Tiny Tuesday, Table Scraps Challenge, WOOFA, and the End of Pinks

I hope I got your attention with that long title! I think I'll start from the end. You don't mind, do you? Ha!

First up are two more Irish Courthouse Steps. These are for RSC2021 using pink!

Next I frantically finished up my Table Scraps Challenge with Joyful Quilts. I was planning on doing a different project but I got bogged down with life. Then I saw a Valentine's Day pattern by one of my designer friends "Sewing With Susan" so I ordered up her pattern "2 Hearts as One". I got the PDF and you can find it here. I love QAYG patterns and I got to use more of my pink scraps! This is one place of 3 I plan on making. This is the completed one. The others are very close ....

(Just a little background: Susan is the one that got me hooked on playing with Dresden Plate patterns! All of her patterns are very detailed and I doubt anyone could go wrong making any of her patterns!)

Now for my Ta-Da! Tiny Tuesday is 100% finished FINALLY! If you recall, I started it in January 2019 with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge family. It was my first year joining and Angela said she was going to be posting directions for tiny blocks every Tuesday in January through October (?). Then it was up to us finish it or quit at any time for smaller quilts or just do whatever pleases us. She's still got the links for this one on her SoScrappy blog HERE.

Anyway, I got my blocks done but didn't know how I wanted to finish it. The individual blocks finish at 4" and then, after laying them on point or straight, they became 7" finished blocks. At the time I had a stack of 44 blocks which would make a weird-sized quilt. I ended up making 4 more blocks for a 6x8 layout. I decided 42" x 56" wasn't large enough for me so I grouped four blocks together with a tiny sashing and 4-patch unit. Then I grouped the groups into a 3x4 layout with wider sashing and 9-patch units and added a border. Tiny Tuesday now measures 52" x 76" which is good to me!

UPDATE: This was also my WOOFA project. I had my nose to the grindstone for just about all of January working on getting this one done. Happy to say I managed!

If you want to stop reading right here, that's fine by me. It's going to get picture-heavy as I show off the  blocks and then some of my impressive (HA!) quilting next. It you don't quilt, you may not be too interested but I'll leave it up to you.

So let's get started. Here are all of my blocks, four at a time:

Aren't they so pretty? We learned all kinds of techniques: simple piecing, complex piecing, applique, reverse applique, paper piecing, pretty much everything!

Now for some pictures of some of the quilting. I quilted each block differently using thread to match the main color. The frames of the blocks on point have a triple-petals design and the straight blocks have a loopy design in their frames. I used the 3-4-5 quilting motif in the borders. It goes like this: Bernina Stitch #4 which automatically (on my machine anyway) sets the width to 5 and I manually change the length to 3. It's a bit organic yet holds the seams nicely and if you stray a little it just blends right in! For now enjoy a few of my favorite quilted blocks from the back.

Hearts & Squiggles with a lacy edge treatment

Definitely organic circles quilted as I ditch-stitched! Lol!

Wonky Star in a Star

Block Name: Multiply Block
Quilting Name: Big fish eating smaller fish eating smallest fish!

So glad I quilted in his chest feathers!

Butterfly and Organic (yes, again with the organic!) Spiral

If you stayed with me this long, congratulations! I enjoyed this entire quilt journey. Tiny Tuesday will always be a favorite of mine for so many reasons. Thank you, Angela, for the idea, the patterns, and of course all the colors!

Linking with SoScrappy and the RSC2021 quilters, TheJoyfulQuilter and the Table Scraps Challengers, and with QuiltingGail and the PHD2021 quilters!

I Like Thurs #22

Here we are another Thursday and there is plenty to like. Thank goodness for that to counteract any and all the dislikes, right?

My main Like today is we finally had measurable snow yesterday! Maybe 2" here, a little more down by my Mom's. We typically have 15-ish" for the year and so far we've VERY down. I have two more likes to share to celebrate ALL THAT SNOW!

I finally took Snowmen & Churches out for her photo shoot! Besides the soft colors, I love the borders that look knitted! Her final measurements were 58" x 71" -- such a nice snuggle quilt! I actually finished this quilt last month. .It was part of my 2020 UFO Challenge at my local quilt shop. I had also put it on my 2020PHD list. Thankfully I didn't have to have pictures for this sweet quilt to qualify for the two challenges!

