To-Do Tuesday #152

Good morning, and happy Tuesday!   It's To-Do Tuesday at Texas Quilt Gal - thanks, Linda for hosting this fun link-up each week!

I ended last week's list with a plan to just play a bit, and that was a fun part of the week!  I sewed myself a new tote bag, and made a little tablerunner.  I'll save the tablerunner to share at the end of the month, but here's the bag.  I've been enjoying using it already!

Also, in case you missed it, the reveal of Halloween Jubilee is here.

Progress was made on the Frosties, too.  They're all trimmed to 8 x 10 inches.

And now I'm mulling...  maybe something like this will work for sashing and cornerstones?  I haven't bought anything new - just playing with what I have in my stash!

I like the red with white stars, but not so sure 

about the peppermints on the black background.

This week, my main goal is to finish up the last of the Bloom blocks I need and figure out the yardage for the setting triangles.  I'd better start by reading the pattern! 

Other things on the list:

• A fall themed mug rug for my mom, and
• Keep working on sashing and cornerstones for the Frosties!

That should keep me out of trouble!

 

 

Slow stitching this week...

This has been a good week for some evenings of slow stitching.  We watched the first two episodes of "The Lord of the Rings - Rings of Power" series Thursday evening on Prime, and I stitched right along!

Made lots of progress on "Summer Sun."  This one is going quickly!  The leaves are stitched with stem fill, and that's a bit labor intensive, but I like the look of it.

Also quilted another flower block on this little quilt.  It's been a little warm (mid 90s all week!) for having a quilt over my lap, so I'm just doing a little at a time.

What are you stitching this week?

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Just playing...

After finishing up Halloween Jubilee last week, I decided I could just play in my sewing room this week, and I did!  I started out by making myself a new quilted tote bag, using scraps from the Dutch fabrics that I used for this year's Stay at Home Round Robin.

There's even a little light blue 💙 in there for the September RSC color of the month!

My tote bags are based on this video tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company, and I've made several over the years.   I like to make them bigger (this one measures about 14 inches wide and 12 inches deep) and add things like inner pockets and a magnetic snap.  I use these instead of a purse, and have wanted a new one for awhile.

I played with string blocks this week, too - these are from Bonnie Hunter's free String X pattern.  I wanted to play with blues, cheddar/gold, and reds.  Look, there's even some light blue in there!

When groups of four are put together, they look like this:

Somehow along the way, I also made the two light blue Masala Box blocks that I need for September, so there is that!

On to the September projects!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

A Timely Finish

Is it late for last Halloween, or early for this year's?  That's what happens when you start a quilt one year and don't finish it until the next!  I pieced this quilt as part of Carole's Autumn Jubilee series which happens every October over at From My Carolina Home.  You can see Carole's final quilt here.  I started with this fun bundle of fabric:

 I also added in a cream Grunge for a background and a black fabric with a faint white print on it, too.

I followed along with Carole's QAL last October, got the top pieced, and then it went into the "to-be-quilted" pile with the idea that I would finish it this summer.

And so I did!  Here is Halloween Jubilee!

Carole's version had an outer border, but I stopped at the pieced border, 

and am happy with it.

My Halloween Jubilee ended up measuring 36 inches square.

The quilting is a diagonal grid about every two inches.  I used a darker gray Gutterman thread, hoping it would blend in with the black squares, but it still shows up and it turns out I like seeing the design in these blocks!

I had a great time piecing the backing out of leftovers from the front.

Binding is the black print.

When October rolls around, I'll display Halloween Jubilee on the table.  It's a perfect fit!

Happy to be sharing this finish at 

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts!

And at Quilting, Patchwork, and Applique for Patchwork and Quilts

Oh Scrap at Quilting is More Fun than Housework 

I Like Thursday #300

Look at that!  ⬆️  I Like post #300!  How many years is that?  I think I started these weekly posts in the fall of 2016, so almost six years now.  It's been fun collecting likes each week and sharing them here.  Thanks go to LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for starting the whole thing off way back then!

