How to chase a squirrel...

Start with a pile of 2.5 inch squares that have been sitting on your cutting table.

Add in odds and ends of leftover creamy neutrals from your solids drawer.

Start making nine patches... 

Meanwhile, while blog reading, come across a project that you just can't get out of your mind, this pretty quilt made by Deb of Happy to Be Scrappy. (The first quilt in that post.)

Inspired by Deb's quilt, I needed to make some appliqued hearts.  After reading through a couple of tutorials online, I arrived at this method to prep the hearts for stitching.

Freezer paper template

Starch on the back to help iron down the raw edge.

Another heart ready to stitch!  I've been working on these each 

evening this week for my slow-stitching time.

And so far, up on the design wall:

I'm not sure where this is headed, maybe just a Valentine tablerunner for February, or maybe something bigger.  That's how squirrels are - you never know where they'll end up!

Sharing over at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! and 

at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Edited to add:  It's the end of the month now, but these hearts and nine patches are still on my design wall, looking like this - 

Evidently this little squirrel has moved in permanently!

Sharing at Sandra's January DrEAMi link-up.

Measuring Progress in Inches

That is, inches of borders to be cut and sewn!

It always takes me awhile to get this step of a quilt done - adding borders.  It requires careful measuring and cutting.  You know - precision!  But I did get the two inch gray borders added to Tiny Tuesday this week and I'm glad I decided to do them.

A few of you had recommended adding the gray border as a way to have some space between the blocks and the edges of the quilt, and you were so right!

The colorful blocks definitely float in the gray sashing this way! 

It's now measuring about 53 x 60.

Showing off my green blocks just because it's green month in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge -

Today's job is to get all the layers ready for basting so quilting can begin!  Meanwhile, a few more inches of tiny rails were sewn together this week, too.

Just this last block to finish up and then I'll sew the blocks together.

For lots more scrappy green inspiration, check out ScrapHappy Saturday at SoScrappy! 

I Like Thursday #168

Happy Thursday to you, and Happy 44th Anniversary to Mike and me!

I've probably shared this picture before, but it never fails to make me smile when I see it again.  In our little red Datsun pickup, decorated with toilet paper, heading off on the big adventure ahead.

Here is our 2019 Christmas card photo, taken at Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, one of our favorite places to visit.

Still smiling, many miles down the road!

While my mom was visiting over Christmas, she and my sister and I went to see "Little Women."

While I can't say this is my favorite movie version of the story, I still enjoyed it, especially all the young actresses who played the March sisters.

I loved this book - 

I think Katherine Center is my new favorite author.  A really good story about a young woman firefighter with a theme of forgiveness.

Remember when I made the tiny bowtie block for my Temecula Tiny Tree project?

Well, the other day I was playing around with the scraps that seem to be everywhere in my sewing room these days, and I made a few more!

Each bowtie is 2.75 inches square, so 4 of them should make a 5 inch square.  If I make 36 bowties, I could have a 14 inch mini quilt for my sewing room wall.  That sounds doable, right?!  ;)  I so love playing with little scrappy bits of fabric!

Hope you've found some things to like this week!  Be sure to visit Not Afraid of Color for more "I Like Thursday" posts.

  

To-Do Tuesday #19

Good morning, friends!  Hope your week (and year) are getting off to a good start!  It looks like I achieved everything on last week's to-do list, and that's a good feeling.

On last week's list:

• Take down and put away all the Christmas decorations.  ✔  I miss having the lights of the tree to light up the dark nights, but like having everything cleaned up, too.  On to Spring!  (If only!)
• Inventory my Works in Progress and write up a post about them. ✔  You can read that post HERE.
• Finish up a little quilty snowman squirrel that I had put away for too long! ✔

This is Vicki's pattern, Through the Window.  I won the pattern in a giveaway she had way last winter.  Vicki's tablerunner has three snowmen, but I wanted to make it for the little chest that sits by our front door, so I just made one of them and finished him off so he would fit right on top.

Perfect!

This week's To-Do list:

1.  Add the two inch gray borders to my Tiny Tuesday quilt top and get it ready for quilting.

I have everything I need to work on this, so no reason not to, right?!  :)

2.  Practice some hand applique.  I've been wanting to learn this for several years, so I decided it's time to give it a shot.  I'm going to applique some simple hearts for a tablerunner.   

I prepped my heart with freezer paper and starch - with the freezer paper template ironed to the right side of the fabric, but the starch helping me to turn the seam allowance to the wrong side.

Here's my first heart ready to stitch down!

3.  I need to read the book for my upcoming book club discussion.  The book is The Christmas Train by David Baldacci.  I already like it, so it won't be a chore - just have to keep up with it as the week goes on!

Sharing my to-do list over at Home Sewn by Us for To-Do Tuesday!

Hello, January 2020!

Even though I have plenty of quilty Works in Progress to keep me busy, I just couldn't begin January without some new blocks to play with!  And the color of the month for January for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is green - always a favorite!

When I found this fun fat quarter in my stash, I knew just what I wanted to do.

And I'm calling this new project "Rainbow Jungle!"

I really had fun making some wonky trees for this Christmas project, so my plan is to make a bunch of them this year, in a rainbow of colors, using both solids and prints.

Since January's color is green, I pulled out several green fabrics, including my inspiration fabric.

