I Like Thursday 3-16-23

Fun times in Papaw's shed!

It is time to list our Likes! LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color hosts this weekly gratitude event. Visit her blog to see more thankfulness!

As I am writing this post , we have The Littles here spending time with Papaw and Grandma. They have been here since Monday morning, and Jenni picks them up today. I like that we live close enough to our daughter to be able to do this. Before we moved here in October 2020, we lived 220 miles from her, and now we are about an hour away.

I will have skin cancer surgery in April, and I like having a dermatologist I trust. Ours is a PA, and I trust her every bit as much as I would a dermatologist with a medical degree. She works with degreed dermatologists, and is diligent, personable, caring, and personal.

I missed two of LeeAnn's prompts in February about our creative spaces, and they are so interesting to me. I plan to feature them next week when I have more time! But today I will answer her prompt of "Do you like Spring flowers? Which ones are your favorites? Do you plant them in your yard? is there a particular color you like?" Yes I love spring flowers, but my favorite is one that does not do as well here in north Texas. I grew up with beds of peonies that were planted back in the 1940s when my childhood home was built. We had white ones mostly with a few reds and pinks scattered around - the fragrance was heavenly. I also love roses but have never had much luck with them!

I'd love to read about your favorite spring flowers, so feel free to mention them in the comments. All of you have a wonderful week!

To Do Tuesday 3-20-23

Today's post will be brief - I am composing it on Monday, about 2 hours before The Littles arrive for a 3-night stay. Yesterday we had breakfast at a local cafe, then I cleaned bathrooms and kitchen while Hubs cleaned the yard of dog "poo" and mowed, so the kiddos can play outside. This morning we still need to vacuum tons of pet hair and dust!

As you can see, last week's list mostly begged for attention. All I can say is, there were many distractions!

❌1. Finish up Cross My Heart

❌2. Catch up and finish SAHRR

❌3. Catch up on RBD challenge blocks

❌4. Start on Little Green Apples project hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt

✅5. Take The Littles to school and preschool on Thursday, then take dogs to the vet

On the list this week:

1. Keep The Littles until Thursday!

2. Start on Little Green Apples project

3. Work on Cross My Heart

4. Work on SAHRR and try to do a post

5. Catch up on RBD blocks

Linking up with our gracious host Carol at Quilt Schmilt, and you can find her linky right here!

To Do Tuesday 3-7-23

Another Tuesday has quickly arrived, and it is time to look back at To Do list from last week and look forward to plans for the coming week. To Do Tuesday is hosted by Carol of Quilt Schmilt, and you can find her linkup and links to many inspirational posts right here.

Looking from our house to the west as this complex of storms was dropping heavy hail west of us 

Last week was a week of distractions. There was turbulent weather all day Thursday with heavy, large hail and a few spinup tornadoes, but we were lucky to receive only a bit of pea-sized hail and wind.

Another distraction was a couple of room rearrangements, selling some furniture, moving furniture around, and driving to pick up a Marketplace purchase. It seems the older we get, the more fun we have rearranging and reorganizing - lol!

And finally, Friday started out as a day to watch The Littles while Jenni and John went out of town. Well it turned into a wedding day for our daughter and new son-in-law! The original plan was to drive to his hometown to visit his Dad, but he surprised Jenni by taking her to a Justice of the Peace, with his Dad as witness. They spent the weekend visiting his college and meeting many friends, eating out, and just enjoying his small hometown. They are planning a small wedding with family and friends at their current church in November. This romance and marriage all happened rather fast, but we are happy for them because they are so happy!

HST Quilt

On Sunday Jenni and John attended his hometown church and presented the pastor with a small quilt, which will either be a baby quilt or wheelchair quilt. You can read about that quilt right here.

Today my husband and I had visits to the dermatologist. I will have three skin cancer surgeries in April. Recovery is supposed to be easy, so I don't anticipate not being able to sew!

Let's see how I did with the list from last week:

❌1. Finish up Cross My Heart - No progress

❌2. Catch up and finish SAHRR - No progress

❌3. Catch up on RBD challenge blocks - No progress

✅4. Babysit with Everett on Friday! - Done!

Here is the playlist for the coming week - mostly carryovers from last week:

2. Finish up Cross My Heart

3. Catch up and finish SAHRR

4. Catch up on RBD challenge blocks

5. Start on Little Green Apples project hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt

6. Take The Littles to school and preschool on Thursday, then take dogs to the vet

Hope you have a great week!

Second Chance HST Quilt

My handsome Quilt-Holder

Some say that every piece of scrap fabric deserves a second chance, and that is the case for this quilt. 

Cross My Heart flimsy

HSTs

After cutting pieces for the hearts in Cross My Heart quilt (flimsy pictured above), I was left with several decent sized triangles. I paired them with the dark eggplant background fabric and ended up with 128 3-inch HSTs.

Photo from the internet

I followed this design I found somewhere on the internet. If it is your design or if you mentioned it on a post, I apologize, and please yourself a shout-out, and I will credit you.

It took awhile to place those HSTs like the design, and I might have messed up somewhere, but overall the design made an attractive layout. I decided to separate sections of it with sashing in order to increase the size of the quilt. and added cornerstones for interest. I like the dark eggplant so much I also used it for binding. In retrospect, I wish I had added a coping border in dark eggplant, before adding the final border.

I really loved the fabrics for Cross My Heart (post on that one is coming in the next week or so!)

Hard to get a good photo of the backing

Here's a closeup of the pretty backing.

Quilting was a simple meander on Longmire

Our daughter delivered this quilt to the little hometown church of her sweetie after they attended service there over the weekend. And the pastor took them to see a quilt she is working on - isn't it great! It is my hope that this quilt will serve as a baby quilt or as a wheelchair quilt. 

Quilt Details:

Pattern: Internet photo

Finished size: 42" x 42"

Laundered size: 40-1/2" x 40-1/2"

Fabrics:

Front: HSTs made from leftover scraps from Cross My Heart quilt

Background: Basic Grey Grunge in Sugar Cookies

Backing: From stash - no selvage identification but I think it is several years old

Superior Threads:

Piecing: So Fine #50 - #503 Genoa Gray

Quilting Front: Fantastico - #5169 Sterling Silver Variegated

Quilting Back: So Fine #50 - #522 Barely Pink

I am linking up with Brenda's Monday Musings and Melva's Sew and Tell!