Little Sisters

 This little finish has been a long time coming, but I can't tell you why.   In June of 2019, I made some of Preeti's International Sisters and turned them into a mini quilt, here.  Then, sometime in 2020, Preeti posted the cutting directions for a little sister block that finishes at 8 inches, and I made 4 of them!

This photo is from September of 2020.

Somewhere along the way, I sewed the four sisters together, and

then they sat again for a long while more!

A week ago, I felt the need for a quick and satisfying finish, so I cut a piece of batting and a backing and did some quilting!

A square spiral worked really well for this block design.

The backing is the same batik as the top sister, and the binding is some Kona Aruba.  I'm loving the aqua and red together!

Several favorite scraps made perfect dresses and headdresses for these little sisters.  I'm not sure where I'll hang these little ladies in my house yet, but they did enjoy hanging out together under the apple tree!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday!

Also at AlyciaQuilts for Finished or Not Friday.

And at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! on Sunday.

I Like Thursday #247

 Happy Thursday, friends!  Hope you're having a good week.  My mom is improving every day, so this week has been much better than last.  Thank you so much for all your good wishes - they were so appreciated!

I like August!  (Especially ever since I retired from teaching, lol!)  I like that I am able to eat things I've grown in my garden, like this cucumber that surprised me with its size the other day.

Today I noticed that the apples are getting larger.  We hope to have some to eat in September!

I bet you're noticing that we have a new fence in our backyard, too.

We just had it replaced about two weeks ago.  We live in a 40+ year old neighborhood, and everyone has a fence around their yard.  We could have lived without one since we no longer have a dog, but the neighbors need it.  Mike calls this one the Great Wall of China because it feels so big!

Aqua is the color of August for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I've loved getting out my aqua scraps to play with this week.  The Full Stop block this month is a question mark, and I just had to make one.  It might be my favorite block for this project yet!  I'd better make some more.

I enjoyed this book this week, The Silent Sister, by Diane Chamberlain.  It was a pretty good page-turner, and kept me interested.  I'm planning to read more by this author!

I'm joining in with LeeAnna and friends at Not Afraid of Color for I like Thursday.  Be sure to check out all the other Thursday posts for lots to like!

To-Do Tuesday #99

My last To-Do Tuesday post was a couple weeks ago, and in between I had to abandon any expectation of "getting things done" and just be available for my mom after her fall and while she was in the hospital and transitioning into the rehab center.

Finding some mental health *me* time was important, too, though, and when I was able to get back to the sewing room, I chose nothing from my previous to-do list!  (wink!)  Instead I worked on finishing up a little squirrel project that I started over a year ago.   It deserves its own post, and that will come later in the week, but here's a peek at the back.

Finishing a little something was a big boost!

Along the way, I did get a few other things accomplished:

• the July row for my Full Stop sampler for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and
• a small embroidered wall-hanging 

The one thing I've barely touched in the last two weeks is the Positivity quilt project, although it has moved along a bit.  Here's where I am on that one right now:

The open spaces are going to be filled with the red reverse blocks.

Thanks go to Vicki for helping me with that idea!

Although still in the rehab center, my mom is doing quite a bit better, so I think I can comfortably make myself a list this week!  

• I definitely want/need to keep working on the plus blocks for Positivity.  Just 6 more needed for this layout.
• August's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is aqua/turquoise/teal so it's time to get out those scraps to play with.

• I'm participating in a blog hop in mid-September, so I'm slowly working along on my project for that.  A little progress this week would be good!

Have a great week!  I'll link up with ToDo Tuesday when I figure out where it's being hosted.

A slow stitching finish and some more embroidery...

I recently finished off one of my embroidery designs from Gail Pan's Patchwork Loves Embroidery, Too.

A scrap of a dark blue print for the border, and 

a lighter coordinating blue Grunge for binding.

This one is now winging its way to a friend!

Meanwhile I've been adding the flowers to my watering can design.  I decided they would be pretty in variegated flosses: blue, yellow, and the round flowers will be in a pink/burgundy floss.

I'll be working on those pink flowers for my Sunday stitching.

The blue flowers with bees buzzing around remind me of the larkspur in my garden.  My husband took this great photo not long ago.  The great big bumblebees were very busy on the larkspur!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

And at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

The end of July...

I'm finishing out July by finishing up the next row for Full Stop, the 2021 Rainbow Scrap Challenge sampler.   I wasn't sure I'd get much time at my sewing machine this week, but it turned out that I had just the right amount!

Plus my order of the background fabric, Moda Bella Pearl, from Missouri Star Quilt Co finally arrived.

This makes my background look yellow, but it really is a cream color - "pearl."

I ended up with a row of nine colons.

It's getting more and more fun to lay out the rows now that there are 7 of them!  It think it will be a good puzzle to figure out the final layout of this quilt and how to use the different lengths and widths of these rows in a creative way.

The longest rows measure 42 inches.

Sharing at SoScrappy  for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #246

Hello, friends, and happy Thursday!  It's been a heck of a week in our neck of the woods, and many days of not much to like.  My mom fell in her apartment last Friday and after multiple hours spent in the ER on two different days, she was finally admitted to the hospital for treatment.  As of today, she is in a rehab center where she will get lots of therapy to help her get stronger again.

One thing I can say that I have liked is the kindness and care of the nurses and CNAs on Mom's hospital floor.   They were just great with Mom, and we appreciated them so much!

Meanwhile, there have been a few things that have made me smile this week.  Like this pretty volunteer sunflower that is blooming in my garden right now.

And in the category of "Oh look!" I found a pumpkin growing!

This morning (Wednesday) I was able to participate in a "Stuff the Backpacks" event as a volunteer for the Thompson Education Foundation, which supports our local schools.  These backpacks are given to kids and families who need a little extra support.  I was in the first shift, and here's our results!

I haven't had much time to sew this week, but I did manage to sneak down to my sewing room for a few minutes really early one morning.  I enjoyed getting a little bit done on a *secret* sewing project that I have going.  It needs lots of low volume crumb blocks, and some green.  More about this in September!

I have been able to be home in the evenings, and have been stitching away on my latest embroidery project.  Lots of pretty greens for stems and leaves.

Good stitch therapy!

(Thanks, Wendy!)

Let's just hope the days get better for my mom from here on out!  Joining in with LeeAnna and friends at Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday.

This week in stitching...

I was thinking through what else needed some dark blue in my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  First, I thought about the crumb hearts and the chandelier blocks.  But they have plenty of light and dark blue, and I don't want any dark neutrals in them.

Then I remembered I hadn't looked at my Easy Breezy blocks in awhile.  Since Bonnie Hunter already started a new leader/ender challenge, and these were started in 2020, it's probably time to finish them up.

These have lots of dark blue, but I decided they could use a couple blocks that combined blues with browns.

These also need an alternate block, and this week part of my Missouri Star order arrived - this layer cake of Tula Pink's Pinkerville.  This fun print is called Fairy Dust.  It was their Deal of the Day a couple weeks ago.

I think it could work for in between the Easy Breezy blocks!

In my evening hand-stitching time, I finished up two hand-pieced Scrappy Trips blocks, the dark blue and the one in browns.

I also traced one of the new embroidery designs, and have the second one ready to trace as well.  I've done just enough of the embroidery to stitch around the water can.  

These will be my slow-stitching projects for Sunday, and in the evenings, too, this coming week.

Linking up with my favorite weekend parties at:

SoScrappy 

Quilting is more fun than Housework and

Kathy's Quilts