On the way back

Hello everyone! How is life going for you? For me, some of the burnout from the past couple of months of overwork has begun to ease, and I'm finally starting to feel normal again. An uneasy normal, but much more like myself. I was in the sewing room cleaning some things up this weekend, and I sat down and sewed and actually enjoyed it. I'm definitely on my way back!

I am so behind on all my projects, and on answering comments (sorry folks. I do really appreciate you!) and on many other things in my life as well. I finally vacuumed the bedroom for the first time in two months. Yikes. I am not even going to mention the state of the sewing room. So, if you're behind on everything, where do you start? Any where you want! I started here:

These are the green stars for the Random Ohio Stars quilt I'm working on for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year. It turns out to be a good thing that I didn't choose something more involved, doesn't it? I don't have much darker green, and almost no sage green, so this is what I managed to scrape together for the month. I think they're okay, though that larger one is kind of boring. Oh, well! It will get lost in the quilt, right?

I also wanted to go back and catch up on the colors I missed. I'm pretty sure that March was aqua and teal (Ihaven't looked up April yet), so here is my large aqua star:

Shown with some of the lovely flowers on my back deck! It felt good to bring out those larger pots and plant a few things here at our still-new-to-us house. We didn't move here until August, so we missed all of the spring and early summer, so I'm still discovering what's growing around here. There really is NO landscaping at all, just random stuff growing and out of control pachysandra. It's going to be a challenge.

I've also been working on a layout for the modern blocks:

I tried a few things and this is the one I liked the most. I haven't started sewing them all together yet, but these are easy as pie to make and so I'm zipping through them in between other things. I'm not to the end of my pile of cut blocks yet, and I might be tempted to cut a few more. I guess we'll see!

Hope you all are getting some stitching time in, even with the much nicer weather we've been having. My energy is definitely coming back, so I will see you again very soon! 

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC20.

Looking green out there

Hi all! I really didn't fall off the earth, I promise! The worst semester ever finally ended, and since I turned in the final grades I've just kind of been floating a bit. Feeling a little unmoored without 10 to 12 hours of work to do, ya know? And I wouldn't want to insult anyone who has actual PTSD, but it's felt a little like PTSD, if you know what I mean. So I've just been kind of disjointed, petting some fabric, cleaning some things, planting a few flowers. It's been kind of peaceful, to tell the truth.

As a result, I only have one picture to show today. This is a first!

These are the blocks I made for the color challenge at Patterns by Jen. These were very easy and were almost mindless to piece. Usually I dislike big blocks with big pieces, but these blocks have really been saving my sanity through this whole virus experience. And I love the green leaves and the flowers, too. So looking forward to planting more stuff outside.

The only other fabric-related things I have to show today are the fun new fabrics I got from Bernie's shop:

Turns out that shopping online is super-easy to do from your sofa, even when your brain is really tired. Seriously, though, I have a plan for all of these fabrics. The birds are going to grace my living room, just as soon as I get motivated to make a few baskets from them.

Finally, a couple of pictures from my sanity-saving walks around the neighborhood. First, some rocks painted by my neighbor's kids to cheer us all up:

Also, the last of the forsythia, which everyone here seems to have (except us, for some odd reason):

So that's what's going on here! I'm still pretty mentally exhausted, so I'll spend this weekend going to our virtual graduation, then wandering around the house some more. It's going to rain a good part of next week, so I have high hopes of actually accomplishing things then. Have a safe and happy weekend, folks!

Sharing at soscrappy because of the dark green, and later (if I remember) at Patterns by Jen.

Nine patches for Paula

Hello all, and welcome to my stop on the blog hop honoring Paula Budinger. Paula was a good and gentle spirit who blogged about the quilts she made at Paula B Quilts. She made a lot of scrappy quilts for kids, and donated almost all of them. I got to know her through Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, where Paula often linked up her creations. She and I sometimes chatted back and forth, like ya do, about her quilts, especially the antique quilts she collected. And she was a Wisconsinite as well, so we had a small connection there, too.

On February 8th, Paula passed away after a short illness. Her obituary is HERE, where you can read about how very awesome she was, from electron microscopes to art and design, all across the country. Paula would have been 79 yesterday, and a bunch of us are honoring her quilting legacy through this blog hop.  Because Paula's life and work made us happy, there are also some "presents" for her birthday, in the form of prizes for you! That information is at the bottom of this post.

Here is what I made in honor of Paula:

Yes, two tops! Both bright and happy and intended for children. Since Paula loved scrappy quilting and bright colors, I thought a quilt made in her honor should be the same. It happens that I had a bit of the animal fabric that I had intended to use for a quilt for my grandson. I didn't like how it looked with the alternate blocks, so I used something else, but I had already cut the animal fabric, so there it was, leftover in a strange size. It worked great for this project, though!

