Improv Stripes

I decided to join in with Debbie at A Quilter's Table for her QAL on Improv Stripes.  I had participated in the Crosscut QAL that Debbie lead last summer, and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to do it again with a new project this summer.  You can follow this QAL on Instagram at #improvstripesqal.

After finishing my Beautiful Blossoms quilt last year, I had a lot of the gray background fabric from Connecting Threads left over.  I thought that might make a good constant fabric paired with lots of lighter colors - pink, yellow, green, and light blue for starters.  Plus I want to use that gray up!  :)

It's a lot of fun to hunt through the scrap bins, deciding if various bits and pieces will work for this project. I made some yellow and pink blocks, then decided to mix them up a bit, too, when I added the green.

I'm not sure yet what size this quilt will end up to be.  I'm definitely going to keep going until the gray is used up though, so that means quite a few more blocks can still be made!

Today I think I'll work on some blue blocks!

Sharing at Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.

Hello, August!

Like many of you, I'm sure, I can hardly believe it is August already!  Even though I am going on my third school year retired from teaching, I still get that "time to go back" feeling right about now.  The cool and cloudy weather (with a hint of fall in it) doesn't help that!  Thankfully, there is really lots of summer left!

Since this was sort of an in between week for me, sewing-wise, I decided to spend some time working on my Monkey blocks.  This is an RSC project I started in 2016, but have continued into this year to have enough blocks. There are 36 of them now, so I have started adding the sashing and cornerstones to them. Here they are, pinned to my design wall.

The sashing is Kona Maize, which I thought I had a bunch of in my stash.  The cornerstones will be random 2 inch squares from my scrap bins.  Unfortunately I used up all of the Kona Maize that I had, and can't seem to find anymore in the stores that are close by.  I will have to stop by a shop that I know has a large selection of Kona, but can't get there for a few days.

These few blocks have both sides done.  I think this quilt will need a border, too, to make it a little bit larger, but haven't decided what that will be yet.

When Angela announced that the August color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge would be light neutrals such as cream, ivory, and mixed backgrounds, I knew just what I would work on first.  

My String Star quilt needs lots more low volume background blocks, and this will give me a chance to make some progress on those.  This is a sample layout I did in June after finishing the yellow blocks.  I've added the blues, and just need orange left to finish out the plan.  It also needs more background blocks, and I had only made 8 up through July.

Yesterday I pulled out the low volume bin and got a couple of blocks made, so that gives me 10 now, halfway there!

These are fun to make and I love the scrappy look they give the star!  I'll keep working on these through the month.

Have a wonderful weekend!  I'll be joining in with the other Rainbow Scrap Challenge Quilters at the ScrapHappy Saturday link-up at SoScrappy.

I Like Thursday #41 - Ahhh!

Can you tell what this is a picture of?

It is rain... lovely, cool, wet rain!  A wonderful gift after the very hot and dry summer we've had.  My hubby was even watering the grass this afternoon, and all of a sudden we realized it was raining!  

Welcome to "I Like Thursday" hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color!  Every Thursday we post about the positive things we've experienced in the last week.

I liked going to the Boulder County Farmer's Market in Longmont, Colorado, last Saturday.  Of course I forgot to take any pictures of it, so had to borrow one from their website.

I enjoyed seeing all the fresh vegetables (and bought yummy tomatoes and green beans), tasting various things that people were offering (including wine!), and listening to the musicians who were performing.  It is a 30 minute drive for us, but definitely worth it.

We went for an evening walk a couple of nights ago, and I liked seeing so many sunflowers blooming.  

And the beautiful evening sky just before sunset.

I enjoyed bringing some of my orange marigolds and purple larkspur in for a little bouquet earlier this week. The marigolds last a long time in water, but the larkspur started dropping blossoms right away, so I had to enjoy them quickly!  :)

I like participating in online Quilt Alongs, and there are so many to choose from!  This week I joined in with Debbie from A Quilter's Table to work on Improv Stripes.  Last year I participated in the Crosscut QAL with Debbie, so I knew I would have fun trying something new from her this year.  You can see lots of examples of what people are working on at #improvstripesqal on Instagram.

I really liked this book that I just finished this week:  The Secret Wisdom of the Earth by Christopher Scotton.  I was so caught up in the story that I couldn't stop reading, even in the car when we were running errands Monday morning, until I finished it!  It is a story about a boy (Kevin) whose family has experienced a terrible tragedy, so he and his mom go to spend the summer with his grandpa in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky.  Kevin's experiences there really help him to get past his family's tragedy and to grow up.

Happy Thursday!  Hope you are having a lovely week!  Please be sure to check out all of the other I Like Thursday bloggers over at LeeAnna's place, every Thursday morning!

Apparently I wasn't finished...

