Crossroads in Orange

Orange is the color for March in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This week I made 8 Crossroads blocks in various shades of orange ranging from light peach to rust. UPDATE: You can find Connie's great tutorial for these blocks HERE.

I have to say that orange used to be my least favorite color but over the last 6 months it has really grown on me. It started when I saw all of the cute Halloween projects around BlogLand but I think I've come to like orange on it's own merit.

Just look at all of these pretty shades of orange! The tangerine fabrics jump right out don't they? And, at the risk of sounding like a broken record month after month - I love this block. It's fun to sew, it's easy and it creates a great secondary pattern.

I have been really drawn to monochromatic color schemes lately too in quilts. Where I used to think "boring" now I think "WOW!".

J-Meow and Jax have a few more days with us until I bring them home. Yesterday I cracked up when I walked out of my quilting room to this sight.

Jax will often sit by the water bowl to give me a not so subtle hint that he is displeased with it's condition, but this was too much! He likes to have the bowl loaded with ice cubes so he can play with them.

They really are good buddies. I had a hard time getting this picture because there was a lick-a-thon going on intermittently but I love how their paws are "hugging" each other.

I hope that you all get a chance to celebrate National Quilting Day in the best way possible! I'm linking up to ScrapHappy Saturday@soscrappy, Feline Friday@sarah did it! and It's a Saturday Sharing Day@Pig Tales and Quilts.

Friday Finish

It's hard to believe that today is March 15th!  I think after the shortness of February, I've lulled myself into thinking that there is PLENTY of time in March... I'd better start getting some projects to the finish line.

"Garden Cats" is done and it is the last of my Warm Wishes UFO tops. I just love this cat print - how can you go wrong with cats & flowers?  The detail on their eyes is so wonderful!

I used white Aurifil for the quilting.

It's safe to say that flannel has become my favorite backing fabric for kids quilts as I just love how cozy it feels. You can see the quilting details best on the back.

While I was quilting this my husband thought I should keep it and I just might do that!

I'm linking up to TGIFF, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Finish It Up Friday, Let's Make Baby Quilts and Link a Finish Friday.

Best Drawers in the House!

This was not part of my original plan at all. I was looking for the J-cats yesterday and found them fast asleep in my daughter's room. My daughter has not lived with us since the summer of 2011 and is not likely to ever again as she is graduating from college this spring. She has a full time job lined up in her college city while she decides about future schooling over the next year.

Yesterday I was looking around and realized that there are some missed storage opportunities in her room. Like these empty drawers which amazingly enough are the perfect size for storing fabric wrapped on comic boards!

How have I missed this?

I can't imagine an easier way to admire pull fabric for projects yet keep it protected from sun, dust and cat hair!

I need to grab my bottle of Goo be Gone to clean that spot above.

There is a lot of new in this drawer... I've fallen hard for B&W (and polka dot) fabrics and have warmed up to grey so have been stalking sales. Mission accomplished!

Can you guess that yellow is my favorite color?

I'm thinking about folding up FQs to store in the top drawers which are a bit less deep than the others. Maybe in some trays... I'll have to see what I have around the house.

Guess what? There is also an almost empty closet in this room too!  Score!!

Fun With Fabric

I have been happily sidetracked from UFOs for the last few days by taking over our family room and playing with my stash instead. I'm just about done putting my "rainbow" stash on comic boards. By the end of the day these will be sorted by value and put back into my stash closet.

I absolutely cannot organize without making a huge mess! I've been listening to audio books while doing this and love it - I'm not much of a multi-tasker anymore but this works for me. I listen to a chapter, take a break and then I want to listen to another chapter so I keep at it. I watched Season 1 of Downton Abbey on Netflix the day I started, but found I was doing more watching than working!

Upstairs I'm cutting fabrics for an HGTV Board swap and cutting up odd lengths of stash fabric into squares and strips...

with my trusty helper Jax. Yesterday it was J-Meow who kept me company while Tucker and Jax snoozed on the sofa.