I tried to get a picture of the quilting. The way I managed the quilting: I laid the quilt on a light box before layering her up and traced a snowflake design on the large blocks. I used a water soluble pen to get the marks out after she was finished. Plain orange peel-like quilting in the 9-patches.

I used a light blue thread (King Tut Baby Moses #928) to quilt her up. It blended it nicely with the Warm & Natural 80/20 batting.

And, of course, a picture of the back. I inserted a strip of 9-patches using some leftover fabrics through the center for a little extra length. Thank goodness I had some leftovers because this kit only gave me 4 yards of fabric for backing for the 71" long quilt. And look at the fabric, it's dimensional (wrong word here but I'm brain-cramping to come up with the right word) so I couldn't just patch up a bunch of pieces! YOI!

And it's Gracie-approved!

This morning I also hung up Walking In a Winter Wonderland. I figured it snowed so let's get this house decked out with snowmen!

Of course it's a little long but doesn't it look pretty with the Snowmen & Churches quilt? And this set-up is Polly-approved! Lol!

I finished reading "Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman. It had some good spots that made me think and/or made me laugh. Other than that it was a little disappointing. I much preferred his other books ("Beartown", "A Man Called Ove", and "Your Grandmother Told Me to Tell You She's Sorry") but maybe you might like it. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea, as they say.

I am currently about halfway through listening to "The Chain" by Adrian McKinty. I'm still very interested in this book and looking forward to seeing how this one ends. If you forgot what this book is about, click HERE where I originally mentioned it.

We quilters like to nibble and I have a super LIKE this week. I've tried these Dot's Homestyle Pretzels in the Original Flavor and they are very delicious so I decided to try this flavor too.

OMG! So delicious!!! They're made in North Dakota and are slowly making their way through the Midwest. I had to laugh when I watched 3 young adults excitedly grabbing several bags each. I spoke to them and they explained that they were visiting from Tennessee and they can't get these there. They were so excited! If you can get your hands on these, you'll be amazed how good they taste too!

Isn't this cardinal mug rug pretty?!!? My best friend made it for me. I broke it out the other day and it's perfect now since we got snow. Now you know why I love my friend!

One last like for me this week: I took Mom to the doctor this past week. Her blood pressure was 115/67 and the doc said she was in great shape especially since she only takes a thyroid pill. When we got back to her house, she had a voicemail requesting she call back to schedule her COVID vaccination which she did. This afternoon she'll be getting her first shot and she already has her appointment on Feb. 26 for her second shot. Whether it works or not depends on who you're talking to but we figure she gets her flu shot so why not a Corona shot too? She has no known allergies so what's the harm? She's looking forward to feeling a little safer and that mindset is enough for me to stand behind her.

Have a great week, everyone! I'm linking up with LeeAnne to share my likes. I'll be stopping by later to see what the others are sharing too!

Another Pink Project & a Thank You

 I haven't been remiss about this Thank You. I was just waiting for the right time. So here goes:

A sincere and belated thank you to Emily Baily from AuntEmsQuilts.com . She had posted about her Lotus Flower quilt being selected to be shown in Quick & Easy Quilts magazine and we could get a chance to win a copy of the magazine. All we had to do was post a comment. I won! And here's the block I made from the magazine.

Lovely pinks! When I saw the pattern I had a pretty good feeling that it would make for a really pretty RSC quilt. The magazine was Quick & Easy Quilts Dec/Jan issue. You can probably still find it on magazine shelves. It looks like this:

There are several other quilts in here that caught my eye, including this one called Wintertide Wreath.

Catherine Redford also has a project in here for placemats & a table runner. Hint, hint: Joy's Table Topper Challenge! Catherine is from the Chicago area and visited my guild to teach embroidery. She also teaches a class about walking foot quilting which I think I'd love to take one day. In the meantime, she's sharing some of those tips in this magazine too. Super happy about winning this one! Thank you, Em!

I also have a sweet little finish to share. I've been participating in the Primitive Gatherings Fall Open House for several years and there's always a free little pincushion pattern. There's a free kit too if your order qualifies which is not a problem for me since their wool & patterns are probably the nicest ever.

