Table Scraps Challenge ~~~Trees , Any Color! 11-24

November color and idea prompt was presented by Joyful in her post dated October 25th.. Maker’s Choice for color and trees . I needed a Christmasy something for my guest bathroom. I had a blue towel but it had couple of rough spots. So I appliqued some trees. 

As I was thinking about this little scrappy project I was wondering what to use for tree patterns! I don’t think I have one in my cookie cutters. There were some quilt patterns on line. But I didn’t really want to buy a pattern just for this .  I was putting borders on a long ago UFO. 

Do you see what I see? 

A trio of Christmas trees. I opened the pattern pack and set to tracing the shapes on some wonder under. 

UM-M…..the pattern has some X’s that represent stars at the top of each tree. I didn’t add those on the quilt!  🙃 Well, it’s still a flimsy so I can fix that! 

My trees on the blue hand towel have stars at the top!

I didn’t notice til I took this photo, how much shadow there is from the light over the vanity. Apologies!

Linking up with The Joyful Quilter for November’s Table Scraps Challenge. .

Looking forward to the December challenge! What color, Joyful and what direction am I going? 

~~~~Rainbow Pluses! Might be challenging since I’ll be away from my machine all of December!

And I’m cheating a little by posting this on Angela’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful ! 
 

I LIKE Thursday.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the US. And happy Thursday to others friends around the world.

I’m joining LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color and others as we share things we like about today. 

I’m cooking for a small group today. Mr. Busy and I are hosting dinner. Our granddaughter and her kids will be here for sure. If jobs don’t take precedence, and jobs here always take precedence, others will join us. 

Just traditional dinner fare, and not too much, if I can help it. It’s hard to cook Thanksgiving for 3-4, and 2 young ones! But I’m thankful to get some time with them. They are so busy, with school, and gymnastics and robot club, etc, etc. 

My sewing mojo has returned. I finished the Mom Bag! My granddaughter loves it!

And I got the borders on this Christmas UFO. 

I’m working on constructing a backing. I’ll wait til after Christmas to take it to the quilter. They are swamped now and I’ll have a new quilt to hang next Christmas. 

We attended the annual Festival of Trees, last Sunday. Boy, that puts you in the holiday spirit !

A few of the trees! There were gorgeous wreaths too! An auction was held Saturday night and they raised over $475,000. The money will benefit improving healthcare in our community. 

Trees in purple and white with wine corks, tiny glasses and other ornaments. There was an all pink flamingo tree. Guess whose favorite that was?  A Lego tree, a Home Alone themed tree, a Mario tree and an old fashioned Norwegian tree. 

LeeAnna asked us if we preferred hot chocolate or hot toddy. I love Hot Chocolate. Especially with Peppermint Vodka and whipped cream. I’m not much of a whiskey drinker, but am a fan of Hot Buttered Rum or a Tom and Jerry. Are you familiar with a Tom and Jerry?  A variation of eggnog with brandy and rum sprinkled with nutmeg! Yummmmm! 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful. But most of all Grateful!

Slow Sunday Stitching

 

I’m late writing my post today. I slept in this morning, later than usual. So I just had my coffee and turned on CBS Sunday Morning.

Then Mr Busy got up and started making French Toast. That was a treat!

Our community hospital hosts a festival of trees every year! My granddaughter and her family are going with me.

Tonight I plan to finish this little felt mitten Christmas ornament. I thought I'd lost the tiny white circle that makes the pompom on hat. But as I was putting all the parts back in my project box to get ready to go out to The Festival of Trees I found it!  Phew!!

So that's what I'll be working on tonight.

Linking up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching. 

Leaving you with a photo or two from the Tree Festival: I am home now!

Miss B, our great granddaughter. The tree is full of pink flamingos!

A tree made out of Legos!  

And a crowd favorite, with a working running waterfall pond and woodland animals!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful, but most of all THANKFUL!

Finished or Not Friday.

 OMGOSH! Can you believe I actually finished something! I’m linking up to Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts. 

Several years ago I made my granddaughter a Mom Bag, from this pattern. My seam guide was used a lot as was a piece of tape on my machine. The pattern uses 1/2” seam allowances and I needed a visual reminder!

It’s the Birdie Sling from Amy Butler. “ Mom Bag” is my name for a replacement diaper bag. Her kids were 7 and 2 then. She wore it out! A few weeks ago I offered to make her a new bag. I showed her all my bag and purse patterns and she chose the Birdie Sling again. 

So here it is finished. 

I hope she likes it. 

 Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful! 

I LIKE Thursday

 

I’m joining friends at Not Afraid of Color to talk about some good things! 

I finished the sling bag for my granddaughter! 

I’ll give it to her this weekend.

My book club met last Monday. We reviewed and discussed Go As A River! Most of us liked it, but one member was put off by parts of it! No spoilers here, but I’ll say I liked it a lot! 

I finished The Amber Keeper, 

I recommend it, if you like historical fiction, tossed with a love story and a dysfunctional family!  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. 

