Am I Shouting Yet?

April Block Remix - finsihed up!

2024-05-06T14:02:00.005-04:00

Our challenge block was the Flower Basket - a traditional block ...

I played around with it and tweaked it a bit to make it simpler.

I cut all my pieces, making sure I got the right sizes

(I mis-cut some pieces for a quilt this past month).

I sewed units together - no matter how weird they looked.

I knew my plan would work out!

And finished up the month with a simpler version of the Flower Basket Block.

Quilt Block Remix

2024-04-08T09:07:00.000-04:00

in 2022 I participated in the Quilt Block Remix Challenge and enjoyed how it stretched me. I started to think more creatively in my designs ... the challenge was on hiatus in '23 and has come back in 2024.

In January we remixed the Alabama block

In February we remixed the Raspberry Cheesecake block

In March we remixed the Yellow Tulip block

This month we are remixing the Flower Basket block

Today is the fabric pull ... not sure which direction I am going color-wise until I get into the Quilt Cave!

follow the remixes on Instagram #quiltblockremixchallenge

Villa Rosa Blog Hop 2024

2024-03-19T14:58:00.001-04:00

I am running late on getting my post up - I didn't realize that today was the 19th - my day to blog!

Villa Rosa has again sponsored a Blog Hop offering a special set of patterns for the Hop:

It was hard to choose which one to do - I want to make them all! But life is too busy to make them all, so I chose Gypsy as I could picture it with some lively fabrics. Abbi Mays Fabric Shop provided the fabrics for my blog entry and will have kits available to make similar quilt for yourself.

This pattern is named for the Gypsy Rose just as many other Villa Rosa Designs patterns have been named for roses.

I chose to use Fat Sixths for the pattern, rather than a pack of 10" squares so that the same fabric could be in more than one place, giving some motion to the quilt as you follow the fabric from place to place.

The fabric line is Murano by Odile Bailoeul from Free Spirit. There were opportunities to fussy cut some of these lovely fabrics!

An important thing for this quilt is to lay out your fabrics after cutting to balance the colors. Using Fat Sixths means that you also need to balance the fabrics!

Another consideration as you sew this top together; make sure your seam allowances are accurate. There are not the same amount of seams in each round, thus if your seam allowance is off, so will your rounds be off. One way you can work around this (for those who have a generous 1/4") is to trim your round to fit the center before you sew it together.

With such a busy top, it was hard to choose a quilting design. After auditioning many different patterns, I chose to use Sugar & Spice by My Creative Stitches.

The optional border makes the quilt a really nice size for a couch throw! It is a very happy quilt with these bright fabrics.

check out the other blogs participating in this hop:

villarosaquilts.com

https://kathleenmcmusing.com/

2. http://livelylatte.blogspot.com/

3. https://www.homesewnbyus.com

4. https://www.piecefulthoughts.com/

5. https://www.ctpub.com/blog/

1. https://needleandfoot.com/

2. https://www.mmmquilts.com/

3. https://www.texasquiltgal.com/

4. http://time4stitchn.blogspot.com/

5. https://siysewityourself.com/

1. https://quarterinchcapers.blogspot.com/

2. https://www.nortonhousequilting.com/blogs/news

3. https://quiltinggail.com/

4. http://wazoonewsbits.blogspot.com/

1. withstingsattached.blogspot.com

2. https://scottfortunoff.com/

3. https://www.cocoaquilts.com/

4. http://quiltwithaview.blogspot.com/

2. http://thedarlingdogwood.blogspot.com/

3. www.knitbug2.blogspot.com

4. https://somethingrosemade14.blogspot.com/

5. https://www.qovf.org/

1. https://www.graceandpeacequilting.com/

2. https://happycottagequilter.blogspot.com/

3. https://joyfullytracie.com/

4. https://patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.com/

5. https://doyoueq.com/blog/

villarosaquilts.com

To be entered in the prize drawings, leave a comment on this post by midnight, March 23. Make sure you leave your email address so that if you win, we can contact you!

Thank you to Tricia from Villa Rosa Designs and Quilt with a View for inviting me to join in this fun Blog Hop, thank you to Abbi Mays Fabric Shop for donating the materials for Gypsy Rose and thank you to the other bloggers and the generous sponsors! AND thank you to the readers/hoppers for stopping by!

