Sew Sunshine

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.........

This is the mini I whipped up for our local guilds mini swap.  We were supposed to make anything but keep it between 12"- 24".  I made "Listen" approx 16" x 16" and it is matchstick quilted.   The fabric in the center was the inspiration and it spoke to me so much as to what to add to it so thus..."listen".  Since it was a hurry to finish I added the quick corners at the top for hanging and I added the small one at the bottom for a label. Was super quick to just sew it in the binding.  The guild swap was pretty fun but stressful. We chose the mini's white elephant style so there was lots of stealing of quilts. Not my favorite thing to do as you briefly get attached to the ones you had in your hands.    "Sweetness" is the mini I won made by a new guild member. It is sweet and I am so looking forward to getting to know her in the new year.  Here is the attempt to get our OMQG guild group in a pho

Just a reminder that the Blogger's Quilt Festival is open for voting.  My "Conversation of a Marriage" is in the small quilt category.  Check all the small quilts out  HERE   and then check out all the categories . So much fun to see all of the quilts from so many talented quilters.  Linking up with Let's Bee Social with Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts

A different kind of quilt challenge from a gal in my lqg this week.  Urban Detritus  is her website where she is holding a Mood Lighting challenge featuring the FatBoy lamp.  I decided to get in the mood and try this challenge. I am not sure if I followed the rules totally but I did have fun!   Yes, I am a huge Colin Firth fan from the A & E version of the classic book "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen.  I embellished my mood lighting with a little love charm of Colin himself. I added the lace fabric and the specially printed "Spoonflower" purchased P and P fabric with some boa trim too. I just sort of had too much fun but oh well.    The challenge ends tonight at midnight so I was entered in time.  All in all this was a super fun project.  Linking up with Lorna @  Let's Bee Social

Tribal Lands - 36 x 36" So ........I had to come up with something for the Riley Blake Sashing Stash fabric since I signed up for it through the Modern Quilt Guild and then when it came I gave it to another member. So thinking about it I went to lqs and bought a bit of it. Then what to do..?  I had to go online and order some RB fabric solids since I could not find any local. So with all that effort you would think I had some idea of what I was going to do. That would be a big fat..NO! ha Just looking at the multi sashing stash I kept thinking it felt Seminole like. I started using just bits to create a landscape. Plots of lands, trees, craggy pieces for rocks and off in the distance some mountains.  In the forefront I was going for rich dark earth being sectioned off and farmed and a valley with waterfall. Way off in the distance the flying geese. The best part for me was doing the diagonal quilting. I used clear thread on top.  I liked the lines and finished it with a fa

Finally getting around to posting my challenge piece. I struggled so much coming up with something I liked using these fabrics. I did get something done as you see, and I submitted it but alas it was not accepted.  I do think that I was a tiny bit disappointed but then again I have been really distracted from sewing because of a recent illness with my husband. So, I am just now pulling up my knee socks and moving forward. I call this "Spumoni Sunshine".  It is pretty small at 30" w x 28" l with spiral quilting.   I used the fat eights that were sent and a bit more of the yellow and white and then gray and black of the MM  solids.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again...right?  So maybe next time. :) Linking up with WIP wed with Lee HERE and Let's Bee social with Lorna HERE

Guild meeting last night. Fun Fun Fun! We collected star blocks to assemble for the QuiltCon Charity Quilt . We picked four main colors and any size divisible by 4. We received a huge variety and 4 of us divided them up to take home and assemble. This is my section and I am going to work on filling in the blanks. I already added the little blue and snow wonky star and the half a paper pieced star. I will see what else I come up with.  Should be super fun to see what we end up with. Linking up with   HERE and Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP  

Not much action here but I wanted to experiment with some foundation piecing from our mini guild class last night. One of our members Suzanne gave us a quick class on foundation piecing her tree pattern. Three little cutie patootie trees! I love them. Maybe I will do more??? Linking up with WIP WEd at Freshly Pieced HERE and Let's Bee Social with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts HERE

