I Like Thursday ~ March Sttches

 

The first week of March has been blustery, rainy and busy.

There has been plenty of fun with fabric and threads stitched in.

I sewed my new month block for my 

Temperature Quilt 2024

The pieces for the shamrock block are cut slightly oversized and

trimmed to size to make a 5.5" square 

with narrow border strips on top and bottom.

It fits nicely with the other blocks.

I now have four rows done and the fifth begun. 

Maestro has bene very helpful with the quality inspection of these blocks.

I have also been working on the next block for my 

Vintage Flower Sampler Quilt

I am working on this challenging Sugar Plum Block.

I made plastic templates for this block last week.

When it came time to cut, I extended the inner points

as I had seen a block made this way on a website.

I sewed these curves on my machine.

I started on the outside edge leaving a quarter inch seam start.

I am very comfortable sewing curved seams on my machine with no pins.

I just ease the seam as feed the fabric.

In the end, I trimmed the center back to what is shown 

in the template in the book and it came together well.

The center appilque circle cover the center of the Sugar Plum swirl.

I am now working on the outer pieced circle of triangles

and preparing to sew it to this center.

On Monday evening I went on an adventure to a Hobby Lobby

 which opened near me in New Hampshire. 

I am not sure how long this one has been there.

I have not been to a Hobby Lobby in many years.

I have actually not been to a large box craft store since before Covid

closed us in our houses.  

I have been buying all of my crafty stuff online

except for a few stops at my small local quilt shop.

I felt lovely and new to go to a store and look at all the pretty 

yarns and fabric and craft supplies and spring decor.

The reason for my adventure was to purchase the same yarn and colors

 for a this fun

 Spring Blanket Crochet Along @

Any Day Crochet on Tik Tok

The videos are colorful and give all information needed to 

stitch by stitch and row by row make a lovely spring blanket. 

The hosts are two very creative sisters.

It is free and there is nothing to buy.

My idea of a fun creative endeavor.

I set up my iPad on my lap desk and watch as I stitch.

This started with a green foundation row and 

then a pretty pink tulip field under a blue sky.

Maestro helped.

Then the next rows were an orange dragon fly filet crochet section.

Nutmeg helped.

There is a section a day of 2-5 rows.

I am a day behind because I had to find my yarn

and hope to catch up by the weekend.

This yarn is made for Hobby Lobby,

My "I Love This Yarn" is acrylic 

although there is a cotton version of the yarn, too. 

While I was at Hobby Lobby, I looked at the notions

and saw this new-to-me Yarnology Crochet Hook.

Normally I do not like plastic crochet hooks,

but this looked interesting so I thought I would give it a try.

I do have a lot of arthritis in my hands these days.

You can see how bent by this is my pinky,

which can be quite painful at times.

This Yarnology hook is very lightweight 

and the shape of the ergonomic handle fits well in my hand. 

The hook is tapered and round and it has a deep hook to hold the yarn.

I like this in a hook.

I did a few rows with my favorite old aluminum Boye crochet hook

and quickly switched back to this one.

It is much gentler on my hands.

I will likely be purchasing more of these in different sizes, as needed.

I had not crocheted in over a year in part because of the pain in my hands.

My trip to the store and coming home with the yarn and new hook

for under $30 to start this new spring crochet adventure

has brightened this gray and rainy week considerably.

I hope your week has been filled with happy stitches.

For more Thursday fun, visit all my friends at

I Like Thursday @ Not Afraid of Color

Happy Thursday!

I Like Thursday ~ Fabric, Friends and Fun

 

My first flag block for the 

United Block Exchange 2024 @ Olie & Evie

 is sewn and ready.

The swap closes tonight at midnight, Mountain Time, I think.

Never have I ever starched fabrics,

but I did now to follow the guidelines for this swap.

I washed, dried, then soaked my fabrics in a 50/50% solution

 of Best Press and water and hung them to dry again.

Tuesday was warm enough to hang them outside that day.

Then it got very breezy, so I had to finish drying inside.

Then I pressed and started to cut and sew.

I must admit that this method does make the fabrics very flat,

eliminates the normal stretch distortion,

and is very nice to the touch to work.

That said, I think I will never, ever go to this extent

to prepare fabrics for making my quilts again.

I have also been sewing my daily temperature quilt tree blocks.

I write the date on the seam on the back with a permanent fabric marker.

I now have the fourth row done and the fifth begun.

Our temperatures have been changing rapidly of late.

I discovered two days ago that I made an error on my 

color chart for this quilt and left off the 60 degrees Fahrenheit. 

So I updated my chart to make 60F to 69F yellow.

Then I changed up the upper temperature colors.

Last night it was cold with a biting wind.

Today it barely went above freezing,

but the wind chill made it feel much colder.

Good weather to stay in and sew I did.

Progress has also been appliqueing my Dresden Plates.

This is a slow process as I slow down my machine and use a smaller stitch 

so I only do about one block a day. 

 

Yesterday was monthly lunch day with my friends.

I am usually asked to bring dessert and February

is Homemade Chocolates for dessert.

