Finishing Up May's Dark/Sage Greens

Recently I haven't focused on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I've had so many other things to catch up on. Before I get to that, I'll show you what I did manage to accomplish for RSC this month.

Two Hexi Flowers in Dark/Sage Green

April's Pink String-X Zigzag Border

May's Green String-X Zigzag Border

In other fun news, I managed to finish both April's and May's blocks for Uptown, which is a quilt-a-long with Sentimental Stitches. Check out those dark green leaves!

April's Uptown block

May's Uptown block

I completed a pair of socks that I had started for our road trip earlier in the month. This pattern by Very Busy Monkey is called Phoenix Rising. You can find the pattern HERE on Ravelry.

I just picked up the kits for May's & June's Illusions Sampler. This is a block-of-the-month program run through my local quilt shop. I'll be working on the May block over the weekend. I've also been very busy quilting a quilt to be gifted. I hope to be able to show it to you REALLY SOON!

Believe it or not, I'm thinking about starting a couple of new QALs. The first one is called Remembering Betsy by Pam Buda. It should be a quick patriotic quilt and it just started. Here's the link for the introductory post and you should be able to proceed from there for Clue #1.

The other quilt-a-long I'm thinking about joining is called Oh Say Can You Sew with Primitive Gatherings. There have already been two clues. The first clue will cost you $5 now but clue #2 is still free until clue #3 is released at the beginning of the month. The details are available on Lisa's blog HERE.

Speaking of Primitive Gatherings, I joined the challenge of sending in a red & white quilt for her retreat center. She asked for her readers to send in a quilt to be received by November 1 so she could have quite the display of R&W quilts over the holidays. I was just about to start embroidering the 12 snowmen stitcheries that Melissa so generously drew up and shared with her blog readers at Pinker n Punkin Quilting and Stitching. Here's a picture of all 12 of my snowmen. I just have to come up with a plan to finish these. My brain has been spinning several designs lately. (Sorry about the crappy pictures but you get the idea, right?)

Of course there's one other QAL I'm very tempted to join in on. It's through Laundry Basket Quilt and my sister will more than likely be jumping on. It's always fun to sew along with a pal! However, sometimes you've just got to say no! Ha!

If you're still reading along here, I think that pretty much catches us up on the hobbies. I'll just add a quick note health-wise now.  On our trip back from NC & MD, Mom starteds feeling really tired & cold. She slept pretty much the whole time on our two-day trip home. Then I started feeling bad with chills, sore throat, an awful pain in the middle of my back, and a sore throat. The next day DH started coming down with the crud too including a bad headache. I'm happy to report, about two weeks later, we are finally coming back to ourselves. We all still have a cough and are not quite as spunky as usual but WAY BETTER. I have one plugged up ear and an awful metallic taste in my mouth. Red wine & coffee don't taste good right now. But I'm happy to report that it seems we have all three of us survived what I suspect was COVID. And that, my friends, makes me happy!

I hope you have a great week! I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy and all the other Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilters.

I Like Thurs #73

It's time for another Thursday of sharing our likes with LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color. Go ahead and pop on over to her site to see other happy thoughts & useful ideas.

On a book note, I finished Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney. Whew! What a fun, quick book! If you like old-timey mysteries with a lot of twists and OMGs, you should check this one out. I hope they make a movie of this one because it would be good!

So in the meantime I started Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta. It was on my reading list, I like the author, and I thought Mom had already read it & liked it. Turns out she hasn't read it but I told her it should be next on her list.  Oh boy! Is this a scary, shake-in-your-boots book. It's an older novel (2014, I think) so I picked it before the library took it away. Wowser! If you don't feel like sleeping at night because you're scared, the bad boys in this book will absolutely keep you awake! Read about it HERE.

A neighbor has planted pretty plants on the hill behind him. The hill faces the walking trail and it's always nice to see what is blooming during different times of the year. I've never heard of a yellow peony but there was one blooming the other day on his hill.

We've been enjoying play-off hockey lately. We will really enjoy it if the St. Louis Blues continue to win. It's a rough road for them as they are playing one of the top-notch teams, the Colorado Avalanche.

