Sew Sunshine

    Mini quilted trees happened today.    I have many many orphan quilt blocks that were pattern samples my mom made when she was trying blocks out.  Most of her blocks are from a picture then she makes a grid and cuts out cardboard templates.  Many times the block didn't come out exactly as she wanted.  She would fold up the block with the templates and label an envelope with the block name or idea.  I inherited boxes of these.     I decided to try this sort of unattractive rust color block as a sample and randomly quilted it.  Once it was quilted I drew tree shapes on the block not caring where they fell really. I took matching thread and stitched over my drawing several times then cut them out.  I really like the way the cuts took on sort of a wonky appearance but like it was meant to be.  I dug out moms button box and added the button to the top and tied a string to make in to ornaments.   While ...

"Closer to you" approx 46" x 48" spiral quilting did not straighten edges, just bound as is I finished! I am super surprised at this one. I have been working on doing the Improv scores from the book The improv handbook for modern quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood.  This is my #4 score on the patchwork doodle. I started the center blocks of this quilt last year when Louisiana Bendolph taught a class about Gees Bend quilts and quilters.  A good portion of this fabric is up-cycled pieces from my moms scrap box. The coral strips are pieces from an old dress. There is even a dart or two in my quilt that I left in.  Some of the denim is from a patch bag that she also had in her stash so I am assuming they are bits from her old jeans.  I didn't have any striped scraps from my dads old Oshkosh overalls so I went to the thrift store and bought a few striped shirts.  The lighter blue fabrics are from the portrait quilt I made of my mom called  So Blue . ...

I decided to enter the Festival again this year. I get so excited to see what everyone has made. Once I see the entries start rolling in I think I shouldn't enter but I have to say I am really proud of this piece. I am going to enter it in the Art category because to me it IS art! Portrait of my Mother at the Joslyn Art Museum "So Blue" approx. 40" x 50" We stopped to take a picture at the Memorial Gardens also. You can sort of see the grid quilting I did over the piece. I think it adds to the pixilation.   This garden has over 1200 different rose varieties. Too sunny that day but you can see some of the roses all around. One block finished of the partial eye. The pixels are sewn into 1" finished squares. Two rows finished! To see about some of the construction of this labor of love go HERE Linking up with the wonderful host of the Festival,  Amy from Amy's Creative Side  (in the Art Category) HERE  if you want to vot...

You know how sometimes you get an idea in your head and you can't shake it? You might analyze the situation and say it is just not rational but then you really want to do it anyway?  This is "So Blue" a portrait of my mother when she was 16. The back building is the Joslyn art museum which I thought was fitting for my work of art! So you start and you see this is going to be a big messy project. You can almost see pieces of your hair turning gray but you keep going. Your iron is not trustworthy, you math skills are questionable but you stick to it and hope no one else in the house needs any clear space for the foreseeable future...so you keep at it.  Almost all the blocks are made up of 100 1.5" squares. The bottom row has one less row. 1960 cut 1.5" squares..yesserieeee!   Then, things start to happen. (I can tell you up close you have no idea what you are doing. Even stepping back I had to use my camera lens to look at it at such close quarte...