Sew Sunshine

"A kind of hush"  15.5" x 15.5"  Black and white mini challenge Improv pieced Sheer overlay Machine and hand quilted I wanted to participate in  Curated Quilts Mini Black and White Challenge so I started thinking of movement in air in water and in thought. I soon felt stuck and put it aside for a few days.  I was on FB and saw a photograph someone had taken of a really cool zen stack of rocks and the sun peaking through a crack between the stones. The hole was perfect and allowed rays of the sun to explode out through the hole.  I was so inspired by the beauty and calm that I walked into my sewing room last night and jumped back into my movement of air, water and thought.  Out came .... A Kind of Hush.  I played around with the improv shapes but it felt too something? I always like to try new things and thought why not try a sheer overlay to calm it down.  I have a stash of clothing fabrics and found this sheer white orga

Blossom Heart Quilts  is releasing a new pattern on 8-13-19. It's Double Dash and it is a super fun quilt to make.   I jumped at the chance to test the pattern thinking I would do a scrappy version.  I was able to find several solids and a stack of low volumne to go with. I adore the colors of orange and pink and red. There is coral and raspberry too.   I jumped on the large 15" version and made enough for Queen size.  I love how all the scraps worked together to make the lights and darks.  Pretty soon it was huge! I took the first pic out at the park near my house and tried to take some more but the weather never did cooperate until today. I was able to use a ladder and snap a few.  Thanks to Alyce for creating a great design. I think she may be celebrating a birthday now too...Yay Celebrate!! To buy her pattern click on the link at the top!

Fair Time is always hot and always interesting. Usually I hang out with my friend Jen but she was off on a family vacation so I had to look for a sub. I found Eddie on the second day of the fair.  He was a bit boisterous but generally a pretty good guy. He was a blue ribbon winner so we had much to talk about.  I entered 5 of my quilts in the fair and somehow I won with them all.  Best Recycled award and blue ribbon-From the Mending Pile Original post  HERE Best Modern and blue ribbon - Edit Original post  From the Cutting room floor =Edit Reserve Champion and blue ribbon - Japandi a Bee Quilt Original post  Here and  Champion and a blue -Chihuly inspired Original post  HERE quilted by Marsha Swanson (Dog Ear Creek Quilts) Omaha and then this happened a Champion, a blue and then Best in County- Urbanologie  This is one of the quilts I sent out to be quilted so I could give a QCR trunk show. Haley Schober from Omaha quilted this f

Japandi 57" x 49"  improv crosshatch organic quilting a BeeUtifully Modern Bee quilt my Bee mates: Jen, Phyllis, Liz and Judy  This quilt is the first blocks my beemates and I made together.  I was up for Queen Bee first and I chose a combination of Japans wabi-sabi style mixed with the clean natural lines of Scandinavian design. Throw in asking for making your own stripes and a neutral palette and you get Japandi style! It took me 2 full length audio books to piece the blocks together once they were turned in. I think I figured close to 22 hours. It was a challenge to create balance and use up all the bits.  It is hard to tell from here but some of those little bits are tiny tiny bits, skinny lines and stripes.  With our Bee if you want your piece bigger you have to make quite a few blocks and bits to fill in. In this quilt each person made one big block and then gave me all the scraps they had leftover. I worked to piece almost a

I made a new much needed bag! It is the Luisa pattern by  Sotak Handmade I used my stash canvas fabrics for this bag. It went together pretty easily. Of course I didn't take pics of the inside which is a bright pink print. This bag is great! It has a zip pocket outside and on the back two slip in pockets. In the inside it has a zipper pocket and then the whole thing zips shut. It is the perfect size to carry my tablet or just small stuff.  I guess I was in the sewing mood as I got out some knit fabric I had and made a tunic top too.  I might make more since I still have a huge stash of knits and other clothing type fabrics.   I have been neglecting my garden of flowers and veggies but they seem to be thriving pretty well. My husband shoots them some water so I guess I should say they are his garden. This hibiscus has gone wild. We have another one that is white, gotten and planted at the same time and it is a dwarf compared to this one.  We planted one

Dog Days - from dictionary.com =  plural noun the   sultry   part  of  the   summer,   supposed  to  occur   during   the   period   that   Sirius,   the   Dog   Star, rises  at  the   same   time  as  the   sun:   now   often   reckoned   from   July  3 to  August  11. a  period   marked  by  lethargy,   inactivity,  or  indolence. Bits from my dog days:  BeeUtifully Modern Bee mate Liz picked an open theme for her Bee blocks. Sort of "a day in the life" or "inspired by Gwen Marsten-ish" or "whatever makes you happy" combo. The fabric colors she picked were way cool. I put off doing mine for a long time because I was not sure how to depict a day.  The top block is sort of a maze. Each days starts out with hope and then depending on how I feel, I either accomplish something and check things off my to do list or I spin my wheels and get nothing done and end the day with little to no progress.  Battling health issues that take me o

"Overlapping Dimensions"  24"x24" Improv pieced, machine free organic plaid quilting My Big Blue inspired challenge piece for an upcoming exhibit. Our LQG used a quilt for inspiration that was made by Ardis James back in 1983. We chose 7 blocks to remake, update, modernize or reinterpret whatever way you say it.  Each block has at least 3 people modernizing it. We ended up with 25 pieces turned in. The proposal for an exhibition has been submitted to the IQSCM for a possible exhibit in the spring. This outdoor photo-shoot was so fun as my friend and fellow quilt buddy Jen was out with me. She has a piece in this challenge too and needed a photo also.  My block was a single wedding ring block. It was pieced and then appliqued onto a background piece. I chose to do an improv interpretation of the block because I feel that if Ardis was alive today she would appreciate the deviation from the rules of traditionally made wedding ring blocks.