Hoffman -- https://hoffmancaliforniafabrics.net/
Moda -- https://modafabrics.com/
Timeless Treasures -- https://www.ttfabrics.com/
Jaftex -- https://jaftex.com/
Electric Quilt -- https://electricquilt.com/
Banyan Batiks/Northcott -- https://www.northcott.com/home.aspx
Benartex -- https://benartex.com/
Hancock’s of Paducah -- https://www.hancocks-paducah.com/
Fox Chapel/Landauer -- https://foxchapelpublishing.com/
C&T Publishing -- https://www.ctpub.com/

P&B Textiles -- https://www.pbtex.com/

AQS Daytona Quilt Show 2023

2023-02-25T15:51:00.002-05:00

What better thing for a Michigan Quilter to do in February than head to Florida and take a day at the Daytona AQS Show? I am always inspired and usually find some goodies to take home with me and this year was no exception.

I am always floored when I see the current Cherrywood Challenge - even if my quilt is in a different collection. Coming around a corner to see the display is always a treat for the eyes. This collection is from the Graffiti Challenge and is just delightful (as always!). I love how everyone interprets the theme in such creative ways.

I found some interesting quilts - Selvages A La Rococo was more and more interesting the closer you got. You start with the tilted elements of the design, step closer to see the lacy on the circles and get caught up in the details of the embroidery and buttons.

I always enjoy seeing Pat Holly's work. Her choices of color and fabric inspire me. She has such clean, graphic illustrative pieces.

In with the special exhibits section, I was delighted to see Tick Tock - an interesting take on a "Baltimore Album" style quilt. At least one of my "kids" has been into Steampunk for a while, so this one caught my eye.

The quilts that look like one thing at a distance, but become much more close up are some of my favorites at the quilt show. This one is beautiful from a distance, but as you get closer, you see so much more! I wish I had taken more photos of the details.

What is it about quilts with high contrast? They draw my eye so quickly - this one with the black, white and sherbet colors is beautiful!

Art quilts fascinate me, too. I dabble in art quilts, but am the veriest beginner compared to some I see. This one has so much movement!

I took many, many more inspiration photos, this is just a peek at some in various styles that intrigued me ... Now I am looking forward to the Paducah show at the end of April!

Winners from the Villa Rosa Blog Hop!

2023-01-31T10:16:00.001-05:00

I hope you all had fun Hopping with the Villa Rosa Designs Blog Hop - I sure did!

I used a random number generator to determine the winners from my blog and the generator gave me these winners:

Darlene B - winner of the Pocketful of Sunshine Panel

Janice - winner of a set of the Blog Hop Patterns

and - I submitted these names to VRD for their drawings of MORE prizes:

SusanL

Kathleen McMusing

MMorton

dgs

Jocelyn

Thank you to Tricia from Villa Rosa Designs and Quilt with a View for inviting me to join in this fun Blog Hop, thank you to Abbi Mays Fabric Shop for donating the materials for Springtime Charm and than you to the other bloggers and the generous sponsors! AND thank you to the readers/hoppers for stopping by!

Villa Rosa Blog Hop

2023-01-24T00:34:00.008-05:00

Hillside Charm becomes Springtime Charm

Hello! I am Joy from Shout4Joy Quilter and I am taking part in Villa Rosa's Blog Hop - an adventure worth exploring! Lots of bloggers, with even more giveaways, all highlighting five delightful Villa Rosa patterns (click on the link to grab your own!). Read to the bottom of the post to find out how you can win some of the prizes!

For the blog hop I chose to use the Hillside Charm pattern and Abbi Mays Fabric Shop supplied the fabric for my sample. They are a local quilt shop that has lots of happy fabrics. I also teach in-person classes in their classroom!

As we are in the midst of winter in Michigan, the Pocket Full of Sunshine Panel and fabrics by Blank gave us a vision of springtime to come. I chose to use nine sixth yard cuts for the pattern, adding Riley Blake Peas Texture for the frames.

I pulled out my handy-dandy Stipology ruler and got cutting! Since I didn't have charm squares, this made the cutting go lickety-split!

I trimmed the panel to size and got to sewing. Everything goes together so smoothly with Villa Rosa patterns! The only warning I will give you for this pattern is to make sure you check your 1/4" so that the pieces all come together as you have a lot of seams happening in those borders!

Next up was mounting the quilt on the frame and quilting it. Since the center of the quilt has swirls and butterflies and flowers, I wanted a whimsical, but more geometric design for the quilting, so I chose to use Lazy Logs from Intelligent Quilting. It quilts out beautifully and adds great texture to the quilt.

I chose to use the stripe for binding - who doesn't like a striped binding? I even cut the binding on the bias so it had even more movement (I seldom do that, but it needed to be bias, don't you think?). Using my walking foot helps to keep the binding from stretching when I sew it to the quilt.

So - here is Springtime Charm - doesn't it brighten your winter day?

I will be giving away one Pocket Full of Sunshine Quilt Panel, compliments of Abbi Mays Fabric Shop, to one lucky commenter, keep reading!

Check out the other blogs for more chances to win (some of them have their own giveaways):

https://villarosaquilts.com

Michelle Cain at http://frombolttobeauty.blogspot.com

Kathleen McCormick at https://www.kathleenmcmusing.com

https://scottfortunoff.com

Wendy Tuma at https://www.piecefulthoughts.com

Diann Bottrell at https://littlepenguinquilts.blogspot.com

https://www.keepsakequilting.com/blogs/keepsake-quilting-blog

Tricia Maloney at https://quiltwithaview.blogspot.com

Sandra Walker at https://www.mmmquilts.com

Cheryl Parker at https://cherylsteapots2quilting.blogspot.com

Leanne Parsons at https://www.devotedquilter.com

https://www.qovf.org

Bernie Kringel at https://needleandfoot.com

Joy Lamphere at https://shout4joy-shouting.blogspot.com

https://doyoueq.com/blog

Julie Cefalu at https://thecraftyquilter.com

Jo Kramer at http://www.joscountryjunction.com

Cindy Pieters at https://www.stitchinathome.com

Prizes from these sponsors:

Moda Fabrics
Hoffman California Fabrics
Timeless Treasures Fabrics
Creative Grids
Gypsy Quilter
Electric Quilt
Northcott
Benartex
Quilts of Valor
Annies

For your chance to win, comment on this post by midnight (US EST), January 29 with your favorite springtime flower (I'm craving spring and flowers about now!).

NOTE: only USA commenters are eligible for the panel giveway.

Villa Rosa Blog Hop!

2023-01-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

Over the next week Villa Rosa Designs is hosting a Blog Hop, showcasing 5 of their patterns. I will be one of the participants, so make sure to check back next week on January 24 when I reveal my quilt!

There will be MANY giveaways, so follow along with each blogger!

Giveaway Sponsors:

1. VRD

2. Moda

3. Benartex

4. Timeless Treasures

5. Creative Grids (through Checker)

6. The Gypsy Quilter (through Checker)

7. Annie’s Publishing

8. Hoffman

9. Electric Quilts

Banyan Batiks

11 Quilts of Valor Foundation

Participating Blogs:

1. https://villarosaquilts.com

2. Michelle Cain at http://frombolttobeauty.blogspot.com

3. Kathleen McCormick at https://www.kathleenmcmusing.com

4. https://scottfortunoff.com

5. Wendy Tuma at https://www.piecefulthoughts.com

6. Diann Bottrell at https://littlepenguinquilts.blogspot.com

7. https://www.keepsakequilting.com/blogs/keepsake-quilting-blog

8. Tricia Maloney at https://quiltwithaview.blogspot.com

9. Sandra Walker at https://www.mmmquilts.com

10. Cheryl Parker at https://cherylsteapots2quilting.blogspot.com

11. Leanne Parsons at https://www.devotedquilter.com

12. https://www.qovf.org

13. Bernie Kringel at https://needleandfoot.com

14. Joy Lamphere at https://shout4joy-shouting.blogspot.com

15. https://doyoueq.com/blog

16. Julie Cefalu at https://thecraftyquilter.com

17. Jo Kramer at http://www.joscountryjunction.com

18. Cindy Pieters at https://www.stitchinathome.com

Solid, Boring, Grey ...

2022-12-13T10:04:00.002-05:00

I mentioned that my mother passed away in January. She was a quilter, too. That meant their home in MI and the place in FL both had plenty of quilts. It has been hard for my dad as everywhere he looks he sees quilts that my mom made. The very hardest is seeing the quilts in the master bedroom.

SO, in FL, my dad took the king sized bed down to two twins and went out and bought "bed in a bag" for those beds.

He bought grey. solid, boring, grey.

I decided that he needed something better, but didn't want to do regular quilts, so started looking for ideas. And there it was! Northcott's Swoon line offered just the right graphics to make my dad happy, I could get the backing fabric and make matching whole-cloth quilts to give his room a bit more personality ... So I did.

