - Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks

This adorable little sewing machine was in the gift I received last week at our quilt group Christmas party.  We each brought a gift and then played a game where the gifts were passed around.  I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a Christmas tree ornament, but I'm keeping it in the sewing room!

After spending the first half of December sewing with traditional Christmas greens and reds, I decided I was ready to get back to a rainbow project.  So I got out my collection of Gameboard blocks, made this year as mostly leaders and enders.  These start out as four patches, then become 16 patches, and finally are framed with 2.5 inch squares and 2.5 x 4.5 inch rectangles.  

These are 8 inches finished, so I'm shooting for 30 of them eventually.

It looked like the next step was to finish off those three 16 patches in the bottom right corner, and that is what I did!

Now there are 14 of these - almost halfway there.  

Simple four patches are the perfect block to play with at this busy time of year!  But what colors to make next?   Looking at the photo of all the Gameboard blocks together,  it looked like I could use more yellow and orange.  I dug into my stash and got busy!  These are made from strip sets which are quick and easy to work with when you need small blocks.

Update since Wednesday - I've been making more four patches in lemons, limes, and oranges!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

Redwork and hexies...

The redwork hexies I've been working on recently are all stitched up.  

They're kind of cute as separate little pieces - except that you can't see all of them at the same time!  

So now I am sewing them together into a little tabletopper like the plan was all along.

Still a few more seams to stitch which I will do for my 

Slow Sunday Stitching!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts.

And at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

Thinking ahead...

Cathy at Crazy by Design and Kat at Scrapbox Quilts are hosting a QAL in the new year that involves making a whole neighborhood of houses, and I'm planning to join in.

Over the years, I've made several quilts that involved houses, and here are a few.  This first one is from the mmmquilts QAL in 2023 - Rainbow Neighborhood - and it's really a favorite quilt of mine.

The houses in this wall-hanging were all made improv style.  

And this mini quilt below was from another QAL back in 2017. 

  Jen and Jan's Mini QAL and blog hop.

And, finally,  these little house blocks are from Twiggy and Opal.  I don't think her blog is active anymore, but you can still see the patterns in her Etsy shop.  These are paper-pieced.  I enjoyed making this little piece in 2020 when Covid was going on and we couldn't get together with our kids at Christmas.

I decided to test an 8 inch size block of one of these to see if a paper-pieced block would work for the QAL in the new year.  Since I purchased the pattern back in 2020, I have it downloaded and can print out the pages whenever I need them.

I haven't done any foundation paper piecing in quite awhile, so I am a bit rusty.  I only needed to rip out the first two seams, lol!  But I eventually got the hang of it - here is the center heart section for the house.  I fussy cut some words out of my Christmas text fabric since it was out for some previous projects.

Fussy cutting for this kind of piecing can be tricky, but I managed it for these particular words.  Maybe I can use up a few scraps in these blocks.  We'll see!

On to the next sections!  I'll share my result later in the month.

Linking up with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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

I like Thursday #462

Our house is looking festive this year, I think!  We bought a new one of those lights that projects green and red dots on the house, and I love it.  It makes me think of little fireflies flitting around.

We came up with a yummy meal the other day.  We like Panda Express and the guys especially like their chow mein noodle dish.  So, younger son wondered if he could find a copycat recipe of it, and of course he did.  He stir-fried it in his wok.  I sautéed shrimp to go with it.   Here's a link to the recipe.

Yum!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about holiday stress and how do we handle it?  I don't typically feel too much stress around the holidays unless I get too scheduled up with too many events and activities - which happens to be how this week is going for me!  

After today, though, things will settle down.  What I crave when life gets busy, at any time of year, is a good book to read and some sewing time.  Fortunately, I do have a good book in progress right now!  I've enjoyed other books by this author - she writes historical fiction that centers on Cuba, and they're always interesting!

Goodreads

This afternoon is my quilt group's Christmas get together, which is always a blast.  We're all bringing a gift and then will play a dice game to pass the gifts around.  Should be fun!

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

 

Midweek Update

I made enough scrappy Christmas four patches last week to sew up three quilted items.  Small, smaller, smallest!

Placemat - 12 X 16 inches, 

mug rug - 8 X 10, 

and a tiny pincushion - about 3 inches square

All the backings came from the Christmas scrap drawer, too.  Aren't these snowpeople cute?!  And snow cats and dogs - love them!

The placemat is already in use on our table between the recliners.  This spot gets lots of use with coffee, wine, snacks, etc., so these placemats are washed and dried frequently.  It's always fun to have fresh new one!

The mug rug will probably be a gift for a friend, with a mug and some hot cocoa mix added in.  The pincushion will become part of the gift for my quilt group Christmas gift exchange that is happening tomorrow.   I made the pillow way back in July during Melva's Christmas in July blog hop!

Are the Christmas scraps all used up?  Of course not!  I wonder what else I can make with them - I'll have to dig in and do some more thinking about that.

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

Slow stitching this week...

Little Penguin has a Christmas tree now.  He's hanging out with Santa And Mrs. Claus!

Meanwhile, all of the redwork doodles that I traced last week are now stitched.  

And two more have been finished into hexies.  I bet you can tell what I'll be doing for my Slow Sunday Stitching - working on finishing up the last three that will make a little tabletopper when all sewn together.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts!

16 Patch Stars is a flimsy!

It's been nice to have some solid blocks of time to sew this week.  That has enabled me to finish up the 16 patch stars top.  I'm not sure what it is about sewing blocks into a quilt top, but it changes the whole look of things.  I love this one!

Sewing blocks into rows gives you a chance to look at your favorite scraps all over again.  I've been enjoying the Christmas greens and reds this week.

But this sandy, beachy block has some favorites in it, too.

These Christmas-y four patches made great leaders and enders for the star blocks.

16 Patch Stars is going to be sent to Many Hands and Many Hearts to finish because those are the blocks from the previous block drive.  I could have sent them as separate blocks, but decided to just sew them into a top since I had made 20 of them.  Cynthia announced the next block drive earlier this week.  Read about it here.  I think I'll make some of those blocks this coming week!

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 #461

Snow day!

They were predicting 2 inches, but we definitely are getting more than that.  

This was taken at about 8 am Wednesday morning, but it's supposed to keep snowing 

through about noon.

That makes things feel a bit more Christmas-y around here!

🎅🤶🎄❄️❄️

Before the snow happened, younger son and I went for a walk at our favorite trail area and found the bald eagles.  I always love seeing them!

Here at home we've had some visits from the goldfinches in their winter colors.  Another favorite bird!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about games to play when the family gathers, or even just for two people.  Here are our favorites:  

Top: Cribbage

Bottom: Phase 10 and Skipbo

All can be played by two or more people.  When all four of us are together, we always have a Cribbage tournament - parents against kids!  😊

We got a new board game a couple years ago, and all enjoyed it, too.  

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

Midweek Update

My favorite activity after Thanksgiving is to change out all my fall decorations for Christmas.   The first things to come out are the quilted items I've made and the mugs for morning coffee.

Sunday afternoon, I also changed out everything on the little chest of drawers after finishing the December heart.  

All of this got me in the mood to play with the Christmas scraps!  I keep them in the bottom drawer of this little storage unit.  There's plenty to play with!

I ended up cutting a bunch of 2.5 inch squares.  It was fun to fussy cut a chunk of text fabric that was in there.

Believe, merry, jingle, peace!

I sewed the reds and greens to the white prints and started laying them out to see what kind of pattern I could make.

And the bonus is - these make some festive leaders and enders for sewing up the 16 patch stars into a quilt top this week!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.