My year of hand stitching

Somewhere back, sometime in 2019 for sure, I discovered that I enjoy hand stitching, and this year I did a lot of it!  Embroidery, hand-piecing, and hand quilting, especially for small projects, have become favorite pastimes.

This year, I completed lots of embroidery designs, and some were finished into little wall hangings or pillows.  Here are a few:

A few embroidery designs were made into pouches, too.

I have discovered that I really enjoy hand-piecing and that also resulted in some finishes this year!   I participated in the Hand-Pieced QAL for the second year and completed the Book Club design in July.

I think this will be a favorite project of mine for a long time!

Another hand-pieced and hand-quilted finish included some blue work embroidery I had done in 2019.  The blue and white HST blocks created some neat stars!

I hand-pieced a little fall quilt during the Humble Quilts QAL in September, and I love how it turned out, too.

A final hand-pieced finish was this little doll quilt that I shared a couple weeks ago.

It's been a busy year of slow stitching, and I'm sure I'll continue with these kinds of projects in 2021, too.   I enjoy them and I do think this kind of stitching brings with it a lot of benefits - a calming and peaceful activity that I look forward to every day!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

My year of scrappy rainbows..

I've done a lot of sewing this year!  Have you found that to be true for yourself, too?  I know some bloggers have written about losing their sewing mojo, but that hasn't been a problem for me.  Quilting and sewing have really helped how I feel about daily life and all the challenges of 2020,  so I rarely go a day without some kind of stitching.  

Before I start thinking about 2021, and planning what I want to work on, I wanted to do some year end posts about the quilts and projects I finished in 2020.  

Early in the year, I was determined to finish up my version of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge sampler quilt from 2019, Tiny Tuesday.  These blocks were shared by Angela and other guest bloggers throughout the year just about every Tuesday, and I had fun playing along with them!  In early February, I had a finish!

Tiny Tuesday has been my go-to cuddle quilt all year long!

Another favorite finish in 2020 was Scrappy Sprouts and Sunflowers.  This quilt was actually started in 2018, with sprouts blocks being made in the color of the month throughout the year.  During 2019, I figured out a layout, made some sunflower Dresden plate blocks, and finally (it took awhile!) figured out how I wanted the sky to look.  This year I attached the sunflowers and got the whole thing quilted and finished!

I started making Rainbow Rails blocks in September of 2017, and finally in 2020 I felt like I had enough of them to make a quilt!  I started these blocks to make use of the smallest scrappy bits - 1.5 x 2.5 inch rectangles and ended up with 25 ten inch blocks.

From this:

To this:

Two smaller scrappy quilts were also finished this year.  Super Scrappy Baby was made out of crumb blocks, and was just the right size to send to Jack's Basket during the Hands2Help quilt drive.

The other combined a rainbow of color gradient blocks with a fun Kona Aloha background.  I'd like to donate it somewhere, too, but haven't sent it off yet.

Of course, through the year, I started a few new projects, too!  Several quilt tops are ready to be quilted, and there are some blocks to work on as well.  I'll be back with my planning for scrappy projects in the new year in another post.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #215: Quiet and Peaceful

It's definitely going to be a quiet and peaceful Christmas at our house, with just the two of us here.  Like so many others this year, I'm missing having my kids home and seeing extended family.  But there are things to like that will get us through.

I love seeing this group of sculptures on the corner of an intersection a couple miles from our house.

These were created by Jane Dedecker, a local sculptor who is also known for "Every Word We Utter," the women's suffrage monument which will be installed in Washington, DC.  Her home and studio are here in my town, right behind these sculptures!

For a bit of whimsy, there is also this sight to see, down a little ways and behind the fence.  Santa is delivering packages in his VW!

I love Christmas lights and ornaments on the tree!

We went for a drive to see Christmas lights around town, and this house is just on the next street over from us!

I finally did a little baking!

I went for simple this year - didn't even get out the cookie cutters.  

But they still taste good!  I did not share with my Raggedy friends back there!

