To-Do Tuesday #107

Good morning!  I'm joining in with Linda and friends at Texas Quilt Gal for the To-Do Tuesday link-up, sharing what I plan to be working on this week.

Last week, I wrote that I really wanted to get the quilting done on my Rainbow 4 Patch quilt, and over the weekend I did!

I also made the binding and sewed it on.  You'll notice that I'm sewing it on to the back of the quilt, and that's because I'm going to finish it by machine, too.  I'm using this tutorial from Sylvia at Treadlestitches, on machine binding for donation quilts.

I'm hoping to finish up the last step of the binding this afternoon.

I didn't have a lot of other piecing time at my sewing machine this week, so I hand-pieced instead - finishing up the last two blocks for my trip around the world project.

This might be the final layout.  I'm just living with it for awhile 

before starting the process of sewing the blocks together.

Coming up for this week...

         ⭐Finish up that binding!

         ⭐Cut and piece some blocks for a few Works in Process, including the      orange hyphen row for the Full Stop sampler, a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  I'm planning to make 6 of these, and they should sew together pretty quickly, once I get the rest of the background pieces cut.

              ⭐Make room for a little squirrel sewing - some maple leaf blocks for the Autumn Jubilee QAL over at From My Carolina Home.  I can't resist them!

These are fun!

Have a great, productive week, everyone!

Slow Stitching the Rainbow

There hasn't been a lot of sewing machine time this week, and when there was time it was reserved for machine quilting the 4 patch quilt.   I've been poking along with it, and I'm getting close.

Consequently, the piecing I've done has been entirely by hand, working on the last two blocks for the Rainbow Trip Around the World quilt.

Pieces prepped for a bright green block:

And a light neutral block finished, with the green block in progress:

Here are all the completed blocks up on my design wall in their color groupings.  This won't be the final layout, of course, but I'll start working on that as soon as the last green block is finished.

And then I'll be hand-piecing the blocks into rows.

I'm really enjoying the slow-stitching process of this quilt 

as well as the way the blocks are looking together!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap and at 

Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

I Like Thursday #255

Happy Thursday!  Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday, hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  My Wednesday has been packed full!  I went with my mom to a meeting at her assisted living place to see how she's adjusted after a month there, and it turns out she's doing just great!  That felt good to know!

I also went to the eye doctor, which you all know messes you up for many hours afterward.  My eyes are dilated so I can't read, thread a needle, or go outside because it's too bright!  I'm glad to have had the appointment, but will be so happy when my eyes get back to normal.  It does look like cataract surgery is in my future.

Hopefully, I can see well enough to write this post!  😎

I sure love Fall!  The leaves around here are changing color and are so beautiful.  I've been especially enjoying these across the street from us!

And aren't these cute pumpkins?  I love them!

The other day we rearranged some of the things on our walls and put up this grouping in a corner of our family room.  It's a favorite photo from the Oregon coast and a couple from our trip to Alaska a few years ago.   I'm liking this arrangement!

We were so happy to see that "Call the Midwife" returned for its 10th season this past Sunday.  It's one of our favorite shows, and never disappoints!

Screenshot from PBS

I've been enjoying this book this week.  As soon as my eyes go back to normal, I'm going to finish it, lol!

Wine, WWII, historical fiction with a current day mystery. 

Many of my favorite things in this genre.

Hope you're having a great week!

To-Do Tuesday #106

Good morning!  I'm joining in with Linda and friends at Texas Quilt Gal for the To-Do Tuesday link-up, sharing what I plan to be working on this week.

I had decided last week that I wanted to focus on some finishes this month, and I've stayed on that track through the week.   I started with the Rainbow 4 Patches:  finished piecing the quilt top, pieced a back, spray basted all the layers, and started the quilting.   

By yesterday I had quilted a basic grid - once through the smaller 4 patches and once through the larger blue squares.  

This leaves a space of about 4 inches between the quilting lines.

