Friday Night with Friends & Rainbow Scraps

Our lovely hostess Wendy gathered us together for our monthly sew-in. We meet virtually every 3rd Saturday of the month and it's so much fun to see what everyone has been busy doing. Last night I worked on Irish Courthouse Steps, a pattern from Bonnie Hunter. I caught myself up on the last turquoise/aqua block. It's pretty blah in appearance but, wherever there's a party, there's bound to be a shrinking violet, right?

Using the above as leaders & enders, I worked on the 2021 Twisted project which is hosted by my friend LindaLee. I now have all ten of these blocks worked up. I'm really enjoying the Studio 180 rulers for this project.

Earlier this week I worked on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month. September is orange, the perfect excuse for finishing up BOO. On Thursday's post I told how I found this really cool fabric on the Free Table at guild and knew it was perfect for BOO. This week I pieced the back, quilted, and bound BOO. Check out ALL THAT ORANGE!!!

A look at the front!

A look at the back!

Those owls just kill me!!! The striped fabric used to stretch the owls and also used for the sleeve were remnants from Sew Spooky top that I finished up earlier this year. The binding was a scrap that was earlier used for the "B" in BOO. If you like this easy, peasy pattern, you can pick it up at Susan Marth's website HERE. Her patterns are wonderful!

Earlier in the week I finished up the dark blue Irish Courthouse Steps. Finally caught up to ORANGE!

So I started an orange one. Here it is under the needle. So pretty!

And here are the other two waiting in the wings.

And because I have my hat in a lot of rings, here's the start of last month's BOM with my guild.

This week I plan on starting the quilting on this project. It's due at next month's 2021 UFO Challenge through my LQS. After quilting it, I'll turn it into a pillow. I plan on making a zippered back. If you know me at all, you know I'm shaking just at that thought!

I think I'll be busy for a while. How about you? Have a great week doing whatever you have planned!

Linking up with Wendy at Sugarlane Designs and Angela at Super Scrappy!

RSC Turquoise

I don't have a lot to post this week. I've been very busy quilting the Positivity quilt (almost done). My binding is just about set to be sewn on too. In the meantime, let me just say that it is has been a crazy week for me. 

Tuesday afternoon I had UFO Club at my local quilt shop (O'Sewpersonal in Collinsville, IL). I showed my completed Mini Wool Christmas wall hanging.

That was my #6 on the UFO Challenge list and #3 was chosen next. It is a Christmas pillow and will be due October 12th. It was a really cute & fun sew-along with Susan Marth on her blog. It will need to be quilted and then finished as a pillow. I'm hoping to put a zipper on the back. This is what it looks like today. You will notice the dresden plate in the center -- Susan's signature! Hahaha! See what I mean when you check out her website HERE.

Then Tuesday evening was guild meeting. We had Vicki Hodge present a trunk show and let me tell you her quilts are beautiful! She loves looking at antique quilts and then working on her own scrappy version of them. At one time she planned on hand quilting all her quilts but it became apparent that she had way too many tops. So what did she do? She put two tops back-to-back and had them quilted. Double-sided quilt! She said you only have to be careful when choosing your binding since it'll be on both quilts! Brilliant! She has a book with Quiltmania called Button Box Quilts. Check it out HERE.

Wednesday I took an all-day class with Vicki. It was scrappy and fun. I did mine Christmas-themed and will show later when I finish the project.

Thursday morning was Tips & Techniques at another local quilt shop (Rosemary's Quilts in Highland, IL). We had a good talk followed by LOTS of show 'n' tell. No pictures, sorry.

Thursday evening was the monthly TAS (The Applique Society) meeting. Our speaker was sitting in Australia -- let's hear it for Zoom meetings!!! Yay!!! Her name is Michelle Yeo and she shared her quilting journey. So many gorgeous quilts. I did remember to take a couple of pictures. You can see more from Michelle at her website HERE.

So what about yesterday? I started preparing for retreat. There was grocery shopping and lots of mulling around what projects to take. My friends, Millie & Karen, will be stopping by tomorrow morning to pick me up and away we'll go for 5 days, returning Thursday. I'm sure to have LOTS of pictures!

But my excitement has gotten away from me. This is my RSC post. I did manage to fit in a Lotus Blossom block using turquoise.

And look at the picture I got this week from my son ....

Brody wearing a turquoise shirt! Perfect timing! Hahaha! My son juices veggies and fruits every morning for the family. Brody just finished his and I'm going to bet that there were beets in the juice that morning! Good for him!

That's all I've got for now because I've got to keep getting ready for retreat. Laundry, of course, is at the top of the list! Have a great week and I'll catch you next week!

Linking up with So Scrappy to share and to see what the others have to share. So fun!

Scrappy Saturday #2, Wrapping Up Christmas

Angela decided to kick off 2020 with a beautiful, bright green for our Rainbow Scrap Challenge. That works out well for me. I'm trying to wrap up Christmas projects  and so my Green Scrap Bin is already out (along with the Red, Gold, & Backgrounds Bins! Ha!). So let's get started with what I'm working on.

