Sew Sunshine

Back when I was doing the remodel on my dining and kitchen areas, I ordered new windows. The east wall has these 4 short windows. They had custom metal blinds there before and because I sew in there sometimes they were covered with fuzz ALL the time.  We replaced the windows and I had some simple ideas to cover them with but the one window was made slightly different than the other 3 and so nothing and I mean nothing can be installed there.  So I either had to choose outside mount which would be huge because the 4 together are over 120" or come up with something simple.  One day I decided. Since I sew why not make simple a simple shade-type style curtain that lets the light through in a quilty way.  I came up with these pojagi style panels. They are a gray weave look cotton with white, gray and grunge in the lighter areas.  They slide on simple cafe rods and can be taken down in seconds or put at different levels to let the light in.  My sample turned out pretty coo

A while ago I saw a free pattern from Robert Kaufman made out of Kona called  Kona Crossing . I thought it was super cute and would be an easy piece to change size on and make into a fun child size quilt. This is my interpretation made out of these fun gingham looking cottons I had.   I have to admit this is super cute! Some little girl is going to love this.  and because the next photo had too much background clutter I zipped it up in a filter which turned out way cool.  Fun and done!! woohoo Also for fun........ I decided to add some shibori (itajime) type folding and some black rit dye to some gray dish towels. They turned out so cool. :) Linking up with  Let's Bee Social  HERE My quilt infatuation  HERE (she featured my Dahlia Dream quilt...woohoo) and  Finished or not Friday  HERE

My two local Modern Guilds had a mini quilt swap between them. We met up last Saturday to exchange the quilts and have a bit of meet and greet.  There were 15 from each guild that signed up to swap. My partner and I chatted by email and FB and then met up on a sew day. "Bad Romance" on the Left is my sample "Just Dance" on the Right is my finished swap piece Fun at the park on this photo shoot. I could not resist the bicycle wheels on the dinosaur.    My partner suggested colors of blue green, green blue, greens, burgundy and mustard. I tried to come up with a soothing combination for her. We tried to pick a page number and then find a quilt book with something good on that page. I was stuck The only thing that was remotely possible was a simple drunkards path block. Then I found Tula Pink's book in my stash.   I found in the book this Eclipse pattern.  Straight line quilting I also included a piece of fabric from my stash that

'Dahlia Dream" approx 30"x 31" freezer paper pieced, applique  This dahlia was an ordeal. Several years ago I came across this pattern made with freezer paper.  The colors are chosen the freezer paper pattern pieces are drawn and cut out by hand, ironed to the strips of fabric and then you sew the whole thing together without seeing the front. yep..... Soooo much paper must be taken off. Lots of missed points were revealed. I didn't remember this being an issue the last time I made one. It didn't want to lay flat either so I had to applique it onto another fabric and I came up with doing a bias tape trim around the circle. I was able to get it flat.  That is one good thing I guess. With all the mishaps I decided to experiment with some quilting in outside corners but quickly gave that up to.  It looks okay in places. I went ahead and finished it because I love the colors and the process even though it is not quality it

I joined the  New Blogger Blog Hop 2013 ?  (Check it out, I think my answers are still the same as what I wrote about then) Wow that seems so long ago.  Guess what? I still love blogging about what I am doing creatively. This year it has been kind of a bumpy road getting back into quilting. I never stopped but had many delays last year because my husband and I decided to remodel our kitchen and dining area ourselves.  This year I have been working on catching up with many outreach and charity projects.  I planned a project for our local National Quilting Day Celebration at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum.  Two quilts were made and donated to the local Child Advocacy Center.  Read more here about  Love of every day things .  I taught a class to help guild members be more confident with using the Quick Curve Ruler made by  Sew Kind of Wonderful This quilt made by members of the classes and  the quilts you see  HERE  and  HERE  and  HERE  and yes.........

makes 8. I was able to take some time since last months sew day for Quilts for Kids and get these beauties put together and quilted.  On our sew day in June several ladies brought squares to swap with some of mine to make the 3 scrappy quilts on the left. We used  Allisons Tutorial: Easy stack cut and sew blocks  over at Cluck Cluck Sew.  These 6 plus the other two I previously made this year  HERE  and  HERE  make 8!  Happy 8th Birthday Lincoln Quilts for kids group!!! Here are some of the blocks we made during the day.  I went to visit my sister one day and she helped me prepare for the sew day. We cut enough blocks for several quilts.  You can see how fun the blocks are when they are coordinated or when they are scrappy! And they go together fast. I would recommend this as a group project.  After quilting those in 3 days I had a feeling that my sewing machine might need some love. It is currently in for service. I am using my Babylock Jane to fre

Saturday June 16th is a celebration of the 8th year of the local chapter of Quilts for Kids Lincoln.   We have a small group that meets at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum on the 3rd Saturday of each month. It is a lovely location open to the public that visit the quilt house.  I am doing a short demo on the tutorial by  Cluck Cluck Sew  on Easy stack cut and sew blocks. The above piece is a sample I made up for a boy quilt. Those are sometimes hard to come by.  Organic wavy line quilting goes fast and easy. Quilts for kids label...check! pieced back with a few left over strips. Sadly it was super hot out and I have a hurt foot so I didn't go scouting for a good photo area. I stuck to the shade in the front yard.  eh.. So to get ready for the demo and sew day I took to my stash pile and decided to cut out squares for a variety of blocks. I think this tutorial will work well as a scrap quilt so anyone that comes can just grab a