Sew Sunshine

"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

"Hygge " 12.5 x 37.5 freemotion quilting random designs Hygge - Danish word roughly translates to coziness. I came across a news show one night about a year or so ago that was talking about searching for Hygge. I fell in love with how this little word can be and mean so much.  Hygge pronounced hoo ga, can mean an atmosphere of relaxation and gratitude.  A feeling of contentment or well being, a sanctuary.  Hygge can be the smell of cinnamon buns baking or the warm toasty feel of a fire place on a cold night.  Hygge can be a smile in passing or a tip of the hat in greeting. Hygge can be taking pleasures in the presence of gentle soothing things. That is why I made this word banner to hang in my sewing room.   Linking up with  crazymom quilts and  can I get a whoop whoop

"Woven"  24"x 24" A Nebraska 150 Wall Quilt Challenge entry Theme: "Inspired by Nebraska's Diversity" **warning very wordy ahead This year my state of Nebraska will commemorate its Sesquicentennial (150 years) of statehood.  A challenge went out to make a 24" wall quit with the theme Inspired by Nebraska's Diversity.  Our local modern quilt guild was already working on a project to tie in a charity fund raiser quilt and while I was participating in that I thought it would be fun to try my hand at a personal wall quilt.  My thought process was to present a sort of history woven in fabric.  I started improv piecing scraps, in the lightest fabrics I had, creating a grid of the farm land I grew up with.  The textures of the warp and weft are created by tiny inserts of fabric, some less than 1/2" wide.  Part of the aerial landscape is a bit of my journey. Born near the South Dakota/Nebraska border and slowly making my way sou

Lily PQ.2 =carolina lily 12"x 12"  made in NE. This weeks challenge was a Carolina Lily. I researched the flower, the quilt block and set out on EQ7 to make my own design.    Not sure what I think of it. If I would finish coloring it in, I think I might like it. I have been wanting to play with my EQ7 program for a long time and I am trying to find ways to do it.  My lqg has group starting the end of the month and I want to play a bit before the class.   So I decided against this quilt as you see from the pic above.  Next on my mental list of things to do this year ...finish watching some of my Craftsy classes that I signed up for.  Is it just me?  I get a class and get all excited about it and then never get around watching it.  Well.......... I now have one under my belt. Carol Ann Waugh's "Slash and stitch" class.  I watched, I found 4 fabrics, ironed, layered, and stitched.  Found a seam ripper and .....let it rip. So much fun !

18" pillow Playing with the QCR mini and drunkards path blocks Our weather has been pretty crazy with the ice and cold and warmth the last few days. I decided to work at playing with the Quick Curve Ruler mini that I have. I wanted to make some plain drunkards path blocks and then play with layout.  I decided a pillow was a great way to accomplish something. I chose colors that would work in my living room and set out to play.  I came up with many layouts but our guild is going to focus on circles and curves as we start our new year so I went with this layout.  I was not able to achieve a perfect circle with the mini ruler but I like the sort of organic feel this layout has. I added uneven logs around the edges to keep that feel.  I am going to try something similar with the regular size ruler to help with a demo I will be giving soon. The Quick Curve Ruler by  SewKindofWonderful  is a really easy tool to use if you want to try your hand at curve sewing. The

approx 37" x 47"  "Random Logs" finished UFO woohoo I made a quilt with some of this fabric for a charity a few years ago. (below) In keeping with my organizational challenge to not just move things from place to place but to finish things, I decided to just sew. I had 6 small 8" blocks and a bunch of scrap strips cut in a bag with backing fabric tucked in there too. I literally just started sewing strips on to the blocks and made 3 more just from scraps. The most fun was that I didn't once measure the blocks just squared them up after adding each log. I marked on my design wall the desired size I wanted for this crib size quilt and just kept sewing until I got within range. Totally mindless and very enjoyable sewing. Yay!!!  ....another one bites the dust and another one is gone!!   This was on my  2017 UFO challenge  on a secondary list, still, it is a goner!! I made more log cabin blocks but didn't fit them in because

On the farm  approx 15.5" x 18"  This was a free pattern from Moda that a lqs is doing. I picked building permit #2 to do.  I thought it looked like a barn and a silo but of course my husband says the silo should not have a chimney on it. The pattern calls it a tower. I am going with barn and silo! ha After I took the pic at the top I was out at my recycle center and there was this little bobcat parked. I am sure if anyone saw me they thought I was nuts. I looked all over it for a place to clip my little mini. Luckily I had some clothespins in my car.  The fabric colors are not my usual favs. I had this cute FQ with slogans and text on that a friend gave me. I grew up on a farm and milking cows and caring for the chickens and garden were a big part of early years. This has cute little chicks, a jug of milk and a farm fresh strawberry. Ah the memories...... I used only fabrics that were near by because I am in the process of trying to organize my sewing