I Like Thursday #490

Remember my baby cucumber from last week's Thursday post?  It was harvested this week!  It is tasty, too - and more are coming.

Mike and I played golf at a favorite course in the next town to the north of us the other day, and I discovered they have some beautiful rose gardens there.

Younger son and I went to a neat event at the library the other day, too.  The local Astronomy Society members brought their telescopes with special filters on the them and you could view the sun!  In a couple you could even see solar flares.  It was very interesting! 

The gals at my mom's place never disappoint with their holiday decorations.  I particularly love the gnomes!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about the 4th - describe a particularly memorable 4th of July celebration you've had.  This made me think of when we were young married and didn't have kids yet.  We went with some friends who had a jeep, up into the foothills west of us to Horsetooth Reservoir - and you could see the fireworks in at least three different towns down on the plains below us.  It was pretty neat!  

I wish I had a photo of that, but too long ago!  But since I love fireworks, there are plenty of photos of them in my archives, so I will leave you with this one.

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

Midweek Update

To end June, and begin July, I have a small finish to share!  Over the weekend I was still in the "just playing" mood, and inspired by the small bit of that white floral on the left side of this photo, I pulled some reds, yellows, greens, and a blue Grunge to play with.

They turned into eight small string blocks... 4 inches finished...

Which turned into this little tabletopper... 8 x 16 inches.

I found the cutest fabric in my stash for the backing!

This is perfect for the top of the little chest that I decorate for seasons and holidays, and just in time for July!

Now, back to my regularly scheduled projects!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

At Quilting Learning Combo for I Quilted This 

More summer stitching...

I've continued stitching along with Melisa's Summer Stamp SAL, and making progress.  This week I finished up Home Tweet Home and started In the Apiary.  Melisa has revealed her finish and you can find it here.  I'm getting close!

I was trying to make the bird look like a house finch because we see them at our feeders all the time here, so I stitched his head in red.  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

I also got started on the Summer embroidery for the Gail Pan Changing Seasons project.  I decided to stitch it in red because that feels like summer to me.  It is definitely hot here right now - we had a couple cool rainy days last week, but are right back up in the 90s this weekend!

So there's plenty of slow stitching to be done here this Sunday!

Linking up at Kathy's Quilts. 

Just playing...

It's been a pretty productive June in my sewing room.  Two RSC blocks, Lyra, a placemat, and the finished top for the Little House sew-along - that's pretty good for me!

So - the last few days I've been playing with a new block.  I first saw this one on Gail's blog, The Cozy Quilter, back in March, I think.   I was drawn to the circular look of it, and that it was made out of quarter star blocks - one of my all-time favorites.  So I asked Gail for some pointers on how to make it, and she kindly sent me some!  (Thank you, Gail!)  There's also a short video tutorial about it on YouTube - just search for "Going in Circles Quilt Block."

I started by making eight quarter star blocks...

which was actually a mistake!

Because when I got everything made for the block and laid it out, I realized I was going to have to sew it together with partial seams.  Now that's not a deal-breaker, but I thought there was probably an easier way.  

After another email to Gail - how did you sew this together?! - and watching the YouTube video - I figured out that I only needed to undo two blocks to get this together.

Next time I make one of these, I won't sew the squares and HSTs 

of the quarter stars together until it's time to make the rows!

The quilter in the video made his block with all two inch squares.

I used a 5 inch square in the center and 

2 x 3.5 inch rectangles for those corner pieces.

I have also spent some time quilting on the never-ending Patchwork Hearts project.  It's going to be finished one of these days!  This is row 4 of 5, so I'm getting there.  

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 #489

It's the "Oh look!" season in my garden right now.  Such as "Oh look, there are some tiny tomatoes!"

Or - "Oh look, a baby cucumber!"

And "Oh look - we've got a little pumpkin!"

The trick is to keep them growing to maturity, lol!

I've been reading the July book for my book club this week.  I'd heard mixed reviews about it, but I'm liking it.  Not quite done with it yet, but getting close.  It is historical fiction, about two married couples during and after WWII, who live in a small town in Ohio.  Somewhere I saw it described as a "quiet" book, and I would agree with that.  Not a page turner, but one you want to read to the end to see how everything turns out.

Goodreads

LeeAnna's question of the week is about going to the beach as kids.  I grew up in Rochester, NY, right on the shores of Lake Ontario, so that is where we went to the beach.  It felt like the ocean to us because the lake is so big that you can't see to the other side of it.  We did play in the sand and swim - lots of fun! 

This is not my photo - a screenshot from Google Maps.

As an adult I have discovered a love for being by the ocean - walking along it, listening and looking at the waves, and picking up treasures I find.  I have bowls and bowls of them around my house!

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

 

Midweek Update

I've spent the last several days getting the border on my Little House quilt top, made along with Melva's sew-along at Melva Loves Scraps.  And it is done!

I chose to add a plain 3.5 inch border all the way around using Grunge Manilla.  I thought this type of border would frame all the busy pumpkins and sunflowers in my blocks and create some calm!

