Odds, Ends, and Fiber Art

First of all, if your name is Faith, Lee, or Kate, don't read any further, unless you want to spoil a surprise... I wasn't going to post anything here, but I saw this link up party that Monika of "My Sweet Prairie" is starting up, and wanted to join in!  It's focus is on fiber arts, with an emphasis on Canadian artists.  I'm not Canadian, but live pretty close. I hope that counts :-).

Other than sewing, I've been doing a little bit of this:

and that:

and a whole lot of hanging out with my boys!

I sewed up a few pillowcases for the kids and their friends (they make great wrapping paper for birthday gifts). 

I also made this "mug rug" for my husband...

But my favorite project last week was the thank you postcards that I made for the generous ladies who put together the Summer Sampler Series!

Last block of the Summer Sampler Series

"Kansas Dust Storm" is the last of the Summer Sampler Series quilt along.  I had so much fun doing this!  Thanks to Kate, Lee, and Faith, who put it together!

Here it is all in one place:

I'm thinking about alternating the blocks with "scrappy squares" like this. 

What do you think?  It'll be a while, as I have already put it all away to get ready for our final end of summer activities.  I hope you are all enjoying summer as much as I am!

WIP Wed: Summer Sampler Continued

I have 2 more blocks done, and only 1 left to make!  Yipee!  I love how this quilt is coming together!  With only 21 days left until school starts, I hope to get some good chunks of time back to do some actual quilting soon (weather permitting).  I can't complain much though, as my kids are getting old enough that I no longer worry about keeping them out of trouble, but instead worry that they spend way too much time entertaining themselves on the computer.  I've been able to do more sewing this summer than ever before!  I've started the final block, and hope to finish it soon, and pack up my finished quilt blocks to make room for school supplies and veggies.

Speaking of veggies, our garden is coming along quite well.  I'm so glad my kids like veggies.  Each year, our garden gets bigger and bigger, and we have less and less of it to preserve.  Anyone with teen boys knows where it all goes :-).  I only planted a few flowers this year, none for cutting, so I'm enjoying instead the flowers in the garden.  Ever notice most are yellow?  I wonder why.  But I did find a few purple ones this week... an eggplant flower, and a yard-long bean flower.  Pretty!

We also have some young okra almost ready to pick (my favorite veggie), and some red starting to appear!

As usual, it's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced blog.  Come join us!

2 more blocks!

This block, from the Summer Sampler Series, (Arkansas Traveler) is one of my favorites!  So pretty.  I love the diamond shape in any quilt or design.  So elegant!

I also finished up the "mosaic" block!  Very fun!  Only 3 more blocks to go!

First Okra Blossom!!!

I just had to share this!  We have the first (several) okra blossom(s) in our garden!  Okra doesn't grow nearly as well here as it does down South, but it does grow.  Taking that into consideration, we planted a TON of okra, hoping to get enough to make me happy!  It's my favorite vegetable!  My husband even jokes that okra blossoms are my favorite flower :-).  They certainly are pretty!

Here's our harvest for the day:

I decided, as I was going through all of my batik scraps that I'm going to add more blocks to the summer sampler quilt (eventually).  I have a ton of extra 3x3 squares that I cut for Lee's "Supernova" quilt along that are just begging to be used up.  I'll have to cut up some more reds, greens and oranges to add to the mix.  I hope it doesn't get too scrappy!  I'm thinking of adding them checkerboard style, and putting the quilt on point.  We'll see....

With family in Texas, my mind has been there quite a bit.  I hope all of you are safe and staying cool!

2 More Star Blocks Finished

I just finished these 2 lovely blocks from the Summer Sampler Series.  What fun!

WIP Wed: More Sampler Blocks

I almost have another Summer Sampler Block finished. I'm slowly getting caught up.  It's been so much fun sewing these beauties up!  Using up scraps and learning to paper piece is also great!  As usual, the flickr group looks fantastic!  I marvel almost every day at how the internet has transformed my life (and the world)!

Here's the group I have all finished up:

The garden's loving the hot weather we've finally been getting!  I picked our first green beans and our first pepper today!  Yipee!  The summer squash have been producing for a few weeks now!

It's also Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wed blog!  Come join us!!

A few more blocks: Evening Star and Virgina Star

Gosh, the paper pieced Evening Star was quite the challenge for me!  But I was up for it, and it turned out so pretty!  I impressed myself LOL!  It's got to be among my favorite pieced blocks!

After that, the Star of Virgina was such an easy fun block.  I've made many of these, but never scrappy like this.  This quilt is coming together so well.  I love all of the colors!  It's nice to finally have enough scraps to do a quilt like this.  It's my 3rd quilt made almost entirely from scraps.  So far, I haven't bought a bit of fabric.  I hope I don't have to at all to finish this!  I'm taking a break though, and I'm off to the pool with the boys!!

Greek Cross Block

Yep, I'm hooked on the Summer Sampler Series...  I had to make the Greek Cross blue, since my father-in-law is Greek, and would give me a hard time if I didn't!

I forgot how much fun sampler quilts are.  It's neat to focus entirely on one single block, instead of one block made many times.  I started my second paper-pieced block today, and honestly that's another biggie that finally drew me in.  I love to learn new skills each time I make a quilt, and certainly my ripper has been busy ;-).

The floor looks pretty too!

Luckily, my husband is looking out for our garden!  He pulled all of the garlic and tied them up to dry over the week-end!  NICE!!