Midweek Update

Despite my best intentions, I haven't had a chance to do much sewing this week.  On Monday I hosted my book club, which is always an enjoyable afternoon, but no sewing.  

Today (Tuesday) I ended up spending several hours in the ER with my dear husband, and that is never fun!  Fortunately, he is okay and we got some helpful information from the ER doc.  They sent him home with pain meds and orders to drink only clear liquids until tomorrow morning, and right now he is feeling much better. 

Over the weekend I did have a chance to get started on the next block for the Pieces of My Life QAL from Melva Loves Scraps.  There were several pieces and parts to cut and sew, and most are now ready to make the final block.  This block is called Wedding Ring.

You can see that I have those two corner square-in-a-square pieces left to finish up, 

and then the whole block goes together like a nine patch.

I have taken my time making those pieces because I really want them to measure 

4.5 inches exactly! 

Melva has also released the directions for putting together the next section of the quilt in quilt-as-you-go format, so that is on my list to work on this week, too.

Some orange hollow nine patch blocks are also in the works.  These are hand-pieced, so I've stitched on them in the evenings.  It's always nice to have some handwork to do when you can't get to the sewing machine!

Hopefully the rest of the week will be more back to normal, and I can make some progress on Pieces of My Life block and quilting!

Sharing at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

Slow stitching this week...

I guess it worked to stitch the August Woven Wreath sun design in cool blue because we ended up with three days this week in the 60s and lots of rain!  What a change from weeks of hot, dry 90s.  I have even had to wear a sweatshirt!  

My other monthly project is the Year of Hearts from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting.  I finished up the July heart just the other day.  Here they all are - there are eight because of the bonus heart Melisa gave us in June.  

It's time to stitch the August heart, which is sunflowers.  I love sunflowers!  I'm always trying to grow them, but not always successful in that endeavor.  But at least I can stitch them!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

 

A little bit more with orange...

Once I finished up creating the two new green hearts out of the original one (my Wednesday post), I finished up the alternate four patch chain block in orange.

Then I just had to lay all the blocks out together.  It's my favorite thing to do at this point in the year.   I'm definitely happier with the two green blocks - it's good to see what this looks like with them in the mix.

I know now that I'll need three more hearts and three more alternate blocks.  I'm thinking probably browns, gray/black, and maybe a darker yellow/gold.

Time to go hunting in the scraps again! 

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

I Like Thursday #400

Wow, 400 I Like Thursday posts!  How did that happen?  LeeAnna started her Thursday posts back in fall of 2016, and I joined in after a few weeks.  Here's a link to my first post.

And I'm still liking things on Thursdays!   These little purple allyssum are making me smile in my front garden right now.  They are one of the few things I've grown from seed this year that the rabbits didn't eat!

I've been enjoying this book this week, recommended by a friend.  Such a sweet story!

I like getting happy mail - don't we all?!  Earlier this week I got a surprise box in the mail from Nann, who is a very generous quilter, blogger, and retired librarian.  It was full of goodies, and I will share them little by little, but of course, this caught my attention first!

Thank you, Nann!

I like when younger son has an idea for a meal, and he did over the weekend.  He wanted to try making his own tortillas.  

He made a carne asada marinade for some steak that we grilled and made steak tacos out of.  Yum!

LeeAnna's question of the week is about the Olympics.  Would we like to be part of the group of competitors, meeting people from all over the world, staying in the Olympic Village?  

I think it must be both exciting and stressful to be competing in the Olympics - something you've trained for your whole life!  I can't picture myself doing that because I'm not athletic in any way, but being a part of it would be quite an experience.  I do admire how the athletes support each other and are happy, no matter the results.  My one experience with traveling abroad and meeting people of other cultures was as an exchange student to France when I was in high school.   I learned and grew a lot during that time, and especially enjoying spending a week in Paris.

Eiffel Tower Stadium

It would definitely be amazing to be there again for the Olympics - 

most likely as a spectator!

Joining in with I Like Thursday at Not Afraid of Color.

Midweek Update

Over the weekend, I began a little de-construction project on a quilt block I just haven't been happy with - the green heart that's part of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Patchwork Hearts project.   This block was one of the first blocks I made, back in January, and it has always bugged me that I combined dark and light greens in it.  There was just too much contrast.

So I decided to take it apart!  It wasn't hard to do, and some sections could even stay together.  Eventually I was left with this:

I hunted around here and there for more light greens to add in - even dug into the Christmas scraps!   Each heart needs ten HSTs, 20 squares of the monthly color, and six neutral squares.  For the new light green heart, I didn't have to add too much more.  Here's what I ended up with:

I did the same thing with the leftover dark green pieces - adding HSTs, dark green squares, and background neutrals, and now there are two hearts!

I'm so much happier with these now!

And in other news, firefighters have made great progress fighting the wildfire that has been burning to the west of us since last Monday.  It's now 83% contained, and many of the residents who had to be evacuated last week have been able to go home, including my two friends and their families.  We're thankful for the all the firefighters who have come here to work on this fire - I read this afternoon that there 85 active wildfires being fought in the US right now.

All week long, we've been hearing planes and helicopters going back and forth overhead.  Some carry the pink slurry that is dropped on the fire, and the helicopters get large buckets of water, but we learned about a new one to us that has come this year - the Super Scooper!  They skim along the surface of the local reservoir and pick up water to then drop on the fire.

Read more about them here.

Today is Mike's second cataract surgery.  He's been really happy with the results of the first one, so he's ready to get on with the second eye, and find out his new normal.  So I will be in caregiver mode for at least part of the day!   What's on for your Wednesday?

Sharing at Quiltfabrication for Midweek Makers.

Cool slow stitching...

It has been sunny, bright, and hot here every day for weeks, it seems.  We may get some relief from the heat about Wednesday or so - fingers crossed.  

Do you see that humidity, though.  18%!   

We're all hoping for some storms to bring in some moisture

 to help with fighting the wildfires.

I'll be inside this afternoon, stitching a cool blue sun which is the August section of the Woven Wreaths project.  I watched the video yesterday, so today I'm all set to get started!

Also this week, I stitched up the Sew Day Basket from Melisa at PinkernPunkin Quilting that I started last weekend.  This was a fun one - I chose the colors based on the thread spools and tools that I had sitting here on the table by my comfy chair.   Isn't this a fun one?  Now I have to decide how to finish it.

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

Getting started with orange...

 

Welcome to August in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

I'm ready to sew with orange - are you?  

It has become one of my favorite colors.

I usually start the month by sorting, cutting, and sewing up the pieces needed for a patchwork heart.  Before you know it, I had an orange heart!

There are nine of these now - aren't they fun?!  I'm planning to make 13 of them, so I have to decide what other colors are needed.  One thing I'm thinking I might do is remake the green heart into two - a dark and a light - just like I have both a dark blue and a light blue heart.

Along the way I got started on the four patches for the alternate block and will continue working on that this coming week.

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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

Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.