We're also enjoying the tennis. Roland Garros started this week so we're pretty sports heavy lately. Between the hockey, tennis, and of course the St. Louis Cardinals baseball, our TV doesn't get much rest! ha!

This week I made Sour Cream Lemon Cake. It was super simple and delicious. Unfortunately I don't know where I got the recipe so I can't share it with you. I'm thinking maybe from Carole @ From My Carolina Home but I'm really not sure. I just can't believe that I didn't document where I got it!

This past week I finished the socks I started on vacation. They were designed by Very Busy Monkey and they are called Phoenix Rising. They are soft & squishy and they're beautiful!

Of course I must include a couple pictures of my grandsons.

Jacob after his bath. Look at that hair!! Haha!

Big brother Brody holding his little brother Jacob

Brody discovering what a playground is all about

And that concludes my past week. We are finally seeing the light at the end of the COVID tunnel. It's been pretty dark but we've almost made it out. I hope you are having a good week and I hope to catch you right here next week!

FNSI

Friday Night Sew In was last night and I got a good start. After grocery shopping followed by a nap, I pulled out my Uptown block for May. After sewing for a little while, I realized I didn't take a "before" picture so here's where I was at that point. I had already sewn on the green leaves (?) and started on that red section.

By the end of the evening I'd finished the red and also the second set of leaves.

Uptown is looking good and I'm looking forward to seeing what my cyber FNSI friends worked on last night too. You can take a peek if you like on Wendy's blog at Sugarlane Designs.

Have a good weekend!

I Like Thursday #72

Today's post is being written a little early in order to make sure I get an I Like Thursday post out. I like participating in these posts because they are all positive things and they lift me up. Hopefully my post will do the same for you. You can see other I Like Thursday posts at Not Afraid of Color. Just click HERE. 

In the meantime, I'll start by saying that I enjoyed the company down at my brother's house. My niece graduated last weekend from NC State (Go Wolfpack!) with her degree in Agricultural Entrepreneurship. We attended her departmental graduation on Friday and the entire class graduation on Saturday at PNC Arena (home of the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team). We had so much fun because it's all about FAMILY! Big doings, for sure!

Departmental Graduation

All the family at Class Graduation

After 4 years, let us eat cake!!

The Kentucky Derby ran after graduation. Mom & I brought our derby hats!

I'd like to add here that my brother is a wonderful cook and his wife is a terrific assistant in the kitchen. We arrived at their home on Cinco de Mayo and I asked for a Mexican dinner much like last year. My brother took it to the next level. So delicious!

Tacos with homegrown lettuce, avocado, homemade black bean & corn salad,
homemade pico de gallo, and (of course) margaritas! Ole!

And since I seem to be going backwards with this post, I'll add that we stopped in Knoxville TN on our way to NC. We had a short but wonderful visit with my BFF since 1987 at her new-to-her home. A 2-hour stop was just way too short!

I did manage to finish reading "Finding Freedom". It was certainly an interesting read and I imagine it was a cathartic book for Erin French, the author, to write. In the meantime, I started reading "Rock Paper Scissors" by Alice Feeney. I am having a hard time putting this book down!!! It started off a little bit weird but picked up quickly. It feels like an old-time scary movie!

To read what it's about from Goodreads, click HERE.

Next stop was north to Maryland to meet Jacob, our new grandson, and to catch up with Brody, our eldest grandson. Looks like Sadie likes the equipment that accompanies babies!

This picture says it all!!

We hope that you have a chance to celebrate any and all the little things in your life. Take a moment for gratitude and have a great week!

 

April PHD Report

Not much to report here on the PHD front. PHD = Projects Half Done. I'm supposed to be making progress here but it seems I constantly get distracted. There has been a project that I've been focused on but I can't say much more than that because it will be a gift later. After it is given away, I'll be more than happy to show off! Ha!

I did finish a UFO this month. Too bad I didn't put it on my "official" list. I did add it to my list with an asterisk though. The embroidery was completed eons ago. The borders and tiny quilt were added in March. It was quilted and finished this month.

Pattern: Spring Has Sprung
Designer: Kathy Schmitz

I hope everyone participating in the PHD had more success than I did this month. See you next month!

Linking up with Gail at Quilting Gail and all the others going for their PHDs.