Sew Sunshine

I have been feeling like I am not getting much done these days. I get a spurt to finish a UFO and then I think I am going to ride the wave of accomplishment and then....nada! I am working on a couple slow big stitch pieces and they are sloooooow going.haha.  I was feeling the need to accomplish something for good so I arranged a sisters gathering around one sisters birthday. 4 of us got together with machines in tow and put together the blocks I had buried a while back.  I had 3 kits from Quilts for Kids ready to go. One actually was a kit from the local organization that a fellow quilter could not get to so she gave it back to me. Instead of returning it undone I decided to get r dun and  make 2 more kits up and finish from my stash pile.  Simple quilting to finish. These are the blocks from a tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew I love to use because it is so versatile.  My yard is torn up a bit but managed some so so pics. :) After all that I sat down and enjoyed some...

Another UFO off the stack! This is "Grow'n Up" 81"x 81" approx made of a collection of green scraps and fabrics with a pop of fuchsia pink which I love, QCR pattern by SewKindofWonderful called Green Smoothie found in the One Wonderful Curve book quilted by Sonya Nelsen @ GraceElizabeth's   I searched for a corn background that I could take some photos. I found corn and non-blooming sunflowers at this location but also a early morning Utility worker doing his paperwork on the side of the road. I didn't really want to shoot with him watching so I drove around some more.  He stayed there so I decided to come back the next day and yep...there he was again. ha This time he headed off when I drove by really slow ;) My plan was to hurry and get the photos before the sun broke through. I was cutting it pretty close.  I have always loved the 'love' newspaper print and use it whenever I find it! If I remember right it is a print by Carrie Bloomstein for h...

"Clowning Around"  Zen Medallion pattern by Latifah Saafir 50" x50"  So much bias tape on this quilt. I enjoyed making it and sewing it on but when I went to sew the wedges together I had a hard time getting the bias tape to match in width. Because I made the bias with various fabrics some pressed better than others. I do recommend the AGF's because their hand is so smooth and presses beautifully but if you use the light prints you might get see through seams. The pressing really needs to go whichever way is the flattest.  I wanted to quilt this by hand but I soon realized that with bias tape the thickness adds up. Bias is already 2 layers on the edges sewn onto background makes 3, batting 4, backing 5. Now add putting bias tape over another fabric as in the domed pieces above...6 and finally what about over another piece of bias? 7,8! So not for my whimpy sewing fingers!!! I ended up using my walking foot and doing what I call 'radiant' lines around mak...

One of my nieces got married recently. It was supposed to be in 2020 and the dates got changed a few times but finally in 2021 it happened but not on date planned.  I finally got to see her since attempting to help her with her wedding dress alterations last year.  I wanted to make something to commemorate the event so I made a wedding ring wall hanging. I love this pattern and to prove it, this is my third one I made using the Liz Harvantine block pattern.  HERE I luvvvv this block.  My quilty friend, Jen from  jenniferunderthejunipertree  have a small show together!! Cheese I know! We just spent two hours hanging our show and I should have known there would be photos...oh well ha We paired our quilts together to mark some of the journey our friendship through quilts has taken us.  We started with our Super Nova friendship quilt block exchange 7 years ago.  This was us after we won the challenge and our picture was included in an article in an Am...

Gung Fu or the Study of F 37"x 24" Flexible Patterning Score by Sherri Lynn Wood My Bee mates and I had a slow year last year. We decided to start this year off with a bit of a prompt for ourselves and totally optional. I got out SLW's book of scores and chose 'flexible patterning'. I picked a shape to work with that I thought would be fun to build on. The letter F. I chose a teal blue on blue color palette added in a fun Marcia Derse print and black and started the process.  What I love about this process is that you can really let everything go. No measuring, no cutting precisely, no following directions. Any time I has a minute I just sliced off some fabric and made some kind of an F. Mixed up colors sizes whatever happened.  Building with the building blocks. Rearranging and playing, letting the shapes sort of morph.  Finally I had all the space filled in with the letter shape however it turned out. This took a long time...several months of playing but I am pr...

67 x 72 pattern by Tony Jacobson Quilted by my friend Steph Jacobson I really wanted to give a quilt to a 'Hometown Hero' as part of Sarah's quilt drive for  Hands to Help 2021  (@ confessions of a fabric addict) I made a baby quilt for Little Lambs which you can see  HERE . My mission now was to figure out how to find a hero for this quilt.  Before Covid in my lqg I was assigned a quilt partner, sort of a mentor/mentee kind of thing. I knew my partner worked at a local hospital and so I reached out to her to see if she knew someone on staff that needed a little love and comfort, not to mention a pat on the back for tireless work well done! Well she thought of someone right away.    My lovely quilt partner Jean on the L and our honoree on the right, Nina Redl the hospital chaplain.  Nina worked throughout covid last year going from patient to patient attending to their families and coordinating resources for communication on ipads or whatever was neede...