Getting started with purple...

It's always such a pleasure to pull out the new color of the month and start digging through the scraps and stash!  That's what I did this week with purple.

Squares and HSTs for a patchwork heart block, 

and odd shaped pieces for crumb blocks.

And, in fact, I did get the patchwork heart sewn up, with lots of fun purples in it.

There are four of these so far, plus three of the alternate chain blocks that I'm also making in the color of the month.   I haven't started the purple one yet, but those blocks will be on the list for this weekend!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

And at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

 

I Like Thursday #378

I decided it was time to stitch something for Spring, so when Melisa shared the March heart for her Year of Hearts, that was the perfect choice!  I'm not very far along on it yet, but started with the daffodils.

It's been a good week here - my mom is back home in her little apartment, Mike and I were able to play golf, and our property taxes are paid!  All good!

There were elk at the golf course the other day!  This is the one we play most often - right in the middle of town.  This is not my photo, but was shared by a friend who lives right on the golf course.  I'm just wondering how these guys crossed the busy streets to get to this area!

Have you read any of Marie Benedict's books?  She likes to write about the hidden stories of historical women.  I've been reading The Personal Librarian, about Belle Greene, a young woman, just in her 20s! who became the librarian for J. P. Morgan in the early 1900s.  It's pretty interesting!  

Our question of the week is to describe something we experience with our senses every Spring.  My favorite sensory experience in the Spring is the blooming trees.  I look forward to the lilacs and our Spring Snow Crabapple and the many other trees and bushes in our area that have beautiful blooms.  The beautiful colors, the scent of the blooms, cutting some to bring in the house.  It won't be until early April that we get these beautiful blooms, but it is worth the wait!

Have a great day!

Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.

Midweek Update

I've continued to work on my Stay at Home Round Robin project, and it's getting close to a finished quilt top!  When I left off in my Saturday post, I was modifying the bottom section that I had made for Border #6, which was to include words or numbers.  

I added two sawtooth stars on either side of the embroidered words instead of the big blocks of red that I had started with.  Of course, the first time around, I made this section too big!  A little more measuring and a little trimming took care of that problem so that the bottom could be attached to the rest of the quilt.

Then I decided to finish everything off with a final border, so I went shopping, hoping to find just the right thing.  Here's what I came home with.  I love the selvage!

"You are kind and good.  You have grit and grace."

We all need to be reminded of that now and then!

Borders are cut but not sewn on yet, but here's how the top will look.  A few more long seams and this will be ready to finally finish up!

This will measure about 26 x 30 when finished.

Sharing at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers. 

Stitching in Blue

It seems like all the blue embroidery floss came out to play this week!  I started with Melisa's Tulip Mini Sampler, and used DMC 4237 - Laguna Blue - for the letters.  That's one of my favorite variegated blues.  Then I decided to change to DMC 3325 - Medium Baby Blue - for the tulips.   This was a fun little design to stitch!

Now that the calendar page has turned over to March, it's time to stitch the next monthly design on the Kathy Schmitz Woven Wreaths project.  I watched her video yesterday afternoon, and I'm all ready to go.

March's design is the Queen Bee!  I've been stitching this project with DMC 930, as suggested on the panel - Dark Antique Blue.  Ms. Queen Bee has the satin stitch for her body, which isn't my favorite stitch.  I think I'll dive right in to that section first!

This will be my Sunday Slow Stitching for today!

Linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Finishing up February

Since most of this week was still in February, I continued to sew with red, and that worked out nicely because my Stay at Home Round Robin has a lot of red in it!   My first job was to sew together blocks made for the previous prompts from weeks 3, 4, and 5 into one border, and at that point it looked like this:

Border 1: Signature blocks, Border 2: two colors (yellow and white), then a narrow red border to contain all that yellow (!), Border 3: triangles, Border 4: square-in-a-square blocks, Border 5: anything that involves the number 4 (I made four patch blocks).  

And here we are!

