RSC Purple Coming to an End

Feeling pretty good about this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I think every participant had good production this month. Here's mine ...

All seven purple Heartfire blocks have been completed.

All 9 purple Awesome Land blocks done.

I finished up Oh My Stars! just in time for Show 'n' Tell at my LQS's UFO Challenge. We meet using Zoom and this 100" x 100" queen-size quilt was really, really hard to hold up to show everyone but I managed. Look! It even has purple in it! After we had all shared our show 'n' tell projects, the next number was announced -- #4! That's my Tiny Tuesday quilt from last year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Currently it's a pile of 44 blocks. I put a purple one on top in keeping with this month's color.

I'll need to come up with a final plan for these. Then work to get this top put together and then get it quilted, bound, and labeled. I'm already trying to come up with a plan!

In June my guild started a block of the month (BOM) and I decided to jump in by keeping true to the colors of the RSC. There were two blocks for August and the first block I did was a Pineapple block which I did it in purple, August's RSC color.

The second August block was called Castle Block, I believe. Also done in purples.

Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and sewed up Brave New World. It was the block for June and the RSC color for June was pink.

Soon I'll be working on Crystal Star for July in Dark Blue. September's block has been announced from guild but we won't know the RSC color until September 1. Until then, I'll wait patiently. I wonder what color Angela will choose!?!?!

As a little side note, I also finished up another Liberty Tuffet top. That tiny star in the middle finished at 2-1/4" square. It's SO TINY!

OK, Angela, what color's next? Linking up at SoScrappy HERE and will enjoy looking over everyone's purple progress!

I Like Thursdays #4 (One Day Late)

I guess it has finally caught up with me. I worked so hard on Oh My Stars! so much and so long. Then yesterday I ran to my LQS to get their latest info and pictures so I could work on the shop's newsletter and also to eat lunch with friends Millie and Karen. I just totally lost track that yesterday was Thursday! I would say that lunch with friends probably tops my list for My Likes this week! There are plenty of others sharing what they like on Leeanna's  blog Not Afraid of Color HERE! Check out the posts and I'm sure you'll find yourself smiling!

Do you see this bowl of beautifully rising, yeasty pizza dough? It makes not only me happy but my mother as well. We Love Pizza!

DH doesn't like too many toppings and is perfectly happy with a beef pizza.

Mother & I on the other hand like all kinds of stuff on ours. Saturday night we had sausage, pepperoni green peppers, and onions. Yummmmmm! Such good leftovers too!

I'm starting to suffer zucchini overload! Lol! I made 2 loaves of zucchini bread using a tried-and-true recipe from a Pillsbury paperback cookbook called Harvest Time Cook Book. It sold for $1.98 with a copyright of 1980. Then I made 2 more loaves using Katie Lee's Grandmother's recipe. You can find the details for her Zucchini-Pineapple Bread HERE.

I also made Zucchini Fritters. They're loaded with fresh herbs that I also cut from my herb garden. You can see the parsley, dill, and basil in the zuchhini picture. It's a good recipe with fresh flavor. I got out my recipe for Zucchini Chili by Rachael Ray to make this weekend. I'll freeze up a bunch for this winter. It's super delicious too! Anybody got a really good zucchini recipe for something else? I'd love to hear it because I don't think my zuke season has ended yet! *wink*

Over the past couple of weeks or so I've been enjoying reading "Don't Turn Around". I can't remember where I heard of it. I thought it was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club book but I just checked and it isn't. Oh well, it's a thriller and I'm almost done reading it and am wondering how it's going to end. I look forward to sneaking off to bed early to turn a few more pages.

I'll try to be a bit more timely next time. Have a great week!

FNSI & Beautiful Purple!

 Yesterday I spent the day with eight friends. We had fun sewing, laughing, eating, sharing stories, etc. Today will be more of the same. Some won't return but others will join in. We're allowed a total of 10 so we keep it to that.

I worked on purple for Rainbow Scrap Challenge. My purples are really coming along. I actually finished these four and the final three are in this stage. In no time I'll have all 7 purple hexies for the Heartfire quilt. I also used Awesome Land blocks for my L&Es and managed to complete 2 of those. Sorry,  no picture.

