Sew Sunshine

                                                     "Wherever the Wind Blows"  a study of positive and negative space 42.5" x 32.5"  Back at the beginning of the year my lqg had a modern block flip meeting. We brought blocks that were traditional and we flipped them to be more modern.  I brought different blocks and in the end only played with a few of them with other guild members.  I had in mind a few blocks I started in a BOM a few years ago.  These blocks were 12.5" and simple traditional shapes made as BOM for Blossom Heart Quilts HST Modern Sampler. (2016) My fabric choices were not great. I wanted to use the hand dyes I had made and I found this gray triangle fabric in a large enough quantity to go with the dyed fabrics. However, the fabrics all looked muddy and the values were too close. Also I felt like there was too much gray.  So when I was between masking making jaunts I grabbed the blocks and decided today is the day

Like many of you, I have been sewing masks.  We have so many places asking for masks that it is hard not to stop what you are doing and sew them if you can. I knew that I had enough supplies already to make a few so it was just a matter of digging through everything.  You know what happens when you dig through everything? You find things you forgot about. I didn't dig far when I came across lots of UFO projects. While mask fabric was washing I organized a few of the ufo's to see what needed to be done. I was able to finish several smaller quilts I had in the pile just waiting for sandwiching and quilting.  I realized that when I finished a couple I had a fence full. I decided on a semi- nice day before guild virtual sew day (the sat. before Easter) I would take a quilt show pic.  I will post more about a couple of the UFO's later. Some of these I have already blogged about last month.  My fence faces a park so anyone driving into the park goes right by and

My goal for National Quilting day this year, since the International Quilt Museum festivities here in Lincoln were cancelled, was to quilt this baby quilt.  The blocks are leftovers from another quilt I made for this ones big brother. (I have a 2 week old great nephew to get to now) :) It measures 53" x 53" I did a diagonal crosshatch because the blocks and the borders I put on the corners made it sort of stretchy.  I started marking the lines on Saturday morning with the hera marker. So easy to use and no messy marks to wash out. One of my favorite tools.  It came out all nice and crinkly after the wash. Only a tiny bit of red came out on the color catcher and no bleed into all that white or other colors.  Set with white vinegar rinse.  If found this cute 'dream big' fabric with hot air balloons on for the back.  Another bright spot in the icky looking landscape of my back yard.  linking up with  LoveLaughQuiltMonday

CrossPlay Quilt test  Pattern by  Simone Quilts   check for her new release soon. I tested the baby size CrossPlay and chose mostly ZenChic Spotted fabrics. I wanted bold colors and a rainbow feel.  Quilting is a serpentine stitch 40.5" x 40.5" Luckily I have a park near by.  Added a bit of color to this blah landscape don't you think?? I have been working on an old scrap project and made a tutorial for inset scrap circles. Check it out  Here

So far this has been a kind of a rough year for me health-wise and now it seems it will be so much more than rough for everyone. I am going to choose to keep working on my projects when I have good days because it really does make me feel better.  I started sewing some of my black and white prints together back in Jan. I wanted mindless sewing so I made 4 big squares.  I kind of think this would have made a fun quilt as is but I decided to cut them up and sew them back together.  Add a pop of red for the backing and binding and there it is.  48" x 48"  Did it make a dent in my black and white fabric...um probably not! ha Last week for PQ 11.5 I made a quilt for the theme Give it away and I washed up my current stack to Give. 

Project Quilting 11.5  is Give it Away! I  dug out the super easy and modern go to tutorial from  Cluck Cluck Sew Stack and Whack blocks  Click on the link for how to.  I cut out 42 squares and then went to town. You can do several blocks at a time so this goes very quickly.  The block size I chose makes my quilt finish at about 42 x 48 All fabric was in my stash and have already been made into other quilts.  I finished with some organic crossed lines which added to the window look of the blocks.  My quilt will be going to Quilts for Kids Lincoln chapter which covers Lincoln Omaha and Grand Island and any other smaller areas that need them.  linking up to PQ 11.5 at Persimon Dreams

"Mountain High, Valley Low"  48" x 38" improv from scraps line quilting in diamond pattern The improv triangle QAL with Nicholas Ball on IG was so much fun. It was just the most glorious distraction for me. I was able to sit down and make a few blocks at a time and didn't have to worry about measurements and sizes. It was just what I needed during my waiting game with my health issues.  The back piece was something I hand dyed a while back. I think it worked pretty great for this back with a few leftover blocks. I had several versions going and of course didn't think it was going to end up so big but it was just so fun to work on.  Luckily I had just the right aurifil thread. I ended up using most of the lighter ones which were a mix of 50 and 40 weight.  It took a long time to figure out what I wanted to quilt across all those colors. I asked my husband what he saw when he looked at this piece and he said points

Project Quilting 11.4 theme is Birds in the Air This is my " From Dusk till Dawn" 20" x 20"  Improv scrap quilt Organic matchstick quilting in various shades.  So excited that I can jump in this challenge.  I wanted to play with my scrap bits jar and see what I could come up with. I used 10 background colors to go with the 10 colors of birds. The gradient fabrics helps to give it the feel of dusk till dawn.  Linking up with Persimon Dreams and  P.Q. 11.4  pop over and see all the entries this week! I just started sewing bits and soon I had all these rows. It was getting dark so I had to quit until I could see what I was doing.  In other news I am am really enjoying #quiltconfromhome. So many people are posting and sharing all the quilts plus the app has been great to see things up close and get the names of all the awesome quilters. Here is a quick snap of my Third place winner in the Bee Group class.  Bee Mates that helped to make &

"Strength and Beauty" is my MQG remake from the September 2014 "Chess on the Steps" quilt made by Krista Hennebury of  Poppyprints Blog .  50"x 50"  organic crosshatch quilting in capri blue on the front Her version: So as I mentioned in my previous post that I have been having an issue with my eye/brain connection causing me to have vertigo 24/7 some weeks.  So little or nothing in the way of creativity has been happening. When I had a moment that I could stand I wanted to jump into something good. Krista has a fun method for making improv units she calls improv under the influence piecing technique. Her quilt was on my bucket list to make one day and then suddenly the MQG came up with a challenge to remake some of the free quilt patterns they have featured over the years.  Believe it or not but I had most of the colors already in my stash and ready to go. I had to locate two of the blues but the rest were ready to go. I took t