One little finish

In the bottom of the project box with all the leftover fabric, was a selection of embellishments in little zip lock bags that I must have collected when we were doing the Gingerbread Joy pattern for Saturday Sampler.  The quilt had a red/aqua color scheme.  And there were little buttons just the right color of aqua.  So . . . here she is, all done!!  She's only 12" square, but it's still very nice to have a finish.  

One flimsy can be checked off my To Do list too.  Enough triangle units to make 2 identical runners were on my sewing table, but so far I've only found time to get one of these sewn.  Hopefully this afternoon I can get the other one done and then find batting and backing for them both from my stash.  

The last Wednesday of each month is lunch with the retired group from the school.  Today we're meeting at a little spot - mix of gas station/convenience store/lunch counter - that serves the best Hot Beef special.  Roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes, veggie, and dessert.  It's a generous portion meant to fill up the local farmers who frequent this place, so usually a couple of us share a serving.  Yum!!  I'm looking forward to a tasty lunch with my former coworkers.

The 50th college reunion

We had a really good time on Friday and Saturday at our college reunion at South Dakota State University.  We're officially members of the 50 Year Club!!  We got to see some people we haven't seen in decades, and some friends we see much more often.  

Dave had only 21 students in his high school graduating class, and 7 of them went to SDSU.  At the reunion this year - 3 of them were able to be there.  One more - Dave's college roommate and best man at our wedding - had planned to come but something came up at the last minute.  Dave (left) and Gordon (right) grew up a mile apart on farms. Gayla (center) and I met as freshmen because she lived about 6 doors down the hall from me in the dorm.  I didn't meet my husband until the beginning of our sophomore year. 

Dan (left) and his wife were other friends from college, but we do usually see them about once a year. His wife had other commitments for the weekend but Dan actually stayed with their youngest son, a student on campus. 

We posed with the Dirty Lil and Weary Wil statues near the student union on campus.  It's a long story, but the homecoming celebration at SDSU is Hobo Day.  Weary Wil had been a character included in the celebration for decades, and Lil was officially added the fall of 1976, right after we graduated. 

Here we are on May 1, 1976, right before our graduation ceremony.  I think our tassel color was different because I got a BA and Dave got a BS, although both from the College of Arts and Science.  The guy standing on the other side of Dave was one of his roommates, who got an Associates degree so his cap and gown were blue instead of black. 

I'm headed out early this morning to volunteer at the golf course, checking in golfers for a tournament - unless it rains again, which is a possibility.  Then I have a haircut appointment this afternoon.  There might be a little sewing time in between things.  

Design Wall Monday - Sept. 28

I'm hoping this will be a week of small finishes, but we'll see how it goes.  No sewing will happen today.  It was a very early morning as I'm the designated driver for my daughter's first colonoscopy.  Welcome to middle age my dear!  Then I'll come home and go the pinochle group this evening that plays monthly.  

A couple of quilts have been in the hands of a long arm quilter, and I'm anticipating at least one of them being ready to pick up soon. Will it be this week?
 

The gingerbread girl is almost finished.  She still needs some embellishment to make her pretty.  I did find a bow for her head.  But her dress needs buttons or something. 

In the meantime, I'm playing with some new projects that have actually been marinating in drawers for a year or more.  The pattern is Swirling Star by Krista Moser.  I used a Christmas-y batik jelly roll, plus some yardage to cut the parts for 2 identical table toppers.  These will most likely become gifts.  

This cute little gnome project was a laser cut kit purchased a few years ago, probably on a bus trip shop hop.  It's supposed to be a mug rug but I may make it a little bigger.  I have begun blanket stitching the applique. 

And another doll quilt will at least be a flimsy this week - I hope.  I have a basket with parts for doll quilts, as well as a couple of flimsies ready to sandwich.  I want to finish a couple more this fall before donating all of the ones made so far.

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #39

It is always fun to get to the end (or nearly the end) of a month and look back at the results of that month's color play.  This week I was really focusing on finishing some UFO projects, but in between those things I just played with the purple scraps.  No real purpose - just playing.  That resulted in some string blocks, one Cheerios block, a couple of Hollow-9s, and 2 more Crackers and Jam paper pieced tiny blocks.  What FUN!!

