I got a flimsy!

 I'm happy to show you the sewing I got finished this week! After adding one more color (peach) to my wonky shoo fly blocks for the RSC 2021, I arrange the blocks in a pleasing arrangement on my design wall. I decided to go with a diagonal layout. (My Rainbowlicious quilt was laid out in rows by colors.)

Then I went about sewing the blocks into rows and then sewing the rows together. This went together reasonable quickly! Voilà, it is a flimsy!

I may still add some kind of border but I'm not 💯％ sure. I'm just happy to have my 2nd RSC quilt for 2021 put together. I'm thinking of naming this one Clover Bloom because the shoo fly block is named after the clover bloom flower. 

I'm already thinking of what block(s) to do next year. Are you?

A Finish!

                                               My first RSC finish of 2021!                                           I found time last week to complete the quilting and binding of my Rainbowlicious quilt! This quilt pattern is Joy Luck by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. 

The original layout of this pattern was stacked blocks with sashing between the columns rather than side by side with sashing between the rows. Due to the number of colors (11) and the number of blocks of each color (10), I decided that this would be the best layout. 

I'm calling this quilt Rainbowlicious because the definition of rainbowlicious is "a deliciousness of colors in an array of beauty so good you can feel it, taste it, as hues across the spectrum of light, alight you." Roseanne @Home Sewn By Us said that they reminded her of wrapped pieces of candy. Thanks Roseanne for the inspiration in naming this quilt! 

                 The backing I found in my stash ~ a colorful floral print that has many of the colors of the rainbow in it. 

It was a beautiful Fall day for the photo shoot of this quilt! 

The blocks were made monthly over the year as the color of the month is announced by Angela over at So Scrappy. I added one additional color (peach). The blocks are all machine pieced and the quilting is FMQ in a simple braid in 2 different sizes. 

The quilt finished at approx. 40" x 40". 

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @So Scrappy, Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Linky Party @Patchwork and Quilts, Brag About Your Beauty @From Bolt to Beauty, Finished or Not Friday @Alycia Quilts, Foto Fun @Powered by quilting

Linking to Favorite Finish @Meadow Mist Designs

I also finished my November step for the Macaron Mystery QAL @Meadow Mist Designs. Here are the 3 steps so far!

Hope you had a great week of quilting! 

A flimsy and other progress

 I put together one of my RSC 2021 quilts! I even had time to sandwich it yesterday! 

The pattern is called Joy Luck by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. that I purchased many years ago. I hope to get to the quilting this week. My job at school has slowed down a bit and I have the week off from babysitting my grandson. My SIL landed a new job and starts next week so they gave me the week off. Hopefully I will be productive (if I'm not called into work.)

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday, and Patchwork and Quilts

I added some peach blocks to my RSC- Wonky Shoo Fly blocks.

I also made charity blocks for Covered in Love. Kat introduced the Nov/Dec CiL block drive which are textured blocks. Other than sensory quilts, I had never seen a textured block/quilt. I was intrigued with a few of the patterns and made these.

gathered strip

undulating tucks

pintucks

I tried something new while I still could find a few flowers around. It is called flower pounding on fabric. I gathered some flowers that had some good colors and a few green leaves and laid them out. 

I covered the flowers with parchment paper and taped it down. 

Then with a rubber mallet, I pounded the flowers until I could see moisture/color released from the flowers. Some flowers released more color than others and the leaves were resistant. (Marigolds and geraniums released the best.)

Here is the result. After cleaning up the remaining parts of flowers, I ironed with a hot iron to set the colors. I'm not sure how colorfast this is so I may use a salt or vinegar fixative. I'm not sure how I will use this but I may add some embroidery to enhance the flowers and add texture.

Finally, here is my finished October calendar journal. 

Hope you have a good and productive week!

Trying to keep my head above the water!

 Why is it that life seems to keep getting busier? 

I just don't seem to have enough time to keep up with quilting, blogging, and visiting blogs with the time that is left over after work and family commitments. Anyone else feel the same?

Well, enough complaining! I need to enjoy the moments! 

October's monthly color is light green. Here are my blocks. 

Joy Luck

Wonky Shoo Fly

I'm thinking I will add at least one more color for the wonky shoo fly and 

several for the Joy Luck to make them a nice size quilt. We will see!

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @ So Scrappy.

I did have a finish since I last posted! I finished my #30daysofimprovqal quilt.

This challenge took place during the month of August. I chose to 

add large borders of Kona white around the grid of blocks to make 

a good size throw quilt. I quilted from top to bottom in straight 

lines about 1/2" apart. 

The backing fabric was used to based the colors for the challenge blocks. The binding is left over pieces from the front fabrics. 

This quilt was gifted as a wedding gift for my daughter's 

sister-in-law and husband.

I will be linking to Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, linky party at Patchwork and Quilts, Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts and Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting.