Can you see how much nicer it is? He can still use the grey sheets, but now he has something beautiful, too! (both comforters have now been hidden away)

I will think through curtains and throw pillows later (they matched the king quilt).

A Wedding Quilt

2022-10-12T09:40:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year, my mother passed away. She was a prolific quilter and made quilts for those she loved as well as many charity quilts for those in need.

When my nephew announced his engagement, I was asked if I had found the quilt my mother was planning to make for when he got married (we all knew that the engagement was coming soon). Going through her stash, I did not find anything that looked like a quilt for the upcoming wedding.

SO, I reached out to the bride-to-be and asked what colors they were planning for their home and she said ... "neutrals" ... which didn't surprise me, but neutral is hard to pin down. Grey has been the prevailing neutral recently and my mom didn't have much grey in her stash. So I expanded neutral into the warm neutrals and went from the lightest (white) to the darkest (black) in my fabric choices.

I chose to use the pattern Kira by GE Designs as I know that mom had that pattern, I just modernized the setting a bit in my layout, radiating from lightest to darkest. I needed to add a border to bring it up to size, so added just one border (not the two from the pattern).

When choosing a quilting design, I knew mom would have just done a meander as that was what she was most comfortable with, but I chose to do Creeping Fig E2E on the quilt. I knew she would have loved the design (and the bride and groom did, too).

I had to bring my sewing machine along as the binding was not finished when it was time to leave ... so the binding was sewn on the day before the wedding!

The quilt was finished up in time - and looks really good! The warm fabrics in the quilt will go very well with the bed frame that the groom's father made for the couple, while the cooler neutrals keep it from being too lodge-like. (quilt is being held by the groom's sister and grandfather)

It was a lovely outdoor wedding, the gorgeous fall colors were a fantastic backdrop to the ceremony (though it was a bit chilly!)

The groom's father and brother provided the music - all around it was a beautiful wedding and my mother would have loved it.

Even though they weren't opening gifts until the next day, the bride and groom did open up the quilt while I was there. That way they could get the whole story (not just the abbreviated story on the label) from me as well as from my dad. They seemed to like it a lot and tears were shed as we all thought of the provider of the fabrics.

Many prayers were sewn into this quilt - May Jack and Helen be blessed in their new adventure together!

Fall 2022 Mystery Started

2022-09-06T10:55:00.001-04:00

last week I started my 2022 Mystery Quilt in my Facebook Group - come join in the fun!

The mystery pattern will be free until Thanksgiving and then the pattern will be for sale in my Etsy shop.

Mindless Sewing

2022-08-04T20:15:00.002-04:00

While I design plenty of my own quilts, sometimes I just want to sew mindlessly (as in, not proofreading as I sew).

Currently I am working on two different quilts, same pattern.
One for me, and one for a gift.

This one is for me, I bought a 10" square stack and didn't know what I was going to do with it, set it aside and just recently found it, deciding to make a quilt for ME! (sorry for the fuzzy picture - it was a quick photo!)

This quilt is a wedding gift. It will be way larger than mine, I only want a lap quilt and would like to make this one as a bed-sized quilt (wonder what size they have?). I raided my mom's stash for this one as it is for a relative that should appreciate a gift that has a bit of her in it. This one has a deadline, so I can't set it aside so it is queued up next to my sewing station so I don't forget it!

The pattern I am using is Kira from GE Designs - very easy to follow the directions, but best if you have the Striplogy Squared ruler (in my opinion!).

#KiraGEDesigns
#StripologySquared

Cherrywood Challenge - Graffiti

2022-07-19T18:42:00.000-04:00

This year I participated in the Cherrywood Graffiti Challenge ... and I am a finalist again this year.

The theme of Graffiti brought lots of different images to mind and it was hard to narrow it down. I finally decided to go with classic wall graffiti and "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night kept popping into my mind, so it became my inspiration for my piece.

So, here is "A Toast to 3 Dog Night"

My daughter V.R. Lamphere sketched Jeremiah for me after I described my vision.

SummerTime Picnic Quilt

2022-06-30T00:00:00.006-04:00

This post is part of the Summer Scrap Elimination 2022 hosted by Swan Amity Studio. For more scrap busting ideas, follow along at https://www.swanamity.com/blog

For this Scrap Elimination quilt I went patriotic - this would also look great in team colors, perfect for a tailgate quilt!

