I Got a New Finish, Update on H2H and RSC

 I am so excited for my latest finish! In April I finished this quilt to the flimsy stage but then I wasn't sure about how to quilt it. I felt that it would be a good candidate for an all-over design. The only all-over design that I have previously attempted was a meander. I decided to try the lilypad design by Christina Cameli of @afewscraps. 

I practiced a bit on this piece of glass with a dry erase marker. Once I was pretty comfortable, I started on my quilt...not totally confident...but I went for it.

I was surprised about how easy it was and the overall effect of the design. 

(I quilt on my domestic machine)

I put the last stitches in the binding last night and put it through the washer and dryer before going to bed. This morning I took it out of the dryer. Here it is textured with all its crinkly goodness!

This pattern is Sparrows by @penandpaperpatterns. It is all machine pieced and free motion quilted. 

All of the solids fabrics are Kona cottons. The small accent triangles, the backing prints and binding are purchased coordinating prints. 

I really wanted the floral print for the backing but all that was left was just under 2 yards. So I found a geometric print that coordinated and pieced the back. 

My newest favorite finishes at 65" x 70"

Linking to Off the Wall Friday @Creations-Quilts, Art, Whatever, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Fridays @Alycia Quilts, Link Party @Patchwork and Quilts, Wednesday Wait Loss @the inquiring quilter and Favorite Finish Monthly Link Up @Meadow Mist Designs

Tomorrow is check in for the Hand2Help Challenge @Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Right now, I have 2 quilts that I have ready for this challenge that I will send to Little Lambs Foundation for Kids.

This is my Squiggles quilt that I made as part of the RSC in 2022. You can read more about it here.

This quilt is Play Nice quilt and it was made as part of the Stash Buster Challenge in 2022. You can read about it here.
I'm super excited to be participating in this wonderful charity quilt drive hosted by Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I hope to be able to add one more quilt to this group!

I will link to H2H check-in.

I also worked on my button blocks with the new May color-ORANGE

Here are my first 2 blocks.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy

I'm also excited to say I earned another badge from Wednesday Wait Loss for my mini quilts! 

Hands2Help 2022 Challenge Parade

 I have participated in the Hands2Help Challenge since 2019. I came upon the challenge when Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict was hosting. That first year, I donated 1 quilt to Jack's Basket. In 2020 and 2021 I increased the number of quilts I donated. In 2020, they went to Little Lambs Foundation. In 2021, I donated to Little Lambs and Hometown Heros. This year, Sarah could not host due to personal reasons but Mari from The Academic Quilter stepped up. 

This year I donated 2 quilts to The Little Lambs Foundation. 

My first quilt is called Whirligig. I drew up this pattern on graph paper and found fabrics in my stash that would coordinate. 

The backing is a woven green plaid from my stash.

details: machine pieced and machine quilted in straight lines 1/2" apart.

It finished at 36.5" x 42.5" 

I knew that I wouldn't have time to make another quilt (see my previous post for why) but wanted to donate another one so I looked through the abundance of quilts that I have made and that have been living at my house in my quilt cabinet. I decided to chose one to donate to Little Lambs. This quilt is called Soho Chic.

I made this quilt in 2014. The fabric is by Sandy Gervais. I had several mini charm packs so I made 9-patch blocks and snowball blocks.

The finished size is 36.5" square.

I love this little quilt but it wasn't getting the love that it would get by being donated to a great cause. 

I added a label to note that this was donated as part of the Hands2Help 2022 Challenge and sent it off. 

I hope it will be as loved as much as I love it!

Linking to Hands2Help2022 Challenge Parade @The Academic Quilter

April brings on PINK!

 April! Bring on the PINKS! Angela announced pink for the RSC color for this month. I finally got some  time to pull out my pink scrap bin and start my RSC blocks! Here is my Hang Ten block, all pretty in pink!

The bonus blocks I get from the Hang Ten block are my Squiggle blocks!

I just love pink and gray together. Don't you!

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy

I also worked on a few more projects! Here are my first 2 Scrap Buster blocks for April. This is a Facebook group.

                      and here is the flimsy for Hands2Help. This year Mari @The Academic Quilter is hosting Hands2Help for Sarah.

Stay tuned for more updates. 

Linking to Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts and Linky party @Patchwork & Quilts

Last weekend I took a class from Craftymonkies and learned Improv Curves. This was a fun class. Here are the blocks I made in class.

And finally I will show you my March calendar journal. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend! It still is not warm here (-30º from last year's temperature). We will still enjoy some family time, Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, and Easter dinner!

Finally, I have something to show!

 I finally have a new finish! 

I found some time to quilt my Stacks (of Love) quilt! I finished the top at the end of December 2020 and managed to sandwich it a while ago but never got around to quilting it. I had other projects that I was working on including some secret sewing 😉 but now I needed to quilt this one before I could move to the next step on my secret quilt. 

The fabric is left over from my quilt Strawberry Kisses quilt using the fabric line Strawberry Fizz. My inspiration for this quilt came from this quilt.  I used most of what I had left over and added the black and white strips from my stash. I changed the size to accommodate the amount of fabric I had. 

The backing is a piece of Mary Engelbreit fabric I had in my stash which was donated to me years ago. c.2006

I think it works really well with the front since it has a Mary Engelbreit 

feel to the quilt. What do you think? Great message too!

I quilted in straight lines approximately 1" apart from the top to the bottom.

The binding is a black and white stripe which goes along with the partial strips of narrow black and white columns in the design. See picture above with back and front showing. 

