I Like Thursday #209

 Happy Thursday, friends!  I'm joining in with LeeAnna and friends for I Like Thursday, over at Not Afraid of Color.  You can find all kinds of fun posts linked up there where we share a positive spin on the week!

First of all, Happy Veterans Day to my favorite veteran!

This photo was taken at a favorite place of ours near Cannon Beach, Oregon.

So amazingly beautiful there!  We've missed visiting the ocean this year.

Needing something simple and pretty mindless to work on this week, I decided to sew some neutral string blocks.  I've been using phone book pages for the foundation, so the paper has to be taken off, and I'm finding that process quite enjoyable!  :)

We'll call it paper-ripping therapy, lol! 

We enjoyed a day up in the mountains last week, and came across these Rocky Mountain Bighorn  sheep on the drive back down the canyon.

I think there are actually three in that picture.  

What impressed us were the ram's huge horns!

If you are in need of some sweet, feel-good movies to watch, I have some to recommend!  Both of these were found on Netflix.

This one is about an Indian family who immigrates to France and decides to open a restaurant, right across the street from a snooty French restaurant!  I enjoyed learning about the Five Mother Sauces of Classical Cuisine!

The other movie is this one - a Netflix Christmas movie, based on the true story of the Christmas drop of supplies that has been done out of Anderson Air Force Base on Guam for almost 70 years.

A good friend of ours and his family were stationed on Guam when he was in the Air Force many years ago, so we enjoyed seeing what it looked like there and what they did.  The storyline of the movie wasn't too bad either!

I loved this book, too - definitely recommend it!  I'll let Goodreads tell you about it at the link below.

Goodreads

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a great day!

To-Do Tuesday #63

 Good morning!  I'm checking in today with my weekly to-do list and linking up with Roseanne and friends for the To-Do Tuesday linky party at Home Sewn By Us. 

I kept it simple last week, with two goals in mind, and both were accomplished!

1.  Finish piecing the top for my Autumn Jubilee wall-hanging, which I'm calling Cheddar and Blue.  I finished the piecing, and even got it quilted, and I'm now sewing on the binding!  Here's a photo of quilting in progress:

I'll put on my list to write a Finished post by the end of the week.

2.  Continue sewing the Rainbow Jungle trees into 4 patches and rows.  Progress was made.  

There's definitely plenty more of this to do before I get the Rainbow Jungle to the quilt top stage.  I'm thinking this one will need a border, too.

So there's the beginnings of this week's list:

1.  Finish and post about the Cheddar and Blue wall-hanging.

2.  Keep working on the Rainbow Jungle quilt top.

3.  ???  Multiple choices here!  I have plenty of WiPs to choose from, that's for sure.  The last Rainbow Scrap Challenge project from 2019 to finish up is the Diamond Strings.  This one was on my to-do list earlier this year, but has been set aside for awhile.

I still need to work on the neutral string border blocks.  Some are 6.5 inch squares and some are 9.5 x 6.5 inch rectangles.  That would be a good thing to make some progress on this week!

So, as always, there's plenty to keep me busy this week!  Hope your week is getting off to a good start, too!  

Hexagon Quilt as You Go Project

 Awhile back, when Deb at Happy to be Scrappy posted about starting a new hexagon project, I knew I needed to join in and sew along!

I watched the Missouri Star Quilt Company video and ordered the Daisy and Grace templates plus a charm pack to use for the hexagon centers.

You also cut a piece of batting using the smaller template.  

This is a great way to use up scrap pieces of batting!

The charm pack I'm using is Prim by Lori Holt.

I'm doing all the stitching by hand, which includes the outside edges of each hexagon, sewn like binding, and then a quilting stitch 1/4 inside the hexagon using white DMC pearl cotton no. 12.

So far, I've made seven of these hexies, using a combination of Moda Bella Pearl and other solids for the backing plus various squares from the Prim charm pack.

I think the video shows these being sewn together with a ladder stitch from the back.  I haven't gotten that far yet - I'll just keep making the hexies for awhile and see what kind of design looks good for them after I have more!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching!

This week in scraps...