And I’ve just started this one. It’s been on my Kindle for a long time! I am enjoying it . 

 

My stitching group met today. Lots of project for show and tell and WIPs.

Lower center is homemade apple caramels! Yum-O!

LeeAnna asked this question: 

What dish would you take to a family dinner this month?  

My answer is always my mother-in-laws cranberry jello salad! We call it Grandma Ruth’s Cranberry Salad. And we have had it every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner since Mr.Busy and I were married. Sixty years! Not always made my me, but often. 

Have a good week everyone! 

Stay  Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful! 

It’s Already Wednesday !

 I haven’t been working on anything for RSC or TableScraps Challenge. Since we made our decision to do a Christmas trip, that has been my focus. 

There were license plates that needed to be renewed, Real Estate taxes that needed to be paid, and a tax reduction form to be filed. (This because we are old, and have paid taxes in this country for over 25 years!) Then my Driver’s License renewal form showed up. I needed an eye exam. Life stuff!! But time consuming. 

I started making a replacement Mom Bag for my granddaughter. It’s a Birdie Sling bag from Amy Butler. The fabrics are mostly from my stash, but I did need to purchase some fusible fleece.  And there wasn’t enough of the purple fabric I had originally picked, so that needed to be remedied. I got a deal on that purple fabric. It’s Chalk and Charcoal by Jennifer Sampou for Robert Kaufman. Made in Japan. Deanna offered me a discount for taking the last of the bolt and I had a punch card for $10.00 off. You can’t have too much purple! :)

I need to sew lining pieces together, make the gussets, make and add the straps and it’s done! I want to get it done by Thanksgiving. I should be able to do that!

Oh, and we are hosting Thanksgiving. Not a huge group, but more than I usually cook for. So recipes are being gathered and ingredients checked off! 

Crockpot stuffing recipe from a friend.

Today there is a hair appointment scheduled and grocery pick up!  Busy…busy!

Sharing at Midweek Makers, hosted by Quilt Fabrication!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful! 

I LIKE THURSDAY 11-14-24

 

 I’m needing uplifting messages lately!   This time of year, August - early January, are when I’ve lost important people in my life. And for me, the coming of winter is nor a season I look forward to. 

But good things are happening! Mr Busy surprised me  with plans to go to California for Christmas.

I am excited. 😆 

My Holiday/Thanksgiving cactus is blooming. 

Clockwise, top left to bottom left: Nov 1st, Nov 7th and  today, Nov 14th. It’s so pretty this year! 

I’m still reading The Amber Keeper. And next Monday is my Face to Face book club gathering, to discuss Go As A River. What should I read next? Any suggestions? 

I’m joining  LeeAnna and friends at Not Afraid of Color to share the good stuff.. 

LeeAnna also gave us a prompt for today.   What’s a favorite Fall movie?

I rarely watch movies more than once, but the prompt made me think of Sweet November. 

Yes, there is not a happy ending, but it’s one I remember. Some favorite actors. Keanu Reeves( before he was Neo) and Charlize Theron ( before she was Snow White) and Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls). I think you can find it on Netflix. 

Maybe we all need a cathartic ugly cry! 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful! 

Slow Sunday Stitching- Christmas Countdown

As I sit in my favorite chair this morning, I’m trying to look to the future.. The way I can cope is to look forward to Christmas. It’s only 45 Days!!  That feels impossible! 

I completed the November design on my Woven Wreath project from Kathy Schmitz. 

I loved learning the wheatear stitch and the fishbone stitch. I’m excited to finish this project!

I unearthed a Christmas UFO that needed to be finished. Hometown Christmas by Sweetwater. 

I loved the black and white border, but could not justify spending money on new fabric, when I had lots and lots of Christmas fabric. Consequently, my fabric didn’t have a lot of black! 

  

I pulled possible border fabric from my stash! Nothing made me happy!  So off to my favorite local fabric store. The owner and quilter extraordinaire, Nicki, suggested these two options ⤵️

I chose the red and black Buffalo check. 

And I started yet another slow stitch. I had this kit and 2 others from Rachel’s of Greenfield in my stash with the intent of Christmas tree ornaments for my Grands and Great Grands. I have more than 6! 

I’m barely started this morning. I started with the Gingerbread Man and have the pieces cut for the Star Snow person and the Santa Face. 

I’m linking up with Kathy’s Quilts Slow Sunday Stitching

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful! 

RSC 2024.

 

I’m back to trying to complete some UFOs.   Most of my UFOs are scrappy, so I’m linking up with Angela at Scrap Happy Saturday

A few years ago I stitched and completed the top, without borders, for Hometown Christmas. 

I use fabrics from my stash not Sweetwater’s fabric like. Now I’m having trouble deciding on a border fabric. 

Here are some possibilities. 

On my design wall.

Close up of the red with white dots.⤴️

A green, red and cream plaid.↗️

And a more yellowish Christmas sprig fabric that matches some of the fabric in the top.⤴️

Now, I don’t really like any of these. What do you think of a black and white gingham?

Any input would be helpful. I’m stalled!

Thanks! 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful!