Where has the summer gone?

 I can't believe it is the end of August, kids are back in school and Labor Day is quickly approaching. In the beginning of summer, I started a 100 day challenge to make 100 dress blocks based on the book, The Hundred Dresses. It wasn't easy making sure I took time each day to make a dress but I persevered and realized that I'm on my last 9 dresses! I also realized that I haven't blogged since July!

Many dresses were stitched since then but I will only post a few here. If you want to see all of them you can see them on my Instagram or Facebook posts. 

All the fabrics used in the dress blocks are from fabrics in my stash. 

 To involve others in my challenged, I asked those that wanted to vote for their favorite dress/girl. Several friends on Instagram and Facebook voted each week. It was interesting to see how varied everyone's choices were. This was a fun project with just a week to go!

What else have I've been doing? 

I finished my quilt based on Denyse Schmidt's class, The Proverbial Quilt. See my previous post. I will take photos over the Labor Day weekend. Stay tuned.

I made the August blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC)! August color is Aqua/Turquoise blue.

I finished the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge top. It is next in line for quilting!

Finally, my daughter and I spent last Friday indigo dyeing. Here are my results!

Another fun day of craftiness!

Quilt Class and RSC Blocks

 On June 27th, I was able to take a quilt class at a 'local' quilt shop, Quilter's Quest, with Denyse Schmidt! The class was based on her Proverbial Quilt. We were to come with a quote or saying that we would want to make a statement about. 

I chose the quote by Mayo Angelou 'Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.' The phase encapsulates the sentiment of the message in the song "God put a Rainbow in the Clouds." It inspired her to see the value in acts of kindness and to strive to be that kind of support for others. 

I came to the class with a loose idea of what I wanted to make. All the words except Rainbow were to be white with black prints and a black background. Conveniently, rainbow has 7 letters so each letter was a color from the rainbow with white as the background.

Denyse taught her process of making letters with her pattern for The Proverbial Quilt. We used scraps that we brought and background fabrics. During the class, I got many of the white/black letters and words finished. She encouraged us to make letters into words and words into phrases. She taught about spacing. There were large design walls to put our work as we completed words.

At the end of class, Denyse took all our finished words and phrases and tried to put them into a mixed up word soup. 

It was a fun class to take! It was similar to the improv letters class that I took with Nicholas Ball.  However, Denyse's pattern has a guide that makes it a bit easier. Both are great teachers and quilters! 

Here is the ABC's Sampler I made with Nicholas Ball.

At home, I continued to make letters and words and this morning I had a finished flimsy! YAY!

Thanks Elizabeth @emrohner for encouraging me to take the class with you!

Linking to Off the Wall Friday @Creations-Quilts, Art, Whatever, Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts, Wait Loss Wednesday @The Inquiring Quilter, ToDo Tuesday @QuiltSchmilt

So July has arrived and the RSC color for this month is purple! I was able to get my purple blocks for this month finished early! Both traditional and improv block!

Please ignore the blue tape on my design wall. 

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy!

May's Rainbow Scrap Challenge and some sewing behind the scenes

I'm happy to say that I have had the time to work on my RSC blocks early in the month! May's color is green! Such a nice color for May as the grass turns green, leaves and spring flowers start budding! 

I have a lot of greens in my stash from yellow green to dark green. I randomly chose 10 different greens to make my blocks - 5 traditional and 5 improv.

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy

One last 'catch-up' quilt from 2024 is Pattern Play. This quilt was made using techniques taught by @victoria_vanderlaan and stretched over a 12" x 12" canvas. I used some solid scraps from my scrap bin and improv piecing. 

I also have been sewing some secret projects. 
Firstly, I have been making a quilt for our son-in-law for his birthday. He is the only one in my immediate family without a quilt. Here is a glimpse.

I also was commissioned to make a wedding robe for my girlfriend's granddaughter from her mother's wedding dress. 

The wedding is in June but I'm sure none of them read my blog. 

After searching for a robe pattern that was the style that was wanted (wrap-around with sash tie), I started the deconstruction of the wedding gown. It was a bit tricky because behind the lace the satan was cut away. The layout needed to be strategically placed. I wanted to include the lace around the hem of the gown to go around the hem of the robe. 

The lace need to be reattached and stitched. I found that I didn't have enough satan for the sleeves so I needed to use the lace panels as the sleeves. I deconstructed the lace from the train of the gown and fitted 2 of them to bell sleeves. I also repurposed some the beaded lace to the back of the robe. 

Here is how it turned out! I'm please with it and more importantly, my friend and her daughter-in-law love it! The bride (or her sisters) haven't seen it yet. 

This has turned out to be a long post.  Thanks for hanging with me. I will save another of my secret projects for my next post! 

Linking to Finished or Not Fridays @AlyciaQuilts, and Off the Wall Fridays @Creations-Quilts, Arts and Whatever.

The Summer has come and gone - Where have I been and what have I been up to?

 Wow! I have been absent for way too long! It has been a very busy season year for us! I will break my updates into smaller segments to not overwhelm anyone including myself!

Our youngest daughter got engaged way back in May 2022. They wanted to finish up her Pharmacy residencies before the wedding which would end in June 2024. The wedding date was set for October 12, 2024! All the planning started!

On Mother's Day 2024, our oldest daughter and her husband announced to us that they were expecting their first baby, due in November 2024. We are so excited!

I had previously signed up for my first @Craftymonkies quilt retreat in Lancaster, PA for June 2024. We drove to PA and my husband camped while I was at the retreat! It was the best experience! The teachers were fabulous - 2 from the UK and 2 for the USA. Rachel, the owner of @Craftymonkies is incredible and the best host!

Day 1 was the Amish Day! It included learning about the Amish, visiting Amish stores, fabric shopping, and visiting an Amish family for dinner! 

Day 2-3

The first day of classes were taught by the 2 UK teachers - the amazing and talented @NicholasBall from @quiltsfromtheattic and @SarahHibbert from @quiltscornerstone!

Nicolas taught improv Fruits and Vegetables and Sarah taught Collage to Quilt! I have not fully completed these pieces yet but this is what I finished in class.

My plan is to make the bottom left collage into a quilt and to make several more citrus fruit (orange, lime, and lemon) to go along with my grapefruit!

(Rachel, Nicholas and Sarah in one of the classrooms)

The 2nd day of classes were taught by the 2 US teachers - @victoriavanderlaan 

and @jenniepickett from @cloverandviolet

Both amazing and talented!

Victoria taught her method of textile scrap art. We arranged scraps, stitched them together then stretched them over an 8" canvas frame.

(Victoria vanderlaan teaching)

(Victoria and myself with the piece I created) 

Jennie Pickett taught a bag that she designed for the retreat - The Agnes Bag. It was a bit challenging for me as I am not a bag maker. I am pretty proud that I did actually finish it (with a zipper closure!) 

(Jennie and myself with the bag I made!)

(Several of the pieces and bags made on the 2nd day of classes!)

I made several new friends at the retreat!

Here are just a couple:

(my roommate, Susan...we were put together by Rachel)

(Elizabeth, a fellow quilter from the suburbs of Chicago)

Rachel and myself - I adore this lady!

So if you haven't heard of @Craftymonkies, you should head over to the website or search for craftymonkies on Instagram. There are live zoom classes with teachers from all over the world, video recordings to purchase and watch on your own, and of coarse, the retreats offered. I personally love the platform and have taken the classes in all forms! ❤️

That's Part 1 of my busy, busy summer! How was your summer?