I'm joining Angela and friends for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and spreading a bit of blue cheer.
Last week I showed you three blue Split Nine Blocks. They are still on the design wall and have been joined by a 4th Split 9 and 4 zipper blocks. Since I am using both light and dark blues I think I will make 4 more blue zipper blocks. and four more split nines before the end of June. Hopefulluy! Still no "set in stone" plan for how these blocks will go, but I'll need more than 4 each I'm sure.
I spent some of this week, trying to make a backing for a small child's quilt.It will be scrappy. Come back next week to see how I did!!
It’s Thursday! Time to share the good things. LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color gives us a place to come together.
FOOD:
Last Thursday I joined some friends for our Thursday Stitchers at our library! Our newest member is a young 30 yo. She a fabulous new stitcher, is completely computer/ tech savvy and she introduced us to Stroopwafles. This is the one I had warmed over a cup of hot coffee! So, so, yummy. Are you familiar with Stroopwafles?
When I got groceries yesterday, I was going to buy some to show you the package and to share with Mr Busy. Although he’s not a fan of caramel, he MIGHT like them. But Albertsons didn’t have any! Here is a picture from the internet.
I stopped by a friend’s garden on Monday and wandered around her yard. Her clematis are so pretty. The growing season is short here in the high country desert, so we celebrate any and all colorful growing things.
LeeAnna’s prompt for 6-13-24.
Remember the last day of the school year? Clearing out your desk in elementary school, or your locker in high school...Remember how you felt and what the first days of freedom were like?
I don’t have any specific memories of the last day of school! That was a very long time ago! I loved school, so I was probably a bit sad. But looked forward to reading and the Boolmobile coming to our neighborhood.
Tell us how you spent an average childhood day when school was out... sleep late?
probably but never til noon. I’ve always been an early riser. No AC so mornings were the best times
hang out with friends more?spend more time at the pool?
I had a job when I was 15! So not in HS. Maybe when I was in elementary school!
Stay up later watching tv shows not allowed during the year?
No. I’d rather read.
Visiting a relative every summer?
Every summer we, my siblings and I, spent a week at our cousin’s in a small town in eastern SD. We rode bikes, played canasta and whist on the living room floor, walked “downtown” it was 3 blocks, bought a Coke out of an old vending cooler. Fun times!
On Saturday I started on the June motif for Woven Wreaths. I finished it
while Mr Busy was gone on Tuesday afternoon, while listening to The Women on Audible!
Boy, is it good. I keep trying to remember what I was doing in 1967, 1968 and into 1969. The time period in the first 20 chapters. I was a young housewife and mother, and pregnant with our second baby. I was oblivious of all that was going on. I think. I knew about LBJ, the protests going on, the assassination of Martin Luther King and the Black Panthers. But I didn’t know anyone who was serving in Vietnam, male or female.
I can’t wait to continue the listening.
Today I’m off to gather with stitching friends. All the meeting rooms in our library are busy, so today we meet at the Golf Club. They have a small restaurant and welcome us to sit and stitch. It’s going to be warm so the course will probably be busy!
Just trying to rev up my blues. I have a light blue scrap bucket and a dark blue scrap bucket. So finding blue shouldn’t be a problem. I sewed 3 split nine blocks, cut pieces for 1 more and also for some zipper blocks. I’m mixing dark and light in my blocks.
I started stitching the June design on Woven Wreaths. I like this watering can with baby’s breath in it. The little bee is a tiny stitch. But Kathy has some great tips in her YouTube tutorial for completing the bee. I’ll get him done today, or finish him tomorrow while watching CBS Sunday Morning. I want to look at the tutorial one more time before doing the bee.
I caught whatever it was that Mr. Busy had last week. I call it a summer cold. Headache, runny nose, some aches and pains that are relieved by Tylenol. And a scratchy throat that feels better when I drink my Hot Spiced Tea. I used to call it Russian Tea, but now it’s just Spiced Tea. 🫖 So not much was accomplished, but I got several naps! 💤
I don’t add sugar at all. I like the pucker of the lemonade flavor. When this recipe was given to me you could buy Wyler’s Lemonade in packets like KoolAid. Now I buy a canister of CountryTime Lemonade and a canister of Tang and just make a batch at a time.
I had a “finally finished”this week! I turned a UFO into a shower curtain. Some of you who follow my blog read about it on Wednesday. Some of you may have only heard about it. It was an OMG project for several months.
If you are interested in more detail, here is a link to my Midweek Makers post!
It’s funny to me, that when I showed fellow quilter friends this top, the reactions were lukewarm! “Well, that’s interesting!” And “ hmmmm, where did you get that pattern?” I really hadn’t had an idea where it was going to go at the time, so it when in the to be finished closet. I liked and still do. When we redid the shower in our front bathroom , I decided to get rid of the fishing theme. Rainbows, Be Kind, Positive Attitudes was my thought process. I thought of this quilt. And so it is done! I linking up with Alycia at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday!