If all goes according to plan, I will be Zoom Christmas-ing with my extended family later this morning.  It will be good seeing them, especially my mom, who would normally be visiting here this time of year.  She stayed in Arizona this year rather than travel, to be safe.  

Wishing you a peaceful Christmas!  Thanks for visiting for "I Like Thursday," and be sure to check out the other positive posts at Not Afraid of Color.

To-Do Tuesday #69

Happy Christmas week!  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. 

On my list from last week:

1.  Finish the December Color Challenge block.  Done!

2.  Finish the Christmas squirrel project.  Done!  I made us a couple of scrappy placemats, and they've  been getting lots of use.

3.  Choose another WiP off the list to make some progress on.  That turned out to be sewing the borders on the Rainbow Jungle project which is 3/4 done.  It won't take long to finish up.

So, what's going on this week?  I'm not putting any "have to's" on the list - this is a week for the "want to's!"  What do I want to do?

• Bake some cookies!
• Read a Christmas-y book!  That won't be a problem.  

• Watch a Christmas movie (or two?!)  I'm not one to watch the Hallmark Christmas movies for months and months, but this week it seems appropriate!

Any recommendations?

• And, of course, there will be sewing.  The other day I got started on making a tiny Heart of the Home block (pattern by Jayne of Twiggy and Opal).

Earlier this year I made the mini on the left - it's 6 inches.

This time I made the 4 inch size.

But wait, there's another one!

Stay tuned!

I have an idea for these tiny house blocks - let's see if I can make it work.  Have a wonderful holiday week, everyone!

Quilt as you go hexagons

 I've been stitching some of the hexagons together to make a table mat.  Here's how they look so far.

The shape looks a little odd until you compare what I've sewn so far to my layout plan from a few weeks ago.

The ladder stitch has worked perfectly to hide the stitches that connect each hexagon, even the red one.

I'll be slow stitching on this project today while football games are on, and linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

A scrappy Christmas squirrel

 Although I was trying to be productive this week, working on adding borders to the Rainbow Jungle...

I also had an idea I wanted to try that turned out to be quick and easy!  I got out some Christmas scraps and cut them into 2.5 inch strips.

I also cut a backing and some batting about 14 x 18 inches.

Using the quilt-as-you-go technique, I sewed the strips down to the batting and backing and top-stitched each strip on the right side.

I shared this picture the other day - the backing and binding.

I ended up with two fun Christmas placemats for the dinner table!

These measure 12.5 x 16.5.

A few years ago I had made napkins out of the penguin fabric, so now our table is all set.

Now back to those Rainbow Jungle borders - just one left to measure and sew on!  

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

And at Sandra's December DrEAMi link-up at mmmquilts!

I Like Thursday #214

 Good morning!

This time of year brings some pretty sunrises to my neighborhood.  You probably can't tell, but the house across the way there still has the Christmas lights on - kind of fun to see at 7 am on a December morning!

I love Christmas trees and lights.  I finally got my tree decorated late last week, and it is a pretty sight in our living room!

No Christmas is complete without the Nativity set up either.  My dad made this for us around 1978 or so.  I love it because it's different and unique.

Have you read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng?  My book club read it last year sometime and thought it was an interesting story.   This week I discovered that Reese Witherspoon has made a miniseries out of the story where she plays one of the main characters and Kerry Washington (of "Scandal" fame) plays the other main character.  It's pretty good, and has entertained us all week!  It streams on Hulu.

I love my local public library and always have a long list of books on hold that I am waiting my turn to read.  Sometimes, by the time I get the email that a book is ready for me to pick up, I have forgotten what the book was about!  This morning (Weds), I ran in to get the book that was ready for me, Piece of My Heart.  It was so fun to find my book on the Hold shelf, and think, "Oh wow!"

This is the last book in the series written by Mary Higgins Clark (who passed away in January) and her younger writing partner, Alafair Burke.  I've been looking forward to reading it!

And one last little thing to share.  I always enjoy sewing binding, and here's what I've been sewing this week.

How about some frosted trees and peppermint striped binding, just for fun?!

Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday!

Find lots more positive posts at Not Afraid of Color.