When I got home, I fixed something to eat for DH & me and then went straight downstairs for a couple of hours. I'm still trying to get Star in a Star quilted so I can get to the binding! I'm supposed to have it ready for show 'n' tell Tuesday morning. Instead of streaming in music, I streamed in the Cardinal baseball game. I was downstairs for the first 5 innings when I needed to come up for air! Ha! If you need me Sunday and/or Monday, you know what I'll be doing! Nose to the grindstone or actually needle to Star in a Star!!

Linking up with  @ So Scrappy and also with Wendy @ Sugarlane Designs. There's loads of fun stuff to catch up on at both of these links!

I Like Thursday #3

 What made me happy this week? The biggie -- crossed the finish line for 1500 miles on my phone tracker this morning. Can I get a Woo!Hoo!? I don't have a FitBit but I do keep track on the Runkeeper app on my phone.

There are always interesting things to see on my morning walk with Gracie.

Sunflower peeking over the fence to see what Gracie is up to.

Neighbor's tree is showing signs of Fall!

Bush showing sign of victory
in spite of owner chopping it to smithereens!

Gracie is ready to go!

Grass was ridiculously high.
Thankful it was mowed this week!

Flowering vine on bike path

"Volunteer" sunflower by my bird feeder went from this .....

To this in 5 days!

Today we go back to the doctor for yet another follow-up appointment for DH. Third week in a row. The leaking from his incisions has decreased but continues. This week we were off antibiotics so at least it doesn't look like the infection returned. That in itself is good news! As a plus, he seems to be getting stronger but still hasn't put on any weight. Wish I could say the same! Ha!

There's a lot of happiness being shared on Leeanna's blog Not Afraid of Color. See for yourself and end your week with a smile!

RSC Saturday & PHD mid-August Reports

 Here I was so excited about PURPLE being August's color for RSC and all I got done for that was cut a mess of strings for the Heartfire hexies. Progress is progress though, right?

I did manage to get together another Easy Breezy block. Guess I could should have made sure the stripes were coordinated. Oh well! I did notice that I need to cut more background fabrics. I've got several baggies with squares at the ready but no background fabrics set.

How did I manage an Easy Breezy L&E block without any sewing progress towards RSC? I quilted up my 2nd adorable Liberty Tuffet! If you noticed that my seams don't seem to be perfectly aligned, I noticed that too. I'm OK with it ... looks like my flag is flying proudly!

I've got another project that has kept me occupied this week. Harmony kicks off Sunday morning at 9am central time. I'm so excited to be sewing with Gudrun Erla of GE Designs again. Joining me again also will be my sister! Most of my fabrics are starched, pressed, and cut. Since I mis-cut two pieces, I've got two small pieces drying with starch and they'll be properly cut tomorrow. Here's my scrappy palette.

So what has kept me REALLY BUSY this week? Progress on my PHD!  I've been SO BUSY quilting Star In a Star!!! So many bobbins have been emptied!!! The Celtic knots & borders along with the inner backgrounds have been quilted. I'll be starting the stars next and will move to the outside borders. Pretty sure I'll be finishing this monster off with a scrappy faux-piping binding. Still trying to decide which colors to use for that!

Here's my PHD (Projects Half Done) report for mid-August:

1. Get Star in a Star to the finish line. Working VERY hard to get this done by August 25th. Not only is this for PHD, but it's also the project for the UFO Challenge at my LQS!

2. Quilt, label, & bind Hope. I basted Hope with InvisiFil wash-out thread so I could get my basting pins for Star in a Star. Does that count for progress? I think not!

3. Stay caught up with Afternoon Delight applique blocks. One block is almost finished being appliqued with one left to go.

4. Get 7 Heartfire hexies done in RSC color PURPLE. Some strips cut. Other than that, no progress.

5. Get 9 Awesome Land blocks done in RSC color PURPLE. 5 of the 9 are done.

So I've got my work cut out for me for the last part of August. Guess I better set myself down at the sewing machine! Have a great week!

Linking up with So Scrappy for RSC and Quilting Gail for PHD.

I Like Thursdays #2

 I like looking back over the week to see everything I have to be thankful for. Won't you come along to see what made me happy this week? If you'd like, you can also check in with Not Afraid of Color and read some of the other happy posts!