Time to get your fabrics ready! Sew along with me - for the picnic size you need:

2 3/4 yards - Assorted Blue Scraps
1 yard - Blue Border Fabric
1 1/4 yards - Assorted Red Scraps
1 yard - Assorted White Scraps
4 yards - Backing Fabric
1/2 yard - Binding Fabric

(for cutting and other measurements, please see pattern available for sale: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Shout4JoyQuilter?ref=shop_sugg )

Making the *Kathleen Wheel blocks

STEP ONE:

Take your B 6 White Squares and draw diagonal lines both directions across the back.

Draw a stitching line 1/4” to the right of the center line in each quadrant.

Pair your B White squares right sides together with your B Blue fabric squares.

Stitch on the stitching lines, pivoting on the center diagonal line to move on to the next line.

Cut the units apart on the center diagonal lines and press the seam toward the dark fabric – be careful as these seams are bias edges!

STEP TWO:

Take your Red C Squares and cut in half diagonally making Triangle units.

Gently hand press the long bias edge in half to find the center of the edge.

Match this center to the seam line of the B unit from Step ONE and sew the C triangle to your B units from STEP ONE. Press seam toward C triangle.

These are now Y units.

Trim your Y units, if needed.

STEP THREE:

Take your White D squares and draw a diagonal line across the back.

Place your D square on the Y unit, crossing over the seam between the red and blue triangles, as shown and sew on the diagonal line.

Trim D square ¼” from sewn line and press seam toward the white triangle.

STEP FOUR:

Mix your assorted fabric Y units and sew them together in sets of 4 as shown.

Make 13 Kathleen Wheel blocks.

NOTE: you can use the cut off corners for some bonus units for another project!

Making the SnowBall Blocks

STEP ONE:

Take four assorted White (D) squares and draw a diagonal line across the back of each one.

STEP TWO:

Match the four (D) units to an Assorted Blue square (A) and sew them as snowball corners as shown, trimming the excess corners and pressing seams toward the A square.

Make 4.

STEP THREE:

Following Steps ONE and TWO, make 8 units with only two Snowballed corners.

Making Square in a Square cornerstones

STEP ONE:

Take the assorted Blue squares (E) and mark a diagonal line across the back of each.

STEP TWO:

Take your 3 ½” Assorted White or Red squares (F) and sew two of your blue (E) squares to opposite sides of the squares on the drawn line. Trim excess triangle ¼” from seam and press seam toward blue triangle.

STEP THREE:

Take two more blue squares (E) and sew them on the remaining corners of your (F) square, trimming and pressing as in STEP TWO.

Make 12 Red center and 8 White center- Square in a Square blocks.

Assembling the Summer Picnic Quilt

STEP ONE:

For Rows 1 and 5: Take three Kathleen Wheel blocks and two Snowball blocks with only two snowballed corners. Sew them together with a sashing strip between each block as shown. Press seams toward the sashing.

Make two.

For Rows 2 and 4: Take Two Snowball blocks with two corners, one snowball blocks with four corners, and two Kathleen Wheel blocks. Sew them together with a sashing strip between each block as shown. Press seams toward the sashing.

Make two.

For Row 3: Take the remaining Kathleen Wheel blocks and Snowball blocks with four corners. Sew them together with a sashing strip between each block as shown. Press seams toward the sashing.

STEP TWO:

For Sashing Rows 1 and 4: Take five sashing strips and four Color 2 Square in a Square blocks, sewing the SiaS blocks in between sashing strips. Press seams toward the sashing.

Make two.

For Sashing Rows 2 and 3: Take five sashing strips, two color 2 Square in a Square blocks, and two color 3 Square in a Square blocks, sewing the SiaS blocks in between sashing strips. Press seams toward the sashing.

Make two.

STEP THREE:

Sew the rows together as shown, matching the sashing seams.

STEP FOUR:

Sew your Border Strips together end to end in two sets of three. Use a straight seam to sew them together.

STEP FIVE:

Measure your quilt top through the center in both directions.

Cut four border strips to this size.

STEP SIX:

Sew two strips to opposite sides of the quilt top. Pin the border to the top and sew.

Press seams toward border strips.

STEP SEVEN:

Sew a color 3 Square in a Square block to either end of a remaining border strip. Press seams toward the border strips.

Make two.

STEP EIGHT:

Sew border strips from STEP SEVEN to the top and bottom of the quilt top. Match border seams.

Your quilt top is complete!

Quilt as desired and bind.

