Melva Loves Scraps: October 2019

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Thomas the Train - Nifty Novelty Prints Blog Hop

All Aboard!

Welcome to the Nifty Novelties blog hop hosted by Marian at Seams to be Sew .

There will be a list of all participating bloggers at the end of this post, as well as details for a give away. Everyone loves a chance to win, right?

This hop is a time to celebrate all of the cute and fun themed fabrics that are out there. Do you want a particular theme? I'm willing to bet you can find it! Bears, cats, dogs, horses, rainbows, music... and so much more!

A few years ago I acquired a fabric stash that had belonged to the mother of one of my friends. {{Everyone needs friends like this! lol...}} And the stash had many, many panels and novelty print fabrics.

To name a few of them... there was Dora the Explorer, hot air balloons, Captain Frog, Beatitude Bears, nautical themed and trains.

I had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use the Thomas the Train fabric. Last year I was asked to donate an item for a silent auction and saw it as the chance.

Thomas and friends was a favorite show of my girls when they were little. And I was certain that some baby boy would be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor... It was a really quick quilt and the photo shoot was one of the first shoots where I tried to up my game and have more that just a quilt. My goal was to capture some background that would relate to the name/theme of the quilt.

I still had yards of fabric left over and it went back into my stash storage closet until this fall. Recently, I have been enjoying some pattern testing and when I saw the Quilt Crush pattern at Patterns By Jen I felt this was another great opportunity to feature Thomas the Train and rail yard fabric.

I fussy cut the center of the squares to feature the various characters on the fabric...

I recruited a friend for the photography and I think she captured the theme perfectly! When I explained that it was a train quilt and I wanted to use some of the local train setting areas she was on board. (see what I just did there? 😉 )

It was a bit gusty that day and we may have stopped the traffic because we were standing in the middle of road to get a shot...

One visitor near the above engine snapped a few photos with his phone as he carefully passed us. We got a good laugh as we said "be sure to mention Melva Loves Scraps when you post it on social media!"

Look! Even Mr. Conductor made it in the photos!

Jen's pattern makes up very quickly. The blocks are big and would be excellent for a beginning quilter.

But I have to admit that the thing I overlooked was the placement of the half-square triangles...

Oh the pictures here look fine.

But take a peek at the photo below ↓

I noticed the error of my ways before I quilted it... I tried to ignore it. I tried to convince myself that it was fine... but my conscience would not let it go! I ripped out the misplaced blocks and turned them to make the correction.

And I felt so much better! And the change really did make it more interesting.

My stop on this hop is just a brief one... but don't jump off the fun train yet!

Be sure to visit all of the stops on the tour! There are different prizes available at each blog... and you will not want to miss out on the opportunity these prizes!

So, how do you enter??? Well, let's see...

Tell me about a train museum or train trip that you have enjoyed...

Simple as that... Leave a comment by November 4th!

But don't forget to leave behind an email address if you are an anonymous or no-reply reader... Like this >>> MelvaLovesScraps(at)NolanQualityCustoms(dot)com It would be very sad to select a winner and have no way of contacting them.

Oh, and by the way, Marian has done an amazing job at acquiring the FQ prize bundles for this hop but has noted that the cost of mailing the prizes will be $4. Where else can you get 10 fat quarters for just 4 bucks???

Thursday, October 24

Quilting and Learning - What a Combo

Days Filled With Joy

Life in the Scrapatch

Bumbleberry Stitches

Friday, October 25

MooseStashQuilting

Seams To Be Sew

Duck Creek Mountain Quilting

Monday, October 28

Quilted Delights

Melva Loves Scraps

Scrapdash

Piece happy!
Melva

To enter click here>>> a Rafflecopter giveaway

Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Linking with:

What I Made Monday at Pretty Piney

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Moving It Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Colour & Inspiration at Clever Chameleon Quilting
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Creative Compulsions at Bijou Bead Boutique

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Thursday, October 24, 2019

A Time For All Seasons - Gathering Leaves

As the calendar turned over to October the days were still warm - quite warm. We were still able to sleep with the windows cracked open... we even camped with very little need for the heater overnight.

