Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Rainbow Scrap Challenge finish

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and time with family and friends. We had a wonderful time and found time to rest and reflect on the Reason for the Season, the Birth of Jesus!
I also found some time to work in my sewing room completing my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt, Rainbow Geese. 
I added blocks of peach and gray to bring the total blocks to 12. In making these blocks, the small HST blocks become a bonus. They are 3/4" finished and work great in the border. I'm linking up to Scrap Happy Saturday. This will be my last flimsy finish in 2018. 
I have also kept up with my Temperature quilt...only 7 blocks to go!  
I'm looking forward to new challenges in 2019! 
What challenges, quilt alongs, mystery quilts, etc. have you joined for 2019? 

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Some sunshine finally!

Hello Mr. Sunshine! It has been a while since you have come out! 
I finally was able to take some pictures of My Little Blue Neighborhood quilt. Since it has been done, we has seen little sunshine and it also gets dark so early that by the time I get home from school, there isn't time to do a photo shoot. 
Last Saturday, I was able to go to the place that I wanted to do some photos only to find that it was too sunny. My quilt was washed out.
The shadows were coming quickly.
On the back I put the 3 houses that I found duplicates of and started a 'new subdivision' for my neighborhood. 
The colors and whites are a bit off due to too much sunlight but I really like the painted brick wall background so I went back again for another shoot.
The colors are much better! 
Just down from the 1st photo shoot, I found a string already strung across the bricks. How convenient! 
 All labeled! A finish!
I also started putting together my Flying Geese RSC quilt. I added two additional blocks, one gray and the other peach, to make 12 blocks. 
I also pulled out the small HSTs that resulted from making the flying geese blocks. I am planning on using them for a border as shown above. They are pretty small and will finish at about 3/4" , adding about 1 1/2" to the size of the quilt. It should finish at 37.5" x 49.5". 
I added another row to my temperature quilt...only 2 rows left for 2018!
Linking to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River,  Scrap Happy Saturday at So Scrappy.

Sunday, December 2, 2018

Busy times and updates

Once again I have failed to keep up with life, quilting and blogging. 
The month of November was quite a blur as we welcomed (and helped move) our DD1, her partner and dog, Ole to our home after they lost their lease and decided to try to save some money to buy instead of keep renting. We moved most of their things to storage and the rest to our house. 
We are glad to help but I have to admit, it is a bit of adjustment after being empty nesters for many years. 
Thanksgiving week, we welcomed home our DD2, our SIL and their dog, Miss Sadie and our DD3. The house was full and BUSY!
We hiked. We ate out. We visited. We cooked. We crafted. We baked. 
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. So many blessings to be thankful for! We took the opportunity for a family picture (missing one). 
On Friday, we ventured downtown as our out-of-town kids wanted to have a family day there. We strolled through Maggie Daly Park, and Millennium Park. Saw the Chicago Christmas tree and went to Cindy's on top of the Chicago Athletic Association Building for a beautiful view of the skyline. We also went to the (very crowded) Christkindlmarket for some holiday cheer!
 Maggie Daly Park
kids of all ages @Maggie Daly Park 
 Millennium Park
 Chicago Tree
still too light out to get the full effect
view from Cindy's

 my daughters and me from Cindy's
hubby bought me a giant pretzel at the market
On Saturday, we had a Baby Shower for my DD2 with our friends and family. 
(I am limiting the number of pictures from the shower as this post is a bit photo heavy)
dessert table
 center piece we crafted
our dear friend said the welcome and dedication
On Sunday, DD3 flew back home early. DD2, SIL and Miss Sadie headed back home a little after 1:00pm. A storm was brewing so even though it was sad to see them go, we were happy for them to get out before the weather got bad. 
It was a good thing because at 1am my husband woke and said we had lost power. The blizzard was in full force. It was 36+ hours before we had electricity and HEAT. Schools were closed for a Snow Day on Monday so my job was cancelled. By Monday night, the temperature had dropped to 20º and it was COLD in our house. It gets dark by 4:30 so we had candles and battery operated lanterns to give some light. My husband had to leave for an out-of-town business trip which left my daughter and me with 2 dogs. Thankfully, the power was restored on Tuesday afternoon! It took a bit to get everything back online but we are back up. 
As for quilting, My Little Blue House quilt is waiting for an opportunity to photograph it. It is all finished. I hope to have pictures soon!
I also put together one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts. 
I decided to add a dog as if sitting in front of the quilt as I took a picture. Kind of like a photo bomb...? This will be a charity quilt. It is waiting to be sandwiched and quilted. 
Linking up to Scrap Happy Saturday @ So Scrappy
I also have been working on trying to catch up on my Temperature quilt. I continued to log the daily highs and lows but have to admit that I fell quite behind on actually making the blocks. 
At least, I'm into November now.  See how the temperatures are dropping. Orange and reds are gone for the year. I will start to see more greens and blues now as we come to the end of 2018!