creativity this week: watching paint dry, Table Scraps challenge finish, and a purple feathered star block

 

16.5" square

I'll start with this month's feathered star block, done in purple scraps for RSC.

I like the mix of purple prints and tones, and from the scraps from making the block

 (scraps from scraps)

I made this 5" X 7" something...

5" X 7"  so far...

here are the three colors so far...

I like how the tula pink background blends together

I use a foundation paper piecing pattern from this book

For this month's Table scraps challenge I used scraps from last week's PQ irish chain quilt

I layered them on a tone on tone white fabric, and a piece of batting, then hand stitched with thick threads from ArtFabrik. layered raw edges overlapping, held in place with stitching.

6" X 8"

Joy's challenge this month was to use purple scraps and put a bird on it. I listened to a book on audio, and got into the zen of stitching, going through the three layers, a mix of running, chain, fly, whip, cross stitches plus French Knots. 

how fun, how soothing, how pretty to see the thread colors and textures. All size 8 perle cotton

I LOVE how the running stitch around the whole looks! I want to do more colorful threads on white to show them off. It's small and I thought it might be the first page in my hand embroidery book but it's an inch too wide. really? this comes from no planning! So I decided to make a small tilt quilt to put on the mantel. 

I wrapped the finished embroidery over a piece of peltex stiff stabilizer pulling it to the back. 

To cover that and the exposed peltex, I turned under the edge of fabric cut to be slightly smaller than the piece, and glued it to the back

at first I planned to put bugle beads around the whole outside edge but I kind of like it like it is...what do you think, beads or no beads, that is the question

In paint/drawing news...

I'm doing pentangle video lessons in my scrap junk journal... here are two examples

Here is another weird shape but was fun to do and shade to look 3-d

from this  easy to follow tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoZfphFTdD0
 

and one morning I just wanted to swipe colors on the page... then ink over them

nothing fancy, watercolors, a water brush, copier paper, ink pens

I just gathered papers I'd copied but no longer wanted, folded them in half into a book, and paint over whatever shows up as I flip the pages. 

that's it for this week. Happy making to my creative peeps!

linking with

table scraps challenge

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com

patchwork Sunday   

oh Scrap Sundays

 slow stitching Sundays

https://melvalovesscraps.blogspot.com/

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

Midweek makers wednesdays  

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/ 

https://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

finished or not

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

https://beadwright.blogspot.com/

 

I Like Thursday # 395 Buongiorno, quilts, books, and a poodle

milo's big ball

guess what? with all the weirdo weather from 70 in the sun to 4" of wet snow in a day... our bird came back this week! See him on the front porch stones? 

wasn't the sky pretty at sunset? 

it's a short post today... let's get started with a few snow pics... it melted in 24 hours though

Milo tried to entice me to sit on the back porch this week when it was hot but then this happened

brrr, that would be a shock to sit in!

On audio books

finished the series I was "reading" and started a new one... a woman moves back home to open a pie shop and finds mysteries to solve

On TV

Sadly the bachelor finished, but the good doctor returned! Survivor, Amazing Race, Deal or no deal island, Top chef, are also on. We dvr'd The way home so we're catching up on that drama of time travel.

So you think you can dance, american idol are both back... whee!

Learning Italian

or trying to. I'm about to research the way to learn it online. I took Italian 1 ----- twice---- and feel we might move there so I'd best up the ante.... Grazie! Prego! sono LeeAnna, piachere! 

Lists

I made a long list last weekend and was able to check off all the chores by Monday night!

sewing

I finished two quilts for last Saturday's post, 

Drawing

I've been having a good time drawing zentangles this week, and hand sewing... more Saturday's post

listening

I love 70's music... been listening to a lot of it this week

 

our prompt this week: 

Baby animals are often born in the Springtime. If you could choose any baby animal to be your pet, what would you pick and why? Don't worry about space or legal restrictions, just imagine having it.

donkeys... after watching lots of donkey videos, and hearing they don't smell bad, they love hugs and being sung to...after hearing Reese Witherspoon's donkeys are named honky, and tonky

wombats   cuddly and sweet

 maybe a bunny would be nice.... smart, trainable, cuddly

but the best non wild pet is... Milo

Hey, I'm wild!

 Milo: 

Hiya! Last week I had a surprise guest... a man who touched me, and looked at me and well, at one point I had to remind him and my pawrents that some parts of a poodle are PRIVATE! 

