I Like Thursday #69

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!  Hope you are having a sweet day!

Colorado weather has been a bit, shall we say "bi-polar?" lately!  Cloudy, foggy, snowy, and really cold last weekend, changing to sunny and in the 50s yesterday and today.  I have to admit that is something I like about Colorado winters!

15 degrees - brrrr! - for the high on Saturday was perfect for an ice carving competition in our downtown.  So we went just to see what was going on.

It was pretty interesting to watch!  But, yes, COLD!

This serpent was one of our favorites.

If you went down at night, the ice sculptures were lit up, but by that point I was home in my chair snuggled up with a quilt and some knitting.

I am an on-again, off-again knitter, so this simple scarf has been in the works for several years.  Now I am determined to knit on it until the skein of yarn is gone! Did you see the news about the Finnish coach who knits at the top of the ski run while his athletes are competing?  I loved that!

I've also liked working on a little doll quilt for  Bernie at Needle and Foot's Share the Love, Quilting for Kids doll quilt drive.  The doll quilts are for an organization called "A Doll Like Me."  Read more about this sweet charity  in Bernie's post at the link above.

This is just bit of my project - more about it in my Rainbow Scrap Challenge post at the end of the week.  I've really enjoyed turning some orphan blocks into a useable and loveable little quilt!

Hope you're having a great week!  Please join us at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color, for many more I Like Thursday posts.

Purple Progress

While working on my Project Quilting 9.3 challenge this week, a little bit of purple sewing has also been going on in my sewing studio.  I made two Wishing Ring blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Squared Away sampler.  These finish at 7.5 inches.

The block on the left is made with only one purple fabric, and the other has three different purples in it.  My background fabric is going to be Kona White, since I seem to have a bunch of it leftover from my Scrap Jar Stars quilt, which I finished up last year.

These blocks will join the Red Cross blocks made in light blues from January!

For more information about February's blocks for the RSC Squared Away sampler, check out this post at The Academic Quilter.  Also Angela at SoScrappy has a really helpful chart, found here, that I've been referring to for cutting the pieces I need for the block sizes I'm making. 

I decided to print out this tracking chart, created by Stephanie, that Angela shared last week.  It just might be helpful!

I probably won't be working on any Sawtooth Stars blocks this month since I'm making those from a specific fat quarter bundle, and it doesn't include purple, but otherwise everything is progressing as it should!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

Project Quilting Challenge 9.3 - Brave and Bold

I've never thought of myself as brave or bold, but I have always admired people who are.  So when I saw this week's challenge for Project Quilting, I thought of Martin Luther King, Jr.  He certainly was a brave and bold soul who worked to make our world better.

A favorite picture book that I used to read to my students around this time of year is titled Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by Doreen Rappaport.

After rereading it the other day, I wondered if I could piece some of Martin's words into a quilt.

As brave and bold as I am NOT, this would be a good challenge for me since I have only experimented with piecing letters a tiny bit.

I pulled out a yard of a pretty blue Grunge (it's number 422, but I never could figure out a name for it) and a fat quarter of Kona Sunflower that I had stashed away for another possibility, and decided they were perfect for my idea.

To piece the letters, I cut strips of both the blue and yellow that were 1.25 inches wide and 2.5 inches wide.  Using these strips and the stitch and flip corner method, I was able to make each letter pretty simply.  That upper right corner needed something, so I added the sun - or maybe it is a sunflower!  :)

And so - Dream!

It measures about 9 x 25.

I am also inspired by the words of John Lennon - 

What do I dream of?  Oh many things - mostly that the world would be a kinder and gentler place.

Or maybe I'm just dreaming of Spring coming here to Loveland, Colorado!

Thanks, Kim and Trish, for this challenge that consumed me this week!

Sharing at Persimmon Dreams for the Project Quilting link-up,

at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday, and

at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap on Sunday.

See you there!

I Like Thursday #68 - Sights, Sounds, and Something Tasty

This was the scene at our house the other day -

I like power tools!  Lol!

I really like this photo that Mike took on Monday, just a short drive from where we live.

