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!

I Like Thursday #481

We've had a gray and chilly week here in northern Colorado, and finally some rain came!  So nice to finally get a little of that precipitation we need so badly!   It's been cold enough that I need to wear my down coat when I go for a walk.  But not too cold for the neighbor's iris to bloom!

We've done some spring clean-up in the yard when it's been nice enough.  That includes cleaning off our back porch (it gets really dusty over the winter!) and getting out the furniture for enjoying it.  We both enjoy spinners and yard art, and have been replacing the cloth ones we had previously (that get destroyed by the sun and wind) with metal ones.

I think this one's my favorite right now.

I think LeeAnna's question of the week is about Spring cleaning, but I can't seem to find the email about it.  (Must have been Spring cleaning my inbox, lol!)  When it comes to cleaning, I seem to go in spurts.  Sometimes there is routine cleaning or cleaning because company is coming.  Sometimes I see that something in particular needs to be done so I just do it.  But I rarely do a large "Spring Cleaning."  

This week we have been cleaning out/collecting our old electronic items for an e-waste collection drive that we can take them to.  Think old phones, laptops, charging cords, VCRs, and that type of thing.  It turns out we have a lot of them!  It requires looking in  junk drawers and places where those things hide.  And finding things you forgot you had - like this... never opened.  I've been retired for 11 years, and I stopped wearing nylons to work long before that.  Wonder how long this has been in that drawer.  

I got a good laugh out of this find!

Do they even sell these anymore?

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

Midweek Update

This week I've been focusing on the parts and blocks needed for Lyra, mmmquilts' Spring QAL.  I shared the first two kite blocks that I paper-pieced in my Thursday post last week.  And from there I realized that I could paper-piece each of the sections that I need for this quilt.   

I drafted these myself, remembering to add the 1/4 inch seam allowance all around the outside, and they are working out perfectly!  (And fortunately, we have a printer than also works as a copier, so I only had to draw each block once, and then I could make multiple copies as needed.)

Kite, square-in-a-square, and tri recs blocks

The individual parts go together to make these interesting, interlocking stars!

I've been working from left to right.  To the right of the pink and blue star

 is another like the big star on the left.

I made a few more pieces and added them on, and now you can see that third section developing on the right.

Sandra has released the pattern for Lyra, and you can see her post for that here.   She also has designed another version of the quilt which I think is really fabulous.  I'm thinking about making that version sometime in the future.  For now, I'll keep working on this one!

                         Linking up with The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

Stitching Summer

We're in that lull between Spring bulbs blooming and being able to plant this year's flowers and vegetables. So nothing much is growing here right now, and I'm dreaming of June in my garden!

Until then, though, I can enjoy stitching on the Summer stitch-along, hosted by Melisa at PinkernPunkin.  This week I finished the header and got going on Stamp 1.  

Lots more to work on here, so this will be my Slow Sunday Stitching.

Linking up at Kathy's Quilts.

Quilting

Like many quilters and crafters, I have a tendency to jump around between projects.  Especially since I retired from teaching and have more time to sew, as well as see new patterns and projects I would like to try.  Sometimes that means a quilt finish gets put on the back burner for awhile.  That has certainly been the case for Patchwork Hearts.  These blocks were made during the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2024!

I slowly sewed them into rows and began quilting in 2025.  I wanted to try a quilt-as-you-go finish, building on what I learned from the Pieces of My Life QAL that I participated in in 2024-25.  But, it seems to be months in between time spent working on the quilting - which means the quilt is still not finished.  Taking some inspiration from Kate at Life in Pieces, I'm going to try dedicating some time to this quilt each week until it is finally finished this year!

Two days of quilting this past week helped finish up row 3 which is the center row of the quilt.

On to row 4 this next week.  And, to honor pink month, here is the pink heart, all quilted!

In other sewing-related news, I've been successful at using up the partial spools of thread that I discovered back in January.  I remember that I was so embarrassed about how many there were that at the time I didn't photograph them or count them.  But here are the 10 that I've used up and the others bagged up by color that are waiting to be used up next!

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.

Quilting Learning Combo for I Quilted This!

I Like Thursday #480

One of my favorite events of the year was this week.  "Loveland Loves to Read" is our city's One Book program.  Every year my book club reads the chosen book and then we get to attend the author talk event, along with many other readers from around the city.  This year's book was The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon, and she was an excellent speaker!  

Younger son has purchased a "smart telescope" and we are fascinated by what he can do with it.  Among other things, he got this great photograph of the moon the other night.

I decided to draw out the kite blocks that are needed for the stars in Sandra's Spring QAL so that I could paper-piece them.  I had to start by making some decisions about what fabric goes where, so I did that in my graph paper notebook.  I know a lot of people use their computers for this, but there's something very satisfying about doing it the "old-fashioned way," lol!

And my paper-piecing worked!   I need a few more of these, but they shouldn't take too long.

Did you know that Saturday is National Telephone Day?  LeeAnna's question of the week is about telephones and how we interact with them.   I have an iPhone and I use it for the basic things - phone calls, texting, maps.  I have some grocery apps on there for digital coupons, and then that's about it.  When I want to do other online things - email, blogging, reading - I use my Samsung tablet.  It's like a cross between a phone and a laptop - easier to see what things say, but lighter than a laptop to carry around!

Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday!

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