Sew Sunshine

I should have been making more holiday presents or finishing ufo or phd projects but.........no.  I got distracted by an overflowing bag of neutral scraps and thought...hm I have time to make something and use up some of these scraps before the end of the year don't I? :)   I gallon zip lock bag full of bits Sew similar pieces together to make strips   Cut up a bunch of scrap batting too but forgot to take a pic of the stack of 30 pieces I was able to cut out of batting bits from other quilts. Decided on a red accent strip to try to make this scrap quilt a little more modern.  Way more dark strips than light in this one. I am sure I will use the low volume up in other projects I have in my head right now.  and the big reveal....... "Electric Slide" a scrap quilt approx. 53 x 63 scrap strips and scrap batting QAYG method with accent sashing  glue baste method I think the red accent fabric and placing all the strip squa

makes 8. I was able to take some time since last months sew day for Quilts for Kids and get these beauties put together and quilted.  On our sew day in June several ladies brought squares to swap with some of mine to make the 3 scrappy quilts on the left. We used  Allisons Tutorial: Easy stack cut and sew blocks  over at Cluck Cluck Sew.  These 6 plus the other two I previously made this year  HERE  and  HERE  make 8!  Happy 8th Birthday Lincoln Quilts for kids group!!! Here are some of the blocks we made during the day.  I went to visit my sister one day and she helped me prepare for the sew day. We cut enough blocks for several quilts.  You can see how fun the blocks are when they are coordinated or when they are scrappy! And they go together fast. I would recommend this as a group project.  After quilting those in 3 days I had a feeling that my sewing machine might need some love. It is currently in for service. I am using my Babylock Jane to fre

After finishing the community quilts last week I suddenly have the ability to work on some of my own projects.  First up trying to use up some of the fabrics I have out of my stash.  The tulip quilts are from a recently viewed Jenny Doan video. The tulip block uses some 5" charm packs and I happened to have one that is not exactly my style. So...."little house on the prairie" charms went into those. The rest is just scraps and bits that were big enough to fill in.  Since my style is a bit more modern I wanted to see if I could successfully mix those tiny calico prints with some little more contemporary fabrics.  What do you think? Tulip one Tulip two Now this one is a fun stack and whack type quilt. Tutorial can be found over at  Cluck Cluck Sew . This really is a super fun quilt to make with whatever scraps you might have around. These fabrics I scrounged up were each 9" square to start. I found 2 sort of contrasting p

It is time for Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy at  Amy's Creative Side . There are lots and lots of yummy beauties to behold already up on the page so I hope you go check them out!  I have been busy with a house remodel for the last several months and have not hardly looked at my sewing machine much less worked on anything...... BUT I can share a quilt or two that I did earlier this year so I feel like I am still part of the quilting world.  One of my all time favorite pieces I made and photographed is my all scrap " Triumphal Arches " quilt.   46 x 40 Improv pieced with solid scraps Memories of the beautiful arches from a trip to Italy.  back is one fabric not pieces but the colors work so great with the front and I really dig that arch I found to take my quilt on. 

Urbanologie Quilt Along with SomeKindOfWonderful is underway and I have been doing my best to keep doing the weekly blocks. Dealing with the mess of a remodel in my home it has been challenging but I am now only one week behind.  Slow and steady wins the race right?    I love using the Quick Curve Ruler to create these blocks. Linking my meager progress up with Crazy Mom Quilts  HERE

Triumphal Arches 46 w x 40 h LMQG Curves Ahead Challenge scrappy arch curves I love arches. Many years ago when I went to Italy I just loved seeing arches, looking through arches at other things but most of all I loved the free standing triumphal arches.   My local guild had a challenge that I led called Curves Ahead. The idea was to inspire trying curved piecing though we accepted curved applique and curved quilting also.  I have been making quite a few circle quilts using various techniques and decided now was the time to try the arch shape. All of the quilt was made up of just pieces in my scrap bins. I grabbed random colors and sewed the arches and then pieced and puzzled them in between my scrap strips. Very little trimming was involved.  I placed the pieces from dark to light giving the illusion of sun and shadow on the arches, just like my photo shoot below!! I love the idea of Triumphal Arches and who knew I would actually find one near my neighborhood

"I built this city - Lincoln" Project Quilting season 8:4 theme=brighter the better Made in Ne. 34.5" x 20.5 Lincoln Ne skyline pattern designed by Shannon Brinkley I built this city from the tiny bit scraps triangles leftover from making binding. I knew I wanted to make something scrappy for this bright/bold challenge. I already committed my smallish scraps to another random improv piece. I knew for this piece I would have to 'very' small. I decided to make my own fabric.  I randomly laid my tiny bits onto a sheet of heat and bond. I tried to not overlap too much but butt them up against each other.  As you can see there are no straight lines to this just cut and butt. Once I had an area full I pressed them down with a hot iron using a craft sheet over top and below just in case of sticky bits.  Once the fabric was made I cut it into 1" strips and then down to 1" squares. I took the pattern and traced it onto a sheer in