NOTES:

Consider using thrifted denim for the Sashing Strips, the Snowball Units, and border strips. The Snowballed Pinwheels and Square in a Square blocks are better suited for quilting cottons.

The Snowball blocks would be a great place for some custom/block quilting designs.

This quilt would be great to make in school/team colors for a tailgate quilt.

*The Kathleen Wheel Blocks are named for my mother - I was unable to find a traditional name for this style of pinwheel blocks (and I did check the Barbara Brackman resource!)

These instructions are FREE until the end of July, when I will offer the quilt pattern in three sizes for sale in my Etsy shop. This blog post will become a sew-along without sizes at that point ...

For purchase of this pattern in three sizes, visit my Etsy store:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Shout4JoyQuilter?ref=shop_sugg

I am Part of the Summer Scrap Elimination 2022!

2022-06-29T06:00:00.001-04:00

This Summer I am participating in

the Summer Scrap Elimination 2022 Blog hop

hosted by Swan Amity Studios.

There are 10 Guest Designers as well as Swan Amity - you should check these posts out. There are some awesome projects on the way, two have already been posted.

My post will be this coming Thursday, June 30th - don't miss out! I have a picnic quilt design for you that is perfect in patriotic colors or even team colors!

I pulled ALL the fabrics from these shelves, the quilt hardly made a dent in my stash ... in fact, one basket seemed MORE full AFTER I cut the all the fabrics for the quilt!

June Block Remix - Bear Paw

2022-06-28T20:54:00.002-04:00

For June, our Designer Block Challenge was the Traditional Bear Paw Block.

I pulled fabrics from my stash, settling on black and red and then I got to playing around in EQ8. Half rectangle triangles have been intriguing me lately, so I played with changing out the HSTs in the traditional block with HRTs in the updated version. As the triangles got longer, the toes on the block became claws - so here is my Bear CLAW Block:

Of course, I needed to see what a quilt full of these blocks would look like, so here is a mock-up from playing with EQ8:

#BearPawblockchallenge #BearPawquiltblock #morethanjustablockchallenge #designerblockchallenge

#Juneblockchallenge #Junedesignerblockchallenge #quilt #quilts #quiltdesigner #quiltblock

#quiltblocks #electricquilt8

March Block Remix - Rocky Road to California

2022-04-06T18:31:00.000-04:00

In March I participated in the Block Remix again - and the block chosen was Rocky Road to California ... I played around with ideas in EQ8 and started to see Butterflies

The design wasn't easy to do with the curves shown, so I played a bit more and made Drunkard's Path units instead:

and I ran out of the background fabric I started with, so had to improvise, but am very pleased with my Fluttering to California Block:

I started playing around with settings and thought this traditional setting was nice:

and then had some fun adding in some applique:

And after playing some more, came up with a modern scattered setting:

Which one do you like best?

#EQ8

#RockyRoadtoCalifornia Remix

Back to work in my Quilt Cave

2022-02-03T11:45:00.001-05:00

I am back to work in my Quilt Cave, working on a Coffee quilt for my husband. He chose the fabrics while we were on a shop hop last June in the Shipshewana, Indiana area. When we got home, he chose a 3 yard quilt pattern and I set it aside ... now that it is winter, I decided it was time to get it done!

I found a quilt design that he approved of and set up the machine ... I am happy with my new machine - having the robotics has been a blessing as my hands and wrists have not been liking the cold weather this year.

Those fabrics are so much fun! AND if he were to spill his coffee on them, most likely no one would ever know!

I need to get this (and a couple other quilts) bound ... but I have been procrastinating because my sewing surface is full of project detritus!

By the way ... if you are looking to buy batting for your projects, check out Batting Super Sale, I have been pleased with their products and service (above link is an affiliate link).

Hard to Focus!

2022-01-17T11:52:00.002-05:00

I started up saying I wanted to focus this year ... and I have already been thrown off!

My mother passed away last Monday, so I went to stay with my dad (along with my siblings) as he navigated the first week without her. We were able to help organize the space there in Florida, setting it up for a widower instead of a couple. It was a tough week but so good to spend time with my family. Family and friends planned a sweet memorial this past Saturday and we stayed to take that in.

We did take one day trip, it was good to get away from the organizing and just be ... we went to St. Augustine and explored the fort, checked out some shops downtown, took a chocolate tour (YUM!) and had a relaxed dinner out.

Later on, my sister and I plan to get together and go through my mom's sewing room to take care of things before my dad returns back north for the spring/summer season.