With blue!

A couple days ago, I found this pattern for some coffee cup blocks.  It's from allpeoplequilt.com, the website for American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  The block is called Coffee Time.  I had been looking for a pattern like this ever since I saw Kate's coffee cup quilt, and wanted to try making a similar block.

Well, the blue scrap bin was out, so, just for fun, here's what I made - a light blue coffee cup and a dark blue one.

I always enjoy trying a new block, and these came together very easily!  I did add a 1.5" strip on the right side of both blocks where the handles of the cups are.

Wouldn't these make a fun quilt in all different colors?  I might put them on my list for next year's RSC, but meanwhile, I decided to make these into a couple mug minis for our morning coffee spot.  I like to change those out fairly regularly and it gives me an excuse to make something small!  :)

I quilted them in a diagonal cross-hatch, and because they are rectangular (6.5 x 7.5), the cross-hatching has a diamond shape.  I bound the dark cup in the light blue and the light cup in a dark blue.

I had the perfect backing fabric in my stash!

And here's why blue is perfect for the end of July - Bronco training camp has started.  Time to get out the Bronco mug!

Go Broncos!

Sharing Sunday at Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework!

Also sharing at 

A Sea of Blues

My Rainbow Scrap Challenge sewing with blue scraps for July has taken me all over the place!

• From a festive red, white, and blue table runner, and a fun improv flag wall-hanging early in the month- 

• to some blue Monkey business at the end of the month. 

• I used up a few more scraps making some improv slab blocks - 

• Plus 8 blue string blocks, a maple leaf, a nine patch, and some bow ties!

Of course, there are still lots of scraps in the blue bin, but that's okay because I really love blue!

Curious about what other RSC quilters have been up to for the last of this blue month?  Check them out at SoScrappy for the ScrapHappy Saturday link-up!

I Like Thursday #40 - Yummy, Pretty, and Helpful!

It is just about Thursday again, and time to share what I've been liking this week!  I'm joining in as always with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color to share the positive things we've experienced over the past week.

It's time for Colorado peaches, and I really like Colorado peaches!  They're grown on the Western Slope in an area around the town of Palisade (also a place to find good wines!) and they always come into season about mid-July.  We buy them from this roadside stand near our house.

These peaches are so delicious, and I slice one up to put on my cereal every morning.  They make my whole wheat cereal taste like dessert!  In August, when my mom comes to visit, she will have to make me a peach pie - yum!

I liked picking a carrot out of my garden this week - notice I said "a" carrot!  This seems to be the only one, and it was a volunteer from last year's carrot seeds.  It's so fascinating to me that the tiny carrot seed could live all through the winter and then start growing a year after it was originally planted!

It was tasty! :)

Here is a photo of my little flower garden - I like its pretty colors right now.  Larkspur, marigolds, alyssum, and snapdragons seem to be happy in that garden right now.

I found a new recipe to try with zucchini noodles this week.  Here's a link to the recipe, if you want to try it! Bruschetta Grilled Chicken Zoodle Bowls

The Bruschetta made with fresh tomatoes and balsamic vinegar gave the dish a yummy fresh taste, and we really liked it!

I liked helping out a friend with her first t-shirt quilt.  She did all the designing and sewing, but we talked over different techniques that would make everything easier.  I dug out this book that I bought a very long time ago so that she could read about how to sew on the binding.  I hadn't looked at the book in awhile, and it was fun to look back through it and see my notes from projects I had made out of it.  

I read Bonnie Hunter's blog and follow her on Facebook, and I like how she ends her daily posts with uplifting quotes that make me think paired with a picture of a quilt.  Here's one from earlier this week:

I often think that by my age (60ish :), I should have it all figured out.  I'm so glad to know that others don't either!  Life definitely keeps me on my toes!

Happy Thursday!  Hope life has been good to you this week!

Temecula Mini Blocks WiP

This week's Temecula Marvelous Monday Mini blocks are meant to be 36 patch blocks made from 1-1/8" squares (180 of them to make 5 blocks!).  I knew I would not want to cut that many teeny tiny squares, so I decided to make them using the Scrappy Trips block method from Bonnie Hunter.

I cut six strips of the different colors that were 7" x 1-1/8."  Sewing them together, making a tube of the strips by sewing them right sides together, and then cutting apart in the opposite direction and re-sewing made an easy 36 patch block.  Check out this tutorial if you want to see it written out in more detail!

So far, I've made two of these - this week's plan calls for 5 total.  We'll see if I get around to that!

I am enjoying seeing these blocks all together!  Here are the 12 I had before I made the second 36 patch block.  

I'm really getting curious to find out what will be happening with these blocks once all of them are completed!

Linking up with Let's Be Social at Sew Fresh Quilts and Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.