SAHRR 2022 and To-Do #120

It's time for the 2022 edition of the Stay at Home Round Robin, and I've decided to participate!  For all the scoop about how this fun QAL works, check out Quilting Gail, right here!

This first week, our job is to choose our center block, and I've done that.  I'm going to start with a Kathy Schmitz embroidery design that I finished up last year, but haven't done anything with yet.  To go with it, I pulled these interesting prints from a bag of scraps that a friend gave me recently.  These measure about 11 x 21.  I'll need some kind of background fabric, too - still deciding on that.

My goal is to turn the embroidered block into a 

 wall-hanging for our living room!

And since this is a Tuesday post, I'll add my to-do list on and share with Linda and friends at Texas Quilt Gal. 

I did accomplish all I set out to do last week and you can read about those things in my weekend posts - Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Finished Frosty.

In my RSC post, I listed the Easy Breezy blocks as a project I would like to finish up, and so that's going to be the main thing on my list this week.  It didn't take too long to sew up the blocks into a small quilt top - it's 36.5 inches square - just the size for Jack's Basket!

Next step is to finish piecing the backing and get the layers basted for quilting.  Hoping to accomplish that this week!

 

Finished Frosty and Friend

 Welcome, Frosty! a wall-hanging designed by Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting is finished!  (Find the pattern for Frosty HERE.) I put the last few stitches into it on Friday night by sewing on the buttons for his eyes and some snowflakes while we were getting caught up on some "Bull" episodes.

This is a bit of a funky angle for a close-up, but I wanted to show the background fabric I used for this project - it is so perfect!  It's called Snowy Sky.

And the snowflake buttons - love them!

Today's slow stitching will be the next Frosty in my queue - this Frosty has "Mittens for Sale!"

Design available here at PinkernPunkin Quilting.

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Getting started on 2022

 It has taken me all week to think about and get organized for what I need/want to work on this year, particularly for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I'm carrying over several quilt projects, but, of course, have ideas for new ones, too.  Isn't that a quilter's life?!

One big goal of mine is to get this one quilted!  Remember the Rainbow Jungle?  I made all these blocks in 2020, and I think I finished up the top sometime early in 2021.  And it has been hanging on my quilt rack under other things ever since.

I'm going to splurge and have this long-armed! It will be my Christmas present - just a little belated.  I need to figure out the backing and call the quilter my local friends have recommended. 

Carryover projects from the 2021 RSC include:

Full Stop, which is in row form.  I've got a plan for it, and have been slowly adding background fabric to help things fit together.  Here's how it looks at the moment.

Crumb Hearts - adding borders.  It's 48 inches wide right now, and I'll be adding top and bottom borders to get it up to 60 inches long.  They'll be a combination of the Kona Aruba and the Tula Pink Fairy Dust that is in between the heart blocks.

I'm thinking of adding some appliqued vines, leaves, and flowers to the aqua borders.  That would be a big hand stitching project for me,  and probably take all year.  Still thinking about that one!

Easy Breezy - blocks have sashing and cornerstones attached, and now I'm sewing them into rows.  This is going to become a baby quilt for Jack's Basket, and will need a small border to make it 36 x 36.  I think I'll use the Kona Alegria that is the cornerstone fabric.

Chandelier blocks  - still making blocks.  Not sure yet how many I'll make each month, or if maybe I'll turn this into a tablerunner.  I have to find a fabric for the setting triangles, too.

These are the 6.5 inch size.

Except, oops...

I guess I have a date with the seam ripper!

New project ideas for this year: 

I enjoyed working on Trip Around the Rainbow so much that I knew I would need a new hand-pieced project to work on periodically.   (I also learned that there won't be a Hand-Pieced QAL this year, so another reason to start my own.) I decided on 9 patches that form plus blocks, with the plus being our monthly color and the background being white with black prints.  Two made so far!

We like to use cloth napkins at our house, and I haven't made any new ones in a long time.  On our Thanksgiving road trip, I found these fun food prints at one of the quilt shops we visited, and I think they'll make great napkins.  This month I'll use the apple print.

I really enjoyed participating in the Table Scraps Challenge that Joy of The Joyful Quilter sponsored last year, so I'm definitely going to join in again for 2022. There's a place in our house that can use some seasonal utility mats, so that's what I'll be making.  I've already got a start on the January mat - and it includes snowmen and red!

And one last thing.  (At least for this post!) I've purchased Sew Preeti Quilts' Masala Box pattern and plan to make a rainbow version of it.  I haven't gotten started on it yet because I need to decide if the background fabric will be one consistent low volume print, or a scrappy mix.