Looking back at the previous weeks' productivity in purple was surprising.  At this point in the year I'm starting to think about how I want to put some of these block sets together.  Do I want to make a small project?  Or a big project?  Are there enough blocks already for something or do I need more?  Is there a color I'm missing?

And of course we get excited to see what color is next?  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been such fun for many years now, and I can't think Angela enough for hosting and encouraging us to play with our scraps.  

Let's go check out more Rainbow fun . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

There are multiple reasons to be smiling today!!  This afternoon we're heading to Brookings for our 50th college reunion.  How did 50 years fly by so fast?

We are actually on campus quite often because we have season tickets for basketball, but we did sign up for a "golf cart" campus tour that should give us a better look at the changes that have taken place in the past 50 years.  And we'll attend a few social events. 

On the quilting front there are reasons to smile too.  There are TWO projects that reached the flimsy stage this week.  Yay!!  Kisses From Heaven has been on my UFO list for several years, and I finally made it a priority. I am in LOVE!!!  It looks just like the picture on the kit package, so I'm very happy with the results.  Now . . . to get it quilted and bound. 

And the second flimsy is the elephant Happy Block quilt.  This is a 50 x 60 child's quilt, and was very fast to put together.  It's a 3 yard option using 30 blocks.  The centers are 6.5" squares and the frames are cut from 2.5" strips. The cute elephant print in the blocks was probably a bus trip purchase a few years ago. The teal and orange were added soon after with a different pattern in mind.  But they all play nicely in this pattern.       

For more finishes, please visit:  https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Reading & planning

Are you a reader?  I can never have enough books on my To Read list.  Most weeks I read at least 1 or 2 books, with my favorite genre lately being mysteries. But sometimes it's a book completely out of my normal genre that surprises me the most.      

Recently a former coworker had posted on Facebook that her book club was going to be reading Mad Mabel.  Of course I had to look into it, and decided it was something I would enjoy.  And I was right - it was a very interesting read. 

Copied from the Amazon description - "a twisty tale of justice, redemption, and one irrepressible woman who’s not done breaking the rules just yet. "

I've been talking recently about the fact that I do a LOT of thinking about projects when I'm not actually sewing - or reading a good book.  My brain has been spinning away lately with the possibilities around here.  My Monday plan this week included getting a couple of UFOs to the flimsy stage, which I can report has been successful.  Come back tomorrow to see what I accomplished for flimsies.

But my plan also involved doing something with the Christmas-y gingerbread people blocks left over from a long ago Saturday Sampler.  The gingerbread girl block is on the way to becoming a mini quilt.  It's quilted and the binding is attached.  But she needs to be a bit more dressed up - buttons and bows are needed to make her pretty I think.  

I haven't decided yet what to do with the gingerbread boy block or the parts for 3 more that are still in that project box.  So the box has been put away again -  for now, at least until I come up with a plan. 

But of course the planning hasn't stopped for other things - so, what comes next? It was grey and raining AGAIN yesterday morning, which was a good reason to just go downstairs to my sewing room to be surrounded by color.  It was time to put away some things - and choose the next couple of things to focus on. From a basket full of fall kits, these 3 caught my eye first.  I think the little gnome mug rug will be my first choice.  Then I may have to make that hanging towel kit that was a recent purchase from Shabby Fabrics.  

And from a basket of Christmas things, I'm going to do this table topper using a gorgeous holiday batik jelly roll.  Last weekend was Sew a Jelly Roll Day - but I didn't. It's OK to jump into the game a few days late, right?     

Midweek check in

Every day I see a little more progress on this UFO.

So far this week I've gotten the last of the snowman noses ironed on and stitched down.  And now I'm working on the snowflakes.  There are 8 of them around the outside, and 12 more will go into the center area of the circle.  Then I'll have the 8 smiles to add to the snowmen. 

The last of the 30 Happy Blocks have been sewn, and they are also sewn into 6 rows of 5 blocks.  The colors are alternated like this.  I'm confident the rows will become a flimsy by the end of this week. 
 

The other progress made this week was in changing the seasonal quilts and things around my house.  There is more to do, but I'm happy with this little corner of my living room.