Slow Sunday Stitching: More Never-Ending Quilt Binding!

My eyes needed a little break from today's Slow Sunday Stitching project.

I've been hand-stitching the binding on this Halloween small quilt.  The binding has a black background and I'm using black thread for the stitching.  It's hard on the eyes, even with my wonderful Ott lamp for illumination!

I did finish the binding on my previous Slow Sunday Stitching project.  This baby quilt was inspired by a stack of Tula Pink's Hushabye fabrics and a Moda Bake Shop pattern. 

I didn't want to cut the yard-sized piece of hidden owl fabric, so I used it for the back of the quilt.  Instead of a stark white background fabric, I used Kona Snow - it worked beautifully!

If you're a fan of hand-stitching, be sure to check out the other Slow Sunday Stitchers over at Kathy's Quilts.  As for me, it's time to go add some more stitches and enjoy some slow time with my family!

Chocolate & Mint

Chocolate and mint have always been one of my favorite flavor combinations.

Girl Scout Thin Mints

York Peppermint Patties

Andes Mints

Mint chocolate chip ice cream

Wouldn't a chocolate and mint happy scrappy house be yummy?

I even managed to find a chocolate and mint New Orleans house.  This combo of business downstairs, living quarters upstairs is fairly common in the older parts of the city.  The panel van driving by is the perfect touch - it belongs to one of New Orleans' iconic confections:  Hubig's Pies.

Since it's Saturday, I'm linking up with the other Rainbow Scrappers over at Angela's SoScrappy blog.  After that I'm forgoing sewing today to attend a Geocaching event to celebrate the life of a friend and fellow geocacher.  Hope everyone has a great Saturday doing something they enjoy!

Vintage Brown

I went digging through the brown fabric stash this week, looking for the perfect brown reproduction-style fabrics.  What I found was some vintage fabric history!

I knew I wanted to use up a large scrap of brown floral fabric (top) for this week's happy, scrappy house.  I looked through the stash for coordinating fabrics and found about two yards of the brown check - from 1988!  I decided it was time for that checked fabric to get used up, so I cut several 18 x 18 squares for napkins.  I'll try to have pictures next week, as my dishes match this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color.

The hunk of vintage brown check was significantly reduced!  Back in the day, reproduction fabrics were not abundant, and I remember buying those fabrics by the yard whenever I happened to find them.  It's wonderful to have access to the abundance of repro fabrics that are available now!

I'm really happy with how this house came together!  Most of the fabrics have been marinating in the stash for a long time, so I'm happy to be using them up.  The chimneys are new reproduction fabrics from Barbara Brackman.

The New Orleans house for this week is another double shotgun, but I really loved the brown trim and shutters, as well as the ornate detailing on the gable.

If you would like more brown scrappy inspiration, vintage or modern, do stop by Angela's soscrappy blog to see what the other Rainbow Scrappers have been creating this week!

Just a Box of Scrappy Chocolates!

I have been rather obsessed with the scrappy chocolate HSTs I pulled out last week for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color.  I played with several different block arrangements this week, putting together some small, decorative quilts to give as gifts.  Even though I found myself dreaming about HST quilts all week, the chocolate therapy was great!

This chocolate mash-up was inspired by a candle mat I spied on Pinterest.  My blocks were smaller, so I added a Box of Chocolates border.  I probably could've used a little more contrast in my light blocks, but everything came from scraps, so I'm happy.  I can just picture this with a chocolate-scented candle in the center!

Next I took some inspiration from Audrey's churn dash blocks.  These used up some HSTs and other chocolate scraps.  Again, the blocks are a little small - 6 inches finished - so I'm auditioning some borders.  I may have enough scraps to make two additional blocks, so this one is marinating for a bit.

Birds in the Air is one of my favorite quilt blocks, so I decided to make some chocolate birds.  There might be enough of the pink chocolate fabric left to make two more BITA blocks, so this project could be more table runner size. 

This is an interesting arrangement of just the four BITA blocks.  I could add a narrow white border and a darker outer border.  I've checked through all the chocolate and brown scraps (and pink scraps) for an appropriate border, but I don't have anything that works.  That might mean a trip to the quilt store!

And I still have a good number of chocolate HSTs to play with.  Any and all suggestions cheerfully considered!

I felt a little like Hansel & Gretel as I made this chocolate happy, scrappy house!  Or would that make me the witch?

Doesn't this week's New Orleans house look cozy?  I love the chocolate brown color with all the delicate gingerbread trim!

If you need more chocolate therapy, check out the other Rainbow Scrappers who are linking up at Angela's blog!  

Slow Stitching: Never-ending Quilt Binding!

It seems I'm always working on quilt binding when Slow Stitching Sunday rolls around!  This baby quilt, made with Tula Pink's Hushabye fabric, was pinned and ready for quilting but got stalled.  I finally decided I needed to get the quilting done before the pins left permanent marks on the quilt!  Now I'm hand-stitching the binding and hope to finish up while watching football (Geaux Saints!) this afternoon.  All will be revealed when the binding is complete!

I'm linking up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching - there will be lots of other great hand-stitching projects to check out there!

Urban Retreat

A new month has arrived along with cooler weather and a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge color.  

The challenge color this month is brown, so I've been pulling out all kinds of brown scraps and dreaming of ways to use them up.

Last year during the brown scrap challenge month I pulled out a "chocolate" UFO and was inspired to finish the project.  It's now in the pile awaiting binding, so I moved that chore peaceful pursuit to the top of the "To Do" list.

The chocolate quilt produced a bunch of bonus HSTs.  I think there are probably enough for a few table runners or table toppers - quick gifts if I can snatch the sewing time this month!  I did some fabric therapy last night and trimmed the HSTs to a consistent size.  Bonnie Hunter mentioned a new-to-me technique earlier this week, so I had to try it out.  Using the Easy Angle Ruler makes trimming the HSTs a breeze!

My New Orleans house this week is inspired by log cabins.  Several years ago, my Dear Husband allowed as he had always wanted to live in a log cabin.  We began searching for a weekend getaway and to help matters along I made some pillowcases featuring log cabins with appropriate flora and fauna.  Dreaming about log cabins would surely help us find one, right?  It turns out log cabins are few and far between in our neck of the woods <g>, so we settled for a camp instead.  Pillowcase scraps make great log cabin blocks, though!

Believe it or not, these "houses" are actually located with the New Orleans city limits!

The houses are all located on an estate downriver from the city center, in an area known as Lower Coast Algiers.  Most of the land in the area was originally plantations and is still very sparsely populated.  The owners of this property created a retreat known as Studio in the Woods where artists can go to nurture their creativity.

And now my coffee cup is empty and it's time to get on with the day.  I'm linking up with the other Rainbow Scrappers; I have a feeling they will nurture my creativity!