I followed along with Suzn Quilts this year making Merry Christmas. We started this project the day after Christmas and got a daily clue for twelve days, leading up to Epiphany. I managed to get the top finished only a day or two after the last clue posted.

Twelve tiny, scrappy 3" blocks surrounding an embroidered 6" dresden block. Dresdens are Susan's signature! The project finished at 12-1/2" square and it would make a cute wall hanging or pillow. I'm leaning towards a pillow ... maybe to be gifted next Christmas! It has made it to the PHD2020 pile (Projects Half Done).

So what project(s) should I work on for RSC? That has been the dilemna for me. So many ideas floating in my head! I knew I wanted to use my book "Oh Scrap!" (which I received as a Christmas gift from my daughter a few years ago and I love Lissa Alexander's scrappy ideas) ....

... so I thumbed through the pages .... and thumbed through the pages .... and thumbed some more. At long last, I finally got my inspiration and decided on "Awesome Land" which is found on page 28.

I loved all the Plus Blocks that were made last year during 2019 RSC and I love the Churn Dash Blocks in the sashing. Cute little 6" blocks and mine will be in a rainbow of colors. Yay! Better yet, I discovered several 2" strips already cut in my Green Scrap Bin! Now to decide what color for my churn dashes. I'm leaning towards dark grays and blacks. I don't think I'll be doing mine scrappy as Lissa did so I'll need to do a little math to be sure I have enough fabric for it to be consistent.

The second project for 2020 RSC will be "Heartfire", a pattern by Lynn Wilder of Sew'n Wild Oats. I won this pattern a while ago. Won't this be pretty in rainbow colors too?

An acrylic hexagon template is recommended for cutting out the centers easily. I need to order one up to get started or maybe there's a way to cut the middles out without a template? We'll see ...

The Quilt Show kicked off their Block-of-the-Month on January 1st called "Afternoon Delight". The quilt was designed by the late Sue Garmen and it is stunning. She was such a super designer and, from what I understand, a beautiful person. This quilt is quite THE PROJECT. There are 40 applique blocks, nine modified churn dash blocks, and a ton of double 9-patch blocks. The first month will be available all year long on The Quilt Show and is the introduction to this quilt. You'll have to get a year's subscription for the directions. Check it out ... you'll want to join in too!

This month's clues are four applique blocks and two pieced ones. So far I've got two applique blocks dones and I made a good start on the third.

I think I forgot to post a few pictures from Christmas at our house. Bear with me if you've already seen these.

Morning coffee, sewing, and lit Christmas tree.
Doesn't get much better!

Hubby's new soundbar

All St. Louis Blues fans deserve a
Stanley Cup Champ skin for their tablets!

Merry Christmas from Waldorf MD

Don't let the cat out of the bag! Lol!

What's better than a Cookie Monster?

Two Cookie Monsters!

Mother/Daughter Love

My mother with my brother's kids

Ornament I made for Sarah's tree

On a sad note, my mother's sister (my Aunt Jinny) passed away last night. It wasn't too big of a surprise. Recently she wasn't doing too well and, after all, she did turn 91 last October. I know it'll hit home with my mom because she's been dreading this day. She is now the last of her family. I remind her that that's the way it is supposed to work because she was the youngest in her family. Circle of life and all that.

And so life goes on. In the meantime let's just concentrate on our sweet Brody.

That's enough for now, I think. Time to play with some fabric!

Linking up with Angela at So Scrappy! Bet there's a lot of green going on!

Scrappy Saturday #1

Today starts the first Scrappy Saturday of 2020! and, while I didn't start anything specifically with the color of the month (green), I did play with some scraps of green!

I made these blocks since January 1. They finish 3" so they're quite tiny. The project is a mystery sew-a-long through Suzn Quilts and it should finish about 12". Today will be day 10 of 12 but you can find all the clues right here. Susan is a wonderful teacher/designer so I'm very confident that I won't be disappointed.

I'm off to walk the dog and get ready for our monthly TAS meeting. Have a good weekend!

UPDATE: TAS  had some beautiful show 'n' tell this morning. We also had a make & take project -- a cute little needle book. Just finished it up here at home.

Adorable! Thank you goes out to our "Fearless Leaders", Dana & Katie!

Linking up with Angela at SoSrappy for Scrappy Saturday!

Friday Night With Friends

Last night (and actually even yesterDAY) I made sure to spend some time with fabric. I'll try to catch you up with my fiddlings.

Thursday I woke up early -- as in 3:15am -- just needing to get into my sewing room. As I laid in bed I thought back and knew I was 3 blocks behind in my Tiny Tuesday blocks. I managed to put together this scrappy owl. Isn't he adorable??? Just 4-1/2" tall, there were lots of little pieces but I managed. He still needs his frame and I'll get to that in the next few days. Don't you think a whole quilt of owls would be cute? But I'd recommend doubling his size!

