Tablescraps for October

Can you guess what these are?

This month's Table Scraps project was made because of a request from my DH, who saw a need for something for our new car.  I used both light and dark scraps of some gray batiks I have, a little bit of batting, and some Velcro.

What are they?  They are covers for the center console arm rests in the car.  Since the interior is black, and we rest our bare arms there all the time, Mike wanted to protect the upholstery from possible discoloration.  So voila!

I was really pleased that my quilty math worked out correctly and these little pads fit just right!  I had to make two because this opens in the center for a storage compartment.  

Joy's extra challenge for month was to include cats in the project, and that was a struggle for me.  Until I noticed the design in the dark gray fabric.  Can you see the cat?  There might even be two of them, lol!

I'm calling it good!  

Thanks for these monthly challenges, Joy!  They're always fun!  Linking up with:

October Table Scraps Challenge at the Joyful Quilter 

and at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

I Like Thursday #411

I voted!  So thankful that we have this right in our country.

Younger son has been into bread baking recently, and made some delicious rye bread over the weekend.  It's an old recipe that my mom discovered back in the 70s, I think.  Besides rye flour, it also has cocoa and molasses in it.  It is really yummy!

I finished up the sunflower embroidery for my Fall Fortnight mini quilt.  Isn't it sweet?  

The next step is to add the first border around the center, and sew the flying geese border together.  It's coming along!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about haunted houses and scary movies.  Do we like them?  No!!!  Lol!  I have crazy enough dreams without adding extra content to them.  I do remember there being some kind of haunted house ride at Disneyland that was fun - in a kid-like way.  Younger son loves horror movies and watches them all the time - he even participated in an online challenge to watch 100 scary movies and document them last year!  I'm glad I don't have to watch with him!  😜

Happy Thursday, friends!  Joining in with I Like Thursday at Not Afraid of Color.

 

Midweek Update

Block 20 for the Pieces of My Life QAL over at Melva Loves Scraps is out now, so it was time to sew it up!  This is a Broken Dishes block, made completely of half square triangles, and I really like it!  In fact, I was thinking it might make a good Rainbow Scrap Challenge block, with the dark triangles (in this block, they are a dark green) being something consistent throughout the whole quilt, and the monthly colors being the other triangles.  I'll have to think about that! 

"Broken Dishes" is all about raising our kids and how we handled chores and responsibilities.   I've written about our two boys before - Andrew and Kevin.  They're in their 40s now, so it's quite the exercise to think back to those days in the 80s and 90s when we were a busy family and trying to keep up with everything.  Of course, the kids did have chores like helping with dishes and keeping their toys picked up.  I guess the first thing you have to learn is about personal hygiene!  

Things I remember from those days:

• Boys collect lots of Legos.
• It hurts when you step on them!
• A dust pan is really good for picking up lots of Legos at one time.
• Don't give a little guy a full plate of spaghetti to carry from the kitchen to the dining room - you can guess what happens, lol!
• Sometimes the way to get a chore done is to trade one of yours for one of theirs.  "I'll mow the lawn if you want to make dinner!"
• One of my proudest accomplishments as a mom is that I taught both boys to do their own laundry when they were each in about 7th grade.  That worked out well!

Both of our boys were in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and in fact they both achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, which is the highest honor.  Those achievements came with lots of jobs and responsibilities and they did well with those, with only a little nagging! 😘  These activities kept Mike and me busy, too, because we were leaders for the troop and helped the kids with their various projects.

I'd been putting off getting the next section of the quilt blocks together, but got started on that this week.  I'm second guessing my decision to use the darker blue sashing because it really stands out, but I'm hoping that when all four sections are put together this will look like they are tied together with a bow!

Or maybe these are the pathways we follow through life -

all joining together in the end.  (Wink!)

Sharing at Melva Loves Scraps for the Block 20 link-up,

and at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

Fun with sunflowers!

The weather turned cold and gray here, but it's sunny in my sewing room!  I started stitching on this sweet sunflower design on Friday evening.  This is Melisa's August Doodle.   It's going to work perfectly as the center for my version of the Fall Fortnight quilt project over at From My Carolina Home!

I've been working on the flying geese and cornerstones that will surround the embroidered center, too.  Continuing the sunflower theme!

The center will be surrounded by a narrow green border, 

which is that dark green dot fat quarter you see to the left.  

There's a final wider green border, too.

This little embroidery shouldn't take too long to finish up, so if I run out of slow stitching, I'll get back to work on quilting the Rainbow Hollow Nine Patch quilt.

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

And Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

  

All the blocks are made!

There wasn't much left to be done, but for some reason it took me a few weeks to get around to it!  What I'm referring to are the last two blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Patchwork Hearts project.  But now they are finished!  Here's the multi-color heart.

The other block is a light green four patch block, which I didn't photograph separately, but you can see it here to the right of the multi-color heart in this layout.

I didn't have a specific reason for laying out the blocks this way, except for using the lighter blocks more in the center and moving outward to the darker blocks.  I made one change, switching the orange block with the light blue, and I think this is where it will stay.

Before I start sewing these into a quilt top, my plan is to finish one of my older quilt tops that have been waiting their turn in the to-be-quilted closet.  That shouldn't be too difficult a task because I have a couple backings pieced and there's batting available to be cut to size.  Meanwhile, I'm making good progress on hand quilting the Hollow Nine Patch quilt, too!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

I Like Thursday #410

Do you read the comics in the newspaper?  I have several that I enjoy every day, and one is "Pearls Before Swine."  This one made me laugh because I, too, actually like the buttered popcorn Jelly Bellies! 

I got out a few Halloween decorations out this week for the entry way chest.  I don't decorate in a big way, but these are fun!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about carving pumpkins, which I love to do, and have loved all my life.  I found an old picture of my siblings and I with my dad, all working hard on our pumpkins.

I don't carve one every year anymore, but I did do one in 2020.

Lol!

Nowadays, I'm more likely to stitch a pumpkin, which is what I was doing last night.  This is Melisa's Pumpkin Basket.   A teeny tiny pumpkin!

Hope you're having a great week!

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

Midweek Makers

My sewing brain seems to be pulled in multiple directions this week - all good, but lots to do!  Carole, at From My Carolina Home, is hosting an event called Fall Fortnight over on her blog, and of course there is a little quilt project I can't resist.  You can see the project at the link above.  

Carole's version is Thanksgiving themed with appliqued wool pumpkins, but I ended up being inspired by some yardage of a sunflower print that I purchased back in August at a quilt shop over in Grand Junction, Colorado.  The background will be the cream with gold stars that came in Nann's box of goodies a while back.  Thank you, Nann! 

Some border fabrics are needed - something that coordinates with the sunflowers.  

I'm still thinking about that!

I starred by making some of the flying geese that are needed.  The center will be this sunflower design by Melisa of PinkernPunkin Quilting that I'll hand embroider.

I still need to get that traced for embroidering, and when I do, I'm going to leave the August part off.  Those happy sunflowers in the wheelbarrow with their bird friends should be perfect in the center surrounded by the flying geese!

But there are some other current works-in-progress that also need some attention this week.  I would like to finish up the last two blocks that are needed for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge patchwork hearts project.  The final heart is on its way - these rows work well as leaders and enders when sewing on other things.

It's also time to finish up the quilting on section 2 of the Pieces of My Life QAL, and get the section 3 blocks sewn together and ready to quilt as well.  

But, first on today's agenda is to say Happy Birthday to my dear husband!  He wanted to play a round of golf and grill some steaks for dinner.  So that's what we'll do!

Linking up with Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.