I blend my own milk chocolate.

This year I made Milk Chocolate Nonpariels,

Cashew Caramel Clusters, 

Orange Creams

and, as always requested, Raspberry Creams.

I only make these when I am going to give most of them away

as they are yummy, but they are  oh, so sweet.

Linking up today with my friends at

I Like Thursday @ Not Afraid of Color

Hope you are having a Happy Thursday!

Temperature Quilt 2024 Update

 

I am  happy to say that I am up to date on my 

Temperature Quilt  2024 Tree Blocks

It has been below freezing at night here

and in some cases not getting above the freezing point

 in the daytime the past week. 

Mostly it has been sunny but it has also been very windy

adding a wind chill factor to the cold.

Occasionally we have bits of snow flurries blowing around,

 but we have little new snow on the ground

except for piles along the streets and walks that are not melting.

All in all though, it has been a mild February so far here.

My blocks have been shades of blue and purple to reflect the cold.

The green tree shows it actually went a few degrees above freezing that day.

I added some Tilda Gardenlife 

to my Windy Days and Hibernation fabrics, 

though it is still very much winter in my garden.

I am staying snug and warm inside sewing

and dreaming of spring.

May you stay well and safe an warm in your own happy quilty place. 

I Like Thursday ~ United In Sewing

 

United.

I saw this quilt and a block exchange on Instagram yesterday.

I have not done a block exchange in many years.

I still have many lovely blocks from many fun block swaps over the years

 that are waiting to become finished quilts, 

so I had thought I was retired from swapping.

Then I saw this ... 

For all the information to sign-up and participate click on the link below: 

United Block Exchange 2024  @ OlieandEvie

Contact Person: Rhonda @ OlieandEvie

I follow

OlieandEvie on Instagram

which is where I heard of this fun block exchange.

Participants must make 50 small flag blocks for the swap. 

Unity is something very near and dear to my heart,

so I knew I wanted to participate.

I downloaded the information sheets, emailed Rhonda

and found my flag block fabrics in her shop.

You do not have to purchase fabrics there, 

but you have to have sufficient yardage to use the same fabrics for all your blocks

 and would have to send photos of your fabrics for approval,

 so I just ordered mine there to speed the process

and as a way of saying thank you for hosting.

The pattern may be purchased here: 

United by Gigi's Thimble

I have plenty of fabric in my stash to sew the heart and star blocks

and I found this background fabric that is a lovely shade of light blue gray

that should work well for all the fabrics 

that will be in the swap flag blocks that I receive. 

I looked at the all the pretty blocks and quilts #unitedquilt on IG 

to decide what I might want to use for my background fabric.

I stashed many yards of this Free Spirit Dakari light blue grid fabric

when it went of deep clearance four years ago.

I like to buy my background and backing fabrics 

when I see something I like for the right price. 

After almost all our snow had melted, it returned to winter this week.

It has been very cold, even in the sun and nothing has melted.

This little guy, whom we have not seen at our door since January's big storm

returned yesterday in the cold and wind for a handout.

On warm days he sleeps on our porch in the sun and visits with my indoor kitties.

He is quite the fighting tomcat and chases all intruders out of our yard.

Yes, we fed him,

but we do not let him in as he fights though the door with our Nutmeg.

This is Luka who has been a stray cat on our street for many years.

I know he sleeps in our neighbor's heated garage and they feed him.

When we did not see him for a couple of weeks, 

Mr Scrapatch asked our neighbor 

if they had seen him.

Turns out he was bitten by a dog or something 

and they had to take him to the vet,

give him meds and keep him locked in.

Fortunately, he has healed well under their care.

You can see the fur growing back in on the patch on his side. 

Lucky Luka. 

The life of a stray cat is never easy, but Luka is loved.

Yesterday's temperature tree block shows it did not get above freezing.

Today is not much warmer, but the wind has calmed down.

It is clouding up now for snow flurries tonight.

I have 3 rows now complete for my 

Temperature Tree Quilt 2024

The rows have 15 units each and measure 71" across. 

Maestro has been very helpful cutting the fabrics. 

My kitties and I hope you are happy and well today,

For more Thursday fun, visit my friends 

@ 

I Like Thursday @ Not Afraid of Color

Happy Thursday! 

Scrappy Saturday ~ Calling All Scraps

 

Scrappy Quilters, do you do this, too?

When I am sewing, I take odd bits of fabric from my scrap basket 

by my machine and and sew them together to make a usable piece. 

For the temperature quilt Pine Tree blocks, I get these triangle 

scraps I do not like to toss them in the trash.

So I use them as leaders and enders while I sew.

I can cut these down to the 2" by 1.5" pieces

 that I need for the trunks of my trees. 

Adding some Old Rose to my scrappy tree quilt. 

It reached 49 degrees F today,  barely missing the predicted 60 mark.

There is a winter snow storm in the forecast for next week

and temperatures dropping well below freezing again.

Sewed two more tree trunks pieced from scraps. 

I figure it is a scrappy quilt anyway, so why not use all my scraps.

I do not mind the slightly off look and extra seams.

Do you do this, too?