I Like Thursday #465

It has been a good week to see some interesting wildlife around here.  Last Saturday we went for a walk at the local trail area, and saw the bald eagles again.  I'm thinking these must be a breeding pair, but I don't know where their nest is.  This is the third month we've seen them in this same tree.

Then we drove to another open space area west of town and came across the elk herd that spends most winters in this area.  There were probably a couple hundred of them!  Mike got a really good photo of this big guy.

Earlier this week, we decided to take a quick trip up in the mountains for a little getaway.  We both really enjoyed the drive and the scenery.

We spent a night up there in one of our favorite hotels, enjoyed a nice dinner, and spent a little money in the slot machines at the casinos.  We won a little and lost a little, but just had fun getting a lot of steps and playing!  And there was this lovely view of the mountain town from our window.

And why did we do this?  We're celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary this week!   

January 9, 1976

Doesn't time fly? 

LeeAnna's question of the week is "Do we sing in the shower?"  And my answer to that is - no, not in the shower, but I do like to sing along with the radio in the car - especially during 6 weeks or so that one of the local stations is playing Christmas music in November and December, and the rest of the year with the oldies stations that we listen to.  And how about with movies that have music in them like "Mamma Mia" or "Yesterday"?  Have you seen that one?  It's all Beatles music - so fun!

Happy Thursday!

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

Midweek Update

I made a personal goal this year to use up as many smaller scraps as I can to make some placemats.  So, I've been playing with the dark blue scraps this week.  They're all different sizes, from long strips to squares, and I want to end up with a scrap slab that measures about 12.5 x 16.5.  I started by pairing up like sizes and sewing them together.

Then, like a fabric puzzle, I combined pairs into groups, and just kept going until, little by little, they all fit together.  The three chunks in the middle will sew together to just about get to the width I want.  The two shorter ones needed a few more pieces sewn to them

I ended up with three scrappy strips that will be perfect for a placemat once they are sewn together - just two more seams needed.

Next I'm planning to do the same thing with my light blue scraps!

This kind of sewing works well for leaders and enders, so along the way I made some blocks for the current Many Hands and Many Hearts block drive.

I'm putting these in a big envelope along with the 16 Patch Star quilt top, and sending everything off this week!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

Santa and the Snowman, Pt. 2

The little Santa mini sampler was finished this week - finished stitching and then fully finished, too!

Just in time to hang out with some friends before everything was put away for January!

And the Snowman embroidery was completely started over!  New fabric, newly retraced, and even a different floss to work with.  It's going to be a much better choice for the look I want.

Instead of the white with blue and red stars, I found a piece of white Grunge that looks so much better.  It's not solid white, but there's no print to clash with the embroidery.  

The floss is DMC 334 - Medium Baby Blue.

I'll be working on this today for Slow Sunday Stitching and linking up with Kathy's Quilts!

Getting started with blue...

New year, new logo - and I'm looking forward to participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again for 2026!

It's always fun to start the new year with a new color and new projects, too.  Back in October I decided to make a Jacob's Ladder block just to see how I felt about making them for the 2026 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Sometime in December, I also made one in red.  They are such a classic block, and go together quickly.

This week I pulled out some pieces of blue from my stash, and sewed another block!

The background is what I am calling an ecru print (which Mr. Google says is a beige with yellow tones!) and I'm going to try to keep with that background color throughout all these blocks.  A friend gave me quite a bit of yardage in the ecru colorway, so I thought I'd try and use it up on this project.

Then I made one in lighter blues -  

Ooh, I'm liking this!

The Jacob's Ladder blocks need larger chunks of the prints to make the 4.5 inch sections, so I'm digging into the fat quarter type stash for them.  But I also have lots of smaller blue scraps.  I've been sorting them into darks and lights and thinking about what can be done with them.

You know I'll figure out something!  😊

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 #464

 Happy New Year and Cheers!

This photo brings back good memories of our visit to the Korbel Winery 

in 2024 where we did a very fun champagne tasting.  

