Charleston Pink

A whole year ago, Mike and I took a trip to South Carolina, and on the way into Charleston we stopped at a little quilt shop where I bought six fat quarters of, yes...

Charleston

I loved these sweet prints and knew I would enjoy making a little something for myself to remember the trip by.  The best kind of souvenir!

 We loved seeing these houses, called Rainbow Row - how about that pink one?!

And here they are in fabric version!

Fast forward a year, and I finally did come up with an idea for my Charleston fabric, and sewed it up this week!

I wanted something that wouldn't cut the prints too small, and no HSTs, lol! (I've been trimming a lot of HSTs recently, and I was feeling lazy!)

So, I cut several 2.5 inch strips out of each fat quarter and sewed them together, trying to alternate darks and lights.

I cut those into 6.5 inch squares, and ended up with this layout.

Measures about 12 x 36.

Leftover pieces and strips made the backing and binding.

And a curvy grid for the quilting - 

Perfect for my dining room table, and a place to display my South Carolina shell collection!

Plus, a few of the leftover bits turned into some pink bowtie blocks and a couple of 9 patches!

This was definitely my favorite kind of quick project!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

Also sharing this at Sandra's DrEAMi linky!

I Like Thursday #82 - Colorful!

I love this time of year! Don't you?!  The leaves on our trees are that bright Spring green, the lilacs are blooming and smell so good - it really is my favorite.

Right now,  the Columbine are blooming in our garden.  We started these years ago, and they come back every year.  Did you know they're the state flower of Colorado?

I enjoy planting my garden and pots on Mother's Day, so after we talked to our kids that morning, I did just that.  Everything seems pretty happy so far!

Several of these beautiful Western Tanagers have been visiting our yard this week.  Their bright orange heads and yellow bodies really catch your attention!

Speaking of color, I received this fun set of Aurifil thread in the mail recently.  It was a prize I won from participating in Project Quilting earlier this year.  I'm going to enjoy having these pretty threads to choose from!

My last like to share today is that I like making progress on a Work in Progress!  I got my Penguin Mystery Block quilt basted and quilting started.  It shouldn't take too long to finish it up!

I hope you're having a great week!  You can find more "I Like Thursday" posts over at Not Afraid of Color, hosted by Lee Anna.  See you there!

Decisions, Decisions...

Yesterday, in an email conversation with Karen, of Karen Quilts, etc, I was telling her that I really enjoy playing with fabric and trying new blocks - thus ending up with several WiPs at the same time, lol!  And that is exactly how this project started - my blocks for Libby's Magical Mystery.

I had a fat quarter bundle I had purchased around Christmas time, and no real plans for it, so when Libby announced her mystery QAL, I thought, "Why not join in?!"

This fabric bundle has penguins, polka dots, and bright primary colors.

At one point, I added in that peach-colored fabric in the center, for some reason, but I've since put it away.  It didn't really fit with the rest of the colors!

After learning how to cut each pair of fat quarters and sew the blocks together, I've been working on making four at a time every so often, and now I have 20 blocks total.

Now I think it's decision - making time.  I've played with this fun fabric, learned how to make these blocks, and - bonus! - learned how to "spin" the center seam of a four patch block.  That's something I've never done before, and I can see where doing that can be really helpful when sewing many blocks together.

So, I'm ready to move on!  After playing with many layout possibilities, I decided to stick with something really simple, and arrived at this - 

Of course, I'm noticing that there's a ton of contrast in these fabrics, and even though they were picked to go together, they don't mix up in these blocks.  I can see (and I hope you can, too) the diagonal pattern that's created when the blocks are laid out this way.  I like the way these blocks create that design.

I think I have ended up liking the dot fabrics the most in this bunch.  The polka dots have all the colors of the penguins' hats in them, so look fun with any of the other fabrics.

I'm definitely left with scraps from this project, but I'll enjoy having these in my stash to pull from for future projects.

I'll be working on finishing this little quilt up this week, and finding somewhere to donate it.  I think it will make a fun and bright comfort quilt for a little one somewhere.

Hope you're enjoying some stitching today!  

Sharing at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

In the pink!

It's always fun at the beginning of a new month, to go on a scavenger hunt for scraps and stash in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color - for May, it is pink!

