Heart Mini

When I was visiting with my college friends last weekend, I found out that one of my roommates had just recently bought a new condo - her first home purchase.  Right away I knew I needed to make her a little something quilty for her new home.  I decided to make a heart mini which she can use as a mug rug or coaster or put on the wall if she wants to.

I used some squares from the charm pack of Rhapsody by Sue Zipken for Clothworks that I won from the Quiltmaker giveaway back in May. They are all pretty shades of blue with white accents in flower prints that I cut into 2 1/2 inch squares.  The finished heart will be about 8 1/2 inches square.

The background isn't quite as yellow as the picture appears - it is a piece of cream polka dot from my collection of Modern Background - Paper.

I made this little mini (sort of) reversible by putting together four little squares in rainbow colors bordered by some more of the cream polka dots for the backing.

I just had to include one more of those Charley Harper cardinals in this project.  We had a great time watching the cardinals come to our friend's birdfeeder in Kansas City.  We never get to see them in the west! The back also shows the quilting that I did.

I'll be working on binding this little piece today so that I can get this in the mail to my friend by Tuesday.  I decided this fun polka dot would make a great binding.

I so enjoy making little gifts for friends!  Maybe one of these days I'll have a bigger finish, but these minis are fun for now!

If you are interested in more scrappy inspiration, head on over to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.  That's where I'll be hanging out this afternoon!

Back in my sewing room...

After arriving home from a lovely long weekend with my college roommates,

(Here we are!)

I picked up my Janome from the "spa."  It didn't take long to realize that she really needed and enjoyed her time there!  I didn't know that the way she sounded before the tune-up was NOT the way she was supposed to sound!  Now she is just purring away, and I have been enjoying stitching with her more than ever.  I guess I should take better care of her, considering how hard she works for me!

While waiting to find out what the July colors would be for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I pulled out some blocks I haven't worked on in awhile, the Double Four Patches.  I caught up on some orange, green, and turquoise four patches with lights and darks and then laid them out with the other blocks I've made this year. There are now 30 all together.

I can't quite decide what I think about these four patches all laid out together!  They are a bit of a scrappy mess, without much organization other than the block itself.  I keep waiting for the perfect layout to reveal itself to me.  Or maybe I will just finish this quilt up and find a good home for it!  :)

And now it's July, and time for new colors for our RSC projects, specifically watermelon!  

Sounds like fun to me!  Watermelon is one of my favorite fruits this time of year, so sewing with those yummy colors will be pure pleasure!  Of course, I had to head right down to my sewing room and start looking through the scraps and stash.  I pulled out just enough to make a little Watermelon Monkey!

I think he looks very sweet!  :)

What sewing have you been up to this week?  Looking forward to checking out all the rainbow scrappy goodness at ScrapHappy Saturday!

A Busy Week!

This Friday, I'm getting out of town, and heading off on a road trip with my college friends!  Eight of us rented a big house together, and 40 years ago this year we graduated from Colorado State University.  It was a few short years in our lives that created lifelong friends.  Here we are when we first started rooming together, in 1974.  Aren't we cute?!

Next week I'll show you a current picture!  :)

So, this week, I had a couple of goals to accomplish in my sewing room.  One was to finish up a gift for my roommate who is hosting all of us for the weekend.  In college, my friend studied entomology, and even though she is now retired from her career, she is still fascinated by bugs of all kinds.  When I won this fat quarter bundle of Sweet as Honey from Linda at The Road to Oklahoma back in February, I knew it would be perfect to make something for my roommate, the entomologist.

You might remember that I already used some of this fabric to make myself a table topper.  When I started that one, I made double the number of HSTs I actually needed, and had a bunch leftover to make another table topper for my friend.

For hers, I made sure I used all of the fabric with honeybees and honeycombs and hives.  

I pieced the back out of the larger pieces I had left, bound it in the leftover honeycomb fabric, and added some triangles in the corners in case she wants to hang it on the wall.

I sure hope my friend enjoys this little mini quilt!

I also wanted to make sure I finished up my June Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks, because when I get back it will just about be July.  That meant making one more Scrap Jar Star, and I think this is the prettiest one yet!  (That happens to me every month - lol!)

