I Like Thursday #484

I love a good rainstorm!  The kind where you can hear it on the roof, and puddles form in the street, and everything looks greener.  It rained all day here on Monday.  That's pretty unusual for Colorado, especially this year!

It was even too chilly and rainy to play golf on Tuesday, so a friend who lives on the golf course invited a couple of us over for tea.  It was so pleasant to chat and watch the bird activity outside.  There are lots of goose families there right now.

I finished this book recently - Theo of Golden.  It was recommended by several friends, and is on our book club's discussion list for later in the year.  I have to admit, it took me awhile to get into the story.  It's not a murder mystery or historical fiction or even what you would call women's fiction - I'm not sure what genre you would call it.  But somewhere along the way, I did get into the story and am glad I read it.

More about the book on Goodreads.

Younger son made some yummy snickerdoodles with his sourdough starter!  I would like him to make these again.  😊

LeeAnna's question of the week is asking about wearing plastic sandals when we were kids, and did they come with ankle socks?  I had to think and think about the plastic sandals and I cannot come up with something like that in my memory.  My mom loved dressing up little girls, making our clothes and all that, and what I remember is wearing Mary Jane's, like in the picture below.

But we definitely nailed the ankle socks! 

This is a yearly photo we did with my dad's parents 

who lived in Iowa City, Iowa, where my dad grew up. 

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

Midweek Update

The last few days I've been focused on making Block #8 for the Little House SAL at Melva Loves Scraps.  It starts with a patchwork heart block.   It's a miniature version of the 12 inch heart block that we made for the Pieces of My Life quilt, which is one of my favorite blocks ever!

I had a harder time making the 6 inch version of the block - not because the strips were tinier, but because I had a hard time choosing fabrics that would work for the design.   I made it twice, in fact, and scrapped both of them in favor of a simpler version like this:

Once that was taken care of, the log cabin strips were added and here is the finished block.

Only one more block to make!

With all the strip cutting for the log cabins, I'm ending up with leftover chunks of the jelly roll to use up, so I decided to make a few tiny four patches out of them.  They made good leader/enders for the strip piecing, too.

Sharing at the Block 8 link-up at Melva Loves Scraps.

And at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday 

Progress...

I've put a few stitches into the Summer Stamp SAL from Melisa at PinkernPunkin every night this week, so I'm making progress! 

Today I'll continue working on Stamp #3, Summertime Treat.  It has a slice of watermelon in it, and a crow - it will be fun to work on!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching. 

There's no place like home!

We enjoyed our week away and now it feels good to be home.  There's always so much to be done after you've been out of town for awhile.  Laundry, grocery shopping, yardwork...

But I have had a little time to get back in my sewing room, and worked on an orange house for my Year in the Neighborhood project.

Home is where the heart is!

This robins have been visiting the neighborhood this month - they like to play in the water from our sprinklers.  So this house was made to celebrate the robins!

Here's how the neighborhood is shaping up.  I added another tree to the collection, too.  

There's another new development in the neighborhood, too - actually in my backyard!  We've been hearing the woodpeckers pecking away at the trees for weeks, but just went out to look at what's going on a couple days ago.  We not only found a woodpecker making a nesting hole, but we think she's made a whole condo development!

Look a little closer in and you can see this little female downy woodpecker, on the lookout for intruders!

Welcome to the neighborhood!

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 #483

I love a picnic lunch!  Wherever we're on vacation, we try to find places each day to take our lunch.  In Charleston, one of the places we went was Folly Beach.  This is their fishing pier that you can walk out on.  We watched a girl reel in a small shark!  (They did throw it back in the water!)

View of the beach off the pier.  It was a popular spot!

Thanks go to Deb A. for recommending the Publix subs for lunch!  We did this a couple days in a row and they were tasty and very convenient, too.  

LeeAnna's question of the week is about 60s/70s fashions this week - mini skirts, fishnet hose, halter tops?  If you knew me in real life, you would realize that I'm not into fashion and never have been very much.  But I do vaguely remember rolling up my skirt to make it shorter, after leaving the house for school in the morning, lol!  

While visiting my mom yesterday, I came across this photo in her album that we were looking at.  1968 - I would have been 14.  The outfit I had on was sewn by my mom, and I recall it being one of my favorites.  Not sure you would consider the skirt to be a mini skirt, but I loved it anyway! 