After returning from our trip to Washington, DC, I finally had a chance to dig into some pink.

I also decided to look at some of my WiP boxes to see what I needed to make for those projects.  There, I discovered that I had already made a pink Tiny Rails block, and also one in yellow, which I don't think I shared last month.

Here are the pink bowties I made when it was pink month in 2017.  

Since I need at least 10 bowties in each color, I'll be making more pink ones as the month goes on.  Here are a couple new ones - 

And my main focus for pink this week - my Squared Away blocks for the 2018 RSC Sampler quilt.  I really enjoyed making these, and they went together so easily!

Aren't these looking pretty together?

Thanks, Mari and Angela, for planning this year's sampler and sharing all the info for making the monthly blocks! 

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #81 - Washington, DC!

Happy "I Like Thursday," friends!

We've spent much of the last week on a trip to Washington, DC.  It was an amazing experience for us, and there was much to like.  We've traveled to DC before, but never with this group -

These are some of the members of Mike's Helicopter Squadron from their time in the Navy in the late 60s to early 70s.  They met when they were 19-20 year olds, and have become our very dear, life-long friends.  It was particularly special to be at the Vietnam War Memorial - the Wall - with these men who are Vietnam veterans.  Not too many dry eyes in the group that morning.

We liked riding the Metrorail train all over the place!

Although we got turned around a time or two, we always found where we were going.  Everyone you meet is so helpful if you have questions!

We had a lot of fun on the Hop On - Hop Off busses! 

The evening Twilight tour was especially neat.  We had a great tour guide, Henry, who was extremely passionate and knowledgeable about all the monuments, memorials, and famous people.

We liked the WWII Memorial with its beautiful fountains.

We visited several of the Smithsonian museums, and I enjoyed the 3-D Imax movies at the Air and Space Museum!

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was high on my list to visit, and I am so glad we did.  It's not a place where you take pictures, but the information displayed there is profoundly moving.

We also visited the Newseum - it is a privately run museum, not part of the Smithsonian - but very worth the money we paid.  It celebrates journalism and the First Amendment.

We were amazed by the Food Trucks at the National Mall, and enjoyed having a picnic lunch there.

Can you tell it was packed with people?  I wonder if there is any time of year when DC isn't a busy, busy place!

I'll leave you with this beautiful view of the Washington Monument and the Capitol behind it, taken on our Twilight Tour.

Hope you're having a great week!  Be sure to visit the other I Like Thursday posts over at Not Afraid of Color!

Sawtooth Stars in Pink

I knew early on that I wouldn't have much sewing time this week, so I decided to spend the little time I did have stitching up a couple more Floral Sawtooth Stars.  Part of my plan for this project is to make the stars in different sizes and then find a fun way to combine them into a quilt.

Amy, at Diary of a Quilter has a great tutorial and very helpful size chart HERE that I've been using for this project.

This week I started with a 9.5 inch star, and added a border around it to bring the whole block to 12.5  inches.

I always start with the center floral fabric, and then choose the corner square and flying geese fabric to go with the center.  Lucky me, I chose some pink this time, which turns out to be the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for May!

Just for fun I decided to make a little 4.5 inch star, too.

These two are kind of fun together!

And here are all of my 12.5 inch blocks so far.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday 

and Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #80 - a new hike

I've posted before that DH and I enjoy hiking, especially the popular "urban" hikes in our area that are part of city and county open spaces.  We found a new spot in Boulder the other day that I wanted to share with you for my likes this week.

This is Colorado at the end of April - hints of green wherever you look.  The trees are starting to leaf out - sometimes you can see it, sometimes you can't!

This hike goes around a little lake, right up to the foothills, and in between some residential neighborhoods with funky Boulder houses.

One of these was for sale, for only $775,000!  Yikes!

We saw several hang gliders soaring along the ridge as we walked.

Evidently this is a popular spot for that activity!

Beautiful views and blue, blue sky - this is what I love about Colorado!

The way back to the car took us through a neighborhood, and I had to share this fun mailbox!

LeeAnna, you need one of these!

Happy Thursday, friends!  Hope you're having a great week!  Hope you will join us at Not Afraid of Color for all the I Like Thursday posts.