Most of the pincushions have the date stitched on them so I added the date to New Beginning also. The flowers are the palest of pinks so I figured it qualified to be shown on RSC too! *wink*

Linking on SoScrappy with all the Rainbow Scrap Challenge participants. So many fun projects over there being shared!

I Like Thurs #21

Hi and Happy Thursday! Today is the day when I share things that have made me happy over the past week. Then I share it with LeeAnn'a blog Not Afraid of Color. I am not the only one that does this. There are several others that also share things they like and you can take a peek of ALL of our LIKES if you click right HERE!

If you know me at all, you know I love cardinals, both the baseball team but especially the birds. The other day I heard the call of a cardinal and looked straight up and there he was.

Lately I've also been seeing quite a few bluebirds on my morning walk but have yet to get a picture. You know I'll share if and when I get a good picture! In the meantime, this large woodpecker (a red-bellied woodpecker) visited the suet feeders on my back deck a couple of times last week.

Sunrises are always a true delight.

Lately I've been quilting on my sewing machine. The project has been my Tiny Tuesday quilt. (There'll be pictures when I'm FINALLY done!) Anyway, I've really appreciated the multi-pads (?) on my walking foot. I was doing a lot of straight-line/in the ditch sewing. The pad I used was the one with the dippy thing in the middle. Are you enjoying my technical terminology? Ha!

See it right there in the middle? You guide that down your seam or your marked line and it really helps to keep your quilting lines where they're supposed to be. Truly a LIKE for the week! Speaking of marking lines, this is my favorite CHALK pencil. The lines are there but brush right out. No chemicals involved!

I haven't really cooked anything special this week except these delicious brownies. They used to be on the back of Nestle's Chocolate Morsel bags but not any more. You can go HERE for the recipe and I strongly recommend it if you like chewy, thick brownies. So delicious!!

I'm still reading "Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman. I'm enjoying it but slightly less than his previous books that I've read. I'm down to less than 100 pages so obviously I'm in it until the end. In the meantime, since I've been spending a lot of time quilting in the basement, I downloaded my very first audio book! Actually, the real reason I downloaded the book was because it's only available to me from my library system in that form and I really wanted to see what it was about. The audio book is call "The Chain" by Adrian McKinty. OMG! It's a really scary concept.

Here's what GoodReads has to say about it:

It’s something parents do every morning: Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it’s a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom, and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn’t do as she’s told, the boy will die.

“You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last.” Rachel is now part of The Chain, an unending and ingenious scheme that turns victims into criminals — and is making someone else very rich in the process. The rules are simple, the moral challenges impossible; find the money fast, find your victim , and then commit a horrible act you’d have thought yourself incapable of just twenty-four hours ago.

But what the masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. It turns out that kidnapping is only the beginning.

See what I mean? And it takes off right away! Do you think I'm a bit depraved judging by the books I read? LOL!!

I think that's enough sharing for this week. I'm heading back to the basement to keep listening to this book .... er, I mean to quilt! Have a great week!

RSC Pinks

During this second week of January Pinks for Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I tested out an Irish Courthouse block. I bought this pattern from Bonnie Hunter a while back and have been wanting to give it a go. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

It went together rather easily and I made a few more Easy Peasy blocks in between that trial effort. I wondered how many EP blocks I had and what do they look like so far. After laying them out randomly, I took this picture.

Lots of blue & orange going on. See the pattern? So far 18 blocks. Obviously not enough to do much with so I'll continue. This is Bonnie Hunter's Leaders & Enders project which goes through June so there's still time to get something going!

My piecing sewing machine went in to get cleaned. It's been several years and he could use a little spa date. In case you're wondering, this Bernina is all white & blue so I determined it was a boy. (Please don't be upset with me being in gender mode!) Because Berninas come from Switzerland, his name is Roger .... as in Roger Federer, the incredible Swiss tennis player! Anyway, the point is there won't be much piecing for me for a week or two while Roger is in the shop. However, my other machine (the red & white one named Nina) is set up for quilting and currently I've been happily quilting Tiny Tuesday! Who knows? I may have a finished quilt soon!