I am now back home, trying to put my week's priorities in order (I need to FOCUS!) and get busy accomplishing things!

FOCUS - not getting lost in too much

2022-01-04T09:07:00.000-05:00

Long time no blog!

This year, my word is FOCUS - I am going to try to not be so scattered in projects, in my home, and in my life. One of the things I hope to do is to get back to blogging.

I have turned in my resignation from my job, added a couple year long classes at Abbi Mays Fabric Shop, and plan to do more designing, writing patterns and actually making quilts. There will most likely be a move this year as my retired Army Guy got a new job and he isn't excited about the commute. This year will need me to be focused!

This picture is of what happens when you don't focus. On the way home from a short trip to Florida, someone rear ended my car ... I was stopped at the red light, a driver behind me didn't see it until too late (not focused on driving apparently). Yes, I am OK, the car, not so much.

I am back with a project quilting challenge ...

2020-01-11T15:10:00.002-05:00

I have not been blogging, just have spent my time elsewhere ....

The first challenge this year is Notably Numeric https://kimlapacek.com/2020/01/11-1-notably-numeric-challenge-1-of-project-quilting-season-11.html . I had no ideas, so I started a different project that I put off during the Christmas season ... a quilt along with Helen Godden. As I was following along, I realized it fit the challenge!

So, I present the Christmas COUNTDOWN quilt along ...

Instead of taking 24 days, I did it all in one week. Each segment of the sew along showed quilting in a different segment of the design. I used my Bernina 770QE with the BSR. It was fun to follow along AND meet the PQ challenge.

For more challenge pieces, check out https://kimlapacek.com/2020/01/11-1-notably-numeric-challenge-1-of-project-quilting-season-11.html

PQ 10.3 Bigger Than a Breadbox - To Feed a Soul

2019-02-09T18:23:00.000-05:00

Bigger than a Breadbox ... HMMM ... I had lots of ideas rising up in my brain, but many of them were only half-baked. I didn't have enough fusible left for some of my ideas, so I kept on thinking.

Monday evening was our local Quilt Guild meeting. This month we were aiming to sew quilts for our charities ... OOH! Charity is bigger than a breadbox - wrapping someone in a quilt made with love?

I picked up a bundle of fabrics and started sewing them together. I didn't get the top finished that evening, but Tuesday I got it sewn together. I pulled other fabrics out of my stash to make the back. There were three blocks left over from the front, so I designed a fun back for the quilt. Wednesday it was put on the frame and I quilted it.

I quilted it with swirls because of the circles in the main print and the swirls in the coral fabric found in the four patches.

I bound it on Thursday. Thankfully I had a fabric that worked for the binding!

The back has become a wonderful, modern quilt in it's own right. I like how the four patch almost becomes a heart when set on point.

This quilt will feed a child's soul while they are in need.

To Feed a Soul
41" Square
Made in Muskegon, Michigan

Other Project Quilting 10.3 entries can be found here: Project Quilting

Positive - Project Quilting Season 10.1 Hope Springs Eternal

2019-01-12T20:48:00.001-05:00

Here I am ... busy year, forgot to blog since last Project Quilting Season. I hope it won't be so long between posts this year!

Images danced in my brain and a dancer with flowers flowing was where the design decided to go. I searched for dancers and couldn't find an image that matched with my vision. But I did see other images that changed my direction.

Jumping, rather than dancing, images popped up into my design. Now to choose fabrics ... and thread. I found a variegated thread in purple/pink/blue and chose a lovely purple fabric to go with the thread. Auditioning background fabrics brought me to yellow - Complementary Colors! High Contrast!

I made a silhouette of my jumper and stitched it down on the background with batting behind. I then cut away thebatt behind the background - modern machine trapunto.

As long as I was going for high contrast, I decided to play wth positive/negative space. My quilting flows from bottom to top, with lots of different qilting designs, practicing different free motion designs in tiny scale. I didn't forget those flowrrs flowing in my original design, they ended up in the quilting!

I present:
Positive
10"X 12 1/2"
Designed, Appliqued & Quilted in Muskegon MI

So, is the purple the positve space and the yellow negative space? Or is the highly quilted yellow the positive and the jumping girl the negative space?

The quilt reminds me of one of my daughters, when she is happy, she may not jump, but her mood sure does!

For more Project Quilting entries click here!

Bold and Brave ~ PQ Season 9.3

2018-02-10T23:17:00.004-05:00

The Project Quilting challenge this week has been Bold and Brave. I wasn't sure what to do.

