August's Colors~

For us August is a time of 

back to school and birthday happenings.

In honor of our birthday girl,

I used greens and orange.

The Kona Kiwi and Honeydew greens represent

August's birthstone, Peridot.

School Bus is for the orange..

one of the current favs

of someone back at college to finish one more SemEstER!!

I chose a paper-pieced pattern

(yes, I really did) 

from Fresh Lemons,

Whirling Star.

She did an excellent job with her directions

(thank you..PP makes me

so nervous!)

By time I did both blocks,

I think I was doing better with the process.

Does anyone else feel like they 

are working backwards,

sideways

and upside down

with paper-piecing?

It is a great brain exercise!

Anyway, I was happy with most of the results.

Just need to practice,

practice,

practice...

One block has whirled its way to Oregon,

and 

that leaves just four more monthly blocks 

to go.....

A Little August Finish~

A few short weeks ago

it was the beginning of August...

Where did those days go?

My goal (#88) for this month was to turn this

pretty fabric

into a make-up bag for traveling.

I drew an oval to use as a pattern for the top and bottom,

then lined it with PUL for water resistance. 

It is tall enough for travel bottles, tooth paste, etc.

and has a pocket in the lid 

that is wide and flat.

The vinyl pockets have bias on the top and bottom

but are only sewn between the pockets.

They are located just above the bottom

so the pockets can be washed out and not get that

dreaded travel build-up!

The "floor" of the bag keeps items in their place.

Dirty running clothes can even go into

 the center so they don't 

touch clean things in her gear bag!

It was all loaded and ready to roll

back for  o n e  m o r e  semester.....

Yeowzer, did summer go fast!

Please stop by and browse these other great finishes 

at Melissa and Shanna's 

July's Color Adventure From Alaska~

Ever get an idea that you really want to try,

but it challenges your brain..

a lot?

For my July block, I wanted to make something resembling

fireworks.

The way they shoot in the middle,

then radiate out.

After some playing around,

and lots of little blocks,

this is what I came up with.

I made my triangles by stitching around the squares,

and cutting diagonally in both

directions.

It is an easy way to make four identical ones.

I cut, pressed and trimmed all of the sections..

then arranged them for piecing.

 Two Firework blocks for July!

One has been delivered to Oregon 

before this posting.....

August's LYOF Goal~

My July project is sitting here,

looking at me sadly in its

almost-finished state..

In our busy, busy July

the poor thing just kept getting pushed down the list.

..sigh..

Our warm, glorious, summer days have been such a treat
that it would be a shame to waste them.

Winter and more time to work indoors will be here 

soon enough!

I will get back to July's goal for a finish,

but right now this has jumped to the front of the line.

From this beautiful fabric, 

I will create a gift

for someone very special.

I hope you are all having a wonderful, memory-filled summer!

I am linking up for an August Finish
with Melissa and Shanna.

As always, you will find a 

lot of 

inspiration here.....