Saturday, January 31, 2026

creativity overload

 

Image
three challenges converge and I'm overwhelmed!

Today (one thing at a time this week) (which means several posts according to deadlines)

for Rainbow scrap challenge color of January, blue scraps I present another hexie spiral done with snowy prints

Image
cows... metallics, dots all ready to begin stitching together, life is going around in circles for me

as for blue, two of my artsy photos taken on a walk
Image
Blue ball in the wild

Image
blue skies and heat of a Colorado winter

I have an idea for the stay at home round robin this round... double blocks.... gotta keep it fitting into a dragonfly theme too. 

and here comes Project Quilting one week prompt on Sunday to complete the frantic pace and drain the rest of my creativity energy! lol 

linking to some or all of these

Posted by at 6 comments: Image

Thursday, January 29, 2026

I Like Thursday # 489 life is a puzzle

 

Image
welcome to this week's list of likes... we had a cold snap! yea! 

with snow that melted in two days. Three days later the temps are in the 60;s in the sun headed to sustained heat. We might have had random warm days in the past winters but now

too warm all the time but for one or two days of cold. We looked forward to cold winters when we decided to move here. 

On my walks this week

Image
circle the circle that doesn't belong here... no not a giant egg, a rubber ball
Image

a child dropped a candy on the sidewalk, it was covered in a dab of snow, and must be so full of chemicals that it has a half-life of a hundred years!

Image
they call this colorful Colorado

Image
squirrels and bunnies still active

Image
my fave husky siblings, out at night to greet me
the boy is needy, has to sniff me long and thoroughly, the girl waits and gives me a drive-by  polite sniff, looks me in the eye, and says hi in this soft voice. I think they are about 11 months old now
I love them

Image
what's that bright star? ask skyview on the phone,,, Jupiter! wow! 

Image
jupiter  how beautiful!


Image
I think this tree is trying to escape!

an art photo

Image

and one more
Image
zoom button brings the mountains closer

artistically I'm involved with two quilting art challenges... project quilting where I made a portable design wall to take blocks to the sewing machine to be sewn
Image
flannel backing lets cut pieces stay in place to the machine

and a round robin of our own following prompts 
Image


"a small like"

I like throwing out lettuce carrot and cabbage trimmings for our bunny, saw her foot prints in recent snow so she's still here

"another like "

is chatting with friends by phone ( Cindy, Joy and Diane in texas) this week! 

conversation starter this week is 


Image

Do you like puzzles? what kind? jigsaw, things like rubiks cube or slide puzzles, written ones like crossword or sudoku ? 

I have loved jigsaw puzzles as long as I can remember. I even remember the big 6 piece wooden jizsaw I had as a really young girl! I quickly mastered it and did it over and over. Then there was the cardboard pieces that fit into a holder as I aged.  Now I have been doing 300 piece puzzles online and love them to zone out... just see color shape and images... 

Image


I do not, repeat NOT like slide or twisting (rubiks) puzzles at all, I do love a book of math puzzles, sudoku, or logic as well as old fashioned Dell puzzle books with a variety of puzzles. 

they are logical when so much of life does not seem logical at the moment

puzzles are somehow calming while being stimulating at the same time, maybe that's why I love a good mystery show too

Image


what about you?

Fine Dining

Image
wish you could sniff the scent if oranges, cranberries walnuts and butter!

Tried this cookie recipe... OMG good

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/soft-and-chewy-cranberry-orange-cookies-recipe 

OMG, laughing still.... knowing my Milo baby would have agreed




for my friend Sonja and love to all of you

kisses for V-day.... 

let me know if you want to be included in the I Like group

Posted by at 13 comments: Image
Labels:

Monday, January 26, 2026

Dragonfly update round robin latest row

 

Image
The prompt for our first row after the center on the Stay at home round robin (SAHRR) challenge is

Hourglass blocks. Our choice of size, color and placement

(I'm having a lot of trouble making decisions right now)

I made these hourglass blocks first

Image
but wasn't sure I liked the placement... 
Image
oooo pretty colors and fabrics!

Image
love them! 

I had decided I want to make lots more even! but.... are they too dark for placement next to the dragonflies? 
so.... what if I gather light sky batik colors and make some more? okay!
2  5" squares, face to face,  chalk in a diagonal line, sew quarter inch from it on both sides of the line
Image
cut in half and open up, press. Place the HST units face to face (opposite color over the other) draw diagonal line the other direction, sew quarter inch away on both sides of the line, cut on yellow line, open press and
Image
oooo pretty colors again! pretty batiks!
start arranging them on top this time...

Image
more confusion.... I'll need to have a clearer head to decide on a fabric to go between the dragonflies and the hourglass blocks. 

Image
batiks are so pretty!


so is this garden scene, but it's a change from the painterly looking batiks...


