Rainbow Scrap Challenge in Green!

I had so many green hsts that I have already made ten (eight pictured) in the larger size and have more prepped in the smaller size.

I see from this picture that some of the greens are SO light as to almost not be there but in person I did not notice that.  I wish there was more variety, but I am using whatever I have and not making more hst's if I do not need to. Linking up with Angela for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2023!

 Here is a four star book I just reviewed.  "Exiles" by Jan Harper is the third book in her series featuring Aaron Falks, but can be read as a stand alone book.  Falks is a federal financial investigator who visits his good friends in the Marralee Valley one year after the disappearance of Kim Gillespie.  Falks did not know Kim but helps his good friend Raco (who has been investigating on his own) to try to uncover the truth about what happened to Kim when she disappeared from the annual food and wine festival.  While some think Kim left behind her baby (and a teenage daughter) and killed herself, this just doesn't ring true for others.

A secondary mystery (from six years ago) involving another person in the circle of friends also has Falk curious since it relates to a woman he is interested in.  As a reader, I was trying to connect the two mysteries and find the one "bad guy" throughout the book.  There were some great clues left and I was able to figure out some of the mystery but there were still surprises in the end.  The book is very engaging and since I read it with two other people, there was much to discuss along the way.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the ARC of the audiobook.  I also read the book at the same time which was helpful because there were many characters and I would have found it a bit confusing just on audio though the narration was well done.

Sweet Saturday Sewing the Blues

 Yesterday Kathy and I went and babysat our new nephew Colton and in between watching him I did a little lace sock knitting.  :)

 Today I had a lot of fun in the sewing room.  (I have been having lots of migraines this week and today's went away around 2 PM and I was happy to sew without a throbbing head!).  I had to paper piece this cute little gnome guy.

 Did my two blue Jack in the Box blocks for Angela's Rainbow BOM with obviously is BLUE this month!  Kathy also did her Scrap Jar Stars in blue.

 I am a titch behind on the Skillbuilder BOM.  I have decided I am only doing the blocks I want and I have no plans to quilt them individually...that takes the pressure off.  So here is the Woven Star from Alyssa's Skillbuilder BOM which was a fun one to make.

 This is the Cheveron Block..I decided to do this one in Packer colors.  It will be turned into a pillow backed in Packer fabric and most likely will be a gift for my sister who has a Packer room :) GO PACK GO!

 I have been watching Centennial on the DVD player and occasionally listening to Great Expectations too.  I love having cable in my quilting studio again so sometimes I watch my TIVO stuff (now I can watch it in any room that has cable..whoot, whoot).

 I have a huge start on my blue spools.  Have more left to go, and weeded out the doubles I had.  I really enjoyed my day of sewing the blues!

Gnome Quilts for the Loveseats are Done :)

 I got in the Spring cleaning mode this past weekend in anticipation of my best friend from high school coming to visit in a few weeks!  We rearranged the living room and dusted, mopped, in and around and behind and below everything.  I am sure new dust and doghair is already forming but it still needed to be done!  You can see my bike there in a new spot and I am still getting on it--now for 30 mintues, but not regularily enough.  Will try to reapply myself!

Barb  quilted my gnome quilts and I got them bound over the weekend too.  I didn't do much for sewing, did some cutting and bound these two quilts and that was it.  I also cleaned the kitchen and fridge which needed it. 

 Now you can see the quilts on the loveseats.  It was time for some newer small quilts..we wash them every week because with five dogs...ugh!  Anyways the two I have been using have seen better days!

The other thing I have been doing lately is reading.  Just finished this one last night, and have read several books that inspired Downton Abbey as well.  I also finally finished Bag of Bones by Stephen King which I was listening to forever--not as scary or as good as his usual tales, but I like to listen to books while I sew since I seem to never make enough time to read! 

Friday Funday!

I won this AWESOME tablerunner from Darlene over at Quilting Daze for Christmas Through the Year.  I am having such a good time participating in that and have much of my Christmas list done because of it.  Thanks Darlene!  

I finally added what I had hoped would be the last row to my Cheddar Bow Tie blocks!  I am thinking it is going to get yet one more "last row" LATER!  I have four more blocks done and think I should stick this away for a bit since I am tired of dealing with my seam allowance issues!  

Meanwhile I worked on my Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild name tag.  I like it though I veered off the tutorial in more than one place to make is simpler for me to do.  Thanks again Alissa for the tutorial.  

Another thing I did today was cut and cut and cut out some spools for Bonnie's challenge.  On the left is the huge pile I have accumulated.  Becky gave me some of these, so the pile in the middle is for her and the one next to it is for Kathy (sewing buddy) who also told me she has some for me.  It is fun to trade fabric and have a few friends to do it along with.  The three of us are eagerly waiting Bonnie's Mystery too.  I think BJ and Ros will be joining in on it and I am hoping Lauren will do her first Bonnie mystery this year.   

Last weekend, one of the things I bought at the fabric thrift sale was an incomplete Debbie Caffrey mystery called "Just Around the Bend" the gal had sewn 24 partial blocks and had all the fabric, directions and backing fabric for sale for 20 bucks.  Her sewing is great, this gal has the 1/4 seam allowance down...so I decided to take it and finish it.  I am sure I am the only person out there buying and finishing other people's UFO's lol.  So I finished all the blocks...and played with a few layouts.  There are LOTS of options.

 Pretty sure this second one is what it will wind up being...I tried to layout a third one and wound up twisting the blocks back around to this layout!