Finally, I can show you my September calendar journal! We have been having quite the printer problems and finally broke down and bought a new one. I have been keeping notes on paper until I was able to get the calendar printed. 

My October step for the Macaron Mystery is finished ~ 60 flying geese. 

I'm excited to see what the next step is. 

Until next time, happy quilting!

Sew busy!

 I wish I was 'Sew' Busy rather than 'So' Busy. The beginning of the school year is always busy but this year it has been extremely busy! The District I work for is short on subs, so I'm working everyday that I'm available with few exceptions. I also babysit my grandson 2 days a week so it leaves me with little time to sew, write blog posts, or even read them. 

I did manage to sew my monthly blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The color for September is ORANGE!

Wonky Shoo Fly blocks in orange!

All the blocks so far!

Joy Luck blocks in orange!

All the Joy Luck blocks so far!

I'm linking up to ScrapHappySaturday@So Scrappy.

I also managed to do the September step for the Macaron Mystery QAL 

with Cheryl Burkley @MeadowMistDesigns.

Living in Chicagoland, I was able to take advantage of seeing the Bisa Butler exhibit at the Chicago Art Institute. If you are not aware of the work of Bisa Butler, I encourage you to look it up as she is an amazing quilt artist! The quilts on display are her portrait quilts! They tell stories of her life and of the lives of others African Americans.

Her use of colors and fabrics from Africa add to the beauty of these quilts! The details in her quilts are truly amazing!

She layers fabrics like a painter layers paint.

I also love the way she places her figures on her choice of background fabrics. 

Here are just a few of the many pictures I took as I couldn't get enough of seeing these wonderful pieces of art and the emotion they evoke. 

If you get a chance to see her work, don't hesitate! It is sew worth it!

Reopened for business

 Yay! My sewing room remake is finished at least enough to move back in and use. I still need to organize some things in the new space and buy some bins. It feels so good and I really love my new cutting table!

Most of the room is the same; just rearranged except for the new cutting table and new flooring. For years I was using a cabinet from my mom which was raised up to the correct height by resting on cinder blocks for my cutting table. It worked fine but it was a bit wobbly. The floor was carpet and most difficult to keep clean of threads, fabric trimmings, and pins. 

We started with removing the carpet and laying vinyl floor planks. To replace the cutting table I found an IKEA hack using 3 Kallax 4x4 units. We bought a butcher block plank from Home Depot. My DH and I worked to put it together. My cutting mat fits perfectly on one end of the cutting table. 

(A little proof that I used power tools to help however, my DH did most of the work)

Throughout August, I participated in the #30daysofimprovqal on IG. For my final composition, I decided to add large borders of negative space to increase the size. 

Here is the final composition.

And today, I found a bit of time to pin baste it.

The start of September means August calendar journal is complete! I have been journaling a thing or two about each of my days since the beginning of the year! 

My calendar journaling actually goes back quite a few years ~in 2013 and 2014 I made monthly calendar pages out of fabric. When my mom got sick I could no longer keep up. During the following years I would see Annie's journals and how cool and creative they were. She inspired me to pick up calendar journaling once again ~ this time using a calendar download, printed on cardstock. 

I also finished the new charity blocks for the September/October block drive for Covered in Love. 

September brings a new color ~ ORANGE 

Stay tuned for projects in orange and the next step in the Macaron Mystery QAL.

A Finish!

As I have mentioned, I have been working on a commissioned art quilt. A teacher friend ask me to make a wall hanging of the Chicago skyline for her new renovated basement. She sent me this link to give me an idea of what she wanted. This quilt's finished size was much bigger than the wall hanging my friend wanted so I needed to do a bunch of resizing. I also wanted to do it a bit different but was thankful for the starting point. 

Warning: This is a photo heavy post!

           Out came my graph paper, colored pencils and a lot of math!                        Yes, I design the old method as I don't have a design program. 

After drawing the major buildings and the fountain, I divided into sections so it could be stitched together. There were 5 vertical sections and one horizontal section that was divided into 5 sections. 

I figured out each section's cutting information and which sections would need freezer paper piecing. I shopped for specific fabrics for many of the buildings, but also found a few perfect pieces in my stash. 

              I didn't take pictures of each section as I was piecing it but here is the front and back of the section of the Hancock building. 

This is one of the buildings that needed to be pieced using freezer paper. 

You can see the first 4 sections below.

Below are the 5 vertical sections sewn together.

I didn't take any more progress pictures but here is the finished quilt.

Details of the buildings and quilting.

The backing is a Chicago print from JoAnn's. It is perfect!

On the label, I named the major buildings and the fountain.

Finished size 24" x 34"

It was finally ready to be delivered. My friend was very excited and overjoyed with the outcome. She loved everything about it! 

It will soon be hanging in her newly renovated Chicago themed basement!

I'm linking to Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? @Confessions of a fabric addict. Linking to favorite finish at Meadow Mist Design.