This, that, and one more thing...

This...

I finished up some crumb hearts earlier this week.  Two for purple month, and two yellows to catch up so that two hearts are made for each of the RSC colors.

Here are all the hearts I've made with their bonus HSTs, too.

And then I had to play some more on the design wall.  What about crumb hearts and wonky stars?  

This could be a fun combination!

Then...

I had a little "Drop Everything and Make It" moment this week, and decided to make a tiny pincushion out of this Crabapple Hill Studios design.  It measures about 3.75 x 3.25.  I wanted a little something positive to give to a friend who's going through a bit of a tough time right now.

How about that tiny purple flower?!  

A little bit of this green made a great backing for the pincushion.  What kind of flowers do you think those are?  I think they look like water lilies!

Sharing at Sandra's DrEAMi link-up at mmmquilts.

So that was the extent of my sewing this week!  But, one more thing - I'm looking for some advice.  I was poking around in a closet a few days ago and found this pretty purple fleece blanket that was a gift from a 5th grader quite a few years ago.

I think this measures about 48 x 60.

I'm wondering about using this as the backing for a quilt.  Would you use batting with it? (It's pretty heavy weight.) What about basting - pin or spray baste?  How would you quilt it?  If you have used fleece as a backing fabric, please tell me how it worked out for you!  And thanks so much!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #241

It's Thursday and time to share the stuff that made me smile this week.  We have lots of wild rabbits in our neighborhood this year, and daily we see them in our yard.  This little guy was enjoying a cool spot, hunkered down in the grass yesterday afternoon.

Now the bunnies aren't unusual around here, but we've lived in our house for 44 years, and never seen this sight!

It was early Saturday morning, and Mike looked out into our backyard, and said, "What is that?!"  And then, "There's a deer in our yard!"  Of course, he grabbed his camera and we went outside, so she got pretty nervous and hopped over the fence into the neighbor's yard.  Then she stayed there for several hours.

She must have felt very safe at this point!  

Plus there was lots of yummy grass to graze on.

Now and then, she would get a little worried about us and get up again.

Look at those ears!

Those of you who live out in the country or in more rural areas are probably used to seeing deer regularly, but we live in a small city, in a 70s neighborhood with small yards and lots of fences.  And lots of traffic on the main roads.  Our big wondering is, where did she come from?!  

Things are blooming and growing in my vegetable garden.  These are pumpkin blossoms!

A little something is trying to bloom in my sewing room this week, too.  I pulled out this tiny embroidery design that I stitched back in February during the Crabapple Hill Studios stitch-along, intending to make something out of it for a friend.  I only got as far as trimming it into this little rectangle, but my plan is to make a pincushion out of it.

I've been reading my July book club book this week - it's kind of a quirky one, but a fascinating topic for a story.  If you could go back in time and have a conversation with someone to do over, who would you pick?  Especially if you knew you couldn't change what was happening in the present...

Definitely quirky... but interesting to contemplate!

And, finally, my advice for you is this - 

Hope that made you laugh!

Joining in with LeeAnna and friends at Not Afraid of Color for I like Thursday!

To-Do Tuesday #94

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

I had good success with focusing on one project last week, and did end up finishing Follow the Garden Path, my version of Sandra's Follow Your Own Path quilt along.  

I did manage to get a few other things done, too...

• Some purple scraps were sewn into crumb hearts -

• And I got started on some Positivity blocks.  My plan is to make them all from scraps, with red pluses and low volume backgrounds.

Lots more to make!

So, what's on this week's list?  

• It's time to get back to quilting the Rainbow Strings quilt.  I'd still like to finish it by the end of the month!  Can it be done?  

Getting closer!

• It would also be great to get more Positivity blocks made.  Preeti's QAL  schedule says we'll be sharing our progress next Sunday.  So my goal is to have some progress to share!  😎
• A few small finishes are on my list.  I have some completed embroidery designs that need to be finished off.  I think they'll make nice gifts for friends.  I don't know if I'll get to them, but I'm going to try!

Have a great week, everyone!

A Little Bit More with Purple

I said at the beginning of the month that I might have to do a little stash enhancement in order to have enough purple for my various rainbow projects - but I haven't done any shopping yet, and I keep coming up with purple to use!