And very quickly, I had these trees stitched up!

Each tree is a 6.5 inch square, so 4 of them will make a 12 inch finished block.  Since 20 twelve inch blocks will make a nice little quilt, I'll need to make 8 trees each month.  Eventually I'll sew them into the larger blocks, but I want to mix up the colors, so I won't do that until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, progress is already happening on some of my older RSC quilts!  I've been working on the final block for Tiny Rails.

Orangy-Gold!

I ordered some wide backing for the Tiny Tuesday quilt from Bernie at Needle and Foot Fine Fabrics, and it came yesterday.   I've had this text fabric on my wishlist for a long time, so when I saw that it came in 108 inches wide, and was on sale, too, I ordered a bunch!

I think there's enough for two quilt backings here!

You need to see a close-up - 

"Friendship is like a rainbow between two hearts."

💕

Looking forward to seeing what everyone is working on this first week in January over at SoScrappy on ScrapHappy Saturday!  

Works in Progress 2020

I used to be the kind of quilter who worked on one thing at a time from start to finish, and didn't start anything new until the previous quilt was done.  That was back when I was teaching - I'd have a summer break project and a winter break project.

Not anymore!  :)  Since I retired, and have lots more time to play in my sewing room, I work on lots more things at one time.  That means there are now quite a few unfinished objects in that sewing room!   In an effort to get a little more organized, I decided to do an inventory of what I've got going on, and make some plans for finishing these projects up.

Three quilt tops are ready (or just about ready) for quilting:

Floral Sawtooth Stars

Tiny Tuesdays - needs a 2 inch gray border all the way around.

I have that fabric and will be working on the border soon!

Scrappy Sprouts - needs sunflower blocks appliqued in sky section.  I have those sunflowers made and need to finish their centers.

The rest of these are collections of blocks made throughout 2019.  All will be ongoing projects continuing in 2020.

Tiny Rails blocks - so very close on this one!

24 (10.5 inch) blocks made out of my tiniest scraps - only one more needed for a 5x5 layout, about 50 inches square.  The last block is going to be dark yellow/gold/orangish scraps.  

Northern Lights blocks from the book Nickel Quilts - scrappy blues, greens, and grays with a white background.

26  (8.5 inch) blocks are made - 22 more planned - for a total of 48 

to make a 6 x 8 layout.  In the book, this quilt has a border, so I may add one, too.

Bright Hopes blocks - light prints on white with some pink and turquoise -

42 (6.5 inch) blocks made.  I think I want at least 30 more for an 8 x 9 layout, or possibly 38 more blocks to have an 8 x 10 layout.  

Although, as is, this could make a sweet baby quilt!

Rectangular Strings - 

9 (12.5 x 18.5 inch) color blocks made during the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2019.

Border blocks are neutral strings, either 6.5 x 9.5 or 6.5 inches square 

depending on placement.

I just need to finish those border blocks and can sew these inyo a quilt top!

Need 14 more square blocks and 6 more rectangle blocks.

Also during 2019, I made these Color Gradient blocks - 

10.5 inch squares

and crumb blocks of various sizes  - 

Since there are always more scraps where those came from, I'm going to keep making these during 2020 and they'll turn into something, someday!

Thanks for sticking with me as I sorted through all the projects.  There's lots to do in my sewing room, and I know I'll find new things to work on this year as well.  Never a dull moment around here!

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

I Like Thursday #167 - Happy New Year!

Happy first Thursday of 2020, friends!  Hope you've had a good holiday season and are ready for the new year.

On New Year's Eve Day, I enjoyed seeing these sweet little people.  They are my great-niece and nephew who live in Florida and were back for a short visit.  I made them some "mini quilts" that I thought they might have fun with.  (These are the two who came and sewed with me back in the summer of 2018.)

Ellie's is made with some cute kids and lots of text fabric.  She told me it had her favorite things on it - blueberries and kiwi and root beer!

William's is made with scraps from my Sand, Sea, and Sky hand-pieced quilt.  He loves sharks and other sea creatures, so it is full of those.

I'm in the mood to clean and reorganize some places in my house right now, and the first to go is the Tupperware cupboard.  A lot of my leftover containers were really old, and, of course, all plastic.  I like this set of Pyrex containers of all different sizes with lids that I found at Costco this week.

I was the lucky winner of Barbara at Cat Patches recent giveaway, and my prize came in the mail earlier this week.  It is an adorable little pouch with some mini scissors inside.  The outside has a spot for sticking your pins and needles.

Thank you, Barbara!  I use this everyday!

You can find the tutorial to make your own right HERE.   I'm definitely planning to make some  of these for friends!

A friend showed me this amazing cross-stitched piece that she received for Christmas.  I had to take a picture of it and share it here.  It's really quite amazing!

The stitches are really small!

I've continued on my book binge with these two sweet stories this week.

They make me want to visit Nantucket Island!  And yes, I will take this book back to the library today!  :)

And finally, I will leave you with this quote from Anne Lamott:  (She was writing about whether or not we should start diets on Jan 1.)

"I can still get my jeans on, for one reason: I wear forgiving pants. The world is too hard as it is, without letting your pants have an opinion on how you are doing. I struggle with enough self-esteem issues without letting my jeans get in on the act."  

Thank you, Anne!

Joining in with "I Like Thursday " at Not Afraid of Color.