With the darker teals, I think the addition of the lime green works really well.  My June stars:

And all the stars so far!  So pretty together!

Now that I met my goals for the week, I can take my little Janome in for a visit to the spa tomorrow, and pick her up when I get back from my trip.  She needs to be ready to get back to work when I get home!

Wishing you all a great rest of the week and a lovely weekend.  If I have access to WiFi over the weekend, I'll link up with Angela and Cynthia and all my favorite scrappy quilters!

Playing with Log Cabins

After working on my RSC blocks earlier this week, I then decided to pull out my first few beginnings of log cabins from May, and work on making more.  Almost like putting the pieces of a puzzle together, I sorted through my strings, in search of just the right color and size, and stitched them together before trimming up the final block.  I now have four 12 1/2 inch log cabins in the three primary colors and green.

Here is a fun layout!

Starting with two 2 1/2 inch squares gives me a chance for a little fussy cutting!  This is about all I have left of my Charley Harper cardinals!

I love having this kind of project which is content to wait for when you are in the mood for it - no deadlines, no hurry.  The next blocks I work on will come out of my orange, pink, and purple strings.  Maybe a black and white one will appear as well!

I'll be linking up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework and Log Cabin Lunacy over at JulieK Quilts.

A Turquoise Star

This week I have had the chance to stitch up a turquoise version of my Scrap Jar Stars.  I'm calling it turquoise because it is closest to the turquoise in the teal, turquoise, aqua color chart I posted about a few weeks ago.

I love these sweet, summery fabrics, especially those flowers that have the darker centers!  Since my plan is to make both a light block and a darker block in each of the monthly color combinations, I pulled these fabrics for my second June star.  This one will have a bit of lime green in it!

I also finished up my 16 patches for the month and had fun laying them out again.  There are now 36 blocks, and it's starting to look like a quilt!  I'm getting antsy to start sewing rows together, but I know there are 4 more months of blocks to make.  I am loving this quilt already!

Linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

Scrappy Zipper Pouch

I have had a lot of fun making different kinds of zippered pouches the last few years.  Although I'm not a zipper expert by any means, I'm getting a lot better at them!  Here are three of my favorites made in 2015.

So, when I saw that Preeti, who blogs over at Sew Preeti Quilts, had posted a tutorial for a different zipper pouch than I had made before, I knew I had to try it!  Preeti calls it the Simplest Zippered Pouch, so that told me I could do it, even though I still have a very stiff wrist and can only sew a little bit at a time before it gets mad at me!  (I started my therapy last week, and I'm doing my exercises, I promise!)

I also wanted to make something more with my Caribbean Blue scraps (see yesterday's post)!  I started with a larger piece of the ocean blue - cut 11 x 6.5.  I bordered that with two pieces of the sunset blue - cut 11 x 2.5.  I layered that piece with a scrap piece of batting and a piece for the backing cut from the sunset blue also.

I quilted it with some simple lines, according to Preeti's example!  Then she gives excellent directions for putting in the zipper, and how to sew up the sides so that the pouch lays kind of flat and the zipper is on the front.  I love this!  It's completely different from any of my other pouches.

Looks like it will be perfect for carrying some sewing supplies if I happen to be taking them somewhere!

If you're needing some more scrappy inspiration, check out Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is More Fun than Housework! 

Caribbean Blues

I've continued to hunt around in my stash for the perfect fabrics for some 16 patch blocks to add to my Rainbow 16 patch collection - and here are my finds of the week!

I've never been to the Caribbean, but these reminded me of a visit to San Diego a few years back when my family and I rented a beach house together for Thanksgiving, and we were treated to the most spectacular sunset!  These fabrics seemed like they would be just right for this month's RSC color scheme.

Below you can see my busy sewing table!

I also made a couple of 16 patches with my Tula Prince Charming scraps, and one with some Elementary scraps in teal.

The frog prince is peeking out to say hello!

Playing with the greens, blues and aquamarines - 

Happy ScrapHappy Saturday to everyone!  I'll be linking up with Angela to see what everyone else has been up to!