To-Do Tuesday #84

 Good morning!  I'm checking in with Chris and friends at Chrisknits to share my to-do list for the week.

I had two to-dos on my list last week:

#1 was to finish my Stay at Home Round Robin - and it is very close!  The quilting is complete, binding is machine stitched to the front, and I'm ready to do the hand stitching step.  This is going to be a 93rd birthday gift for my MIL, so I'm going to finish it up this week and we'll take it to her on Friday.

Here's a peek at the back with binding ready to sew.

#2 on my list was to hand-piece the four corner blocks for the Harmony QAL and I did complete that!

On to the next blocks!

So what's on this week's list?

• Sew the binding on the SAHRR, give it a wash and dry, and write up a finished post for Friday.
• Make a pillow cover for a friend using my recent embroidery finish.

• Finish up my April Table Scraps placemat.

I think those things are doable!

Slow Sunday Stitching

 Happy Easter!  Spring has finally arrived at our house.  We're having lovely high temperatures and spent most of Saturday outdoors working in the yard.  I love this time of year!

Spring Sing is complete.  I'm going to make it into 

a pillow cover for a friend.

I gave her a fall-themed embroidered pillow cover last October, and I

think she needs a Spring-themed one to change it out!

I finished up the four corner blocks for the Harmony hand-pieced QAL.  Next up are the 4.5 x 12.5 sections that connect these with the center square in a square.  Making good progress on this one.

Also, this month I'm adding a light blue hand-pieced scrappy trips block to my collection.  This block will be my slow Sunday stitching project for today!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Getting Started with Blue

 Most of my sewing machine time this week has been spent working on the quilting of my Stay at Home Round Robin, and I'm slowly making progress on that!

But when I'm just quilting along with straight lines, I have to admit that my mind wanders and I start thinking about what else I might like to be sewing.  The new Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for April is light and bright blue, so of course, I'm ready to sew with blue!  

One project I thought about was my Table Scraps project for the month, a placemat in light/bright blue.   I happen to have a charm pack of Kaffe Fassett that I've been trying to find a purpose for.  Lots of pretty blue in this one, among other colors.

I picked out several squares that I really liked, paired them with a blue solid fabric, and made some 4.5 inch HSTs out of them.

Right now, I'm just playing with the layout for the placemat.  Maybe this?

A couple chandelier bead blocks were quick to sew up, too.

When I saw that Angela had posted the Full Stop April block, which is an asterisk, I had to make one of those, too!  Even though I've seen many quilts using this block, I've never made one myself.   I think it turned out pretty good!

Well, now that I've distracted myself with a few scraps of blue, I'd better get back to my quilting!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #229

Good morning, friends, and happy Thursday!  Hope you're having a good week.  It's been kind of quiet here (which isn't bad!), but I have some good things to share anyway.

I'm so happy that the tulip and daffodil bulbs I planted last fall seem to have survived the 2.5 feet of snow that was on the ground here a couple weeks ago!  They haven't bloomed yet, but I think they will soon if the weather stays nice.

With Spring comes grilling season, and we decided it was time to get a new grill.  Isn't it pretty?  It will never again be this clean and shiny, lol!

I love a pile of good books on my bedside table!  Two of these I've finished, and one is my current read.  

Mortal Fall is the book I'm reading right now.  It's a murder mystery set in Glacier National Park.  Thanks go to Colette for the recommendation!

The Beekeeper's Promise is WWII historical fiction set in a small town in France - by the same author as The Dressmaker's Gift that I read for my book club discussion in February.  The two books share some of the same characters, which makes the stories interesting.

The Confession Club is by Elizabeth Berg - an author I always enjoy, but often forget about!  A really good story about a woman (among other also interesting characters) who falls in love with a homeless man.

I've been experimenting with making bookmarks out of some tiny embroidery designs I stitched.  Here's my first try:

This measures about 2.5 x 6.5 inches.

Have you seen that Sandra at mmmquilts is hosting a new QAL, starting tomorrow?  I'm looking forward to joining in.  I like the rainbow design of this quilt!  Plus, I've never made arrow blocks and really like her shadow design ideas.  I'm going to pull from my stash for the arrow blocks, but need to find the background fabric.

Now head on over to LeeAnna's place at Not Afraid of Color 

for lots more "I Like Thursday" posts!

 

To-Do Tuesday #83: SAHRR and Harmony Hand-Pieced

 Both of the QALs I've been participating in are having link-ups this week, so I decided I'd better focus on those two projects for my to-do list!

Over at Quilting Gail, Stay at Home Round Robin participants are linking up their finished quilts (or their works in progress!) and you can see lots of quilty eye candy at the link.  My round robin is still a work in progress, but it won't be too long until I have a finish!  Over the last week, I finished up the quilt top, pieced a backing, and got everything layered and spray basted.  I've quilted a small amount through the center to get started.

Here's a peek at the back and you can see my quilting design better.  Jacquie Gering calls this an Angled Crosshatch in her first book on walking foot quilting, Walk.

Straight vertical lines (mine are 2 inches apart) 

with diagonal lines intersecting them.

So my Number One To-Do for this week is to get this quilt finished!