The other morning Gracie & I saw a beautiful sunrise. I thought it might be appropriate since it was SEW VERY PINK. Looks kind of orange now to me ... let's go with coral. That's a shade of pink, right?

Thank you, Angela, for hosting this linky party again. Click right HERE to see what all my friends have been busy sewing this past week at So Scrappy.

First FNSI of 2021

Friday Night Sew-In is always a special night for me. I dedicate that evening once a month to hand work. Sometimes it's knitting, sometimes cross-stich, maybe a little embroidery. Who knows? But I try to keep it to handwork of some sort.

What did I work on last night? I brought out Reindeer Dance by Primitive Gatherings. First I was this far:

After working the evening away while watching some of my favorite TV shows, I got this far:

All of the reindeer are sewn down. I also glued down the dark trees so they're ready to stitch down. There are embroidered antlers after that and then the backing. Getting there!

Are you wondering what my favorite TV shows are? Magnum PI and Blue Bloods. In between we're also watching the St. Louis Blues hockey game. My husband is a pretty rabid fan! He's crediting the season opener win on his Blues socks that he got from his daughter-in-law. They're actually also from our son but he's a Vancouver Canuck fan so I doubt he'll want any of that credit! Hahaha!

So anyway, you saw my progress and you can see what my worldly cyber friends worked on as well right HERE! Thank you, Wendy, for rounding us up this month!

I Like Thursday #20

 Hi and welcome to my "I Like Thursday" post. I'd like to share with you a couple of my "likes" from the past week. Let's start with my walk with Gracie.

As many of you know, I walk pretty much every day for a couple of miles with my trusty canine, Gracie. I like walking with her most days. When she goes ballistic at another dog, I am not happy. Mostly though, she's pretty even-tempered. The other day we explored the newly installed pipe under the bike trail.

I liked seeing the sunrise through the trees and across a frozen fog. It was 22 degrees that morning. 

We also liked walking over the swamp that the bike trail takes us.

I also liked how I changed up a good recipe and made it a bit healthier and certainly prettier than the original. The original recipe "Sunny's Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil" can be found HERE. I made it the first time following it pretty much to a tee and we liked it a lot but this way seemed to  be a little lighter. Besides, we like to eat shrimp!

I like to read all sorts of books. This week I finished "Chosen to Die" by Lisa Jackson. It was a good mystery/thriller right to the end. I learned later that it was her 2nd book in this series so I'm going to go back and read the first one "Left to Die". Currently I'm reading "Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman. I've read several of his in the past ("A Man Called Ove", "Beartown", and "My Grandmother Told Me to Tell You I'm Sorry") and have enjoyed his observations on life. I find his style intriguing. I'm not very far into this one so I'll let you know if I recommend it as much as I would recommend the three I've read earlier.

Sharing my "likes" with others on Not Afraid of Color!

2021 Rainbow Scrap Start

All the Christmas things are put away so it's time to get started on a 2021 Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. This week I started working on PINK projects. Angela, our RSC leader, selected pink to start our year off. Each month she'll pick a different color for us to work on, thereby trying to eliminate some of our fabric scraps.

I thought I'd dive right in with Stair Steps from Lissa Alexander's book Oh Scrap! The blocks are HUGE! They finish at 16" so hopefully I'll be able to clear out some fabric!

See those pink squares right down the middle? That satisfies my "pink". Of course I want my quilt to be a little bigger than the one in the book so I'll be making a few more blocks than Lissa has going. I need two pink blocks for my final plan so I cut out another block. No sewing done on it but here is the pile of pieces.

While I was chopping up fabric, I thought I'd go ahead and cut up some kits for Irish Courthouse blocks. This quilt ends up 93"x93". I won't be making this one any larger! Lol! There are 64 blocks total so I thought I'd start by kitting up 6 pink ones. While perusing my pinks and the pattern directions, I decided I ought to sew up a block before getting in too far and to also give me an idea of how to select the right fabric combos for the blocks. This stack will end up being my first IC block. Stay tuned!

I've got 5 other partial sets but will wait until I see how this one goes together before I proceed. I never know how things will actually come together until I sew that first block. If all goes well, I'll continue on. I should be able to get a lot of scraps out of the bins and into quilts! Score!

Join the others at So Scrappy to see how their pink projects are coming along.