Tiny Tuesday Owl

As we all know, leaders & enders allow you to accomplish more quilting in between your current project. I got these two dresden plates sewn up while piecing my owl with the crazy eyes! Lol!

The red dresdens will join my green ones. The centers aren't sewn on yet but they are prepared. Going to be a pretty quilt as I sew along with Susan & friends HERE. As you can see, I'm very much behind but I'm assured that there is no pressure! Ha!

Yesterday afternoon I managed to squeeze in a little more time in the sewing room. Here is the last of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge green blocks for Tiny Tuesdays. This was a super easy block to piece after Mr. Owl and look! I even got this one framed! April's RSC color is AQUA. I'm not sure I have enough scraps of that color. May have to either dig deep or pick my own color this month.

Check out that third red dresden plate with the polka dots! Got it assembled while sewing together the Green Umbrella! Did I tell you how much I love the leaders & enders concept?

This brings me to last night, Friday Night With Friends. I happened to be reading Bonnie Hunter's blog and she reminded her readers about Quilt Cam at 8pm EDT (7pm here in the Midwest!). I thought how that was perfect timing -- I could sew with ALL my friends, including Bonnie Hunter! As the hubby was doing his thing, I plugged in the headset to my laptop and sewed with Bonnie too! You can watch last night's Quilt Cam HERE.

I don't know if you can see it, but I prepped the rest of the centers for the dresden plates for the Merry Christmas Sew-a-Long. Not a hard project but lots of tiny stitches in a circle means you can't just whip along! Eighteen centers done, which includes the five that were done earlier sitting on the green plates, and only eight plates ready. Must.keep.sewing.dresden.plates!

After Quilt Cam was over, I suggested we watch an episode of NCIS on-demand. With our travels we had missed the last one and hubby was in favor. I decided to work on Hospital Sketches. Again, it doesn't look like much but I'm satisfied.

My needle is sitting on a leaf that I was working on after finishing the three leaves above that pink flower. When my thread runs out, I'll go back and get that flower!

Hospital Sketches, of Barabara Brackman's Civil War Quilts blog, is coming right along and looks really pretty. I plan on following a little different plan. I think that is a wise decision since I'm having trouble even remotely keeping up. This 18" block will go in the middle and I'll applique the Bloom Blocks to surround it. They're smaller, less complicated versions of the intended blocks.

I'll leave you with one more picture from our vacation. This is Mom & me enjoying a little sunshine during Amanda's baby shower. We are sporting our special ribbons that Amanda got for us. Mom's says "Great Grandma-to-Be" and mine says "Grandma-to-Be". That daughter-in-law is so thoughtful!

Linking up with Scrap Happy HERE and Friday Night With Friends HERE.

Frigid COLD!

This morning it was 4 degrees with a windchill of -11. Brrrrrr!!!! Yesterday we received about 3" of snow and have now surpassed 2 feet of snow total for the year. To keep it in perspective, our weather folks have told us last year's total was barely 7" and our normal is 18". As if that isn't enough to set your teeth to chattering, we're supposed to get more snow towards the end of the week! Of course, that's a "long-range forecast" so it will probably *hopefully* change. In the meantime, here are a couple of picture of the view from my deck this morning. Yes, pretty. Yes, cold!!!!

On to the sewing report, my Bloom SAL has picked up again. I must confess that it was largely due to the Bloomer Party on Saturday. I still had only 6 blocks completed so I set about to prep a few.

I actually traced all the pieces for the next 6 blocks and then managed to pick out fabrics for two  of them before my mother arrived for the weekend. Time to set aside again.

The next morning while everyone slept I sewed my pieces and later turned them right side out. Ironed them in place to the backgrounds and worked on them that afternoon into the evening. I finished this one while watching my niece play softball in Raleigh, NC at NC State University. Did I mention that I love that we can stream in her games???? Here's my girl iced up after one of her games.

At the end of last night, I finished this Bloomer .....

 and had a good start on this one.

I should have taken this picture with the green bed of the pink petal on the top. I fussy-cut the beds so they would all be positioned correctly in the finished quilt. I'll probably forget all about this when I assemble! Hahaha!

I managed to finish a few other things this week. First up was my string block with Rainbow Scrap Challenge. February was yellow.

Red meets yellow. I love both blocks and LOVE the gray hourglass formed between them!!

The Merry Christmas SAL is finishing up the embroidery blocks. Here's a picture of my finished block for week #4. Wonder if we'll be starting the piecing or the applique this week??!!

And last but not least, the cross stitch project has made a bit of progress. The bunny quilt is just about finished, the ladder to the right is finished and needs the tree next to it, and the bunnies at the bottom left have been started. I know they're hard to see because they're white but you might be able to see the pink in the ears and the cheeks!

It's the start of a new month and RSC is green. Prepare yourself for green blocks -- right after I finish the last of the yellow Tiny Tuesday blocks!

Have a great week!

Linking up with Movin' It Forward and Bloom SAL