I’d already saved this cute meme from Sweatpants and Coffee, before I read LeeAnna prompt for today!
Guess great minds think alike .
From LeeAnna:
when you have free time, do you feel the need to constantly "DO" something? Is rest considered wasting time? How do you spend some free time and how would you like to spend free time .
I do have a bit of that need to DO something. But I try to take time for some self care. That’s usually a book, printed or e-book, and a drink. Tea or coffee, lemonade or maybe a Moscow Mule or maybe a Mojito!
The only thing that would make that better would be if it happened on a white sand beach.
Other Stuff:
It’s Spring! Guess how I know?
Beyond the tree line, is McNanneman Lake. The geese are here year round.
I count 4 adult geese and at least 20 goslings!
More wildlife. This spider on the front porch railing. As I bent over to take his picture, he jumped to the nearby baluster! Needless to say , I screamed. I’m not usually afraid of spiders, but he was about the size of my thumbnail and he/she startled me.
I found this on Facebook! I thought it was worth sharing.
We watch this on Netflix recently. I recommend it.
And Tuesday night started this series . On Netflix also!
I’ve had several blogger friends ask me how I made a quilt top/flimsy into a shower curtain. I’m going to attempt to explain. If you are not interested, feel free to exit out and go on to the next maker
First, of course, decide which of your UFO tops you will use. I chose a top I made from a QAL called 30 Blocks in 30 Days.
Then comes measurements. Is the original wide enough for the opening in your shower?
There was a lot of trial and error for us because we had our original tub/ shower combination taken out and a new step in shower installed. I opted for a curved shower rod installed at a custom height. Because Mr Busy is tall, the shower head is higher than normal and therefore the rod is higher.
This is just to see where I needed to make adjustments. It’s clipped to hangers!
I started with a clear plastic liner from Amazon. It is 72x78. That gave me a starting point. I needed to add borders to the sides to begin. I divided the width difference in half, added seam allowances and added the borders. I knew I was going to have to add to the length, but I needed to wait until it was hanging to determine that length.
I made a liner from a piece of muslin I had. You could use any plain light colored fabric. I measured again! Always measure twice ( or more ) cut once! Then sewed the backing(lining) at the sides only. The liner was longer than needed but that gave me some leeway.
I pressed the seams to the main curtain. Trimmed the top edges even. I cut strips of Stitch Witchery at 3 inches by the width and fused the muslin back to the quilt top. This reinforced the top edge for grommets. You could also do buttonholes. I added a narrow binding at the top using a light gray fabric. The color is personal preference. You do you! I chose to use a 1.75” strip and attach per Edyta Sitar’s method. You can find a video on Fat Quarter Shops YouTube channel or search Edyta Sitar Laundry Basket Quilts.
Oh yippee, I think I was able to insert it here! 😀
Next step was to insert the grommets. I was able to find chrome 3/4” grommets at Hobby Lobby. I knew I needed twelve, to match the purchased liner. I measured and marked the grommet location to match the liner. With Mr Busy’s help I got them installed. I measured 1” down from the binding edge. This gave a bit more above the grommets, and changed the total length needed a bit.
At this point it was more trial and error. I now needed to add 4” at the bottom of the original quilt top. I cut border rectangles at 6” in colors that coordinated with the flimsy. I calculated 4” + 1/2”for seam allowance + 1 1/2” for a hem. I didn’t have to match seams, I just made it long enough. I hemmed the curtain by pressing up 1/2” then 1 inch. I machine stitched it down. I cut the lining a bit shorter and used an overlocking stitch on my machine to finish the edge. I had to unstitch the side seam about 2 inches. The muslin lining hangs loose at the bottom. To finish, I top- stitched the side edges so they have a crisp edge.
I know this is wordy, I hope you get the idea. This is by no means the only way to do this. I just did it one step at a time. I’m pleased with the way it turned out!
Our bathroom is small. Our house was built in 1978.
I hung this wall hanging above the towel rack to the left of the shower. I think it compliments curtain.
Starting a new month and a new color. I’m anxious to sew blues. There was a chuck of blue added to the bottom hem piece that needs to be added to the quilty shower curtain. I’ll eventually get it totally done and then will try to write a step by step. I’ve had some questions about the method to my madness!
Today is my brother’s birthday. He’s the only one of the four of us who has a summer birthday. The only one who is left handed and the only one of us who didn’t wear glasses in elementary school. So interesting I think!
And tomorrow Mr. Busy and I celebrate our 60th Wedding Anniversary!
We were so young! Our bridesmaids wore blue, there were blue gladiolus decorating the church.
Sooo, I’m ready to sew blue! The blue scrap baskets are on the cutting table.