This week I pulled out this fat quarter and decided it could work for my Full Stop semi-colons.  This is one of the few times when my purple looks prettier on screen than in real life, lol!  To my eyes this is kind of a brown-purple, like raisins! 

I had to zoom in on the selvage here, because it is kind of neat!

 

I googled this fabric name and it appears to be mostly out of stock - 

maybe it's an older line?

In any case, it sewed up quickly into 12 semi-colons, using Angela's tutorial here.  These just need their connecting strips to be finished up for the month.

Now, though, I'm really down to the crumbs, but they work to make some hearts!

One heart completed, and two slabs for the second one!

This week I also recieved a gift in the mail from Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for participating in Hands2Help this year.  Isn't Sarah so great to do that for everyone who sends a quilt to one of the charities?   Thanks, Sarah, and thank you to all your sponsors, too!

Batting and a great - looking pattern!  Both will be used.

Check out more purple projects at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

A QAL Finish!

I've been excited all week to finally finish and share my version of Sandra's "Follow Your Own Path" quilt, which I've called "Follow the Garden Path!"

42.5 x 46.5

I didn't really know what the name of this quilt was going to be until I found the backing fabric for it.    This was a Joann's find, and I could tell it was going to be perfect as soon as I saw it!

 Lots of florals make up the arrows, so there was definitely a garden theme going on from the beginning.   (It just took me awhile to catch on!)

The red was my favorite so it turned into the border as well.   The leftover gray background fabric tied everything together for the binding.

I don't know if you can tell from these photos, but I used the serpentine stitch for both the quilting and to finish off the binding, and I really like the look. 

I admit that I'm not much of a gardener, but I can grow petunias!

This quilt doesn't have a destination yet, so I think I'll just enjoy it on my red Poang chair for now!

Big thanks go out to Sandra at mmmquilts for making her great patterns available to us every year for a quilt along!  This is my third year to participate and I've enjoyed every one.    I'll be linking my finish up at the Parade of Quilts over at Sandra's place!

Also sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday!

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

Also joining in with Meadow Mist Designs' Favorite Monthly Finish

I Like Thursday #240 - Staying Cool!

I love summer, but I'm not sure I like...

this..

Although you might notice that the humidity is only at 14%.

That's a really good thing, especially when it's this hot!

This pot of red petunias doesn't seem to mind the heat!

Bright, hot afternoon sun!

I've been enjoying some embroidery this week - it's a good needle and thread activity for hot days because there's not too much fabric to cover you up!  I finished up this little Kathy Schmitz design.  1976 is the year Mike and I were married.

Then I started on the most recent one I had traced from the One Stitch at a Time club February download.  I love birds, and Kathy must, too, because she often includes them in her designs.

A little early morning cool was found when stitching out on

the back porch!

Updated Saturday evening: I've continued working on this one each evening, and have the nest done now.  This will be my Sunday slow-stitching.

Sharing this at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Another cool activity... an iced vanilla latte with a good book in our air-conditioned Starbucks! 

Thanks go to my bloggy friend at the Faith, Trust, and Breast Cancer blog who recommended this book.  Sonia Sotomayor is someone I don't know anything about and really should!  She was born the same year as me - 1954 - and look what she has achieved.  I'm only 20 pages into the book, but fascinated by her life story already.

Well, I cooled down long enough at Starbucks that now I'm too cold!  Time to get back out in the nice, warm day!  😉

Joining in with LeeAnna and friends at Not Afraid of Color for I like Thursday!

To-Do Tuesday #93

 It's amazing the progress you can make on something when you stay focused on it for several days in a row! (wink!)

A week ago I shared this photo of the last rows that needed to be sewn together for my Follow Your Own Path quilt.

Since then I've gotten the top completed...

Purchased backing fabric and spray basted the layers...

The weird-looking fabric underneath is the old sheet 

I spread on the floor when I'm going to use basting spray!

And quilting is in process...

A finish is getting close!  

My goal is to get the quilting finished today, and the binding sewn on tomorrow so that I can get the whole quilt finished by Friday.   I don't want to miss out on Sandra's final link-up for the QAL!  I'll update my post when her link-up goes live.

Meanwhile, other projects have gone by the wayside, but once I can spend my evening hand stitching working on the binding, I can get back to my purple scraps and *finally* start making some Positivity blocks!

Linking up with with Chris and friends at Chrisknits for To-Do Tuesday!