I'm one of those border makers who does better with lots of measuring.  If the standard is "measure twice, cut once," I'm more likely to measure five times, then cut!  And in all honesty, I cut the border strips a little bigger to begin with, and then measure again before cutting to size.

Fortunately, all went well and I'm liking how this looks!

54.5 inches square.

Next steps, of course, are to decide on a backing and I probably need to stock up on batting again.   Since this is a fall-themed quilt, I'm giving myself some time to get it all the way to the finish line, but I'm pretty excited to have gotten this far!

Linking up with Melva Loves Scraps for the Little House sampler Finishing Party, and at 

The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday 

Hello Summer!

 

This was a Free Stitch Friday design from Primrose Cottage that they sent to newsletter subscribers last summer and I finally fully finished it just in time for this summer!

Now my small chest of drawers is decked out for summer, too.

In other summer stitching, I'm moving along on Melisa's Summer stitch-along.  Stamp 6, Pink Lemonade, is done, and stamp 7 is in progress.  It's called Home Tweet Home - so sweet with the bird and its birdhouse and flowers.  It's not hard to enjoy every stitch of this project!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

A summer house...

I originally pulled this light blue floral fabric for the Lyra QAL, but didn't end up using it, and then I thought it make a fun house block.

It makes me think of blue sky, roses, and green grass.

Speaking of green grass - how about using that for the heart on the front door?

This combination made a sweet little house!

And here's how the neighborhood is shaping up now that it's June.  I decided it needed some flowers instead of another tree.  I was thinking pink geraniums, but the block turned out more like a bush.  Hmmm.... maybe this a hydrangea flower?  You'll have to use your imagination!

I'm starting to think about how this will be put together eventually - 

I know it's going to need sashing because the blocks are different sizes.  

Maybe a green for grassy walkways between the houses?

Something to contemplate!

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.

And at Quilting Learning Combo for the Quilters Cove QAL June link-up!

I Like Thursday #488

Over the weekend we went on a Colorado road trip!  We started by driving a long ways south to Alamosa, Colorado.  The destination was a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for dear college friends whose wedding I was in all those years ago.  It was a huge party, so I only got a moment with my friend, but it was good to see her!

There were lots of mountain views and beautiful skies.

Going through Colorado Springs you see Pike's Peak.

Heading west to Alamosa.

The next day we drove north again, through the San Luis Valley.

I bet you won't be surprised to hear that we found a winery to visit!

But this one might surprise you - between Cripple Creek and Victor (old mining towns) there is a troll!

This is one of the Thomas Dambo troll sculptures 

that he is installing all around the world.  

Back at home, my pink petunias seem happy in their hanging basket!  That is LeeAnna's question of the week  - what are our favorite flowers to plant?  I have the best success with marigolds and petunias.  The marigolds come back from seed every year, so they aren't blooming yet.  But the petunias are doing great!

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

Midweek Update

We were away from home for a long weekend, so instead of the sewing machine, this was my view!

Before we left, I did have a chance to sew the center blocks of my Little House log cabin sampler quilt top together.  I adjusted the final layout to try and mix up the brown, orange, and turquoise strips evenly throughout the top.  I think this will work!

Measures about 48.5 inches square right now.

My next step is to work on the border.  Melva has directions for the borders she did in her post here.  I haven't decided on what I will do yet, but I did spend some time sorting through the fabric that was left from making these blocks.  The center blocks were often cut from fat quarters or scraps out of my stash, so that's all put away.  There are a lot of jelly roll strips left - more than I expected!  I'll use some of them for binding this quilt, but then what?  Maybe some fall placemats?  Fun to think about!

The plan for this coming week is to make some progress on those borders.

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

A pastel placemat and some cross-stitch...

We are heading up into the mountains this weekend to attend a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for some college friends, so I thought I would combine my usual two weekend posts into one.  

This week, I finished up the scrappy placemat that I started out of the scraps from the Lyra tablerunner project.  It was fun to see what would happen when I cut the blue floral leftovers into smaller pieces.   There might even have been fussy cutting involved! 

Here's the whole thing - the border and binding are a new purchase that I just love.  The Lyra quilt needed binding, and I didn't have enough of anything in my stash to complete it, so...

This is Woodland Wonder by Gingiber for Moda.  I love it!

Now that I've cut into it, is the rest of it considered to be scraps? 😘

I'm sure this will show up in other projects!

The pile of placemats is continuing to grow!

My slow stitching involved some pastel colors this week, too.  Stamp #5 in the Summer SAL is mostly finished.  It is the Summer Quilt stamp - remembering picnic quilts and the fun of going on a picnic, which I still love to do.  It's supposed to have white filling in around the star and in the borders which I am putting off, lol!  That's not my favorite part of cross-stitching. 

Stamp 6 is in progress - a pitcher of Pink Lemonade!

A lemon and some lemon slices will be added to the strawberries

around the pitcher.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday 

and at 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