Sew Sunshine

I am hoping it is something like riding a bike, tying your shoes or boiling water.  I think "sewing mojo" needs to be nourished as much as possible but sometimes life just happens and there is nothing you can do about it.  Earlier this month I had a strange neck injury that I had to baby. I was on such a sewing high the last few months that when this hit all I could do was walk around and look at all I wanted to be doing.  Then a family member got sick and my focus had to change again. In order to keep any kind of mojo I tried not to let it all get me down.  Good thing 'we' quilters know the importance of seeing and touching our favorite fabrics for therapy and comfort.  :) After much study of my project goal for the month of July with  A  year of Lovely finishes at Freshly pieced and Sew Bittersweet designs  I finally just took my own advice and jumped in to the project and ended up with a "Lovely" finish for July. My goal was to figure out ho...

Almost the end of the month and I just finished my June project for  A Lovely Year of Finishes at Fiber of all Sorts and Bittersweet Designs .  A tiny bit a head of the game for once. :)  This is the quilt I made from the  Modern Block 2 for May at Sew Mama Sew . I had a really hard time deciding how to quilt this one. I wanted the solid cream spaces to have some fun quilting inside. I am still really new at FMQing so I wanted to experiment.  I started with a walking foot and did a double line grid overall. Then I tried making circles with a free motion foot, then the BSR foot, and then....gave up and did all my circles with my walking foot. Yeah, it was hard but they look so much better than doing those big circles free motion. I need more practice is all I can say! I really need to work on taking better pictures. The bottom was just taken after taking it off the fence. Not sure why it was so dark. It has been stormy here off and on the...

Two Finishes today!  This is my Creamsicle version of this 'block in a block' quilt.  And here is the Stained glass window version.... ( My Stargazer lily wanted to be in this picture) It was an overcast day...thunderstorms all night so the ground was wet. Sorry pics are kind of dark) These were made for the Lincoln Child Advocacy center. My neighborhood quilting gals got together one Saturday this month to work on these quilt blocks. I was not able to sew there so I made these two at home. I did go to the sewing day and ironed for others. :) I am so happy I was able to work on these and get some finish mojo going here!!!

  Here is my entry for  Le Challenge  Challenge 3 - Maritime: "Regatta" 17" x 17"   Paper pieced center design is the Sunshine block from  Compass Collection from Quilting on the Square I added the 1/2 " squares in the  border to represent numerous water events Machine quilted with YLI clear thread I think it looks very like a festive boat race!  I tried really hard to do a continuous quilting design because I didn't want to stop and start so much. (very hard to quilt clear on white background as is...if you know what I mean) There is still time for you to link up your idea of Maritime.  Come join in the fun.

  I decided to join in the Modern Mini Challenge put on by Jennifer at  Ellison Lane .   I am using a Mini I made earlier this year that I am kind of proud of.  My first time sewing in circles and I loved it so much I did it 16 times on this mini.  This is called "Sequence"   it is 16.25 x 18.25 Sewn in circles Quilted by machine with walking foot The back reminds me of a embossed tin ceiling. :) This was my own design, stitched and quilted by me.  It is not to late to entry your Modern Mini into the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge ...you have until June 16th at 5:00 p.m.

  May challenge for Off Season Project Quilting which you can find out about  here   Is the Patone Challenge.  The idea is to make something using part or all of these Patone colors for 2013: On a recent shopping trip to my local Cosmic Cow quilt shop I found a fabric line by Benartex called Manhattan Modern. It has many of the Patone colors in it.  Since I was thinking of combining this challenge with my very own Make and Use/Wear it challenge, I opted to make a quilted bag and a quilted bag insert.  Colors in this print piece: Dusk blue, monaco blue, tender shoots, emerald, linen and my fav grayed jade. I liked that so much I used a grayed jade upholstery for the bottom and handle backs.   The smaller bag works as an insert in the larger tote bag. I plan to use it to carry small sewing projects to and fro.  Both bags are quilted as you go with the sew and flip method. I lined both the large tote and the small sewin...

Yes ...I made it! May Finish sponsored by  Fiber of All sorts and Bittersweet Designs .   I had a UFO from 2012 that I committed to work on this month, with the long holiday weekend it was more difficult to fit it all in but...Here it is.  Has bits of Nebraska Husker fabric in it along with their red and white theme.   I made my own trip around the world with the Lil' Twister quilt block. I didn't have the ruler but it still worked out. I ended up doing a straight line in both directions with red thread since the design is so busy. 

  Here it is ...the Final Challenge. I don't know how to even go about telling Kim over at  Persimon Dreams  how much I have enjoyed participating in her Project Quilting this season. It has helped me get back into quilting and sewing which I was not sure I was even going to do again.  Last year in the spring, my Mom got sick and we ended up having to move her to a nursing care facility. She was 93 and lived by herself in a house across the road from our old farm.  Mom passed away and we buried her the day before her 94th birthday in the fall.  I learned almost everything I know about sewing from her and we shared a love of quilts.  When I saw the Project Quilting challenge I felt I had to give it a go.  The challenges were just fun and no pressure on judging or even finishing.  My mom loved the t.v. show Project Runway and I think secretly wished she could do something like that. I just thought it would be a great tribute to her to partici...

I have to say this was an interesting challenge this month.  "Wings" hmmm??   I had some things I wanted to try but was not sure that I could work it into a challenge.  Then I saw  Geta's quilting studio tutorials   on Shadow Trapunto. I just had to try it.    Lots of cutting, even for my simple design. I would recommend the new embroidery scissors I won at my quilt guild the other night, however, I do not recommend using it on this project while on the phone. I snipped a thread a little too close and made a small hole in the organza. I covered it pretty well later but still!! :) Not sure if you can guess from that left over batting?? I wanted to use a multi-color fabric to represent the butterfly wings.  This ended up being really hard to photograph so I hope you can see the end result.    "Reverberate"   18" x 18" Holographic organza makes the shadow over the trapunto cut pattern of circling butterflies. ...