But I decided to add twice the amount of quilting so that there is only a 2 inch square between quilting.  So, going both directions through each 3.5 inch section.

It will take longer, but I'll be happier with the results!

The other finish I want to work on is Positivity, and that will happen after the 4 patch quilt is done.

I did finish my little squirrel project, the Fall embroidery.  Read about it here.

So, what is on this week's list?  

💙  Keep quilting the 4 patch quilt!  Hopefully I will even get to the point of sewing on the binding!

💙  Start thinking about my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects for October.  The colors are bright/line greens or light neutrals.  My cutting board is looking like this:

Making some hourglass blocks out of Kaffe charm squares for my 

October Table Scraps project.

There's always plenty to do!

A Little Fall Finish

 Last weekend I was embroidering this sweet little design, shared by Melisa at Pinker n' Punkin Quilts.  It was fun and it didn't take long either.  Thanks, Melisa!

The border is 2.5 x 1.5 inch strips sewn together, and I had some great fall fabric squares saved up that worked perfectly for this purpose.

Some hand quilting and a striped binding completed the project!

Such a fun finish!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Staying Focused!

 With October starting, I've been wanting to work toward finishing a quilt, and this week I've stayed focused on that goal.

These blocks were made mostly in 2020 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project, and sat in a project box for most of this year.

The blue is a Grunge I purchased for another project and didn't use, 

and I made these blocks until I ran out of it!

It didn't take long to get them sewn into a small quilt top - 43 x 49.

Hunting through my stash for a backing unearthed this adorable fabric that I had purchased from Bernie during her shop closing sale.  It's called "Little Red"  by Meags & Me for Clothworks Fabrics.  You can see the whole line of it here at Fat Quarter Shop.

It needed to be bigger to work for a backing, so I added some green and gray Grunge that I had.

Quilting is happening (my favorite, simple diagonal grid through the blocks), and hopefully won't take too long.  I need a "Nothing but Sewing" day, but haven't had the chance for something like that in awhile!

Some little penguins waving hello!

Meanwhile, I've been mulling over my other RSC projects for the year, and thinking about what they need in terms of colors and blocks.  The Scrappy Trips hand-pieced quilt definitely needs two more blocks so I can have 20 altogether.

There are two blocks of every color except for blue (3) and I made one "dark neutral" block (brown) when we had that month.

An additional green block would fit in, but I'm not sure I have enough greens left to make one yet.  A light neutral block would definitely work, though, so I did a fabric pull for that and just need to spend some time cutting the squares.

Hoping to get some time to work on that today!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!

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

I Like Thursday #254

Good morning!  Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday, hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  I found lots to like in my world this week - hope you did, too!

I like that at the end of September, flowers are still blooming in my garden!  Does anyone know the name of these pink, daisy-like flowers?  I have really enjoyed them this year.

We're getting lots of apples from our tree this year!  Many fall on the ground, but there are lots left to pick, too - unfortunately most of them we can't reach.  But here's enough for eating, and some applesauce.  Maybe even a pie!

Last week, Roseanne from Homesewn by Us shared these Dunkin Cold Brew coffee packs, so I decided to try them, and they are good!  Handy, too, as the step of making cold brew where you have to filter out the grounds isn't necessary anymore.  

Iced skinny vanilla "latte," anyone?!

Colette (What about Rheema) and I have had multiple conversations about cold brew, and I almost bought the neat cold brew maker she shared awhile back, but then decided since I don't drink cold brew every day, it would make too much for me at one time.  Thanks, though, Colette!

I like Autumn Jubilee, hosted by Carole at From my Carolina Home, throughout October.  Click the button at the top of my sidebar for more info.  Carole always has fun projects, delicious recipes, and other neat things on her blog for the whole month.

In anticipation of a quilty October project, I added to my Halloween themed fabric while we were on our trip last week.  I felt like I needed more pumpkins, and something in purple!

And finally, this made me laugh the other day!  (Because it is often true...)

Have a great Thursday, everyone!