Time Is Flying!

I can't believe how fast the days are flying by! 

After Spring Break, school tends to get very busy as we head to the finish line. To add to the busy schedule, my daughter made an unexpected but much loved trip home for a long weekend. Her BFF since birth was turning 30 so she came in! Naturally, we spent as much time as possible with her and packed in the activities! We took a walking tour of some local street art with 2 of my daughters.

The following weekend was another packed with activities. The International Quilt Festival was in Chicago/Rosemont! It is very close to where I live. As always, it did not disappoint! Here are a few of my favorites!

I like the colors of this quilt.

I love the indigo color of these vases and the details in the stitching!

I like the Cherry blossom fabrics used as the background for the Chinese letters.

I have seen colored pencil quilts before but I loved the idea of a child's doodles in the negative space!

This quilt reminded me of my blue houses quilt! I love the story behind this calendar quilt.

I have been working on a few things in my sewing room, too! 

It is April and the color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is yellow! 

These blocks have been done for a bit however I haven't had time to blog about them. 

I'm linking up to SoScrappySaturday.

My knitting club knits for a local hospital and here is a blanket that I recently finished. 

I have also been playing with all the cut offs from the Regatta quilt and I finally settled on this layout.

It is still in flimsy form as several quilts are ahead of it for finishing! 

That brings me to Friday Night Sew In which snuck up on me! Stay tuned! 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge and more...

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap challenge is mixed up colors. We all have those multi~colored fabrics that don't fit into any one color category. Those are the fabrics to play with in April. 

Since I am doing mini spools this year for the challenge, I am calling this months spools variegated threads. I found plenty of scraps to play with in my scrap bin Ü

For each spool, instead of using multiple fabrics, I choose one fabric and cut it in narrow strips and the mixed them up. We will see how they play with the other spools as the year progresses. I may try some more of these if I find the  time.

I'm linking up over at So Scrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday! Go on over and check out what's happening there!

I have been using the same monthly color for The Milky Way QAL over at Blossom Heart Quilts. The star for the month of April is Arcturus. I picked 2 coordinating multi~colored fabrics for this star. I'm hoping that it will play well with the other stars as the QAL progresses. 

I am not 100% satisfied with this block especially when I read that Arcturus is the 4th brightest star in the sky.  

My goal is to only use scraps from my stash so I will leave it for now. 

Yesterday, I went to the International Quilt Festival here in Chicago (Rosemont). I will leave you with a few of my favorites from the show!

 technique is pretty amazing! Tiny scraps with and overlay of netting.

Tulip Fields by Denise Oyama Miller

Beautiful colors and details!

This quilt won a blue ribbon! The quilt below is one of the blocks made full size. The challenge was taking traditional blocks and making them modern.

I'm a little partial to this quilt! Celebrating my beloved hometown Cubbies!

There were so many more! Enjoy!

Quilting Interrupted

I recently took a trip to Austin to visit my kids. I love Austin and the times that I get to spend with them. One of the highlights was a trip to Waco to visit Magnolia Market.

If you are not aware of what Magnolia Market is, you really need to watch Fixer Upper with Chip and JoJo Gaines. 

It is just amazing how this show and remarkable couple has changed Waco! The Silos in downtown Waco are now a shop complete with a store with lots of items for decorating, a family play area, food trucks and picnic tables. 

While the kids were at work, I spent time hiking with Sadie, my 'grandpup.' We had ventures to the Botanical Gardens and the Boardwalk.

My DD2 and I also crafted a bit making a wreath for our doors. Here is mine. 

Many more fun memories!

Once I was back home, I got busy on the April Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Orange is the color of the month! 

Here are 4 of the 6 blocks that are finished. 

I also worked on making a few more Little Blue Houses for a total of 12!

These are fun to make...not sure when I'll stop.

Also, this past weekend was the International Quilt Festival in Chicago! I love this show. Although I took many pictures, I will only show you a few of my favorites. 

Love the concept of the Drunkard Path block used as Butterflies!

Amazing work!

Beautiful colors and stunning hand work!

I was excited to see this quilt in person! Lovely!

Another great quilt using the Drunkard Path block!

This winner is a woven quilt. If you look closely at the detail shot, you can see the structure of this quilt. Amazing pop art!

I'm back in my quilt room, starting a new project with several more swirling in my brain...inspiration is everywhere!

Hope you have a great quilting day!

Here's what's new....

I had finished the top of this quilt over the weekend and I started piecing the back. This morning I finished up the back using up all my scraps of Sunkissed by Sweetwater and had to add a bit gray to make it big enough. 

(Hopefully saved just enough for the binding.)

I turned every other block 90º which create a larger negative space for quilting. 

Maybe tomorrow I will set myself up to sandwich this quilt. 

After finishing the backing for the quilt above, I got a bug to get one of the many projects that I have had in my head for a while done. There on my side table was a mini charm pack of Lilly and Will by Bunny Hill that I received as a 'Thank You' and a half yard piece I purchased to add to it. Yes, it has been hanging around there for some time! :)

I started laying out the squares in rows on my work table. Then pulled out my bag of Kona white scraps and cut 32 ~ 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" pieces and 7 ~ 1 1/2" x 14 1/2" pieces. Used those for some white sashing. I continued with a large white border all around, then added a 2 1/2" outer border from the yardage. 

It is fun to have summer spontaneous moments in my sewing room! 

Who would have thought I would get 2 flimsy ready for sandwiching today.  

Here are a few of my favorites from the International Quilt Festival in Chicago this past weekend. I'll put the names of the ones I remember.

Can you see the 3 dimensions to some of the squares? 

White Swan by Martha Schellingerloud. 

Beautiful quilting on a domestic machine!

 Zen Magpies by Helen Godden

Zentangles on fabric! Impressive!

I believe this one used the Stack and Whack method. Even though these are not my preference, I was impressed by how clever it was done.

 boots block details

fish block details

Trapezoids at Work by Jenna Brand

Maybe I'll add a few more on a later post. What have you been working on?