Second on the list, which doesn't really compete with quilting the SAHRR because it's all hand-pieced, is the Harmony Hand-pieced QAL.  I've made a lot of smaller pieces and parts, and this week's job is to stitch them into the larger corner blocks.  Two are completed, two more to go!  This QAL is sponsored and designed by Patty at Elm Street Quilts and Kristin at Simple.Handmade.Everyday.  This is the first link-up to show our progress.

Everything's ready to stitch for the next big block.

To-Do #2 is to stitch the rest of those bigger blocks, so I'm ready to move on next week.

I'm also linking up with Chris and friends at Chrisknits to share my to-do list for the week.

 

Outstanding Blogger Award

 I was so surprised to discover that Mary of Quilting is in my Blood nominated me for an Outstanding Blogger Award, and I appreciate that so much!  I've been inspired by many Outstanding Bloggers in the years since I began my blog, and I'm flattered to be counted among them.  Thank you, Mary!

I started my blog in 2013,  after I discovered the world of quilt blogging and wanted to join in.  This is my 1044th post!  My blog name "Little Penguin Quilts" comes from a mini quilt I made shortly before I started the blog.

Mary explained in her post, here, that the Outstanding Blogger Award is given from one blogger to another as a way of supporting and acknowledging each other.  She also gave me some questions to answer, so here goes!

• What advice would you give to yourself as a novice quilter now that you’re a much more experienced quilter?   There are no Quilt Police!  Try lots of techniques and make what you like, and don't stress out if it isn't the same as your quilting friends!
• Is there another handcraft besides sewing/quilting that you enjoy doing?  Over the last few years I've discovered that I really enjoy embroidery!  My favorite designers are Gail Pan and Kathy Schmitz.  I've enjoyed finishing off lots of little projects for gifts and to decorate my sewing room.

• What is your favorite part about making a quilt?  I really like the initial phase of making blocks for a quilt.  The time when you're excited to get started and see how the design is going to look.  I definitely slow down when it's time to finish a quilt, but then love sewing the binding!
• What is your least favorite part about making a quilt?  My least favorite part is the basting stage.  But once I get past that, I'm happy to be quilting and finishing it up!  I did get my Stay at Home Round Robin spray basted and ready to quilt this afternoon (Sunday) - yippee!  More about that one in tomorrow's To-do Tuesday post.
• Where do you find your quilting inspiration? Everywhere!  Especially from other bloggers and their projects.  I have way more ideas for quilts than I will ever have the opportunity to make,  but I keep trying!
• What quilt project have you done that would you like do again?  I love any design made with Half Square Triangles, like the Rainbow Zigzags I finished earlier this year.  I know I'll be making lots more HSTs in the future!

I would like to nominate these quilty friends for the Outstanding Blogger Award.  They are quilters who inspire me every week with their creative accomplishments!  

Linda at Texas Quilt Gal

Joy at The Joyful Quilter

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color 

Deb at Happy to be Scrappy

Vicki at Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework 

Please don't feel obligated to participate, but if you choose to write a post about yourself, here are some questions to answer!

• What got you started on your blogging journey?
• What's your proudest accomplishment as a quilter?
• What makes you laugh the most?
• What's the best quilty gift you were ever given?
• What's on your quilty bucket list?

A little more with green and a DrEAMi!

But first I have to show you a finish that I'm partially responsible for!  I say partially because I finished the quilt top a couple years ago, and then it got put aside.  I put it up for "adoption"  in Cynthia Brunz' Quilty Orphan Adoption last September, and Doris in Alabama offered to quilt it up and send it to Covered in Love.  She added a border to make it a little bigger, too - and this week she sent me a picture of the finished quilt.

Thank you, Doris!  

You've made my quilt top look wonderful!

At home this week, I finished up the green row of bracket blocks for my version of the Full Stop sampler quilt designed by Angela for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

 

Here are the three for the year so far:

My rows average out at about 41 inches long right now, so I'll wait until all the rows are made to decide what else to add.  The background fabric I'm using is Moda Bella Pearl.  Shouldn't be too hard to get more if needed.  Plus a fun rainbow border fabric could be a nice addition at the end.

Last week, I was inspired by Sylvia at Treadlestitches' crumb hearts, and I had a "just have to try it" moment!  So, having already made some crumb blocks in green, I did!  Sylvia kindly told me that her hearts are made from the free Cluck, Cluck, Sew heart quilt tutorial, found here.

I can see more of these in my future!

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to quilt my Stay at Home Round Robin and wanted to try out a quilting idea I have.  Why not use some green scraps to make a small quilt sandwich and practice?

I started by drawing a 10.5 inch square on the quilt sandwich, and adding vertical lines every 1.5 inches.

After quilting the vertical lines, I marked angled lines that created a sort of diamond shape, and stitched those.

When all the quilting was done, I thought why not add a quick binding to make a mug mat all in green for my favorite mug?!

A true little DrEAMi - planned and made yesterday!

There was even some green in my slow stitching this week - sweet green leaves in the Sprung Sing embroidery design from Kathy Schmitz.  I'm getting closer to finishing this one!

Sharing at all my favorite weekend link-ups:

ScrapHappy Saturday at SoScrappy 

Oh Scrap at Quilting is more fun than Housework 

the March DrEAMi link-up at mmmquilts and 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.