I ended 2025 having read 56 books.  The last two I finished were some of my favorites of the whole year.

Thank you to Carole of From My Carolina Home for recommending this first one.  I really enjoyed this story of two people who meet in the early 1950s because they work for Queen Elizabeth at her Christmas residence, the Sandringham Estate.

This one is my book club's selection for January.

It's also historical fiction, but takes place in 1963 - 

four women become friends through a book club that they start.

My mom joined the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority in 1950 when she was a freshman at the University of Iowa.  Recently they sent her a 75 year pin!  We had my niece (also Mom's granddaughter), Maya, who is also a Theta, pin it on her and sent the national council this photo.  

Aren't they a sweet pair?  

Today is my day to take down the Christmas tree and put away all the decorations.  I'll miss the beautiful lights of the season, but am ready to have everything all clean and neat for the new year.   Have a happy New Year's Day!

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

Planning Ahead for 2026

It's the last day of 2025, so hard to believe we are there again!  I've been thinking through what I'm going to focus on in the sewing room in 2026, and I realized I usually have three categories of projects to sort through. 

1. Works in Progress:  (when do these become UFOs?  I don't know!)

I ended 2024 with two quilts waiting to be quilted - one was finished up (Masala Box) and an older one is still hanging in the closet!  Plus I added another quilt top to that to-be-quilted list.  The Blueberry Taffy blocks were sewn into a top in August, and have been waiting for quilting ever since!

I've been ignoring this quilt top because 

I got frustrated with how much the blue sashing/border fabric was fraying!

Maybe I will be brave and get it ready for quilting sometime in the new year.

But first...

A WiP that's really been nagging at me is Patchwork Hearts.  Here's its current status - partially quilted!  The first two rows are quilted, third is in progress, fourth and fifth haven't been touched except to cut the backing.  I have plenty of batting now, so there's no excuse to not get back to it!

2.  Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects for 2026:  

I'm working on two to start the year.  Jacob's Ladder blocks - 

Blue is the January color for the RSC, 

so I'm pulling out the blue stash this week!

And the house quilt project.  I'm going to call this "A Year in the Neighborhood," with each house going with a season or holiday.  The first one is in progress - there are snowflakes in it for January!

3.  The "To-be-Determined" category!  These are usually projects that involve participating in a quilt-along like the Stay at Home Round Robin (hosted by Quilting Gail) which starts in a couple weeks.  I have my center block ready to go - it's a fall embroidery which will turn into a wall-hanging to go with the other seasons that I've made the last three years.

Another QAL I have enjoyed participating in for several years in a row is Sandra's Spring QAL at mmmquilts.  I've participated in this one for 5 or 6 years now, and I always love the process and the finished quilt!

I'm sure other quilt-alongs will present themselves as the year goes on, and I'll keep them in mind, too.  I enjoy the feeling of community that comes from connecting with other quilters who are working on a similar project.

4.  I said there were three categories of quilt projects on my mind for the coming year, but I just realized there's actually a fourth, and that is charity/donation quilts or block drives.  Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework runs a quilt charity called Many Hands and Many Hearts and I have sent her both finished quilts and quilt blocks in previous years, and I plan to do so again this coming year.  I've been using the current blocks she is asking for as leader/enders this week.  

I will never run out of projects to work on - 

and I'm really glad about that!

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

Santa and the Snowman

Santa's mini sampler has the alphabet stitched, and most of Santa, too.  Santa just needs a little more beard and a little more coat.  

Along the way, I also started a new embroidery project out of my newest Gail Pan book, Changing Seasons.  My new project is a seasonal one, with an embroidery design for each season.  At some point I'll need to make the background quilt to hang the seasonal designs on, too.

The Winter design with the snowman is the one I started stitching this week.  I'm not sure I chose the right background fabric for this snowman - it has little red and blue stars on it that might distract from the embroidery design.  I'm going to think about this before I go any farther with it!

I'll be working on finishing up Santa for my Slow Sunday Stitching today!  

Linking up at Kathy's Quilts.