Mama: the vet came out to check out some issues for my Milo-baby, and a thermometer was used

Milo: I mean.... PRIVATE parts y'all! Unwelcome touch! 

Mama: it's over now, we all have to be touched by a doctor at some point honey... 

Milo: all that and no treats. sheesh! But.... mama told me the Easter bunny is coming and will leave me toys and treats! I peeked and saw a toy in a basket but I never smelled a bunny had come through the house! How does he get in past me? 

Mama: don't think about it too hard, just be happy you'll get treats! We can show the people what you got next week. 

Milo: why wait? eat all the treats now Mama! Just like when you get chocolates! 

Mama: I do not eat them all at once! 

Milo: well I don't even get to taste them... oh so what they're bad for dogs... most good things to eat are bad for us... well, I guess I'll have to wait til the weekend to see what I get... I'll show you later! 

Oh, nearly forgot, I got my big sofa back! ( the cover needed washing, it was only for a day) I love it, in the front room, I can stretch out and watch out the window for dogs and mailmen, and delivery peeps

now please visit these people to see what they liked this week

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/  

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

http://littlepenguinquilts

princess bubbles creates   

https://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/

 craftscaviescontras   

 http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

https://www.homesewnbyus.com/

the knitty quilter

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/ 

chasing my stories

https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/

https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/ 

 

https://www.mmmquilts.com/2024/03/gratitude-and-glimmers-82.html 

 

 

 

   LINKING WITH 

https://brianshomeblog.com/ 

http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/   

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com

https://llbinourbackyard.blogspot.com/

               friday smiles 

 

Creativity this week Two finishes Project Quilting & Stay at home round robin... done!

 

Whew! what a week, so much studio time to finish two big projects, Stay at home round robin (SAHRR)  and Project quilting (Irish chain)  

Just so you know, also this week I wrote a few stories, made ink and paper drawings, and cooked. 

(I am starting with the round robin, then we will see the Project quilting piece. If you're only here for PQ feel free to scroll down)

The first image is the center of my quilted SAHRR and here it is finished, including a hanging sleeve!

about 32" square

If you've been seeing these finishes you know about the prompts. We start with a center. Next was autograph blocks that I interpreted as a trellis. Next up was 2 colors, for me, gray and green, grass and rocks/ rock wall. Next was triangles, and I did flying geese plus the hourglass blocks in the sky. then square in a square, the sunflower fabric on the right. "Four" became the four patches on the left, and the bottom pathway. Finally, prompt was words, and I printed a quote for the top. 

I took a lot of care with quilting, lots of threads, lots of different plans and designs. I try to keep it evenly quilted so that it hangs well... here is a pic with the initial straight line quilting to secure it

yep, all my quilts are done on this small home machine

then a pic of the finished quilting...just before binding...

I added a sleeve before binding... 

cut 6" across width of quilt

I baste it on the top edge, opened up, hand baste inside the fold line, then fold it up to catch in the binding. 

no difficult hand stitching after the quilt is done. 

a dragonfly and a bee were appliqued on for fun, stitched down with metallic threads then trimmed and ready to hang on the rod in the family room! Thank you to the organizers for a fun challenge!!!

 

                              Next up is the Project quilting challenge. 

The prompt this week is irish chain as inspiration. We have one week from idea to finish to make a quilted item. I wanted a table runner for Easter... and started with fabric of course...

I wanted a variety of pastel colors 

 made 8 9-patch blocks with variety in each one, chose a pretty vintage lavendar print for the background blocks... I only had a small amount left, and it's just so pretty....

the pastels don't make a strong chain effect but that's okay with me. It felt so good to work in these colors. I started this Thursday, and finished Friday night! Whee! which meant not a lot of quilting, mostly walking foot, with some starts and stops... and a machine done binding

I used an old pretty scrap in the same colors, that reminds me of dandelions. A striped binding done completely on machine, and stitched to the front with purple metallic mylar thread

look how the colors remind me of another PQ project!

about 28" X 23"

so a busy week.... I am relieved to say both challenges are done for this year. I'm tired of the rushing they require, but love what came of them... 

it's satisfying to meet a challenge, to figure out a prompt, to be part of this network of talented quilt makers! 