Kathleen McMusing had the prompt for Border #6 and she called for using letters or numbers.   Since my SAHRR began with an embroidered block that says "When life gives you lemons..." I decided that another embroidered section would be appropriate!  

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

Next I needed to decide how I was going to use that piece in the final border.  My first idea was to piece it into a wide red section, and finish the whole project with a red border the rest of the way around.  So far, I've just made the bottom section and sewn a red border to the top.

But then those two big blocks of red on either side of the embroidered words started to bother me!  Is that too much red?  (It feels too heavy if you know what I mean!)  I woke up thinking about that this morning - does that happen to you?  So, what if I added another pieced block on either side of the embroidery - like this sawtooth star?  

Maybe!

I'll be making a decision about that in the coming days, and working on a finish for this wall-hanging - the final link-up is March 18th.  But meanwhile, I'm sharing my work on Border #6 with the rest of the SAHRR participants over at Kathleen McMusing's blog.  

Also sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday where purple will be the color for March!  

and at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

I Like Thursday #377

Happy Thursday!  Hope you're having a good week!  Today should be a good day here because a little later this morning, I get to spring my mom from rehab and take her home to her apartment.  I think she's looking forward to that, and I really am!

I found a little hint of Spring in my garden the other day.  I love seeing the crocuses - they are so cheerful!

Another hint that Spring is on the way - baby chicks at Murdoch's.  They had all sizes, shapes, and varieties.  You could hear them cheeping from several aisles away!

I've been enjoying this book this week.  The "Thursday Murder Club" is a bunch of older folks who live in a retirement community in England, and they like to solve mysteries.  They worm their way in to the police investigation, and the detectives end up using the information that the seniors come up with.  It's a fun read!  Evidently it's the first in a series. 

It was a big thrill to read Cynthia's post last week at Quilting is More Fun than Housework and see my quilt in it!  I sent her the Split 9 Patch quilt that I finished in January for her Compassion Quilts charity.  

LeeAnna's question of the week is if we came home to a multi-course meal cooked by your husband, what would you like it to be?  And that made me laugh!  🤣  because it is never going to happen!!!  Mike told me when he retired that he would take over the after dinner dishes and clean up, but "please don't make me cook!"  How could I turn that offer down?  So, the best I can expect in terms of dinner from him is... takeout?!  

How about from the Asian restaurant nearby? 

Yum!

Thanks for visiting on I Like Thursday hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.

Midweek Update

I decided over the weekend that I wanted to make myself a new tote bag.  I've made quite a few of these over the years - they're adapted from an older Missouri Star Quilt Co video.  I've changed the size and added some features that I thought were useful, too. 

I wanted to use some of this Charley Harper penguin print as a focus fabric for it.  I can't even remember where I got it, but it's been in my stash for awhile and never quite fit into any other projects.  I'm pretty sure I bought a 1/4 yard of it.

I started by pulling some coordinating scraps from my stash and making this square-in-a-square type block that involved a new technique a local quilty friend shared.

To make this block, I started with a 4.25 inch center, and matched it with a square of the gray the same size.  Place the two squares right sides together, sew all the way around with a 1/4 inch seam, and then mark an X from corner to corner and cut it open with scissors to get the first square corners.  Press open and you get the first square-in-a-square.  You can just keep doing this until you reach the size you want - I did this process three times to get about a 9.5 inch block.

I sewed this block with some more of the penguins, dots, and gray into a big panel that measured 16 X 26.  Next step is to quilt it to some batting and trim down to size.

The lighting in this photo makes the background of the penguins look really brown, 

but it in real life it's definitely gray!

I turned this into a "box" with a flat bottom by boxing the corners.

Follow the same process with a piece of lining fabric, add some pockets for phone and keys, and a magnetic snap...  Handles are sewn in when you layer up the lining and outer part of the bag.

And voila - my finished bag!

The finished tote measures about 15 inches wide X 11 inches tall. 

Next up is to get going on the final border of my Stay at Home Round Robin project.  More about that in my Saturday post!

Linking up Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.