So, what am I liking this week?  I like that the calendar has flipped over to September!  September is one of my favorite months - it means fall is coming.  It's been very hot here - again! - so the hope for cooler weather is always there.

I'm liking this new Kathy Schmitz embroidery design that I started stitching this week.  She calls it "Summer Sun."  It's commemorating our adventures in growing sunflowers this summer!  Just one left now.

Being a retired 5th grade teacher, of course September means back to school time, and school supplies.  When I start to see them come out (in July!) I can't stay away from them!  As a teacher I always liked having the kids use spiral notebooks and composition books for different kinds of writing - we kept reading journals, writer's notebooks, science journals.  As a retiree, I still keep a reading journal in a composition notebook.

It looks like this on the inside, written in my favorite green gel pen.  (Note to self: you need a new set of gel pens!  This one's almost out.)  In another section, I keep notes for my book club discussions every month.

The most recent book I finished was this one.  So good!  I definitely recommend it.  

The main character is a woman who is a chemist in the 1950s/60s - definitely not something women were encouraged to do back then.  Lots of good characters and storylines.  Here's a link to the Goodreads blurb about the book for more info.

September means the garden is petering out.  Just two more tomatoes left on this plant, but it's sharing space with a volunteer marigold which is getting really pretty!

Hope you're having a great week with lots to like!

Check out all the other positive posts at Not Afraid of Color!

To-Do Tuesday #151

August has been a good month for finishing things up for me, and that's a good feeling. Some finishes came from last week's to-do list, so that's really good!

• Two Table Scraps projects were finished, including one that was a little last minute "Drop Everything and Make It!"  So much fun!

• A little pillow out of this cute sheep design that was a gift for my niece.  She did like it!

• And Halloween Jubilee is finished, too!  Just a peek here - it deserves its own post, which I will write up for later in the week

This week is kind of an in between week - August to-dos are done, and September is just beginning.  So what's on the list?

• Get started on light blue blocks - that is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for September.
• Finish trimming up the Frosty blocks and try harder to find a sashing fabric.  ☃️
• Give myself permission to play!  I have a couple ideas for that, so we'll see what happens...

Sharing at To-Do Tuesday at Texas Quilt Gal - thanks, Linda for hosting this fun link-up each week!

Table Scraps for August x 2!

I've had fun this week finishing up two little projects for the August Table Scraps Challenge.  One was planned after I knew the RSC color of the month (orange) and the additional challenge from Joyful Quilter (embroidery), but the other was definitely a "Drop Everything and Make It!"

I started by looking through some finished embroidery designs that still need final finishing, and then dug through the orphan block drawer, too.  I came up with these items - Kathy Schmitz's "Flutterby" from the 2021 One Stitch at a Time Club, and some left over layer cake blocks from a quilt I made a few years ago.  To go with the butterfly colors, I chose from the peachy/salmon shades of orange.

I ended up deciding I didn't need the floral piece in upper left.

A little chopping, slicing, and stitching later, and here's what I ended up with!  This really wanted to be hand-quilted, so I enjoyed doing just that during my slow stitching time this past week.

Backing is some more Tula Pink Fairy Dust, and binding is a peachy solid I pulled out of my solid fabric bin.

This fits perfectly on the small chest by our front door!

All done!

But then there was the squirrel that showed up in my sewing room, inspired by Kathy's post last weekend, at Kathy's Quilts.  I love these little sewing machines she's been sewing up in every color of the month!  I finally decided I *had to* make one!

Pretty bright orange!

Just for fun, I finished it off into a little mini quilt!  I added some embroidery stitches to it, and bound it in a little bit of leftover rainbow dots from the backing of this quilt.  

This is the 9 inch size.

I decided this would fit right in on the wall of minis above my sewing machine table.

Linking up my small finishes with all the weekend parties:

The Joyful Quilter for the August Table Scraps Challenge 

SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday

mmmquilts for the DrEAMi link-up 

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap and

Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching