Slow Stitching this Week

 I've continued to work on my Humble Quilts QAL project each evening this week.  I got the border pieces sewn on, and the layers together for quilting.  I had enough of the blue with variegated brown dots for the border, and I like it, so went with that, a little different from what Lori shows on her quilt.

So, for the last several evenings, I've been stitching along, with my sort of primitive, definitely self-taught, quilting!  Enjoying every stitch!

A bit more quilting in the little four patches, and then some binding,

and this one will be finished!

Hope you've been enjoying your stitching this week!  

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

And at the Humble Quilts QAL linky party.

Thanks for a fun project, Lori!

72 Trees for the Rainbow Jungle

And here they all are!

You might remember that I originally found this fabric and used it as my inspiration for this quilt idea.

I ended up making 6 of the trees with the inspiration fabric - they'll be sprinkled around the quilt.

And the yellow trees I made this week to finish them all up:

Bright yellow, pale yellow, and cheddary yellow!

I'm going to start sewing these trees into four patch groupings that will make 12.5 inch blocks.  The quilt top should end up about 48 x 54. 

Sharing at SoScrappy  for ScrapHappy Saturday and 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

 

I Like Thursday #205

 Good morning, friends!  I wait every fall for these trees across the street from me to turn their beautiful October red, and this week was it.  I'm pretty sure my cell phone camera doesn't do them justice, but they sure are pretty!

I had a chance to get my little Humble Quilts QAL quilt top layered with batting and backing and ready to quilt on Tuesday afternoon, so I've been enjoying stitching on it the last couple nights.

You can read more about it in some previous posts here and here.

It measures about 14 x 18 inches. 

I'm reading my book club book this week, and can't exactly say I like it or would recommend it, but it's one of those psychological thriller - type stories, so it's fascinating in its way.  It is keeping me reading to find out what happened!  

It's about a woman who may have killed her husband, and has never spoken since the crime took place, so is in a mental institution.  Her therapist (who narrates the story) is trying to figure out what happened.

A really great benefit of our local public library is the ability to read the New York Times for free!  Sometimes it's more news than I can handle, but there is a mini crossword puzzle that I've gotten in the habit of doing everyday, and I look forward to it, too.  It just takes a couple minutes, and it's fun!

A friend sent me this sweet card this week, and it's really neat!  Three dimensional and with lots of bling - definitely a keeper!

Thanks for visiting on "I Like Thursday" and be sure to check out the other positive posts at Not Afraid of Color!

 

To-Do Tuesday #58

Happy Tuesday!  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. 

It's been a week here at the Little Penguin house.  My mom took a bad fall last Monday and ended up in the hospital, so there has been lots of time spent on the phone, or texting, or emailing with my siblings about what needs to happen and very little time spent in the sewing room.  

I've been able to spend some evening stitching time hand-piecing this little mini quilt, which wasn't even on my to-do list!  But I love this kind of sewing and find it very calming - just what I needed while worrying from afar.  This week's job is to add the borders and get it ready for quilting.

Humble Quilts Fall QAL

I did accomplish a few things on my list.

A little more quilting on the Color Gradient blocks:

And a tiny bit of a start on my yellow Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for October:

This week's list is dependent on whether or not I have to get on a plane and go to Arizona to help out with my mom or not.  If I stay home, I'll plan to:

1.  Finish the Humble Quilts QAL quilt top and get the quilting started.

2.  Work on more yellow blocks.

3.  Keep quilting!  🤗

Thanks for visiting today, and have a productive week!

Progress in Browns

When Lori of Humble Quilts introduced this year's Fall QAL, she shared pictures of the landscape that inspired her, so I thought I'd share a view I had earlier this week when my husband and I went hiking up in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Dark browns, dark greens, and golden grasses in the middle.

Clue #2 in the QAL for this week was to find 2.5 inch squares in our brown scraps and sew them to the 4 patches made last week, alternating every other one.  Here was my plan:

I've spent some time every evening this week hand - piecing these blocks and rows together.  Just one row left to add on. Of course, even though I kept referring to my photo of the plan, I flipped a few blocks the wrong way!  But mostly I just left them because they're all scrappy browns, so they all fit.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the next step is!  

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching!

Mixing it up with my scraps

With the end of September coming this past week, and sewing with red scraps, then switching over to October, where I'm planning to sew with my yellow scraps, it seemed like a good time to experiment with something that fell sort of in between!

Not long ago, Cynthia Brunz, of Quilting is more fun than Housework, gave me a sneak peak of a book she'd been planning to write, and I loved her ideas.  So much so that she offered me the chance to play with one of the designs in the book - sort of like pattern testing.  And I jumped at the chance to give it a try!  

I pulled this pile of warm colored batiks that I happened to have, and added a brown and some neutrals to the mix.

A bit of red, a bit of yellow, and some orange - very seasonal!

Cynthia's idea begins with a classic block - the nine patch.  I've made 9 of them so far.

But everything changes when you add corner triangles.  I chose to make opposite corners in a brown tone on tone called Shadow Play by Maywood Studios and a cream colored Grunge.

This makes a 9 inch unfinished block.

The magic happens in the layout!  Here's how my blocks look on the design wall now:

I was really drawn to the woven effect created by the

 brown and cream diamonds that form in this design.

I'm looking forward to adding more blocks this coming week, and continuing to see what happens!

Cynthia calls this type of design "Scrap Mixology," and rather than write a book, she's chosen to release each different design idea as an individual module and make it available in her shop.  Check out her post with all the details HERE!  The module gives you all kinds of design ideas, the number of blocks you need for different sizes of quilts, and tips for making all kinds of amazing quilts!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #204 - Welcome October!

Hard to believe it's October 1st, isn't it?  This year just keeps marching on.  Thanks for visiting for "I Like Thursday," hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color!  Check her link for all kinds of fun and positive posts.

I decided to borrow Judy's idea, from Busy Hands Are Happy Hands, and show you what's next to my chair!

This week's read, by Mary Kay Andrews - an entertaining "beach read!"

My pincushion and zipper pouch for hand-stitching supplies.

And this little Pixie Pouch, which is perfect for holding 

my parts for the Humble Quilts QAL.

I'm enjoying these bright and happy flowers that a friend gave me on the little chest by the front door.

Earlier this week, we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park to get in some hiking and have a picnic, and also hoped to see some fall color.  It was a beautiful day up there and Mike got some good pictures, I think!

I like a small piece of birthday cake, too!  Yum!

And, finally, I saw this meme this week, and thought it was perfect to share here.

Hope you're having a good week!