I Like Thursday #95 - the middle of August!

It's hard to believe it's the middle of August already!  My teacher friends who are still working have gone back to school this week, and the kids in our town go back next week.  This will be my 4th year NOT going back to the classroom, and I have to admit that I like that!

Instead I'm getting ready for my mom's yearly visit where we will celebrate her 87th birthday.  I've been cleaning, planning some meals, and figuring out some fun activities.

We will definitely be baking a peach pie.  I LOVE peach pie, so that is a yummy annual tradition, especially because this is the time of year that Colorado peaches are in season.

Delicious!

I was pulling some things out of my closet the other day to see what I could get rid of, and found this tote bag.  I have no memory of where this came from, and it looks like it's never been used.  I like the positive words on it, so I think I'll keep it to use!

I liked what my little great-nephew, William, said when he saw these - 

"Why do you have pool noodles, if you don't have a pool?"

Good question!  I tried as best I could to explain to him that I was going to use them to baste a quilt.  Whether he understood me or not, whatever I said seemed to satisfy him, and then he was on to the next thing. :) God bless 4 year olds!

So, finally this week, I did use my pool noodles to baste a quilt, with pretty good success.  More on that in a later post!

Also in my sewing room, I like this pile of goodies that arrived recently.

Connecting Threads had their wide backings on sale, so I decided to buy a few yards of one.  Of course, a few other items had to come along just for fun!

These happy marigolds in my little garden are making me smile right now!  They're one of the few flowers I can grow successfully year after year.

And finally, because these two topics seem to come up whenever I am talking with friends these days - getting enough exercise and not getting enough sleep - I loved this Maxine cartoon!

Hope you're getting some of both - exercise and sleep - as the week goes on.  :)  

Happy Thursday, and thanks for visiting today!  I'm joining in with the rest of the I Like Thursday bloggers at Not Afraid of Color for our weekly celebration of all the good stuff.

Group Effort

Earlier this summer, my former teaching partner (and forever friend!) who is also a quilter asked me and another former staff member (and fellow quilter, too) if we'd like to help make a graduation quilt for a sweet student we had several years ago in 5th grade.  Of course, we said yes!

Our student chose a tee shirt quilt and my friend took her shopping for fabric that would become the sashing, cornerstones, backing, and binding.

Then the three of us got together one day and sewed up the tee shirts into this fun quilt!

Although a tee shirt quilt is not my favorite kind of sewing, making it with friends was so enjoyable, and made the work of it go so quickly! 

Of course, there were some scraps leftover, and guess who got them!  :)

I decided to make a pillow cover to match the quilt, and chose this design.

I quilted the top onto some batting, made an envelope backing out of the blue print, and voila!

We delivered the quilt and its matching pillow the other day, and our student was so happy with it!  Her reaction just made my day!

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday!  

Linking up with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Squared Away in Orange

This week I stitched up two blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Squared Away Sampler.

Each month this year, I've enjoyed making these blocks, chosen by Mari and Angela.  Check here for more info about the Sampler and directions for the blocks. 

This block called for an orange fabric and an accent color, which could be brown.  Not finding any browns in my stash that I wanted to use, I decided to use something different for my accent fabrics.  

I decided I had to include this one in one of the blocks.  These bunnies are my current fabric crush this summer!   

For the second block, I found this pretty gray, white, and bits of orange on the shelf.

See the little snail?  💕💕💕

So now there are sixteen!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #94 - Piles!

No, I don't really *like* piles!  But, sometimes I do like the things that are in them!

Today (Wednesday) is my day to clean the house because tomorrow (Thursday) is my day to host my quilt group for the afternoon, and, of course, that means there are piles to take care of.  Not too many... but one did catch my attention this morning.

This is what you see if you look down on the floor next to "my chair" in our family room.  It's the pile of stuff that keeps me busy and occupied when we are watching TV in the evenings here.

There is always a pile of books - this is my current read, High Tide Club, which I am really liking!  I've never read any books by Mary Kay Andrews before, but I think I probably will read more now.

It is realistic fiction about two women - one, a young lawyer and the other, a 99 year old woman who is trying to set some things right at the end of her life with the younger woman's help.

There is also this book, Stitches from the Garden, recommended by Canadian Needle Nana, and found through my local public library.

What a sweet book it is, with pretty illustrations and lovely embroidery ideas! Although I'm not very skilled at embroidery, I think I would enjoy stitching this one - 

I've also been reading this - "Quiltfolk."  Have you seen this magazine, which is really more like a book?  It's pricey - $24 - and comes out 4 times a year, I think.  I wouldn't necessarily buy it for myself, but a friend splurged on it, and shared this issue with me.

