Blue all week...

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month for January is blue, and I have definitely been sewing with blue this week...

but I've also been stitching in blue this week - on two projects!  The snowman has seen some progress, including a cup of hot cocoa and some flowers.  Do you think those are meant to be snowdrops?   I've never seen them in real life, but the pictures look like this design.

And then I started something new.  This is Melisa at PinkernPunkin's Frosty Stamp.  I started with the blue, but the rest of it needs red, white, and black.  Can you tell I've been inspired by the prospect of snow around here?  We did get a little bit on Thursday, but nothing that accumulated.

The table by my stitching chair is all set up with plenty to work on today for Slow Sunday Stitching!

Linking up at Kathy's Quilts.

A January House

My second Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for 2026 is a house quilt.  I'm calling it "A Year in the Neighborhood" and I'll be making houses that go with the month/season/time of year.  The January house has snowflakes!  These houses are paper-pieced, and the pattern was purchased from Twiggy and Opal's Etsy shop, here.  She calls this block "Heart of the Home."

I happened to have a small piece of dark blue with snowflakes on it - perfect for the January Rainbiw Scrap Challenge color of the month!

I couldn't decide what that bottom rectangle piece ⬆️ should be.  Is it the "yard" or still part of the house (like some bricks under the windows)?  I looked back at Jayne's examples and I think she changed the pattern a bit because I don't see that rectangle on the current pattern.

So I decided it would represent the yard, and for January there's some snow there!

What else should the neighborhood have?  I definitely need trees in my neighborhood.  I have made several different kinds of tree blocks over the years, but this time I was inspired by our trip up in the mountains earlier this week, and there we saw snow-covered mountains and pine trees.  

So I played around with a pine tree made of flying geese, blue sky with snowflakes, and snow on the ground.

A fun start!  

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

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.