As I write this post it is in the mid 30s and it there is snow on the ground! Not just some snow... but at least 10 inches... and wet, heavy snow! We desperately need the moisture as we have had little to none since August. And with the fall winds that made their return (indicating a change is seasons), along with the warmer temps we had, it makes for high fire danger.

The seasons have definitely made the change...

Carla over at Creatin' in the Sticks offered the patterns for the A Time for All Seasons block of the month.

The flaming red maples in our front yard were in full glory and looked beautiful!

And then there was a cold front that moved in and we had a heavy freeze... so much for the flaming red! The leaves actually turned to a deep purple, much like Carla's in the picture above.

As I started my leaf blocks I really had started with the intention that I would do two of them... one scrappy (of course!) and the other with all leaves one color (like Carla's).

However, because it was the day after driving to an appointment nearly 4 hours away, my mind said NO...

I got the one color block done and decided that I would do something really simple for the second block...

using fall prints that had leaves on them and the same basic block layout, I created this one...  >>>

It reminds me of the falls in the mid-west... the variety of color in the fall was brilliant! Colorado has some wonderful fall colors (mostly gold with some reds from the oakbrush), but my personal opinion is that falls in the mid-west are certainly more colorful, but definitely lack the warm fall days that Colorado gets.

In the mid-west, once the cold hits it is there until the spring thaw...

While Autumn has made a temporary disappearance... just before Halloween, which is typical in Colorado, I am not going to worry because Indian Summer will be back and we will have one last opportunity to go camping... Promise!

Fall has many traditions... Harvest festivals, trick-or-treating, Thanksgiving... it kinda kicks off the "holiday season".

What is your favorite Autumn tradition?

Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!

Snow day, sew day? Stay calm and quilt on,

Melva

Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Linking with:

A Time for All Seasons BOM at Sew Incredibly Sew
Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Creative Compulsions at Bijou Bead Boutique
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
BOMs Away at What A Hoot Quilts

Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy
UFO Busting at Tish’s Wonderland

Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

2019 Color Challenge - Red

The October Color Challenge is RED. The inspiration for Jen over at Patterns By Jen was the Rose.

A single red flower instead of a bouquet is taken to mean that the giver is in love with the recipient. So it is really not appropriate to give a single red rose to someone who is just a friend because you would be giving them entirely the wrong message. For a romantic occasion, it would be perfect to present the person of your dreams with a single flower and make them aware of your feelings.
While red is not one of my favorite colors, roses ARE one of my favorite flowers. Wild roses more specifically. They are small, they are pretty and pink and they are fragrant and remind me of my Grandma Teegarden. She had a rouge or some sort of face cream that smelled like them... and she could pain them like a BOSS on china!

But, one of the most memorable times of receiving flowers was after dating Dave for just a few months. It was like he had read a page out of a textbook about the meaning of flowers!

I hadn't been all that serious in our relationship... we were in college... I had a boyfriend back home... said boyfriend had told me he didn't want to keep me from having a "real college experience"... "go ahead and date, I'll be here when you come home"... and then a girlfriend back home told me that she had seen him out with some other girl. What a loser!
Dave was far more serious about US than I was, but he didn't give up on me. One day he said that he was buying something for me but wouldn't tell me what it was or why.

I had made several guesses of what it might be... all were wrong. The next night after dinner he presented me with two long-stem roses... representing the two months since we had met. Come on... a collective "ahhhhhhhhhh, that's so sweet."

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize it had been two months... or that he was quite so serious! Though I'm not really sure why... he did tell me just two weeks after meeting that he would marry me someday. Pffffft... Yeah, right! I blew it off. He also told me that the last thing his dad told him when he pulled out of the driveway was "No girls! You are going to school to study. You don't need any distractions." Bahaha!

When I realized he really did mean that it didn't take long for me to get on board... I got a sweet little promise ring that he had to borrow money from one of his sisters to purchase for Christmas about six weeks later. I still wear that ring... nearly 36 years later!

Finding reds in my stash that didn't clash was a challenge...

Those that I had plenty of fabric for a 2-fabric block didn't play well together and those that complimented each other were too small...