 This Christmas one is online at http://www.fibersandstitches.com/10_General_Info/FAS-Consignment-Pg1.htm for sale..but it is the same blocks just in a different layout.  Kind of cool, but I still like the second option better!

 My roommate Randy is happy it is finally cooler outside and is now back to his stained glass hobby.  He makes really cool stuff!  I think this is going to be a little box maybe for his youngest daughter Rachel who just had her first baby (a boy, Leon in Norway).

 I started listening to this audiobook earlier, but Kathy isn't feeling well and has been in bed most of the day.  Last I checked on her she had developed a migraine.  UGH so this book is waiting til she feels good enough to sew because she wants to hear it too!

Now, what shall I sew?

Early Morning Sewing Going On!

 I am up to three of these little hexie (hexi?) flowers.  They are so tiny compared to my other hexie projects (which haven't seen the light of day in awhile!).

 Melissa sent me a huge package with my gifts for each month all the way into December.  I managed to get them all to fit in the stocking she made me with the other presents she sent before.  We both have one more box to go before Christmas.  I have been collecting things since I sent her the first box.

 Today Kathy is over at Barktoberfest selling her homemade dog treats www.jandrdogtreats.net if your doggie wants to try them.  She brought a friend with her so I am hanging at home and having a friend or two over later to sew.  Since Kathy was up early and our five dogs were all excited to have company at the break of dawn, I couldn't go back to sleep.  I put in this audiobook that Randy got me from the library (I bought the new J.K. Rowling book but Kathy wants to hear it too, so waiting to start that one!) and have already sewed my brown pinwheels together and trimmed them.

 I know this is a record for me...I rarely am sewing this early in the day (unless there is a mystery quilt going on, then I will drag myself out of bed!) so it has been fun to sip my coffee and just enjoy some time doing what I love.

Productive Saturday Sewing!

 Finished listening to the Edwards short stories and dug Dreams of Joy out of my car (been there for like 6 months, I was on disc 8) and am most of the way through it.  I was inspired by Amy to piece a border for Star Path QOV.  I didn't add an inner or outer border as she did, but I am happy with this one.

 I also pieced the backing from the last of the Anaheim discount fabric from when we went to Disney.  It is the perfect backing for a QOV.  I also made the binding.  Now I will ship it off to Alycia and she can get another volunteer to quilt and bind it and it will be ready for a soldier.  Thanks Nancy for a great mystery!

 I took some of the quilts outside to get pictures in the Arizona sun (seriously it is 100 and something out there) but I see my shadow made it into this picture.  Doc Schnibbles for Rachel's baby in Norway.

 and the back.

 Star Path in the sun.

 Kathy worked on the parts of these Night and Day blocks and finished them off and sewed them into this tablerunner.  Found a cute border fabric in my stash (thanks June) and it is now ready to be quilted.  This will go to my cousin Tara since it matches her quilt and her birthday is later this month.  We also made a quick trip to JoAnn's to buy a Kaleidoscope ruler (half off plus 25% off for educators) to use up the other leftovers from Night and Day.  Waste not, want not.

 I bought the other three Denyse Schmidt fat quarter yard thingys too.  Figured I had a coupon and I had money from my mom for my birthday so they are now mine!  Oh, and two skeins of dishcloth yarn as I am almost running low!

 Here is what Jack in the Box is looking like now that I have added the aqua colors.  I took it down to make room for my quilt history block UFO.  We cut sashing and cornerstones for it but that is as far as it got today.

And last here is a picture of baby Caleb snuggling in the quilt DJ and I made for him on our Prescott Staycation awhile back.  His parents are good friends of hers in Vegas.  What a cutie!

Blissful Sewing Day!

 Started off by making my sister's crown quilt binding...her birthday (and Kathy's) are next Friday...I need to pick up her quilted quilt from Ros and get it bound to give her next weekend.  Where does the time go?

 Here are the blues I cut the other night.  And today I added all the browns.  (Still need to cut the muslin so I can start putting the last units together!)

 Since I was tired of cutting I decided to play around and sew some bags.  This led to organizing all my zippers by color (see Amy there is another page for our book!).

 Meanwhile Kathy finished up her clue for the mystery.  Loving the look of this one.  She can hardly wait for the next clue.

 Then I made a few more modern looking bags.

 All while listening to Isabel Allende's "The Sum of Our Days" which was good.  Finished it tonight so it can go back to the library.

 I cut into my modern fabrics and sewed squares together.   I am sure you can guess where I am going with these blocks.  Always a dog in my pictures...

 And the border...

 And tada another Lil' Twister.  This is the first one I have made with the tiny, tiny ruler I bought awhile back.

 See how small it is?  Love it!

 Kathy continued to sew the leftover bits from the Night and Day quilt I made almost two years ago into these blocks.  She isn't too happy with the centers, so she insists I do that part on the remaining blocks.  There are lots of seams that come together and we haven't followed Eleanor's directions to spin the seams or whatever..but maybe I will try to figure that out.

So most of the day was spent in quiet company with Kathy and our audiobook while sewing and cutting to our own beat.  It was really relaxing.  Tomorrow I plan to cut the muslin and start sewing that last unit.  Megan is coming over again to work on her little quilt so I will have a companion.  Kathy thinks she will make some dog biscuits with Ayla.  Speaking of that...Kathy has launched her new website where she sells homemade dog biscuits.  The dogs love them (even June's dog who is quite fussy about what he will eat!) so if you are interested check out http://shop.jandrdogtreats.net/ 

:)