First off, I had some happy mail. Because I attended The Applique Society's annual meeting (virtually, of course!), I got this handy bag to store my projects. It has our logo on it so I'll ALWAYS know where it came from. Love the see-thru middle so I can easily see which project is currently in it. Pretty sure it'll hold my Afternoon Delight blocks as I work on them. I can put all the threads I'm using also in here with my scissors, needle case, and of course my thimble pads. Wouldn't applique without them!

If you enjoy applique, you really should look into joining too. There's a lot of useful info  & tips shared among the members!

My walk this week had some happy pictures too!

Pretty Hibiscus & Gracie

The Corn is as High as an Elephant's Eye!

Petunias say, "Don't Fence Me In!"

There are cantaloupes in there! Yum!
Think they'd notice one missing? Lol!

Saturday night and into Sunday morning we received over 5" of rain in a very short period of time. The pond out back flooded.

Paddleboat without a dock. Top of ladder just barely visible.

Water went up & over the dam ...

... and down the hill ...

... then around the shed before getting to the creek.

Now are you wondering why I liked this situation? Because it stayed away from my house! THAT made me happy!

Then Monday afternoon we got another weather alert warning us about a derecho. WHAT??? Here's what Google had to say about that:

de·re·cho

/dāˈrāˌCHō/

Learn to pronounce

noun

US

1. a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds

I'd say that pretty accurately described it. Here are pictures around my neighborhood Tuesday morning. So thankful we only had sticks and leaves to clean up.

House by the Bike Trail.

Up the road from my house.
Large branch on the fence broke at circled spot.

Next door neighbor's flag was lifted out of base and now rests against fence.
(You can see how the pond water level has returned to normal too.)

It was DH's birthday last week and I made German Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches to celebrate! You can find the recipe  that I used HERE. I think I saved this recipe from a Saturday Seven post on

A Quilting Life's blog but I can't find the exact post.

Double Chocolate Cooke with Vanilla Ice Cream
Rolled in Toasted Coconut Flakes & Pecans

Mom Enjoyed DH's Birthday Treat, Too!

I didn't get a picture of the Birthday Boy eating his treat because he downed it so quickly! Lol!

How could I post without a quilty photo. This is what I'm working on -- quilting my Star in a Star. It's a monster! 100" x 100" = queen-sized!

I hope you had a good week too. It's raining again right now here in southern Illinois.  I think we've had enough already!

RSC PURPLE

First week of PURPLE! I was thrilled to remember that I had a bag of scraps donated to me from my sister which had been gifted to her from her mother-in-law. So I dug through, unpinned what was pinned, and look what I had!

There were loads of approximately 6" blocks and some leftover strips/lengths. Looked to be the perfect Awesome Land opportunity! Ta! Da! Five out of nine already completed!

Since then I've starched the strips. Next up will be Heartfire hexies out of these fabrics. In between the Awesome Land blocks I managed a couple more Easy Breezy leaders & enders.

I also finished piecing another little tuffet.

I'm looking forward to seeing what all my fellow RSCers have done with purple this week. Linking up to see with Angela at SoScrappy!

I Like Thursday!

My friend Diann at Little Penguin Quilts posts every Thursday with happy things from over the week. I love reading her posts on Thursdays. Today's was another happy, positive post ... a great way to start the day. You can read about her week HERE. She joins in the linky party every week at Not Afraid of Color and I've popped over there a few times and have also enjoyed the posts. So much so that I've decided to give it a go. I think it'll be a nice lift mid-week.

Have you ever seen so many black-eyed susies in one place? This is along my front walkway. Hard to believe that I shared a couple of clumps last Fall with my brother in NC and my sister in TX. Wonder how theirs are doing? Think they're multiplying like mine?

My mother's hairdresser shared some "surprise lilies" with me a few years back. The first two years all I got was the leaves. Last year after the leaves had come up and then died, I got two or three stems with the flowers.

2019 Surprise Lilies

This year not only did I get loads of black-eyed susies, but my lilies have multiplied as well. Check out that picture of the many stems coming up.

July 2020

Here they are today. So many gorgeous blooms! Wish you could smell their sweet aroma.

August 6, 2020

My grandson Brody turned 14 months yesterday. My DIL sent me these pictures. Made me smile how much he has grown.

And this made me smile .... (I hope I did this correctly so you can enjoy too!)

Pretty sure he'll be walking soon. Just not ready yet.

I hope you finish your week off with a smile! Don't forget to visit Not Afraid of Color. Betch smile!