 I've been focusing this week on my Cheddar and Blue Autumn Jubilee project: sashing the different blocks, sewing them into the size and shape I wanted for the wall-hanging, and adding a border.  So a lot of leader and ender seams were sewn along the way.

Some Easy Breezy blocks:

Can you tell what scraps were on my cutting board?

Here are all the Easy Breezy blocks I've made so far.

I've also been sewing the Rainbow Jungle trees into four patches and then rows.  This quilt top is going to come together quickly!

Meanwhile, the Cheddar and Blue wall-hanging is spray basted and ready to quilt.  I may have gone a little crazy and bought some cheddar thread to quilt this one with!  

I think this could be fun!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #208

If ever there was a week that needs positive thinking and things to make us smile, this it!    I love "Sweatpants and Coffee!"

Way back on Halloween, I carved one of the pumpkins I grew this year.  I was searching Pinterest for easy ideas, and here's what I came up with!

This is me in the grocery store, trying to smile at people with my eyes, lol!

The next day, I took the carved pumpkin and its innards out to the garden to feed the wildlife, and I think they are enjoying it!

I roasted the other pumpkin that I grew and turned it into pumpkin bread.  I love pumpkin bread, and my favorite recipe is from Carole at From My Carolina Home, Pumpkin Orange Bread.

Yummy!

I shared in my Tuesday post that I've been working on a cheddar and indigo wall-hanging.  I went to my LQS that afternoon to look for a backing fabric, and found yardage of one I bought a year ago, that I had put a scrap of in the pumpkin block.

Can you see the selvage there at the bottom?  It has pumpkins and is called "Thankful," by Deb Strain.  Perfect for a November finish!  I ended up using it as the borders, too.

I managed to plant some bulbs in my small front garden the other day.  There's some hope for the future!

And I can't end my post without saying "Thank you!"  to my friend, Vicki,  of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting, for surprising me with this adorable wall-hanging with her fun snowmen on it!  I decided to hang them on this wall in my sewing room with my other seasonal mini quilts.  That way I can see them everyday!

Thank you, Vicki!  Those little guys make me smile every time I see them!

Thanks for visiting on "I Like Thursday!"  

Find lots more positive posts at Not Afraid of Color.

 

To-Do Tuesday #62

Happy Tuesday, friends - Election Day!  I've voted and I hope you have, too.  Now I'm checking in with my weekly to-do list and linking up with Roseanne and friends for the To-Do Tuesday linky party at Home Sewn By Us. 

Last week's list only included two things:

1.  Finish the Color Gradient Quilt, which is done, and you can read my post about it here.

2.  Finish the October Color Challenge block, which is also done, and that post is here.

That freed up some time to work on a seasonal project that I had started back in October, the Autumn Jubilee QAL by Carole, of From My Carolina Home.  If you look at Carole's quilt (here), you'll see mine is *inspired* by hers and uses her blocks.  I made just a few of the blocks using Kona Cheddar, several different dark blues, and some coordinating Fall scraps.  This is going to be a wall-hanging, and right now measures about 21x49.

Unfortunately, the pretty blues just look black here, but I promise they are indigo, tone on tone blues.  Hopefully, someday, I can find a better way to show these fabrics!

My next step on this is to work on the pieced border, so that goes on the list for this coming week.  I also need to find a backing for it.

Also on my list this week is to sew each group of four trees into a 12.5 block, so that I can begin sewing together the Rainbow Jungle quilt top.  Four of these are stitched together so far.

These will make the top row of the quilt.

I think those two projects should keep me busy!   

A Slow Stitching Finish

Earlier this year, I stitched up this Kathy Schmitz design from her One Stitch at a Time Club archives.  I decided I wanted to give it to my dear friend, Kim, who I taught with for 10 years, for her birthday.   I added some patchwork borders and turned it into a cushion cover.

This fun fabric made a good envelope backing.

I'm pretty sure Kim liked her little pillow!

Meanwhile I've put a few more stitches into this Gail Pan design this week-

This will be my Sunday Slow-stitching, sharing at

Kathy's Quilts!