Sew Sunshine

But I did do it!!!! :) I finished my DIY Sampler from earlier this spring. It is one of the biggest I have tried to free-motion quilt on my home machine. I even used my moms old machine with a darning foot. I did an all over mum design because of all the busy blocks and color. I won't lie, I had some teary moments when the thread would suddenly go off tension and eyelash and then I would stop and start and it would be fine again. I still have a couple spots I didn't fix. It is okay, this one is mine. Kind of hard to see the floral quilting as I used orange thread with the mostly orange back. I also used the walking foot with the guide on it to stitch the binding back. It is not my favorite looking method but it worked pretty slick. Most of my scraps went into the back plus one orphan block.  Looks like a picnic quilt to me. :)  54" x 70" All stash scraps used in this were from previous quilts or orphan blocks left over from the 2012 Craftsy bom c...

  Rachel over at Stitched in Color here   has gotten me motivated to do some much needed "purging" of my sewing stash. I have scraps that keep multiplying no matter what I do it seems. I have completed two rows of QAYG strips . 6 more to go to make the scrap herringbone quilt.  See tutorial here by Maureen Cracknell. Bonus...I have scraps of batting to use up too. So project #1 is well underway. I hope to get this done in time to donate it to the Quilts of Compassion drive. They are gathering quilts along with my Omaha Modern Quilt group to supply quilts to Pilger and Beaver Crossing towns which were hit by tornados this year.  Link to this finish is here Here are the first two I made in this style before I knew that scraps multiply on their own and that these were not even a blip on the radar of my scrap stash! :)

Pretty much cuteness right there! This is the Classic Block: Fresh Fabric bom over at SewCanShe HERE  for July. You have until Monday 7-21 to link up your block on FB. Over on the website the block is sized for 12" or 24". Well I picked the 24" and it goes together so fast and easy. I made 4 blocks to make a quick quilt. I think I might put some sashing in...what do you think? The chevron water seems to make it pretty bold but I think a tiny bit of red or something? between and maybe around the outside.   Still thinking on that.  So fun AND all from my stash!!!!! bonus! Linking up with WIP Wed over at Freshly Pieced   here and Let's Bee Social with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts   here  

Jen's is the orange and mine is the green. This is round two of the  hosted by Stephanie of Late night quilter and Sandy from One million stitches.  I am swapping with Jennifer Under the Juniper tree (check out her blog here ) on this swap and I am so glad. We are having a good time getting to know each other. Our swap question this round: Without any physical or mental limitations, or personal obligations such as children or money, if you could hold any occupation or talent what would you choose and why? Would you be a great artist, an Olympic athlete, a neurosurgeon – the possibilities are limitless – share with your partner what it is about that talent or profession that inspires you. I think it very curious that we both feel we are sort of doing something in our talent areas and without limitations we both would just do more along the same lines.  I already knew that Jen is musically talented as well as a talented quilt maker.  So if she could she wou...

I am getting to this link up late. My local quilt guild had their bi-annual quilt show this year. There was pre- quilt show work to be done as well as during and finishing up.  Then I had a bonus - three of my sisters showed up to surprise me for the weekend! They came to the show so I am sharing a bit of that. Only one sister new about my "So Blue" quilt - a portrait of my Mother as a young girl. You can read about the making of this quilt HERE   So now I must finish deciding what my 3rd quarter goals are: 1. My DYO Sampler needs a back and to be quilted. It is my goal for July for ALYoF so I really want to get this done.       2. I am working on a pattern test and can't reveal the quilt yet. I will say the top is done and I hope to just get it backed and quilted also. These are the scraps for the 'Flowering Lonestar" quilt coming soon.         3. Is a long shot for me because I already know I will stick ot...

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...

I think my goal should be to bite the bullet and get this quilted. Since it is a scrap quilt there should be nothing to be afraid of and I should try some fun freemotion quilting on it! Okay I will give it a go. The month is already flying by so I better get on the stick!  Suggestions welcome....  Linking up  HERE