Evidently each issue focuses on a certain place in the country, and this one is about Massachusetts.

It is a publication I will make my way through slowly, enjoying the illustrations and stories little by little.

I like this basket which is part of my pile, and holds lots of stuff!  I actually made the basket myself, back when that was a popular craft, and a friend was teaching groups of us at her house.

The little piece on top is cut from one of the fabrics from Kenya that Cathy sent me recently.  I'm making a little mini quilt out of it, and hand quilting it, experimenting with some simple, decorative stitching.

If you look closely, you might be able to see what I've been doing in that bottom flower.

I really do love this zipper pouch I made a few years ago, from a pattern by Sandra at mmmquilts.  The directions can be found at Moda Bake Shop, here. 

I like that it is the perfect size to hold my ongoing EPP project!

Do you have piles like me?  I hope they hold your favorite things!  Now, I'd better get back to work.

Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday.  Don't forget to check out all the other bloggers who are linked up at Not Afraid of Color!

Experimenting...

I never have had a Dresden Plate block on my quilty bucket list, until just this week when I started to think about how to finish my Scrappy Sprout project.  Maybe a top section of blocks that look like sunflowers would be fun?  Hmmm...

So I decided to do a little experimenting.

After reading some Dresden Plate tutorials, I went and bought a ruler and pulled out some yellow scraps.

In between stitching together blocks and rows for my Bowtie quilt top, I made a few Dresden blades here and there.  They are surprisingly easy and quick to make!  Before I knew it, I had all of these - 

The part that wasn't so easy, and why I call this experimenting, is the Math... Lol!  The tutorial I read was for making 6" blades for a Dresden that would be 13 3/4" from point to point and I (think) I want mine to be a bit smaller.  So I cut my blades 5" tall, and just kept sewing until the circle was finished!

Not too bad, for an experiment!  Although the edges lay flat, it does get a little "poofy" towards the center, and it's made of an odd number of blades - 19!  But I think it might work.  My Dresden block is 12 inches from point to point - that was more the size I wanted.

So here's a peek at what I'm thinking of, so far.

The blue at the top is a piece of Grunge leftover from other projects, but I do love that color and I think a large piece of it going across the top of 4 columns of sprouts could hold 4 Dresdens in different colors.  It's a thought, anyway!  :)

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday!  Sharing at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Spy Bowties!

At the beginning of this week, I took these -

And turned them into these - 

And by the end of the week, I had this!

A rainbow of cheerful (Thanks, Libby!) and random scrappiness!  

After taking a year or so to make these bowtie blocks a few at a time, it was fun to look at all of them as I stitched up the rows and did all the pressing.  It really is an "I Spy" quilt!  There are many favorite bits of fabric throughout this quilt top.

I spy the ABCs.

I spy Coffee-themed fabric!

I spy frogs sent to me by a quilty friend.

And of course, I spy some little penguins!

I'm going to enjoy finishing this one, although it will have to get in line behind a couple of other projects.

But still, I'm happy to be moving this quilt forward!  Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

I Like Thursday #93 - a Mishmash!

Welcome to I Like Thursday!  Thanks for coming to visit, and thanks to LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color who keeps us going every week!

My likes this week are a bit of everything!  For example...

I like purple and orange!

In the garden

And in the sewing room!

I like this special fabric that my friend, Cathy, who blogs at Cathy's Crazy by Design, sent me after her recent trip to Africa!  I spy some purple and orange there!

Thank you, Cathy!  If you're interested in reading more about Cathy's amazing trip, click on the link to her blog above.

And also in the sewing room this week, I've been making progress on my Bowtie quilt, which is always a good feeling!

Here is the layout, with just one block, that very last one, turned wrong.  Oops!  But I can fix that easily.  It is colorful, scrappy, random, and just exactly what I love to sew up these days.  The quilt top is about halfway sewn together at this point.

I liked seeing our beautiful neighborhood Great-Horned owl sitting on our fence the other day.

Wikipedia says these owls have a wingspan of 3 to 5 feet, and I believe it after seeing him fly off a couple times.

And, finally, I liked this sign at our favorite local winery where we like to go and have a picnic now and then with a glass of wine, too.

Can you see right behind it where they've used empty bottles as part of the fence around their outdoor sitting area?  I've always thought that was fun!

Happy Thursday, friends!