Slow Stitching Sunday

 My evening hand stitching all week long has been these scrappy trips blocks in purple. The second one needs a couple more rows.  These are really enjoyable to hand-piece, and simple!

I'm getting close to having 12 completed blocks.  Planning for 20 total, and I'm following the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching!

Table Scraps in Purple

 I've had a goal this year of using up a pile of leftover charm squares that have accumulated over the years.  It's been working pretty well until it came to purple month!  There just aren't any purple squares in that pile!

But I did find this interesting fat quarter that I had stashed away - why not make my own charm squares out of it?

Mix it up with a little yellow - that should work, right?!

I've been making the placemats 12.5 x 16.5, and 

this many squares will make a 16.5 inch block.  

So, I trimmed it at the top and bottom, to end up with this design!

In the same pile as the purple fat quarter was this fun one that made the perfect backing.

So now there are six!

But wait... there's more!  What to do with those leftover strips that were cut off the top and bottom of the original block?  How about a mug rug?

Perfect for my new favorite sunflower mug!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap and at

The Joyful Quilter later in the month for the Table Scraps Challenge.

I Like Thursday #239

I like summer!  No matter what the calendar says, summer has arrived in Colorado, and it appears we're not looking back!

I like cool mornings on our shady back porch with a good book and an iced latte.

I really liked this book ⬆️ The Identicals, by Elin Hilderbrand.  I think it was on a list I saw of the "best beach reads" or something, and even though I'm not anywhere near a beach, I raced right through it!  It takes place on both Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and has all kinds of good storylines - twin sisters who make all the wrong choices, a troubled teenager, romance and family drama, and beaches, too. 

These snapdragons are so pretty in my flower garden!  I've planted snapdragons multiple times over the years and it's always a pleasant surprise to see them come back!

Would you say their color is magenta?

I found this graphic the other say because I was looking for

 different shades of purple and what you might call them.

In my sewing this week, I've been working with some fabric 

that I might call "jam" according to the chart!

Definitely a red purple shade.

We had the opportunity to meet up with one of our sons on Sunday for a lunchtime visit.  It was so great - we talk to him often but hadn't seen him in person for quite a long time.  We meet in between where we all live at a park and bring a picnic lunch.  I had shown him a picture of something I saw on Frederique's blog, Quilting, Patchwork, and Applique.  She told me it was made with a 3-D printer and sent me a link to the site where you can get the file to make it.   Kevin, my son, has a 3-D printer so he made me one of these!

It's the little orange thing that is holding the bobbin and

spool of thread together.  Very handy!

Hope you're enjoying summer where you live!  I'm joining in with LeeAnna and friends at Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday.  Check out all the links there for lots of positive posts!

To-Do Tuesday #92

Good morning!  I'm checking in with Chris and friends at Chrisknits to share my to-do list for the week. 

I made good progress on everything on my list from last week! 

• Early in the week I completed Harmony, from the Hand-Pieced  QAL.

• Also, there's been ongoing progress on quilting the Rainbow Strings.  I'll save pictures for when it's actually finished!
• The arrows and background blocks are going together into rows and sections for Follow Your Own Path, too.

• And I played with some purple scraps.  One thing I worked on was this scrappy trips block, and now I also have pieces cut out for the second one for the month.

This week's list will mostly be a continuation of several of these projects, with one new addition.

• Finish up the center section of Follow Your Own Path, and work on the border.
• Continue working on purple projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, specifically my Table Scraps placemat.
• Add some more quilting to Rainbow Strings.
• Get started on making some plus blocks from Preeti's tutorial for the Positivity QAL.

Have a great week!

Getting started with purple

While hunting here and there for purple scraps and chunks this week, I managed to quilt a few more big diamonds on my string quilt. 

Meanwhile I decided I'd better finish up my red exclamation marks for the May row of Full Stop.  Here's what I have for that project so far.

Unfortunately, my purple scraps, and even fat quarter size pieces, are pretty pitiful!  I found enough to cut the squares for one scrappy trips in purple.  These are hand-pieced.  

And out of those same bits, I made two chandelier bead blocks.

Although that bottom one isn't predominantly purple, it

had some pretty purple flowers (also pink ones) mixed in with

the green.

There are twelve of these little blocks now.

Thinking ahead to other things I'm working on that need purple...  I may need to do a little stash enhancement!  😉

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

A Friday Finish!

Harmony - a hand-pieced quilt.

I chose to make one large block for this 28 inch square wall-hanging.

This is the third year I've participated in the Hand-pieced QALs sponsored by Patty at Elm Street Quilts and Kristin at Simple.Handmade.Everyday, and I've enjoyed each one!  You can read about the first one, "Sand, Sea, and Sky" here and the second one, "Book Club," here.  I've really enjoyed learning the art of hand-piecing and making each of these quilts!

Harmony started with this fat quarter bundle I found at Bernie's shop, Needle and Foot.

I used the top four fabrics plus an additional cream background fabric for the quilt top.  The bottom fat quarter worked nicely for the binding.

The backing is pieced from the last bits of the top and a fun woodsy fabric also found at Bernie's shop.

It's hard to see the quilting design, but I used a couple different matching Aurifil threads to quilt around the green and red-orange areas, and a cream Gutterman to quilt straight lines radiating out from the center star in the background.

Sharing at the Grand Prize Link-up for the QAL at Elm Street Quilts.

Also at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday

And at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

I Like Thursday #238

Happy Thursday, friends!  Hope you're having a good week!  Don't forget to check out all the positive posts at Not Afraid of Color.

We went for a hike at the trails at our favorite local natural area on Monday.  There's a native plant garden there and someone has painted rocks that help identify the plants.  I thought this was a creative use of the painted rock trend and they are really helpful!

There is also an osprey nest box that we were watching as we walked.  Two adults took turns being nearby or at the nest.  We couldn't tell if the eggs had hatched yet or not.

We found out on Saturday that my mom's new love seat for her apartment was going to be delivered on Monday.  That was something to like because they had told us it wouldn't come until the end of June or beginning of July.  The delivery window was 2 - 4:30, so I told Mom I'd come over and hang out that afternoon while she waited for them to bring it.  Then my phone rang a little before two and it was my mom.  "My couch just arrived!"  Here's my happy mom with her new couch!

I finished the best book this week!  If you've read my Thursday posts for any length of time, you probably know I love historical fiction, especially if it's set in WWII.  This week I read The Rose Code by Kate Quinn.  This is the fourth book I've read that she's written, and I've enjoyed every one.  She always has very interesting and unique women characters.

This book is about the people who broke the German codes at Bletchley Park near London, specifically the women who worked there.

I love making progress on a project!  In my To-Do Tuesday post, I showed a photo of all the blocks for Follow Your Own Path up on my design wall.  Here's where I am now after only two afternoons of work.

It's always great to see blocks and rows come together!

And finally, do you read the comic strip "Zits?"  It's been one of my favorites for years - probably because we raised two boys.  This week, Jeremy, the perennial teenager, has gotten a summer job at the zoo!

Cute!