A friend had posted on Facebook that she saw these bald eagles on her way to work that morning, so after a message to her to find out where they were, we were off to see them.  Didn't he catch a great shot of the one eagle landing on the branch?!  And the amazing blue sky!  We also realized that the one sitting on the lower branch was "talking" to the one that was landing.  That's the first time I've heard what eagles sound like.

I liked finishing up my heart mini on Sunday afternoon.  It's fun having something festive on my little chest!

A new challenge for Project Quilting was posted on Sunday, so I got right to work.  The theme is called "Bold and Brave" -  "Your project should be about bravery: Try a new technique! Honor someone's courage! Conquer your own fears!"

Here's just a hint of what I've been working on - what could it be?! :)  I've really liked participating in this event.  I think there will be about six challenges altogether.

I liked this new chili recipe that my mom shared with me.  I made it over the weekend.

I did make a couple of changes to it - I used crushed tomatoes instead of tomato sauce, and also added some water to it since I like my chili more like soup.  

And this week I am reading - 

Did you know Tom Hanks is a writer?  It turns out he is, and (I think!) a good one, and I've really enjoyed his first book! It is a book of short stories, and the one thing the stories have in common is every one of them has something about a typewriter.  So, the title, "Uncommon Type."  

Hope you're having a great week!  I'm joining in with all of the I Like Thursday bloggers at Not Afraid of Color - thanks, as always, to LeeAnna for hosting!

Progress and a Squirrel

This week I've made good progress on my oldest son's Yellow Brick Road quilt - blocks sewn into rows and 4 out of 7 rows sewn together.

I love the rich colors of the Grunge fabric I chose for this quilt!  Older son's birthday is in April, so that's my goal for getting this quilt finished up.

Meanwhile, the squirrels (who are endlessly entertaining out in our yard!), have also been keeping me distracted in my sewing room!

In my Thursday post, I mentioned playing with some hearts after seeing Janice's sweet "I Heart You" mini, designed by Alison at Cluck, Cluck Sew.  I decided to use some pieces out of a layer cake of Hello Darling by Bonnie and Camille.  Although I originally had other plans for this layer cake, I decided it had been closed up in a drawer for way too long, and deserved to come out and be used for something!

After making the four hearts that were needed, I got the top put together.  I love the way the hearts overlap each other!

I used some leftover bits from the hearts and a few other pieces from the layer cake to piece a backing.  I really like the strawberry print, but it doesn't show up much in the smallest heart on the front, so at least you can see it on the back!

I'm hoping to finish up the quilting this afternoon, and plan to have the binding ready for a little Slow Sunday Stitching during the Super Bowl! 

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday!  I'll be sharing over at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Purple for February

A few days ago, Angela, host of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, announced that the new color of the month would be purple.  The first thing I always do at the beginning of a new month is go into my sewing room and dig around to see what I have to work with in that color.

And here's what I came up with -

(I'm so excited that I finally got my camera adjusted so that it photographs purple correctly!)

I don't have a lot of purple, but there's probably enough in there for the blocks I'll be working on this month.  I started right in trimming the smallest chunks to make the 1.5 x 2.5 inch rail blocks I've been using as leaders and enders recently.  There will be plenty for at least one 10.5 inch block in purple.

I need 25 of these little squares to make a block, but they accumulate really quickly!

Looking through my pile of bowties which were started last year, I realized I had only made two purple blocks, so I stitched up a couple more to add to the collection this week.

Just a little bit so far, but I'm sure there is lots more purple sewing to come!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

Blue and White Tabletopper

Back when I was teaching, daily sewing time was pretty hard to come by, so Christmas Break was a time when I would try to make something fun and feel like I accomplished something!

This 16 inch square table topper was made over Christmas break of 2010, from a pattern out of an American Patchwork and Quilting issue dated February 2011.

I still have that issue of the magazine, and rereading it reminded me that the mini is based on an antique crib quilt.

This little project was a first for me - first mini quilt I made, first made completely from scraps leftover from other quilts, and one of the first projects I tried machine quilting on.

The blue scraps came from an early quilt made for my MIL and from a quilt made for my husband, and white background pieces leftover from my Albuquerque Quilt.

This little mini quilt has always been a favorite of mine!  

Thanks go to Sandra at mmmquilts for providing an opportunity to link up once a month and share our older projects!