It's a CQG Sew Day! Let's Play!

 The CQG had a sew day on the 17th of this month. Eight or ten people showed up with different projects to work on. I even brought Marley and "her" machine since she had the day off from school. 

Everyone thought it was just the best thing to see a young one enjoying sewing. She worked on a simple one patch baby quilt to donate to the CQG to be sold at our next quilt show. The plan is to have several small quilts, donated by members, that will sell and all profits will go to CQG to fund some of our educational programs.

As you can see from the photos, not everyone was working on donation quilts, but the three or four of us who did made some headway.   

To See Such Fun ~~ finished!

And another finish! This little quilt is a 62 inch square of pink and yellow scraps to be given away this weekend. 

The pattern is Amanda Jean Nyberg's from her book No Scrap Left Behind. (The link goes directly to the QAL.)  I made another quilt (here) during her June Quilt Along in 2017. 

I made several changes with this quilt. Mostly I turned everything into  4½" blocks and then sewed those into strips. The center sections create large four-patch blocks, the cornerstones are made of broken dishes blocks and finally I made the 4½" strips in to square blocks and didn't worry about which way they got turned. 

My original version of this quilt
following Amanda Jean's directions.

Nope, wait. One more difference is that I didn't use the on-point setting. Hmm, is this still Amanda Jean's pattern? I'm not sure, but it was definitely inspired by her design.

To quilt it, I decided to use some of the curvy medium-sized motifs that are such fun to drop in. They are smooth and easy and, if I keep them large enough, are easy to see and appreciate. The quilt should be really soft and wrinkly when it gets washed. I haven't washed it because it's going to its new home this weekend after the church fair. We will have a silent auction, which I agreed to run, so I decided to add a quilt to the mix. (More on the fair and the silent auction early next week.)

For the back I used a fuchsia linen and some lighter, wide pink strips left over from previous projects. Every bit of fabric came from my stash or scraps. My latest roll of batting came in just days before I loaded the quilt, which was great timing. 

The title To See Such Fun is from a line of the "Hey Diddle, Diddle" nursery rhyme, so this quilt goes into that series. I just couldn't resist the title because everything about the quilt is simply fun.

		Quilt Stats
	Name:	To See Such Fun
	Size:	62" X 62"
	Fabrics:	4½” pink strip scraps, 4½” yellow scraps
	Pattern:	Inspired by Amanda Jean Nyberg QAL
	Backing:	Pink cottons and linens from stash
	Batting:	100% Cotton
	Binding:	Pink scraps from stash
	Quilting:	Mid-size curvy graffitti motifs

Oh, the LINK UPS!

The Scrappy Camper, who has her first linky party today. Good luck, Amy!
Alycia Quilts - Quiltygirl blog for Finished Or Not Fridays 

My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thurdays

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

From Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant

Indigo Dusk ~~ finished

Only a month ago I wrote about starting a new art piece in this post. Today the piece is complete! 


It uses some of the same blues as   "Big Sky,"   which I finished in the middle of January.    Both were inspired by sunsets in the Midwest while we were on vacation two summers ago. 

Richard and I love watching the sun rise and set. We just happen to catch more sunsets. My favorite part of the sunset is dusk, when the sun drops below the horizon but still emits light enough to see the colors in the sky and clouds. Even the thinnest, tiniest clouds catch the rays and reflect the rainbow, or in this case every hue of blue.

I used red thread in a couple of areas because Kaja and Ann have a challenge "Using red as a neutral" that I wanted to include. It turns out that the red contrast adds movement unlike the blue threads.

One of the things that I like is how the light reflects differently on the reds. I used a deep wine color on the bottom of the piece and a bright, true red in the other areas. 

Of course using red thread instead of blue doesn't count as it being a neutral. Red as a neutral is going to have to find its way into another quilt, if possible. But for now, red as movement works really well, don't you think?

I think this is the fourth one of these little art quilts. I'm enjoying them so much that I've started thinking of what may be the next one.