Thanks for sticking with my long post!  It feels good to have my thoughts and projects a bit more organized.  There are a few more unfinished projects in my sewing room that I haven't included in this list, and I'm sure I'll start other new things as the year goes on, but this is a good start.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at

Quilting, Patchwork, and Applique for the Quilting and Patchwork Link-up and at

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #268

 Happy Thursday, friends!  Thanks for visiting on "I Like Thursday," hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  Although my blog is primarily for sharing my quilting and crafting projects, I enjoy these posts because they give me the chance to share a few other things from my life that are positive and fun.  It's also been great to meet other bloggers through this community.  I've been joining in with I Like Thursday for over 5 years now - that time has flown by!

Something quilty that I (finally!) did is get my Positivity quilt sent off to Bernie for Mercyful Quilts.  That's a positive way to start the new year, and I feel good having (finally!) contributed to that very special cause.

It's been snowy and cold here, but that seems to bring out the birds.  Lots of these lesser goldfinches at the thistle feeder recently.  We've also seen lots of nuthatches, flickers, juncos, and the chickadees, and house finches who are always here.

I enjoyed this book over the New Year's weekend,  another one from Carole's post in December about holiday books.  I really like Susan Wiggs, and I think it's part of a series, so I might look for more of them.  

It's a quick and easy read, just right for when you want to

escape into someone else's life for awhile!

I like my new "house shoes." (I guess you could call them that - sounds like something from the 1950s!) They've been keeping my feet warm around the house on cold winter mornings.  I found them at Old Navy of all places, before Christmas.  They were marked down from $19.99 to $15.99, and then rang up at $9.99!  A bargain!

Soft, furry insides!

Be sure to check out all the positive posts at Not Afraid of Color!

  

To-Do Tuesday #119

Good morning!  I'm back for the weekly To-Do Tuesday link-up at Texas Quilt Gal.  Thanks, Linda for giving us all a place to post our lists for the week and encouragement to stay organized!

Looking back at last week's list, I think I actually did pretty well!

• Trip Around the Rainbow, a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project is finished.  More about it here.

• The little wreath mini quilt project is almost finished.  I'm ready to stitch the last step of the binding right after I finish writing this post.

• Frosty, the wall-hanging, is quilted and ready to bind.  I almost sewed the binding on this afternoon, but realized I've never sewed binding on an other-than-90 degree angle, so I thought I'd better look up some hints on how to do that first.  I found a simple tutorial here.

This week, I really need to:

• Work on an organized list of my various WiPs and plans for the new year.   I'm still figuring this out!  I'd like to have a monthly plan for moving current projects forward while still leaving room for new things that catch my eye. 
• Finish Frosty! 
• Sew something in red for RSC January color.

Have a great week, everyone!

Five Frosties Playing in the Snow

 It snowed all day Friday, the last day of 2021.  It was our first real and measurable snow for this winter and the first since way last March, so our very dry Colorado really needed it.  I knew I needed to photograph my Frosty embroideries out in the snow!

I'm not sure how tall that snow on the fence is, but I did measure 7 inches in the front yard.

Mike asked me if it was really worth it to tromp through all that snow just to get a picture.  Of course I said it was!

Frosty #6 is still under construction.

And 7, 8, and 9 are printed and ready to trace.  I'll need to prep one this afternoon so that I don't run out of slow stitching on this first Sunday of 2022!  These designs can be found at PinkernPunkin Quilting; every Thursday Melisa puts out a new Frosty.  They're a lot of fun!

Happy New Year to all my stitching friends!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Trip Around the Rainbow - finished!

It took a trip around the sun to create this Trip Around the Rainbow, and I've finished it just in time to share for the new year!   This quilt began with my desire to try hand-piecing a lap-sized quilt that had fairly simple blocks.  So 36 patch blocks in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month with a diagonal white section fit the bill perfectly.

January 2021:

Every month I pieced two 12.5 inch blocks, and made

sure that each block had different scraps in it.

This is an "anything goes" quilt!  As long as the scraps I found fit in with the color of the month in some way, they were in!

Penguins (of course!), hearts, cats, pumpkins, fall, and bits from favorite projects like the SAHRR and the Harmony hand-pieced quilt.

By the end of October I had 20 blocks, and had pieced the top together.

Quilted with DMC white perle cotton #12, in diagonal grid lines about 4 inches apart - quilting finished earlier this week!

I decided this colorful quilt could use a cool blue binding, and I chose Kona Alegria because it went so well with the backing!

And ta-daaaa!

This is a happy finish, and such a feeling of accomplishment - 

hand-pieced AND hand quilted.  Whoop, whoop! 

The perfect quilt for winter afternoons spent curled up with a book in my favorite chair!

Sharing at:

SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!