The weather lately means it is the end of summer. I still think my new quilt block quilt is pretty sizzling hot!  I love this block and how it came together. So far I added the corner stones and surrounding half stones. I really don't think I want a border on this but will use the orange or yellow for binding maybe. Still deciding. No idea how I am going to quilt around those jagged blocks yet either. Any ideas?  I have the back pieced and should try to get to it yet this week. Linking up with WIP Wed. @ Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts and Needle and Thread Thursdays @ My Quilt Infatuation and I am the Participant Highlight today for A Lovely Year of Finishes @ SewBitterSweetDesigns and Fiber of All Sorts   yippee...go check it out!  

I dug through my stash and found some pieces that sort of go together with my new block. I really like how they came together. Now I am deciding if I should piece in a cornerstone or not. hmm??? Time seems to be flying by and not much sewing happening.  So keep on keepin' on. ;) Linking up with WIP Wed with Lee @ Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social with Lorna @ SewFreshQuilts Let's BEE social

  First up, a totally fun block I was dying to try out.  I love love love this. I have been cleaning out (more purging going on) some of my magazines that I have inherited lately. My guild is having a library book sale and magazine drive to raise money for new books.  I have been cleaning out their library and my stacks of magazines. I was marking things I wanted to try. Found this block and no matter that my design wall is 3 WIP pieces deep....I had to try this one.  FUN! Not sure what I am going to do with it yet and I am using some stash fabrics again for my PURGE Challenge so winner winner chicken dinner! :)   Next, isn't it obvious that I worked so fast to catch up on my leader and ender quilt project that my photo is blurry? That is my story and I am sticking to it plus the fact that I had to stand on a rolling chair to get out of the overhead light since it was taken around 6 a.m.   ha This is my shoebox project of trying to use up all my tiny binding end scraps.

I had to take a break from my boating adventures to peer under the sea. I saw this adorable shark pencil case by Becky over at PatchworkPosse .  I thought I would adjust it a bit to make it a little more girly and used snaps for the closure instead of the shark teeth zipper she used.  I think it turned out super cute. I used scraps and batting scraps and quilted it up instead of interfacing which is probably why it turned out a bit smaller than I thought. All in all I love it and I think my great niece will love it for her birthday next week. :) Linking up with WIP with Lee at Freshly Pieced and Lorna with Let's Bee Social  

First up today is a bit of work on my boat blocks. I decided to try to make up several quilts with my red, white and blue/aqua scraps. Here is the first one. I went with 6 1/2" blocks which is what I had a lot of. Win win! The boat doesn't really stand out too much but I think some little one will love it anyway.  Now to get it sandwiched and practice fmqing!! I was feeling so behind with the county fair here all last week.  I volunteered several times and tried to work on more charity quilts while there if I was not white gloving the quilts. Here is my little piece that I am proud to say earned a blue ribbon! Here is one of the kits I made up last week for Quilts for Kids (they had a booth at the fair that I worked at a bit during the fair).  This kit I decided to do myself because it had a block that needed piecing and I was trying to use up pieces for the back too.  Lots of stash fabric! It turned out kind of cute. :) Between shifts at the fair I tried

  My current work in progress is kind of slow going. I started it a few days ago but it is county fair here so I have not had much time to work on it.  I mentioned last week that I was making kits for part of my "purge" progress of my stash. I had one that in this quilt that was not quite enough fabric for the square I needed so I pieced it. I am guessing it is pretty hard to see and even less when I get it quilted. So I didn't give this kit but made it up myself. The kits I am referring to are "Quilts for Kids" kits. They have a booth at the fair where they are sewing quilts and talking about where these quilts go in our area. Most of the quilts go to our local hospitals for sick children.  Such a good cause. Anyway, this is my current top all from stash fabrics and scraps. Linking up with WIP Wed.   here  and Let's Bee Social HERE   And now the Winner of the pdf pattern from my test of the "Flowering Lonestar" pattern by Melissa at