Going through the fabrics and patterns that I have at our new house, I found a Flamingo row from last year's Row by Row Experience and my idea came to life :)

One of my internet friends used a Flamingo for her symbol and even called herself "Flamingo ---" - she was a homeschool mom like me, that is where we met, on a homeschool bulletin board online. --- had a great sense of humor, even through trials in her family, including a divorce, followed a few years later by a tragic death of her children's father as well as losing a son to an accident.

--- was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago. She became discouraged with her doctors and treatment and several times debated letting the cancer over take her. During this time she met and married the man of her dreams. She felt cherished and found a reason to continue with her treatment.

--- was finally taken about a year after she married the love of her life.

I found that --- was Bold and Brave ~ choosing to forge ahead through tough times - and keeping a sense of humor through it all, even up to the end of her life.

SO, my quilt is a tribute to my friend "Flamingo ---"

this pattern used quiltsmart , which isn't my favorite way of piecing squares. They come out the right size, but I feel the piece ends up a bit "pillowy" The quilt was pieced in three sections.

I used my walking foot to quilt the piece, I may add some swirls later on in the sections to make it look less "pillowy"

I tried a different method of binding, turning the back and folding it over the front. I will probably never use that method again! I didn't feel it was as nice as my regular method.

It sure turned out cute, though! I will hang this one on the wall in my Sewing Studio (whenever it is finished).

The quilt was created in Muskegon, MI and finished at 11" X 41"

#pqseason9.3

Triangulations - PQ Season 9.2

2018-01-27T22:00:00.003-05:00

I had a great plan for this challenge - I was going to do a quilt that would meet two challenges. Of course, I didn't have enough time in my week to really get this quilt done to the level I could call it done, I had to work and I also volunteer with homeschool kids on Thursday afternoons and Friday mornings ... so the first idea, a modern quilt with triangles is only partially done.

The top is pieced, I marked my quilting lines with the ubiquitous blue painter's tape, and started quilting.

The problem is, it needs detail quilting ... setting off those lovely triangles and that detail quilting takes time ... a lot of time.

So, at work on Saturday, I realized I had a perfect little project I could do during the evening. I made a pincushion!

I started with 4 HSTs and, since they were kind of blah, I added another triangle to each HST. I placed the HSTs in a diamond configuration and built my little pincushion around the diamond.
The pincushion is 3" square and 1 1/2" tall. It is filled with crushed walnut shells.

I made it in Muskegon, Michigan :)

Check out the other quilter's projects on the Project Quilting post.

Project Quilting Season 9 Challenge 1 - Home Town Proud

2018-01-13T12:28:00.000-05:00

I carved out a little bit of time and made a little bit of a quilt.

The theme for Project Quilting's first challenge of Season 9 is "Home Town Proud" and since I have lived many places, how do I pick a Home Town? I thought about Cadillac, MI as we spent quite a few years there, I graduated from high school while living there, I got married there, our first two children were born there ... but we haven't lived there for over 24 years.

SO, I decided to go with the town I live in - Muskegon, MI.

For inspiration, I went through pictures that I have taken around town and came across this super fuzzy picture I took of the moon over the shoreline. We were out by the lighthouse, looking back and it was so wonderful a view that I took a picture - with my cell phone which has a lackluster camera. Thankfully, I could play with the picture in Photoshop and come up with something that I could work from:

I have to say, living near the big lake - Lake Michigan - is always an inspiration with so many possibilities for creativity!

I decided to piggy-back this challenge with an upcoming event in town, the Muskegon Museum of Art's Postcard Salon. This is a fundraiser event every year and I thought it would be a great idea to combine the two in this challenge, so I made a postcard sized quilt!

I started much bigger than I needed to as I forgot to double check my dimensions and made it large enough for a 5X7 card, but needed only 4X6.

Working in a way that is very similar to my Cherrywood VanGogh Challenge piece, I started adding the highlights on the water and built from there. In fact, all but one of the fabrics is from Cherrywood Fabrics ... the moon is a batik.

I quilted the piece first with a translucent thread called Glitter from Superior Threads, this produced some shine in the water, on the lights and on the moon. I used YLI Wonder Invisible Thread Smoke for the rest of the quilting, giving the textural movement needed for this serene scene.

Shoreline at Dusk

I finished it off with a satin-stitched border in black. My Bernina does such a nice satin stitch!

#pqSeason9
#HomeTownProudChallenge