To-do Tuesday #193

 After not being very busy all summer, we have had two busy weekends in a row, so not much time for sewing again.  But seeing family and friends is important, too.  Good thing I kept my to-do list simple last week!

I did get a chance to work on more yellow blocks and made some bowties and zipper blocks.  They're pretty in yellow!

I did also get a start on piecing the backing for Scrap Dance Quadrille.   I have one fat quarter left from my Cape Cod bundle that I've never cut into - it's beach huts and lighthouses!  Of course, it's not big enough for the whole backing so I squared it up and am adding some scraps of Sprinkles to bring it up to size.

This week I'll be continuing with the same things - yellow for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and getting Quadrille ready to quilt.  

Plus, I've had a request from one of my nieces for a couple of placemats.  She would like red, blue, and yellow in them.  Last night she was telling me that the rabbits she and her sister raised when they were kids loved strawberries and that made me think of this fabric that I've used in several projects this year.  There's just enough of it left now to use as an inspiration for placemats for my niece.

It will be fun coming up with some coordinating 

fat quarters and a design for two placemats!

Linking up with Midweek Makers at Quiltfabrication!

 

A little slow stitching...

Today will be just the opposite of a slow stitching Sunday because we have two family events to go to!  One with Mike's side of the family and one with mine, and you know how that goes - we just couldn't say no.

This week, though, I finished stitching up the Mini Sunflower Sampler, designed by Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting.  It's ready to be made into a little pillow to go in with all the little cross-stitched designs I'm collecting in my wooden bowl.  Won't this sunflower fabric be perfect to go with it?

If there is any time for slow stitching (fingers crossed!) I'll get back to work on Needle Love from Kathy Schmitz.  It hasn't had any attention all month, so it's time I got back to it!

Happy Sunday to you all!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Sunny Yellow

Yellow is the perfect summery color for the month of August in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!   This week I focused on finishing up the number of blocks I needed for a couple of my projects.  First up were the hand-pieced bowties.

At this point in the year, I always enjoy laying all the blocks out together to see how things are shaping up.  There are 64 bowtie blocks so far, and they're starting to look like something!

I also finished up a third yellow zipper block.

These are fun to lay out together, too.  I love this bundle of color!

The last group to finish for the month are the Split 9 patches, and they're underway! 

Lots of sun in my sewing room this week!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #348

Happy Thursday, friends!  We hadn't gotten out of town all summer, except to help younger son move, so when we got an invitation to some friends' 50th wedding anniversary party, I convinced Mike we needed to go.  It was held in a Colorado mountain town about 170 miles from us, so we turned it into an overnight stay.

Beautiful scenery!

In the center of that photo is Mt. Princeton, one of Colorado's 14ers.

We were at about 8,000 feet elevation at the party!

And so sweet to see lifelong friends! 

Barb, on the right, and her husband, Joe, were celebrating their 50th.

The three of us here were high school friends, and Debbie, on my left, and I met in kindergarten!   We were both in the wedding.  Hard to believe 50 years have passed!

Back at home, a few more things are starting to ripen from the garden.  The first tomato - yummy!

And a Jack Be Little pumpkin!  

After I shared the photo of my cucumbers last week, I was encouraged to try some refrigerator dill pickles after so many of you commented about them.  Sure enough, they were easy to make and tasted great!  Mike really likes them, and I have lots more cucumbers, so I will be making more!

Can you tell I used lots of dill?!

Here's the recipe I used.

I've been stitching away on the Mini Sunflower Sampler this week.  Just a few more leaves and the stem to do - then I can figure out how to finish it!

I'm joining in with I Like Thursday at Not Afraid of Color.   Have a great week!

To-Do Tuesday #192

We had the chance to get away for a couple days over the weekend, so there hasn't been much sewing around here since Friday.  Earlier last week, though, I did manage to get some items checked off last week's list!

Rainbow Neighbourhood is a finish!  Read my Friday post about it here.  I really love this quilt!

There was also some time to sew with yellow, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for August, and my post about that is here.

No progress on the backing for Scrap Dance Quadrille, except *thinking* about it - maybe that counts?!?

When I pulled out my yellows last week, I noticed I was pretty low on them, and I do need to make a few more yellow blocks.  So I went shopping at the quilt store, and that was fun!

So for the coming week...

• I will definitely be sewing with these pretty yellows that I brought home.
• And getting that backing made for Quadrille will be the rest of the list!

I'm joining in with Carol and friends at Quilt Schmilt for To-Do Tuesday!

Getting started with yellow...

After finishing the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt on the very last day of July, I was ready to start playing with some yellow scraps for August.  My temporary sewing nook is in a corner of our master bedroom, and I had fun spreading out and seeing what I could make with my current yellow stash.

What I've ended up with so far are these blocks:

A split 9 patch, two zipper blocks, three bowties 

(plus pieces cut for two more to stitch up), and a yellow crumb block.

I'd like to make three more split 9s and one more zipper block, but that might require a little stash enhancement - we'll see!

Speaking of the split 9 patches, I saw a layout using them that I was inspired to try, and here's how it looks so far.

I really like this!

I even used some yellow embroidery floss as I worked on this little cross-stitch design, the Mini Sunflower Sampler from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting.  Along with the two bowties that are left to hand-piece, this will be my slow stitching project for the weekend.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and at 

Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

 

Rainbow Neighbourhood is a finish!

Since early in April, I've been focused on creating my very own Rainbow Neighbourhood, from Sandra's QAL at mmmquilts - starting with the very first house...

Sewn on a snowy day!

To the very last binding stitch, taken on the last day of July!

And ta-daaaa!  Welcome to my Rainbow Neighbourhood!

Besides being a bit of a personal diary of what was going on in my life as I made each house, it's also kind of an I Spy quilt - lots of fun things to spy in there!

Snow, raindrops, white clouds, starry skies, spring flowers, birds and bird nests, trees, cats, penguins, rocks, buttons, measuring tapes, scissors, and every color of the rainbow!

I used some more of the Sprinkles wide backing from Connecting Threads, and bound it in the same navy blue as the sashing and borders are made of.

A quilt in the tree photo for Sandra!  💖

And on the bed where you can see the quilting.  I used the serpentine stitch in a 2 inch grid - the 16 inch finished blocks and two inch finished sashings made it easy to keep track of where I needed to go.

Thank you, Sandra, for a delightful pattern and lots of inspiration for how to make each house special!  I enjoyed this QAL so much!

If you'd like to make your own version of the Rainbow Neighbourhood, you can find the pattern here in Sandra's Etsy shop.  It comes with directions for throw and twin size quilts, plus a couple different sizes of pillow covers, too!

Thanks for visiting my Rainbow Neighbourhood!

Sharing at Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts.