Sew Sunshine

"From the mending pile"  41" x 50"... ish, as it is finished as it was with no squaring up, improv design, up/re/cycled materials of denim, twill, stretch twill and denim machine pieced and hand quilted in a long stitch fashion These textiles originally came from some leftover scraps my mom had in her sewing room box. I realized they were bits of her old jeans and a bit of denim off cut from some she made herself.  I happened to look in my repair pile and I had a pair of worn out stretch denim leggings that I used to wear, a pair of Bugle Boy twill pants and a leg of work jean from my husband. In another pile I found a pair of stretch twill pants from my sister who always needs longer length in her pants. I am not sure if I was supposed to hem them and give them back to her or if they were just done but...they are in the quilt now. :) And, lastly another pair of twill pants I inherited from another sister.  This accumulation is from 5 differen...

It was a really snowy day but I wanted the chance to take a photo of my newly finished "Chihuly Inspired" quilt outside of the Josleyn Musuem. The snow was still everywhere so I got the courage to go in and ask if I could take a quick pic onthe rails.  Afterall, it was inside that I first saw the large installation of the Chihuly Glowing Gemstone Polyvito Chandelier. (blown plastic)  Up close you can see the fun quilting design. I worked with Marsha from Dog Ear Creek Quilts to come up with something that would enhance but not take away from this fun layout.  This quilt was made with one of my all time favorite things, The Quick Curve Ruler (QCR) and the pattern can be found in the books from   Sew Kind of Wonderful . I love their rulers and on a mission to make several of their patterns. This layout of colors and fabrics was my own design. I wish you could see the glittery gold fabrics that make up some of the orbs.  Since the pics o...

Out of the doom and gloom of this winter that seems to never end..... my UFO finish Sunset Strip 27" x 35"  Strip set score from Sherri Lynn Wood book - The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters Aurifil thread pieced and grainline improv quilting The score is to make strip sets and then create from there. My limitations were the 2 colors of blue and yellow. I made strip sets of blues, yellows and one slightly mixed. I evidently felt I needed some blue waters and sunshine in this bleak winter because that is what it turned into.  I played around with some thread colors because I finally had some various shades of Aurifil to use. Then I sort of did this flame grainline type quilting. I like the texture but it did stretch the quilt out a tiny bit. I had to block it when I was done to get it into shape.  I chose to use up as much of the leftover pieced strips I could. I thought I did but then when I was cleaning up I found a small stirp ...

"Shake it Off"  28.25" x 29.25" (could be where I went wrong) Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes of sewing....um?  just kidding!!! She is made of 7 shades of gray and 3 shades of red There are 1179 pieces cut to make 558 pieces for the 279 hst blocks and another 621 1.5" squares cut for a total of 900 1.5" blocks! Made in Ne. completed only because a blizzard rolled in yesterday when I was ready to give up.  :) One week challenge for Project Quilting hosted by Kim at  Project Quilting Season 10. 4  which Trisha (quiltchicken) came up with Pixel Play. If you know me you know I love a good pixel quilt.  I am intentionally leaving my photos small because for this pixel piece it is best to see it from as far away as possible......really even if you squint you can see how much more of a photograph this looks like. Try it!!! Thumb nail size is best.  So I said we had a blizzard yesterday remember? I knew ...

Project Quilting 10.3 is Bigger than a Breadbox theme. I usually don't have a problem with size when the challenges are given out. I thought that since I just had to make this bigger than 8 x 16 that I would give myself other limitations to learn something new or try something different.  Thus....   22.5" x 22.25" Large freezer paper pieced (my design) Inset pieced circle  played with colors I just loved how the colors played off each other. It was very hard to photograph and get the actual colors. I am not sure I did a very good job of that.  I tried for snow to help with the colors but most of it was melted off near me.  I used monopoly clear thread to quilt the organic lines. I think it worked well with all that color.  I am linking up to  Project Quilting 10.3 @Persimon Dreams and NTT at My Quilt infatuation

Urbanologie QAL was hosted by  Sew Kind of Wonderful I did the block sections at the time of the qal and managed a little change in the arrangement. It was a super fun quilt to make. But then how to quilt it? I felt it is such a whimsical quilt so thought I would go outside my comfort zone and have someone else quilt it. A friend in my lcq works for Mangelsons and they do quilting so she quilted it for me in a fun mash up of designs called 'texture'.  I brought it home and squared it up and bound it the next day. Whoop there it is.....one off my UFO pile!!!  It was 13 degrees out and snowing but I went out for a quick photo shoot and came home with these beauties to share.  So fun to put this naturey quilt out in the wild.  Here you can see the quilting that Haley did!. It is all texturey goodness.  Love the Quick Curve Ruler gals for fun innovative quilts.  Linking up with NTT @  My Quilt Infatuat...

"Path Interrupted"  is my  Project Quilting 10.2 for the  red, white and blue theme. 20" x 27" improv pieced improv walking foot quilting in a woven pattern of organic lines made in Ne. I have to admit that red, white and blue are not my favorite combination of colors. I thought about just using 2 colors but I could not think of what I wanted to make for this challenge. In the mean time I was getting the email updates from  Amy's creative Side  on getting started with Improv. I adore improv and while I have not been joining in on the daily challenges I have been following along. I finally thought to get myself unstuck on the PQ challenge that I would cut some strips of red, white and blue pieces and put some strip sets together.  .....and what if I cut those strips up and inserted some other strips? I was starting to get a feel for where this was going. I love the dark navy batik print I found in my stash. I think it feels like t...

2019 starts Season 10 of Project Quilting hosted by Kim  Persimon Dreams . The first challenge for the season was "Hope Springs Eternal".  I did not have a resolution this year but in my head I want to use a lot of what I have and dig out my patterns and books and just have fun making stuff. Well when the challenge came last Sunday I thought that the Hula Girl pattern by Sharon over @ Color girl Quilts  fit the bill. I love the linking rings in this quilt. Well, truthfully I had a bit of trouble paper piecing them to size from my printer but now I love them. haha The rings link in a way that allows everyone one to fit together, be together, side by side. Various low volume prints and solids in the back ground make the rings pop. Like the Olympic rings, I feel it represents everyone from everywhere coming together. I think that is hopeful. I loved using the low volume fabrics for the Mystery QAL by Kim and I didn't get it finished before the PQ 10.1...

Ugly Christmas Sweater mini  pattern by Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts 27x 27 scrappy quilt   My local modern quilt guild had an ugly christmas sweater holiday party. I did not nor do I want to own any actual sweater so I came up with using Lorna's sweater blocks on a faux knit tree skirt. I stapled garland and added felt mittens to go with the blocks.  oh and faux washi taped them on. haha What I discovered? it is hard even if you try to pick ugly colors and combo fabrics...Lorna's pattern is just so darn cute.  You can find more of her patterns  HERE Sadly this is horrible pick but you can see the fun tree skirt top and the 4 way tie winners of the ugly contest. After the contest I dismantled my tree skirt and made another sweater so I could make a mini and finish AND use my last label.  Caution Ugly Sweater quilt ahead...haha and lastly..... Went to visit my sister for Christmas. Got there just in ...