The quilt finished size is 59" x 64.5"

I'm linking to Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Linky Party @Patchwork and Quilts, Finished or Not Friday @Alycia Quilts, Friday Foto Fun @Poweredbyquilting

I also wanted to recognize the awesome gift sent by Sarah @Confessions of a Fabric Addict for participating in the Hands2Help Challenge. Wow! What an awesome gift! It is nice to be recognized! Thank You!

Well, I hopefully will be able to show off what I have been secretly sewing in not too long! I was able to sandwich the quilt today! Now to do the quilting!

Lots to update!

 My last post was all about the Hands2Help 2021 Challenge. After I posted, I decided to donate another quilt to another Hometown Hero. It was for another teacher/co-worker. On Memorial Day, this teacher woke up with a swollen knee and started to run a fever. Her husband took her to the hospital and she was admitted with a sepsis bacteria infection. She underwent surgery on her knee. 

I was supposed to sub for her on Monday, but she called on Sunday to cancel because she wanted to be at school for her 'kids' (she was released from the hospital on Friday.) That alone is amazing, the dedication this teacher has to her students. Earlier in the year, she also contracted COVID-19 possibly from her one of her students. During that time she taught her kids remotely as her entire class was quarantined. This was also hard on her family as her son suffers from anxiety.      So I quickly added another label to my Watermelon Sparkler quilt and wrapped and delivered it on the last day of school. She was very touched and surprised. 

Drum roll please!

Head over to Sarah @Confessions of a Fabric Addict for the final numbers! You will be amazed at the numbers!

On June 5th, I received some Happy Mail! In my mailbox was this sweet postcard made by Annie @Freezeframe03. 

Annie notified me, on June 2, that I was the winner of her postcard! 

I couldn't have been more excited! Annie makes the most incredible, 

creative art whether it be a postcard, a tag, a journal page, monthly 

calendar page, or a quilt!

I now have 2 postcards from Annie and an envelope. They live in my 

sewing room on top of where I hang my scissors and below my thread 

rack. Just where I can see them and be inspired!

Aren't they fabulous!

If you would like to see more of Annie's creations, please head over to her blog. 

Speaking of calendar pages, here is my May calendar page 

(be nice, it is nowhere near as nice as Annie's!)

June's color for the RSC is purple! I found some time to play around with my scraps and made 10 wonky shoo fly blocks 

and 10 Joy Luck blocks.

After 6 months of rainbow scrap play, this is what I have...

wonky shoo fly

Joy Luck

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy.

I also made some blocks for the Covered in Love charity. This is run by Kat and Cat Quilts but the May and June drive is being hosted by Tammy @Travelin' Sew I. 

Here are my blocks that will be in the mail this week.

Finally, we took a few days for some relaxation in WI! Here is the view from my new hammock!

Hope you are enjoying the summer!

Hometown Hero

 For the 3 years now, I have participated in the Hands2Help Challenge hosted by Sara @Confessions of a Fabric Addict. This year, Sara added an additional challenge called Hometown Heroes. She requested that each participant donate a quilt to 'someone in your community' that has worked during COVID-19 (front-line worker) as a way to say "Thank you" and "Hang in there, we see all that you do." 

There are so many possible recipients as many have worked tirelessly through this unprecedented time. First that come to mind are those working in healthcare, police and firefighters, but Sara encouraged us to think outside the box as there are endless possibilities. 

Since I work in an elementary school district, I have seen first hand how school teachers have had to work harder than ever before, learning new technology quickly, making changes several times throughout this school year to accomodate students, their families, and administrative directives, all the while teaching their students; remotely, hybrid and/or in-person (and taking care of their own families.)  

For my Hometown Hero, I chose my friend and colleague, Megan. Over the years, I have worked closely with Megan, subbing for her, helping out in her classroom, and even teaching 'long-term' for her when she went on maternity leave.

Megan teaches 1st grade! Here we are together. 

 The picture above is from before COVID-19. The students sat at tables, shared supplies, made projects to reinforce the lesson and were able to move around the classroom. Her classroom is well organized and full of fun learning activities. 

I was working on March 13, 2020 when the staff got an email with 3 hours notice that school would be closing and to prepare their students with enough materials for the near future. That was the last time students would be back in-person until October 2020. 

This school year started with remote learning, first teaching from school.

Then hybrid learning started. Some students attended on Mondays and Tuesdays, others on Thursdays and Fridays while others remained remote. All were remote on Wednesdays. Desks, social distanced with protection screens replaced tables.

All students had to have their own supplies and take home everything daily. 

Everyone needed their own water bottle as the water fountains were turned off.     Backpacks were loaded and heavy! A lot to ask of kids.

After one month+, remote learning returned. This time, the teachers needed to teach from their own homes. Below is Megan's classroom from her basement.

When the students and teachers finally returned, hybrid looked different as schedules changed weekly so students could attend on alternating Wednesdays. After spring break, most students returned to 5 days but there were still some families that remain remote. 

In giving you a glimpse of what teaching looks like during the pandemic, I hope I was able to convene the fact that teachers have had to work incredibly hard to accommodate all the changes while still teaching their students. It wasn't and still isn't easy. Technology is great, but we all know that there are unforeseen glitches that pop up and need to be addressed immediately. 

Megan spent her time learning the technology so she could make sure my day went smoothly when I sub for her. I appreciate how organized and detailed her plans are which makes my day in her classroom a joy. 

I presented Megan with my Fresh as a Daisy quilt this week (which was also Teacher Appreciation Week!) 

You can see additional pictures of the quilt here. 

I love my job as a substitute teacher! 

Megan is one of many teachers that have worked hard during the pandemic and are deserving of our "Thanks! We see all that you do!"

Linking to @Confessions of a Fabric Addict.