Jax is always hungry so any activity in the kitchen brings him running. And who can resist rewarding that sweet little face with a treat - not this Grandma!

I'm linking up to Freemotion by the River.

That was scary!

My blog disappeared for about 24 hours... I have no idea why and so far I have gotten no information from Google. I'm suspending anonymous comments for now as I have been deluged with spam over the last week and I can't help but wonder if that is a part of it.

Yesterday morning I when I tried to log into my gmail account I got a message saying there had been suspicious activity and was asked to supply a cellphone # for a verification code. I did, entered the code and my access was restored. Not a word about blogger and I didn't access my blog until this morning when I was shocked to see this:

Um... what?

I'll be back later with a quilty post (if I'm able!).

I'm Feeling the Green

I'm not certain if it has to do with being surrounded by white for months and starting to dream about spring... but lately all things green are finding their way to me.

This purse is my new favorite! I've never been one to collect purses or even pay much attention to them, but in the last year I think I've bought at least 5 purses so I guess I'm a late bloomer. I like small cross body bags because I have a terrible habit of setting my purse in some random spot and wandering off. 

I love the handy but secure outside pocket for my iPhone and a pen, all of the zippers (there is one on the backside too) and the color. It makes me happy just looking at it! I guess this is my tribute to emerald green which is Pantone's color of the year.

I found these awesome boxes at Joann.com on 50% clearance a few weeks ago and just ordered some more today.  They are very sturdy and I especially like how the ones on top have label holders on two sides.  I am using these to hide quilt notions and projects in while sprucing up my quilt room. Functional and pretty too!

But, I'm saving the best for last...

My new Kia Soul in Alien Green! My dear husband was going to surprise me on my birthday which is coming up next week, but our dealer found it earlier than he'd expected so it was a Valentine's Day gift instead.  

I saw one of these around our area last summer and it really caught my eye. I've driven a yellow VW New Beetle since 1999 and loved every mile spent in that car. It was also a sentimental gift from my husband during a tough time in my life and it meant a lot to me. Yellow is my favorite color and when those cars came out I was over the moon in love with them. But, I had just bought a very practical "business/grown up" car the year before and couldn't justify trading it in.

We ended up selling my Taurus to my in-laws when he surprised me with the yellow Beetle. Now, we have come full circle and our daughter will be driving my beloved yellow Beetle soon. 

I'm enjoying having a four door car and it is loaded with all kinds of fun electronic gadgets. I'm addicted to XM Radio already... we only get a handful of radio channels here in the Northwoods so I'm loving having access to NPR, any kind of music I can imagine and the audio books (and my own music collection) from my iPhone via Bluetooth. And, it has a keyless entry so the fob resides permanently in the outside pocket of my green purse (double wow!) 

I'm not much of a car buff - but every so often one really calls to me. I am certain I'll have fun driving this one for the next 10+ years!

I'm linking up to Really Random Thursday@Live a Colorful Life.

WIP Wednesday

No big progress to show today on quilting projects, but I am making headway on some projects around the house. And, since I made February mostly about quilting life feels a little more rounded out so far in March which is a good thing!

What's Hot:

• I finished the quilting on this Project Linus UFO this morning. Quilting the lines down the middle of the pieced blocks made a cute little tic-tac-toe board in half of the cat blocks and I did a X across the rest. Now to clip the thread tails and sew on the binding.
• Orange Birds in the Air blocks for RSC13 which I'll post about on Saturday.
• Reverse Applique Tree Pillow. I kind of forgot about this last month, the 2nd time around is just as much fun as the Heart Pillow was and this should be my Friday Finish for the week along with the above quilt.
• Embroidery Blog Hop Projects. I'm so glad I signed up for this as I am just loving doing embroidery right now! It's becoming a nice evening habit.

What's Heating Up:

• Stockings 2,3 & 4 - starting Friday until they are DONE. 
• FMQ Practice Sessions - also starting Friday.

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday@Freshly Pieced.