For my rainbow scrap challenge peeps, I used purple scraps to piece this!

 linking with

project quilting 

stay at home round robin finishes

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com

patchwork Sunday   

oh Scrap Sundays

 slow stitching Sundays

https://melvalovesscraps.blogspot.com/

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/monday-musings-6-26-23/ 

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

Midweek makers wednesdays  

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/ 

https://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

finished or not

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

https://beadwright.blogspot.com/

 

I Like Thursday # 394

 

Another week, another list of likes! let's start with the  stay at home round robin from last year... funny that I like it more now than I did when I finished last year. I love the bunnies, and the 3-d pinwheels, and the colors...in the family room next to the bunnies on the mantel, ( made them 3 years ago)

hand stitched and embroidered felted bunnies!

Fine Dining

I am still trying to find a recipe for something that that tastes orange... this time I got a recipe from my Tampa cookbook, Gasparilla cook book

the Gasparilla Cook Book

I made a half recipe added in orange juice, orange peel, and orange extract for insurance. 

I rolled the dough in orange sparkling sugar, for fun and for Easter colors. Did they have orange flavor? no. nada. none. 

we did make the hawaiian bread again and it is OUTSTANDING! Bananas, coconut and pineapple in a quick bread, I gave that recipe somewhere.... a modern cook used a 1960 recipe and so did I

I love this springy rug I got at amazon

I want several more, to spring up the rest of the space

listening to audio books 

continuing the series about an antiques magazine writer who gets embroiled in murder mysteries

listening on youtube...

 I wish I could study voice with this woman. JOY personified .... a 10 year old sings Aretha in a car

TV

amazing race is back, yea!!! Call the Midwife too!  Murdoch mysteries but The Good Doctor says it's the final season (sad, big sobs) but there have been no episodes after the first two... torment

 podcasts

like survivor? Robhasapodcast interviews cast offs and talks strategy with previous players on the current season, Here's an entertaining podcast to start you off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvUFx6EPQlM 

 quilt making

I've made a big push to finish this year's stay at home round robin quilt, and the project quilting piece this week. Tied to the machine I'm actually tired of sewing at the moment. 

it's now all quilted ready to share tomorrow!

our Prompt this week

What Spring creatures might you see in the wild where you live right now?

We are seeing robins and small creatures like squirrels. We should be seeing bunnies soon. There is a family of raccoons we see all summer, enormous, they walk in a line across the street, thru the neighbor's yard to the golf course

 and owls, hawks, coyote... and I saw a gull fly by Wed.... what? we are a good stretch from the ocean

 

Weirdo weather

I enjoyed the snow we got, they registered 17" of wet heavy snow, that unfortunately now is gone. The next day 3/4 of it was gone into Lake Notafraidofcolor... our backyard. 

It tickled the belly of the poodle around here, but now it's intense sun heating up our bedroom too much

speaking of sun

Milo's moment

Milo:  I guess the mama didn't want a poodle opinion on the orange cookies. Smelled great to me! 

this week, I humored the pawrents and got off the bed in the morning, and snuggled into my blue chair...

then I hear the daddy, Milo want to go for a walk? 

Wellllll, do you mean it? Let me know when you two are ready and I'll jump into my harness and grab my leash. You people wouldn't believe the process to get my peeps ready for a walk. 

Mama is faster, she pulls on her boots and does some kind of hocus pocus on them (tying the laces) then pulls on her outer skins (sweatshirt jacket), covers up her face (mask) covers her eyes (sunglasses) and covers the top of her head (hat) then peeks outside first to see if it's safe. 

the Daddy is slower... same with boots, skins, eyes, head, glasses, also has to get a bag for my poop 

really what is his fascination with my poop? 

oh by now the mama says she should go visit the bathroom first, I mean, we are going outside just do it there like I do Mama! 

sometimes she gets a sip of water, and when I follow her into the kitchen and see that, I also need a sip of water. 

by now the daddy is ready and we all three head off for a walk in the 'hood. Finally! I read my peemail, do any business that needs doing, keep my peepers open for dogs or kids running amok, and keep my people headed in the direction I want to go that day. Mostly they listen to me but sometimes I have to grab the leash to pull them back. 

people are so hard to train

now please visit these people to see what they liked this week

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/  

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

http://littlepenguinquilts

princess bubbles creates   

https://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/

 craftscaviescontras   

 http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

https://www.homesewnbyus.com/

the knitty quilter

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/ 

chasing my stories

https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/

https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/ 

 

 

 

   LINKING WITH 

https://brianshomeblog.com/ 

http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/   

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com

https://llbinourbackyard.blogspot.com/

               friday smiles