Cotton Robin 2019

Welcome back to the Cotton Robin! We've started this year's robin and I'm rather excited. I am on the game! The first block is due in a month and I'm ready to mail it. Yes. Last year I threw together a pitiful little thing at the last minute and mail it THE SAME DAY.

Who does that? Me. Of course. I really wanted to participate and life got away from me, but I managed to get it together. Not again. This year I want to at least begin on the right foot.

So I decided to get to it early and have fun. Here's my house. I sewed it completely without a pattern. Ha! I started with the orange door. Yep! An orange door, some almost white walls, and windows with built in shades and curtains. Those windows were a stroke of genius that just happened. I would never have used this fabric, but in the end look how cute. It also decided the color of the roof. 

There were quite a few things going on, so I decided to go with a navy roof to avoid adding yet another color. Then I realized that the block didn't meet the size requirements. So I added a tree. 

It looks just like the ones my husband trims. He wants NO LIMBS near the ground because they are a pain when he cuts grass. What does he do instead? Cuts them way up high so there's just a little top. One year he stood on the cab of the big tractor. Now really? So back to "The Orange Door." It will go out as soon as I get an address to ship it to, and I'll be off and running. Cotton Robin here I come! (Did I say I'm excited?)

Cleaning Rewards~~a fast finish

Have I told you I've been cleaning in the studio? I have mentioned it, I'm sure. Truthfully, I think I'm mostly moving things around. And not necessarily advancing toward a cleaner studio. I don't know what to do with this stuff! Really, I don't. 

Here's the problem: I unearth stuff--fabric, patterns, UFOs, etc.--and look it over. It's almost always too good to toss out. I mean, I don't keep trash. But I also don't intend to use it. Ever. For example, I have over 50 Butterick patterns. Over, I tell you. And that's the smallest box of the "The Big Three"--Butterick, McCalls and Simplicity. 

Now there are some used patterns. Perhaps a little over half are used. Surely some are missing a piece or two. But nothing in that box is just pure trash. Well, not if you fit into a size 8-12. I don't. But even if I did, I don't have much need for the dresses and suits I wore when I was a young, energetic teacher. (Who just happened to be able to sew really well.)

So, the patterns. What am I to do with them? Really. Burn four boxes of patterns? And what about that 1964 pattern I discovered in my mom's box? It's getting kind of old and vintage-y. As is the 1973 and the Vogue Oscar de la Renta specialty pattern...still unopened. I'll make some kind of attempt to sell them. We'll see how that goes.

There has been one great find and this one I know exactly what to do with! This quilt block was another item found in one of mom's boxes. She had already quilted it so all I had to do was bind it and offer it to my sisters. Three of them wanted the small red block quilt from last month.

I added corners so it can be hung on the wall. If all goes well, I'll find another and each of the three who asked will get one. 

In the meantime, I continue to move things around. 

Handwork is fast work!

I'm a fanatic at times. On hyper-drive when I start something that is of great interest. Unable to enjoy the work unless the work is moving forward. Rarely do I sit and appreciate something of my own making. 


However I do stop often and appreciate it for moments. Just moments. But still. Every time I empty my needle, I take a moment. Just a moment. But still.

I look at where I'm going. Appreciate what I've done. Make a few decisions. Thread up and stitch. Fast and furious, off I go again. 

What do you have under your needle?


Edited to add: see my article on AHIQ: Improvisational Utility Quilts. Thanks to Kaja and Ann for putting together this great new blog.

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: small town life

That's our life: small town. Only a few families. Only a few homes. Only a few folks.

A few from Pinterest and a few from our travels...

 

Interestingly, these small towns are all much bigger than our small town. Here we have three churches, a post office, a town hall, and homes. Some of the homes are old, historic homes, but that's all we can brag about. We're okay with not having a grocery store, a dollar store, restaurants. We gladly travel 15-20 minutes for those. 

It's always nice to see such variety on a theme, but the number of quilts depicting small towns is really surprising to me. Most of these have been added to my board, "heart, quilts."