Sew Sunshine

So....not much has been new in my neck of the woods lately. I have been working on remodeling our kitchen and dining room. The work has been fun and will be great in the end but also exhausting. I have little time or energy for sewing or reading.  Now some deadlines are looming and I am having to switch gears and get to some things that are important.  A few months ago Debbie @ A Quilters Table  hosted a Improv Stripes QAL and I so wanted to join in. I had some leftover scraps from my local guild and decided to work with them and make a pillow size.  I was limited to the scraps so had to add and arrange accordingly.  I think it turned out pretty great and more importantly I finished something for the first time in months.  This pillow is getting donated to Friends of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum ART Market coming in November.  So yep....a finish... yay baby!! Linking up with  Let's Bee Social  @Sew Fresh ...

Here is my second entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of  Amy's Creative Side . Please click on the link to the Festival to see all the lovely entries from around the blogging world.  This wall quilt is currently touring the state of NE because it was my entry in the Ne 150th Celebration of our statehood. There were 3 top places and then 6 of us had honorable mention quilts that got to tour with the winners. I have not seen this quilt since earlier this year and it has a few more stops before it makes it back home to me. It is a favorite of mine.  "Woven"  24 x 24  Improv pieced wall quilt depicting Ne diversity (More details on my quilt are in the link above)  Very fun scrappy improv representing many aspects of Ne life and landmarks Matchstick quilting is one of my favorite things to do.  The piecing up-close represents the land and terrain in an  aerial way but when you look at the quilt from far away y...

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

  Geode Test  Pattern by  Blossom Heart Quilts 48" x 48"  This pattern is FQ friendly. I chose to use 3 colors because that is what I had in grunge. The background fabric has wonderful facet lines in it to go with. It is a super easy pattern to make and you can find it on FB above or  HERE .   It was so sunny today and hard to grab a pic.    I used all fabrics from my stash for this including this chevron backing.  My husband was at a tool place and bought me this little laser guide. I used it to quilt across the blocks in several directions without marking. It takes a bit to get it in the right position but after that it was fun to sew. I will say that one of the batteries that came with it died after this quilt and the cost of replacement ones were a little over the price of a new laser.  I will see how long the new one lasts in there before I give my verdict.  I tried to quilt more on my piece after goin...

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 m...

"My Stars" 67 x 72 Pieced during class by lqg taught by Tony Jacobson His pattern for Fons and Porter Quilting by Steph Jacobson long-arm I won free long-arming at a local modern quilt guild a couple months ago UFO from a couple years ago done! I thought it would be fun to do stars in stripes in non-traditional colors.  Back is just large leftover pieces.   Just playing around with angles because the quilt is actually a blue green color and it looks really green here. Most of the fabrics were from Hobby Lobby from a while ago. When I took the class I vowed to use only fabrics I already had and I think it turned out pretty interesting looking.  I am so happy to have another UFO done. I am doing the All People Quilt UFO 2017 challenge (but not necessarily in order)  HERE Linking up with Kelly @  My Quilt Infatuation   and  Lorna @  Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee social and Can I get a W...

  "Like a box of chocolates"  Exhibit Quilt pattern by  Eye Candy Quilts approx 48 x 62 This quilt was started back in October of 2015 at a lqs hosting a block swap. You purchased bundles made up the blocks and then turned them all in and you got what you got. These are a couple I made as I love those colors together. Well I made a few sets of my favorites and then had to give them away...   The blocks were made from FQ's and I saved and scrimped to cute each out hoping there was enough left for me to make myself a block out of the same fabrics.  I finally got them out the other day mainly because they turned up at the top of the pile when I crammed  moved all my sewing stuff out of my under construction dining room.  I only had about 7 blocks done but I had saved fabrics I thought might work plus the precious scraps from the blocks I made to give away.  I ended up with 20 sort of mismatched blocks. Fabrics fr...

"That's You"   RB Creative Rock star Fabric Challenge 32"x 32"  pieced and raw edge appliqued Freemotion text quilting It kind of glares but I thought it would be fun to take a photo of this quilt in the mirror.  It sums up the creative spirit that is in all of us if we just look for it. I love the sort of reflective quality the triangles in the glass area formed when putting all those prints together.  The text quilting was super fun and it is all words and phrases that are positive affirmations. I used "That's You and you should know it" text from the theme song "Love is all Around" from the tv show Mary Tyler Moore. The song has a great message and I have enjoyed the person that MTM was over the years. With her passing recently this was sort of inspired by her.  I used some of all the pieces sent out by the MQG  for Riley Blake for this challenge and then picked up a couple solids to use. I submitted it t...

    Cheese and other Dreams......... approx 32" x 32" I decided to do the Quilts my Way Sew all Around Quilt Along with  Gosia . I am sure you have seen some of her work and so you know she is very talented. She is calling this wall hanging Lemon Juice. I was thinking of that when I was picking out my fabrics but the periwinkle grunge and my hand dyed yellows made me think of cheese and the moon.  Really a fun quick project. I love the graphic frames created with the two shades of gray. I did not pin...I admit it. I got out my glue pen and glued the pieces together in about 25 minutes and they were ready to sew and press. So quick and fun.  I used the walking foot on my BabyLock Jane but realized it does not have a seam bar so I had to mark all my 1" quilting rows. I love my Hera marker and my neighbor gave me a super long acrylic ruler. All worked like a charm.  In other progress, I dug out 2 quilts I had started back in ...