Flowers and stitches

One sunflower has been working hard to bloom in my garden (and the zinnias, too)! 

So, in its honor, I thought I would stitch another sunflower on the Ole Crow Saltbox piece.  There are more leaves and the center of the flower to do, but you get the idea!

I couldn't decide which project to focus on, so I also stitched two little cherries on Hello Summer...

And I had promised my self that I would get some more quilting done on the orange peel project.  I did do a little bit of work on it, but it was super hot here in Colorado this week, so it was hard to have a quilt on my lap, even a small one.  This is orange peel #11 of 24, so some progress has been made.  It's cooler today, so maybe quilting will be possible!

A little of everything this week!

Sharing at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

And at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday.

Aqua, teal, or turquoise?

I've been playing with my aqua scraps this week, and I think I have a little of everything.  Light to dark, green/blue to more blue/green - whatever name you would give them.  These squares will become two 16 patch stars in the next few days.

But first, I made some quarter star blocks.  I've been making eight of these each month.

There are 68 total now - 32 more needed to complete my goal of 100.  It's time to decide how I will fill those spaces in.  Add more of the rainbow colors?  Or some neutral stars?  I'm not sure yet.  And that will just make a small quilt of about 40 inches square.  So, then, add some borders? 

Decisions, decisions!

Meanwhile, here are the 64 rainbow blocks laid out in the star shape they can make.  I like this, too!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

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

I Like Thursday #446

One of our favorite things that we did in Steamboat Springs was visit their botanic garden.   It had been recommended by several people, so we thought it sounded like a place to check out.

It turned out to be lovely!  Lots of nice trails to walk, lots of blooming things, and lots of birds, too.    We both got some nice photos of what we saw.  Here are a few favorites.

A hummingbird moth enjoying the flowers. 

My favorite flower!  

A great spangled fritillary enjoying the echinacea.

Loved this sculpture, too!

And LeeAnna's question of the week is about hula hoops - did we have one when growing up?  Yes, I did, and I remember getting cheap ones at Woolworth's.  Maybe they had little beads inside them that made noise when you were twirling the hula hoop?  I remember them being a lot of fun!  But the hula hoop came back into my life when I belonged to Curves, a fitness center for women.  They had hula hoops that looked like this:

Fitness hula hoops

It took awhile to get the hang of it again (I was in my 50s!), but I did get it, and that turned out to be a fun way to work on my core muscles.  Who knew?!  

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

Midweek Update

This last week has been the busiest one of the summer for us, so not much sewing has been done.  We spent three days up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, with family, came home for one day, and then went up to Estes Park (a mountain town near us) to play golf and visit our favorite winery for lunch.  I need a rest from all the fun!  

It was great to get away, though, and I certainly enjoyed the cooler temperatures,  mountain views, and time with family! 

So, this Midweek Update is more of a To Do list than an update about what I've gotten done.   For August, Angela chose aqua for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  My first job when we got home and I had some time was to dig out all the aqua, teal, turquoise scraps.  I found more than I expected to, including an orphan block!

I always work on the little quarter star blocks first, so cutting and sewing for those in process.

I thought I'd make more progress on the orange peel quilt in July for purple month, but I haven't touched it in quite awhile.   So it's time to get back to this one.  Nine of the 24 orange peels are quilted, and then I'll need to do some quilting through the background squares as well.

And not turquoise, but something I need to get back to are these Scrappy Chain blocks for the Many Hands and Many Hearts summer block drive.  They had been put away in a project box and forgotten about!  I'm planning to make a few more of these and get them sent off to Cynthia in the next week or so.

So there's plenty to do this next week!  Linking up with The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday!

Cheers!

It's sunflower time!

 

This week I finished up the August heart to display for the month on the mini quilt stand.  I loved stitching this one last August, and I'm really happy with the finish, too!

Thank you, Melisa, for sharing this sweet doodle!

All of my sunflower stitches are on display here for the month of August.

I might need a few more to fill up the basket!

The two projects that I have in progress have some sunflowers in them - the Old Crow Salt Box from PinkernPunkin and Hello Summer from Primrose Cottage.

There's lots more stitching to do on both of these, 

so I have a choice for my Sunday Slow Stitching today!

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts.

Also linking up with Melva Loves Scraps for Sew and Tell Monday. 

I Like Thursday #445

Good morning and happy Thursday!  Since I didn't really do an I Like Thursday post last week because I was participating in the Christmas in July blog hop,  I have some catching up to do.  

Little by little my gardening efforts are paying off!  LeeAnna's question of the week for last week was about favorite summer foods, and, of course, anything fresh out of the garden is on my list.  We've been getting cucumbers, and I have taken a liking to tzatziki sauce.  So here is younger son making it for me.  We put it on grilled chicken pitas.  

Tzatziki has cucumber, plain yogurt, dill, mint, lemon juice, 

and a few other spices.

Yummy!

The tomatoes are starting!  I've eaten exactly two cherry tomatoes so far, but lots more are coming.

And the Colorado peaches are here!  My favorite locally grown fruit of all time.  I slice one on my cereal each morning and it's like having dessert for breakfast!  

I read the best book this week.  The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth.  It's about a young woman who develops early-onset Alzheimers.  I know that doesn't sound like it would make for a great story, but it is written so well.  It helped me understand some things about dealing with dementia, too, which is a big part of my world these days.

Goodreads link

Today's question of the week is about our summers growing up.  What did we do for fun, work, travel?  Some of those memories are a bit hazy anymore, but I'm sure I hung out with friends, went swimming, read a lot of books.  I did a lot of babysitting to earn money.  And every summer we went to visit the grandparents in Iowa for two weeks.  My dad grew up in Iowa City and my mom grew up in Cedar Rapids, and they are just maybe 30 miles apart, so it made an easy visit for both sides of the family.  

See the Amana Colonies to the left there?

We often went there for good meals and the interesting shops!

Speaking of travel, we are going up in the mountains for a few days, so if you don't hear from me, it's because I'm off the grid, lol!  Looking forward to getting together with my brother and sister and their spouses and seeing some beautiful sights.  See you back here soon!

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

Midweek Update

First of all, thank you to everyone who visited my blog and left a comment during Melva's Christmas in July blog hop!  Gail at The Cozy Quilter won the fat quarter giveaway, and I'll be sending those off to her this morning.

I also finished up the tablerunner made out of the leftover batik strips from Glowing Hearts.  This was truly a "Drop Everything and Make It" project because I just couldn't stop working on it until it was done!

I followed the braid shape to quilt it, so that was quick and easy, too.

Here's the pieced backing that I shared the making of last week.  I think you can see the quilting even better on the back.    

This is even bound with leftover strips!

And on the table.  I think this is very summer-y! 

In other sewing this week, I've pulled out the Patchwork Hearts project (blocks made in 2024 for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge) and continued on with the quilting.

This is row 2 of 5.  I'm going to have to think about the 

sashing fabric that will connect the rows pretty soon! 

Angela chose aqua for the August color of the month for the RSC, but this row doesn't have any aqua, so I'm focusing on the light blue heart right now.   I've quilted all the lines in one direction and now going back the other way.

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday. 

SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!