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. 

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.

Denim and Pumpkins

 A Table Scraps project for October...

When I saw on The Joyful Quilter's post that the challenge theme for October would be denim, I was a little stumped at first.  I didn't have any denim scraps or even old jeans to cut up.  My favorite denim project ever was repurposing a teacher jumper that I loved into a tote bag, and I used that for a long time!

In thinking about what I could use to represent denim for this month's challenge, I realized that the blue Grunge that is the background color for the quarter star blocks resembles denim.  Okay - a place to start!  What could I make with some neutrals and the blue Grunge?

I shared this photo a few weeks ago - a 16 patch star based on 2.5 inch squares and HSTs in light neutrals and some "denim" for the star.

But then I did this!  (It is October after all!)

I added the one-sided border to bring the block to 10 inches square.

Some blue "denim" pearl cotton was used to hand quilt this little pumpkin and I used the same dark brown print for the binding as for the stem.

So - Denim and Pumpkins for October!

Linking up with The Joyful Quilter for the October Table Scraps Challenge and

Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

And at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

I Like Thursday #456

 

Good morning!  

It's the time of year for seeing beautiful sunrises 

out our front window.

Even though we've had some freezing overnight temperatures recently, I still have some flowers blooming - alyssum and marigolds.  They're a fun sight at this time of year!

Indoors, the hexagon topper is finished and on our table.  I'm happy with how it turned out - it was a fun project!

I forgot to share this last week.  Younger son baked some tasty bread - it's called "Ugly Bread!"  (I don't know why!)  The recipe came from Cathie's Craftworks.  I asked her for the recipe and she was so kind to share it.

It turned out kind of like a French bread loaf.

Happy almost Halloween!  We don't get many trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood anymore, definitely not like when our kids were growing up.  But just in case, I'll put on my costume - 

And get out some candy - 

And maybe someone will ring our doorbell!

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

Midweek Update

About a week ago, a little squirrel crossed my path that I couldn't resist, and it's all Carole's fault, lol!  Carole, at From My Carolina Home, is running a special event on her blog called Fall Fortnight, and it includes fun sewing projects and yummy recipes, among other things.  I decided I just had to try making the hexagonal tabletopper!

Of course, this first involved a little retail therapy in the form of a fat quarter bundle of my own choosing at my LQS.  They offer the perk of one free fat quarter if you buy 6, so I took advantage of that, too.   I liked the look of some turquoise with the fall colors.

I started by fussy cutting a hexagon from that pumpkin print, and then you just cut strips of varying widths and keep sewing and trimming round and round until you get to the size you want.

That print with the leaves and robins had the most fun selvage!  When you buy a lot of fat quarters like I do, you don't always see the selvage, so this one was a treat! 

I saved this print for the final round and cut it at 2.5 inches wide so you could see the foxes and raccoons and pumpkins on it.

I decided this looked good for the final size and shape.  It measures about 20 inches wide.

All that sewing of one strip at a time and then taking it out of the machine to trim and line up the next strip gave me a chance to finish the four-patch step for Exploding Star.  As soon as my squirrel has been "fed," I'll get back on quilt top construction!

I quilted the hexagon topper in a large spiral starting from the center and going out.  As of Tuesday afternoon, the binding is sewn on the front, and I will be sewing it down this evening while watching our favorite NCIS shows. Looking forward to having this on our table very soon!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss. 

Pumpkins and crows...

The newest little Pumpkin and Crow stitch is fully finished into a bowl filler pillow!

This isn't the first time I've stitched pumpkins and crows together - this little piece is from several years ago, and I think was a block for a larger quilt, but I just did this one.  Maybe one of you will remember who designed this?  I have always loved it!

I did get started on the Little Hoot stamp from Melisa this week.  You can see him taking shape, but he needs his wings!  

Judging by the "horns" he has, I would say that Little Hoot is a Great Horned Owl.  We've had several of them in our trees over the years.  It's always a fun treat to hear them, and especially to actually see them!

I'll be back to stitching on Little Hoot for my Slow Sunday Stitching.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts.

A little of this, a little of that...

I hadn't really played with any dark scraps this month, so I dug out some pretty browns to try a block that might be a new project for 2026.  It's a Jacob's Ladder block, which is quite simple, but just to be sure I knew the measurements and correct layout, I found a tutorial at Fat Quarter Shop.

I guess I'll start a new project box!

Sewing up all those parts for that block gave me a chance to get some more quarter star blocks sewn for the Exploding Star.  Just one more row to go, and then I'll be sewing these into a top!

Making progress one row at a time!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell 

I Like Thursday #455

October has been a beautiful month here and it's been all about leaves this week!  I enjoy taking a walk around my mom's complex after I visit with her for awhile.  This tree was so pretty!

It's fun to look for the perfect ones.

I think this one was my favorite.

Of course, this time of year, the leaves are coming down, and yard clean-up is on the To Do list!  We live in an older neighborhood with many big trees, and have lots of leaves covering the yard right now.  LeeAnna's question of the week is how do we clean them up.  Well, we do everything - mow, blow, rake, you name it.  Last year, I even figured out that I could shovel the leaves up and dump them into our trash cans.

These get dumped into Mike's pick-up truck bed and taken to our city's recycling center where they turn yard waste into mulch and sell it.  It's a good thing!

And one other thing to share this week - we went to the movies!  We saw the Downton Abbey movie, and enjoyed it very much.  It's a good ending to the longtime story.

Image Source

Hope you're having a great week!

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

 

Midweek Update

First, to update from my Sunday post, Woven Wreaths is finished!  It looks so much better with the bound edge - why didn't I do this months ago?!  

I've been trying to spend some time with my 2024 RSC project, Patchwork Hearts, at least once a month, and it hasn't been out in awhile, so this seemed like a good week for that.  The first order of business was to finish quilting the second row, which didn't take long.

I'm quilting these one row at a time, and will need to choose a sashing color that will connect the rows together, so I was auditioning a few different sashing fabrics the other day - a red, a blue, and a gold.  I didn't like any of them!  Now I'm thinking something tone-on-tone in a white or a cream that will blend in more with the quilt design will be the way to go.  Just have to find it!

Fortunately there's still time to figure that out while I'm quilting the other three rows of this project!   The next step was to prep another row to quilt.  

Backing cut for all three.

And getting started on some quilting...

This orange heart is a favorite block, especially for October!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.