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

Midweek Update

If you've visited Charleston, you might know about the group of houses called "Rainbow Row."  It's a group of row houses on E. Bay Street painted fun bright colors.  Google Map it and you'll see lots of photos.  Here's my photo from our trip.  There are lots of trees and cars parked near them, so it's not easy to get a good picture, but this gives you an idea!

A very fun souvenir to bring home is some of the Art Gallery fabric line inspired by Charleston and the Rainbow Row colors.  I found a quilt shop to visit while we were there, and bought a few quarter yards.  I'm not sure what I'll make with them yet, but they will be fun to have in my stash!

Now that we're home, I'm ready to get back into my sewing room and work on my current projects.   I left them on my cutting table, piled up and waiting for some attention.

- Blocks for mmmquilts' QAL, "Lyra"

- jelly roll strips and fat quarters for block 8 

of Melva's Little House sew-along 

- and the basket of orange fabrics for the 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge for May

The hardest part is deciding what to work on first!

Linking up at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

Shelling - not Stitching

We have had a wonderful time visiting Charleston, SC, with our Navy friend group this week!  I brought along some cross-stitch supplies in case there would be some time to work a few stitches in to the Summer Stamp project.  And this is as far as I got...

Instead of stitching, we've been doing things like going on a shelling tour, which is a boat trip out to an island where you can find all kinds of shells.

This is Captain Rod's Low Country Tours out of Georgetown, SC.

We found lots of shells!  I was not planning to bring any home, but you know how that goes.

In fact... there is a table-full here!

So much fun!

It has been a wonderful week away, exploring a different part of the country!  We have one more day here, and are planning to find a beach to hang out at.  Heading home tomorrow (Monday).  We've had a great time, but it will also feel good to be home again.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Maybe there'll be a little more stitching time this evening before I pack my suitcase up again!

And at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

I Like Thursday #482

 Hello, friends!

We are in Charleston, enjoying the scenery and history - 

and good friends - 

If you've left a comment recently and haven't heard from me, that's why!

Back to regular posting next week.

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

Little House QAL - block 7

It is handy that the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month for May is orange, because I had decided that my next Little House block would have more orange in it.  And I did pretty well with that!   

This block is called Kit in the Corner, and goes along with the story from Little Town on the Prairie where the Ingalls family needs a cat to take care of the mouse problem.  I also loved the part where Laura got a job helping a seamstress in town sew men's shirts.  I remember this book being one of my favorite stories of the series, even as a young girl, reading about Laura wanting to help the family, and especially her sister, Mary.

It didn't take long to add the log cabin borders to this center block.  I'm getting more efficient with that as we go along!  And only two more blocks to go!

My favorite print in this jelly roll has been the text print.  It comes in the orange colorway and also in turquoise.

I think I've used either an orange strip of it or a turquoise one in every block!

Thank you, Melva, for these block designs!  I'm enjoying sewing them!

Linking up at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday 

and at the Block 7 block parade.

The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss 

Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday 

And at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Summer stitching...

This week I finished stamp #1 for the Summer sampler stitch along, designed by Melisa at PinkernPunkin.   I love all those flowers!  The white blooms don't show up very well, though - I'm thinking I might have to outline them.  

I moved right on to stamp #2 - ⬆️

      veggies and fruits from the garden!  

I'm enjoying all the different colors in this project!

For now I've packed my Summer stitching, some floss colors, and tools into this project pouch, and stuck it in my suitcase because we're going on a trip this week!   

I don't know how much time there will be to stitch on this,

but at least I'll have it just in case!

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

    

 

Ideas for Orange

Orange is the May color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so I got out all the orange I could find and started sorting!

I think the cute elephants/trees/houses print will go in my May placemat.

Those robins could make a fun house for the Quilters Cove project.

And look, there's even a tiny 16 patch, all ready to be finished into a gameboard block!

But what about the Jacob's Ladder project?  See the orange Grunge and fall leaves print up in the top right of the above photo?  I thought they might be work together in a block.

Yes!

It was a little more challenging to find two more oranges that would work well together for the second block.  They need to go together, not contrast with each other.  Then I remembered that there are some orange pieces in the fat quarter bundle that I made this year's SAHRR from.  How about this combination?

I think that worked!

Here are all the blocks together - I enjoy seeing the collection grow.

And along the way, the orange gameboard block was sewn up, too!

I'm already having fun with orange - how about you?

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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