Sew Sunshine

Project Quilting 12.4 challenge this week is inspired by the Snail Trail block. You can find details about the challenge with Kim from  Persimon Dreams . I have to say I am not really a fan of that snail trail block.  It does change things when it is paired with other blocks or by the use of color.  I played around with drawing a few ideas. I just kept thinking of a vortex and I wanted to do that improvisationally.  Not really what I had in mind for this challenge.  I started to think what could I do with 2 colors and then instead how could I make it more colors that the traditional 2 or 4. I tried 8 and this is what I came up with.  I tried to simulate a few colors into how this would work. I think my finished result is not quite right. I think I ended up with a few triangles left over and maybe a wrong color here or there but still I like the result.  Just like in my last post, I am out trampling around in the snow and it is so pretty and calm out he...

I put my boots on and went to a few of my photo haunts today. Some easy to get to others not so much because of all the piled up snow. It was so beautiful and calm outside this morning. Fog and rime on trees and surfaces.  Anyway, scrappy scraps here was what I was working on trying to get to the bottom of my scrap bin. Can't even see a dent yet so....more to come hopefully.  You can't really see how beautiful this tree frost is but take my word.  You can see a little more on that front branch.  Oh yeah back to the quilt..... I think I am walking in deer tracks and other various critters.  I could have went scrappier on the back of this one but with so many seams on the front it just felt safer to use a bigger piece. I have plenty of those in my stash too.  This scrap quilt measures 50" x 56" All stash/scraps diamond grid straight line quilting My other recent scrap quilt can be found  HERE linking up with Sarah and  Can I get a whoop whoop and We...

  More Modern HST from 2020 in 2 prints. This was a QAL by lqg member Steph Jacobson over at  Steph Jacobsons designs  blog.  My quilt is made from the 12 main months of the qal. It measures approx. 60" x 60" I flipped the placement around to put my small print in the main blocks and the big black and white in the background. It was a fun experiment and the reason I did it was I had those two in my stash. I thought I had enough to do the extra bonus blocks but I did not. ha A slight draw back from using up your stash but I am still happy to use what I can. I made the top at the end of last year so technically this is also a UFO. yay! Snow then and snow now. Only difference it today the high is in single digits. I made a quick dart out back to get the quilted pic and the back.  (Feb 20th...went out for more pics)Update: Okay so this is more the scene today...so pretty out there in the early morning fog. :) The back was super fun to do. I used up several smaller b...

I....love....this....scrappy quilt! As soon as project quilting 12.2 was over I set out to start to tackle some scraps. Bags and bags and bags of scraps. You know, you finish a project and some scraps go in a bag, or you go out to a sew day (well in the old days) and you take limited stuff with you and then you come home so tired you don't put away and you end up with...bags! I probably emptied and stripped 12 or 13 smallish bags. Some of course had to stay in bags as that project may not have been finished.  Still I started sewing strips together after cutting and making size piles.  I was making some pretty good progress...then  Project Quilting 12.3 Virtual Vacation  came out on Sunday. You have to start a project after the theme is given out. So when I went to see the challenge I came across Sarah's post for  String Therapy tutorials  @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict. This tutorial she got from Christina HERE  from the blog A few scraps. Her tutoria...

I recently came across Caroline over at  Sew Can She  making another of her Color by Number quilts. This time she is focusing on the quilting doing a qal week by week. I was looking for more kid sized easy quilts to make for my project Quilts for Kids. Her color by number is a really simple strip quilt to make. I did have to adjust the size of the strip block to make a smaller sized quilt but the concept is still the same.  When you read the directions (by the way the pattern is free on her page above) you see that for each fabric you have to cut 1 and then 1/2 of a strip. Well in quilts for kids terms that means if you cut one more strip (3) you will have enough to make 2 quilts. So .......... dig out some eh.... fabric and see what you can make that might be kid friendly.  This strip method does not take long at all. I was able to cut and piece 3 big slabs like this (above) in an afternoon.  I then decided on layout start point and cut the strips accordingly....

38" x 48" Serpentine quilting with walking foot.  All stash fabrics (should win for use of oldest pieces of fabric...guessing over 20 years on easter eggs and backing fabric) Yep that is indeed Easter Eggs! I can not tell you how old this piece of fabric is but it has been in my stash a very long time. I remember I bought it specifically for making a kaleidoscope quilt.  When I started looking at it closer I remembered why I did not end up making it all those years ago. The problem? The print is very close. By that I mean the shapes are very similar and the colors are pretty similar and it really doesn't make for a dynamic kaleidoscope. However, it does make a very soft babyish one and so I finished this up to give to my pet project Quilts for Kids again! I played around with several solids to sort of modernize the piece but really it was never really going to go modern.  I do like the solid colors I ended up with though.  Honeydew, melon, blue and gold.  You ca...

I decided to keep the momentum going after last weeks P.Q. season 12 one week challenge. If you don't know about Project Quilting you can see my entry  HERE I make outreach quilts for a group I have mentioned many times over the years...Quilts for Kids. I try to make at least one a month if I can. Last year I was sidelined but luckily had many to give before I had to take a break from quilting.    These two heart quilts are from a pattern by Caroline at SewCanShe and the pattern is free  HERE I get her newsletters and it came up the other day in my mail and the size was right for QFKs.  I started cutting up my stash and realized it might be just as easy and fast to make 2 at one time.  Quickly and I mean quickly I had to tops done.   They measure approximately 42" x 42"  I have not quilted anything that big in quite a while and sort of forgot how to use my domestic machine and even how to sandwich a quilt. The first one I used a serpentine di...