To-Do Tuesday #76

Good morning!  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.   

My book club met (on Zoom) yesterday, and I finished the book just in time!  It was a good book - The Dressmaker's Gift, by Fiona Valpy.   If you like WWII historical fiction, you might like this author.  I'm planning to read more of her books!

Other items on my to-do list from last week included:

• Sewing with my yellow scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.   I made some crumb blocks in yellow, and more.  

• Work on Round 3 of my Stay at Home Round Robin project.  Progress made on the flying geese border, but not quite finished.
• Work on a project for the Salt and Sand blog hop in March.  No progress... because I got distracted by a squirrel!  A new tote bag.  

So, going on this coming week's to-do list:

• More with yellow.  I have an idea for a Table Scraps project - starting with some 9 patch blocks like this one.

• Finish Round 3 and work in Round 4 for the Stay at Home Round Robin.  This week's border prompt is a checkerboard prompt.  See more about that here.
• And, maybe this week I'll get to that blog hop project!  😉

Stay at Home Round Robin - Round 3

Slow Flying Geese...

I've been making and trimming what feels like bunches of 1.5 x 2.5 inch flying geese all week long.  It turned out to be a total of 32 of them!  By Saturday afternoon, I had this plan up on the design wall.

Geese on the icy pond - 

and mine waiting to be sewn together into a 2.5 x 4.5 inch block.

Here's my next step/plan - connecting the flying geese with strips of the blue-green.

They will all come together this week, along with Round 4, which will be announced today at Home Sewn by Us!

Re-using and Repurposing

A few years ago I won a bundle of Island Batik 2.5 inch strips in a giveaway and tried multiple designs with them.  The colors in the bundle were beautiful, but I had a hard time coming up with a plan I was happy with for using them.  They ultimately became a wall-hanging about 28 inches square.

This was in March of 2019.  Fast forward almost two years and this wall-hanging was just in a pile of other similar things in a back bedroom.  I've hung something else in its place and didn't think I'd ever hang it up again.  So, what could I do with it?

I decided to cut it apart!

Turn right sides together, sew up the raw edges, and box the bottom to make it flat, and I have a bucket shape.

Although I must not have taken a picture of them, I did add some pockets on the inside, and also re-used a magnetic clasp from an older tote to close this one at the top.

Add some straps in a coordinating brown, and I have a new tote bag!  I use quilted totes like these instead of purses.  They're roomy and functional, and then I don't have to buy one when I want something new!  😉

My tote bag is about 13 inches wide at the top and 11 inches deep.

And I like these colors way more as a tote bag than I did in the wall-hanging, lol!

Sharing my scrappy patchwork tote at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

And at mmmquilts for the February DrEAMi link-up.

https://littlepenguinquilts.blogspot.com/2019/03/finally-finished.html

Crumbs, Quotation Marks, and a little Slow Stitching

I realized after last week's Saturday post that I had forgotten to share the pink crumb blocks I sewed in January, so here they are.  And this week, some yellow crumb blocks, too!  These will be saved up until I have enough in each color to make the "Precarious" quilt from Kelly Young's book, Stash Statement.

Looks like I need to make more pink blocks!

I also stitched up a row of quotation marks for the RSC 2021 sampler quilt, using Angela's tutorial from earlier in the week.  I opted for the simpler style and think it will work just fine!

Pink and yellow together...

My rows are about 41 - 42 inches wide at this point.  

I'll add more background fabric to make them wider later in the year.

This week, I also cut out enough 2.5 inch squares in various shades of yellow to hand-piece a yellow scrappy trips block.  These are lovely sunshine-y colors for a gray February day.  This will be my slow stitching for the evenings and Sunday during the Super Bowl.  I'm planning to make two 12.5 inch blocks each month.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching!

I Like Thursday #221

Good Morning!

Today I'm liking my Roomba!  We were running him in the living room and he was just zooming around.  He did a good job - in fact, he picked up way more than we expected him to.  

The photo is a little blurry because the little guy was zipping right along!

One of the best things about the Roomba is that I can be doing something else while the vacuuming is getting done.  It's a great time to put in a load of laundry, and because the laundry room is right off my sewing room, I just might have spent some time making more flying geese for my Stay at Home Round Robin project.

I like the "No Waste" method where you make four FG at one time, so while the Roomba was running I was able to cut the rest of the squares I need to make Border #3 of the project.

I've enjoyed stitching these tulips the past couple of weeks.  Each one is a tiny bit different because they're hand stitched, and I like that.  Each one is unique.

I'm thinking of putting them together with the floral fabric they're laying on for the sashing.  It has all the perfect colors to connect these tulips.

What's for dinner?  Anything in the crockpot!  Last night it was chicken and white bean chili.  Our older son created the recipe, so there's no link for me to share, but it's an easy one.  A chicken breast, green chile enchilada sauce, Rotel tomatoes with green chilis, a can of green chilis, and cream of chicken soup.  I cook the whole chicken breast in the sauce all afternoon, shred it up, and add the beans.  Yum!

Mike eats his just like a bowl of chili with grated cheese on it.

I like mine with some brown rice and avocado..

And reading this week:

Something I always enjoy about Michael Connelly's books is that he uses real landmarks and places like restaurants in Los Angeles as part of the setting.  Mike and I are always looking these places up on the map.

Another interesting part of this story is that it takes place in February of 2020, right when we were all starting to learn about Covid.  That plays into the story, too.

Hope you're having a great week!  Be sure to check out all the "I Like Thursday" posts at Not Afraid of Color.

 

To-Do Tuesday #75

 Welcome, February!

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. 

Last week, I finished up the little heart mini so it could be hung up for February.  

Other things on my to-do list included:

• Getting the second border on my Stay at Home Round Robin ✔ Done!  More on that in a minute.
• Moving a UFO project forward into the quilt top category ✔  Done!  Read more about that in my Saturday post here.
• Get going on a project for a blog hop coming up in March.  Progress, but nothing to show yet.  The blog hop is the Salt and Sand blog hop at Just Let Me Quilt.  

What's going on the list this week?

• It's time for Round 3 of the SAHRR, and the prompt is Flying Geese.  I've gotten a few made and I'm trying them out to see what I want to do with them.  You can also see my plus signs for border 2 - thank you to Emily from The Darling Dogwood for giving them a name - elongated plus signs!

These flying geese are 1 x 2 finished!  Tiny!

I'll definitely need more.

• It's yellow month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so time to get started with my yellow scraps.   I've pulled out the yellow scrap bin and started to think about what I need to get done.  So I'll definitely sew *something* with yellow this week!

• I still need to work on my project for the March blog hop, so that will stay on the list.

• My book club meets next Monday!  It's time to read the book - that had better go on this week's list.  It sounds interesting, too.  Historical fiction set in WWII.   

I'll report back next week!

There's always something to keep busy with around here.  Have a great week!

Slow Stitching this week

 I've been continuing to work on some needle turn applique with these tulip blocks designed by Audrey at Quilty Folk.  I've stitched up three so far!

Yellow, pink, and peachy orange

I decided a purple tulip was needed, so all the pieces and parts are ready for slow stitching today.  I've been ironing the freezer paper templates to the right side of the fabric and that works really well for me to get the shapes cut and traced correctly.

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.