Image

Image
so all I know for sure is I like hourglass blocks, and batiks, and 
DRAGONFLIES!

linking to some or all of these

Posted by at 12 comments: Image
Labels:

Saturday, January 24, 2026

Creativity this week in January.... plaid portfolio

 

Image
For this week's creativity round up I present

 "Plaid Coat" about 13" X 14" 

Project quilting prompt was plaid . What's a Scottish Dog supposed to wear if not plaid?

I saw a few renditions of scotty images, and 

I'll share a few pics as I tell you about making it

I often need to transport cut blocks to the sewing table so I like a portfolio with flannel to drive them over  to the machine

Image
lavender flannel on the back
I used the cardboard insert from my recent calendar as a stabilizer this time

Image
I have another one to make a second carrier... 
Image

sewed the pieced block, quilted it to cotton batting, trimmed and sewed   put right   sides together with a piece of flannel (lavender) 
Then sewed around three sides to do an envelop turn finish, turned right sides out and
slipped in the cardboard. 
Then turned under the bottom opening and did an invisible closing stitch to seal the deal
Image
time to embellish! I found a plaid button for his coat, and a shiny button for the eye. The nose is colored in with black marker. 

Image
time for some photos! 

Oh look, a bit of tiny blue scrap piecing also done this week, for Rainbow Scrap challenge color blue

Image
sew small rectangles together into 5 rows 
overlap and cut curves, sew together keeping flat, press and voila!
Image

I think I'm going to make something fun with this!  
now to clean up my plaid and homespun fabric drawer, pull out lake colors to add a row to my SAHRR
dragonflies... one thing at a time even though I want to do it all...


Image


finishing with a photo taken on a walk this week.... that sky is blue blue blue! and looks great with the stone colors in this pillar 
hmmmm learning color theory from a walk.... the stones skew to yellows, (and some blue grays).... opposite on the color wheel which mean complimentary. 
Image

linking with

Posted by at 21 comments: Image
Labels: ,

Thursday, January 22, 2026

I Like Thursday # 488 calendars and photos

 

Image
I've been playing with my camera's art option button,  on walks and that's dried grasses 

Image
a lot of the camera's options don't suit me but... the ones that do are going to be fun to use in new ways

along the way this week...
Image
I got to visit with this beauty and her mom... she is VEWY OLD and so engaging... she and her mom are both charming and fun to chat with. The mom said, we're supposed to get snow tonight... probably will turn into a dusting. (disgusted like most of us that we have only had 2 small snows and little cool weather) 
As it happened, we got 3" of wet snow that melted when the sun came up
Image
oy vey, winter why have you forsaken us? By the way, if you look up the high and low temps for Aurora, always increase heat for the sun factor, and increase sun because of thin atmosphere at over 6000 ft. 


Image
oooo tired of shoveling already? 
Image
4 out of a Meeelion geese who winter here now... on the putting green pooping... wonder how that affects the lie of the land? 

Image
ducks avoiding icebergs

Image
spectacular sunset
I'm doing two sewing/quilting challenges along with the usual rainbow scrap challenge, those posts are on Saturdays... but here is last week's project quilting art piece
Image
and the round robin center I'll be working on starts with this 
Image


got a new pair of RYKA walking shoes.... two thumbs up!  Love them and the cuddle duds fleece leggings that look like sweaters for my legs...
Image


Just finished this season of BBC's Midsomer Mysteries, it was great but only 4 episodes... now it's time to finally open this new season of The Traitors, (waited til there were several episodes available ) 

Our conversation starter this week is

Image

do you like, buy, have calendars ? I mean paper calendars of any type, diary style to go by the computer up to wall ones, and including have you ever printed ones yourself with your pet or children's pics on it? 

I don't like these "pull a page off a day" style, for me

Image

I have a love of calendars though.... I loved my desk top big squares month at a glance one that I had on my desk top (when I was a social worker)... places to jot notes, ideas, who I met with, deadlines. 

Now I do all computer work at the kitchen table so I like a diary style, week at a glance with monthly areas, areas for addresses, notes etc

Image
this one has pretty flowers and bird drawings, and lots of places to jot notes, lays flat showing that week

I have a wall calendar in the kitchen desk area, this year it's color my world, full of paintings and happy colors, shows a month at a time with a pretty picture over it
Image

I also love having a Mary Englebreit calendar hanging on the studio wall so I can see it behind the sewing machine 

I do not like looking at a calendar on a phone or Ipad.... too small, not easy to write on, and I love to write with a pen... then I remember things!

I'm not doing great, my body is a challenge, no dog yet despite a friend calling to say a 2 year old was at the shelter 45 min from us.... she was just spayed so we couldn't bathe her, and I had just left chiro so a long drive was too hard, so I was sad.... very concerned about domestic issues...

I made the olive oil lemon cake recipe my friend Diane sent, again. This time I added a glaze of powdered sugar, almond extract, and cream.... it's now a dessert, small but good!

please visit these people

please visit these kind people to see what they like this week. love you all, 

 Knitty Quilter 




Posted by at 14 comments: Image
Labels:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)