So... I have a scrappy red block! Not all of the reds wanted to be right next to each other because of an orange-y hue to them, but I was able to position them so that they didn't cause much of a disruption or distraction.

My block is filled with hearts... little teeny-tiny hearts to big hearts... and they all make me smile! And the memories of those two roses make me smile as well. 💓

The article at Crafty Marie explained that "these beautiful buds and blooms come in all shades of red from bright crimsons to deep wines and burgundy. Red rose flowers are synonymous with timeless and lasting romance, enduring love and also the flames of a burning passion.

You can also change the symbolic meaning of red rose flowers by combining them with other color choices. For instance, combining red with white is a symbol of enduring, lasting love and unity which is highly appropriate to present to a partner that you have been with for a long time.

Combining with yellow stands for joyous love. Any color bloom that has red edges around the petals has a special meaning as well; these mean that friendship is now changing into love."

I have mentioned before that I used to really enjoy gardening... and then I learned to quilt!  I hear that roses can be a little temperamental and difficult to get to grow and bloom...  BUT, if could magically have a garden I would have a garden full of roses!

I so enjoy watching the movie "An American President" starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening. All the president wanted to do was send his girl some roses. In the end he finally found a way... He got them from the rose garden at the White House. Cute, romantic, predictable. That's the way I like my movies. I am a sappy lover through and through. My husband has learned to enjoy them as well. So much less drama and tension. There is enough of that in the real world...

What is one of your favorite movies?

What is your favorite movie genre?

Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!

Piece happy!

Melva

Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series

Linking with:

What I Made Monday at Pretty Piney
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Moving It Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Colour & Inspiration at Clever Chameleon Quilting
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Creative Compulsions at Bijou Bead Boutique

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy

BOMs Away at What A Hoot Quilts

Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate
Monthly Link Up at Patterns By Jen

Thursday, October 10, 2019

A Magical Quilt - Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop

Welcome to the Witchy-Stitchy Blog Hop hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt. And Welcome to Melva Loves Scraps!

I just love blog hops... they never fail to inspire. There are so many creative quilters out there! And each person's ideas and fabric choices can change a project dramatically yet be the same pattern. That is just one of the things I love about quilting...

When I signed up for this hop I had no idea what I would make. I'm not much into Halloween and witchy stuff but I figured I could come up with something...

It wasn't until I found a Harry Potter panel at a Goodwill shop and mentioned it to our youngest who grew up as a HP fan that I came up with the idea.

Harry is a Wizard... but still uses magic and spells... LIKE a witch. It may be a bit of a stretch for the theme of this hop, but I am going to run with it!

When I told Rebecca of the find, her reaction was one of great excitement... her husband's was not. He likes a modern look and clean, ~~sleek~~ uncluttered areas. Our daughter, growing up, liked AAAAALL of her treasures out on display.

So... I came up with the idea of a two-sided quilt. Well, OK, technically all quilts are two-sided when you think about it. But I wanted to have one side feature Harry for her and the other side be a traditionally pieced top with a modern look for him. I chose a jumbo Double Irish chain with no border to achieve that modern look.

If you have ever worked with pre-printed panels you know that they can be deceivingly tricky to work with. Because of the way the fabric is printed the panel can be a little skewed and far from square...

I had to work a little magic in getting the on point border to work right... and getting the corners to match up evenly and not cut of points was a real challenge.

But sometimes, as Dumbledore told Harry...

The corners required time with Jack the (seam) ripper to get them so that they didn't look weird, or lay weird... you know that whole skewed panel and not square corners thing nearly drove me nuts and I may have had big ol' temper tantrum. But I stuck with it until I finally got it right!

Sandwiching the quilt was a little tricky as well... I needed to make sure that the Double Irish Chain was placed squarely on HP as well as centered. I measured and adjusted and measured some more. When I was finally pleased with the placement I moved forward with the quilting.

I did some zig-zags in the checker board areas (which happened to remind me of the Wizard's Chess scene in The Sorcerer's Stone) and then stitched in some lightning bolts to border the large setting block. Then I found a nice looking Celtic looking pattern to stitch in.