The larger quilt is a giant double 9-patch that measures about 45 by 45. The blocks I had cut from the animal fabric were 15 inches square, perfect for using 5 inch squares to make 9-patches as alternate blocks. It worked great! I chose the yellow and green to coordinate with the animal print, and somehow I managed to use them all up. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that some of those yellow and green squares are actually pieced together. Shhh! This quilt will be donated through Sarah's Hands to Help project.

The smaller quilt top was made with the scraps from the first one. Why not? It needed to be used!  This one used a different green and yellow, both polka dots. It happens that I made this in 9-patch form as well. I made four 9-patches with 6-1/2 inch squares and then combined them to make this 36-inch square top. This little quilt will go to Jack's Basket, an organization that celebrates babies with Down Syndrome.

I am very happy with how these two tops turned out, and they will be among the first things I quilt up when this crazy semester is over. I feel like Paula would understand! I have a few small scraps left of this fabric, but otherwise I am thrilled that it is used up and will help comfort some small people.




And now for the presents for you all!  Here are the prizes being offered:

Lorna, Sew Fresh Quilts, $50 gift certificate for her pattern shop.

Yvonne Quilting Jetgirl, 2 PDF patterns of choice.

Bernie Needle and Foot, $25 certificate for her shop.

A fat quarter bundle from Figo Fabrics

A set of quilty gift cards from Initial Thought by DMF  Note cards set 1

A pattern of choice from Karen, Sugar Free Quilts

A $30 gift certificate for Doris, Cactus Queen Quilt Co

A PDF pattern of choice from Joanne, www.etsy.com/shop/CanuckQuilterDesigns

$25 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop

(donated by Janice Holton)

"How do I get one of these prizes"? you ask. Here's how it works-- below is a list of bloggers honoring Paula through this hop. Every comment entered on one of the posts in the hop by Friday, May 15, will count as one entry. Winners will be chosen that day from all possible comments by Janice at Color, Creating, and Quilting. Then the winners get a happy package in the mail! International readers, you can enter, too, as many of the prizes are digital. So you get happy email instead of happy mail.

Thanks, all, for stopping by to honor Paula's life and legacy. Be sure to give thanks for all your quilty friends, too. As we've all sadly learned, life is sometimes too short, and it looks a little less colorful without all of us in it. 

Wednesday, May 6

Karen @ KaHolly
Kate @ Smiles From Kate

Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of my Quilting Life
Bernie @ Needle and Foot

Linda @ My Sew-Called Quilts
Cathy @ Crazy By Design

Sue @ From the Magpie’s Nest

Thursday, May 7

Kate @ Smiles From Kate
Diann @ Little Penguin Quilts
Rose @ Something Rose Made
Nann @ With Strings Attached
Mari @ The Academic Quilter
Louise @ My Quilt Odyssey
Susan @ Desert Sky Quilts

Friday, May 8

Janice @ Color, Creating and Quilting
Kate @ Smiles From Kate
Joy @ The Joyful Quilter
Susan @ Quilt Fabrication
Edi @ Edi’s Crafting Life
Carol @ Quilt Schmilt
Preeti @ Sew Preeti Qilts
Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

 

A tiny bright spot

Hi everyone, and welcome to May! Did someone check to be sure April really left? Because that was one month that really seemed to last forever. I think we can all be glad that it's gone. You know what else should be gone? Neighbors outside in their bathrobes. Yoga pants, people! It's like jammies, but for grownups. And you can wear them outside without scandalizing the neighbors.

Okay, well. Amazingly, I have a finish today! What? Yes, I finished something and just put the last stitches in the binding last night. That binding was another thing that seemed to last forever, but now it's done and I can show you this happy quilt:

This is my tiny sampler quilt, made from the small block patterns offered by Angela for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge last year. (The patterns are still available and you can find them all HERE.) Each of these blocks finishes at just 4-1/2 inches, and the quilt itself is just about 46 by 50.

Last year, I started out not intending to make this quilt, but the blocks were so darned cute they drew me in, and well, here we are. I ended up having a lot of fun making this, and even enjoyed stitching the binding.

This has actually been quilted for several weeks, but I had a hard time settling on a binding. All along, I had thought that I should make a binding that matched the background striping in the quilt, but now we're all in an extremely stressful period, so who has time for that? I ended up settling on a pale green print that doesn't pull the eye away from the cute blocks. The backing is a narrow striped fabric.

This was quilyed for me by Alycia, and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. This little quilt also turns out to be the perfect size for a large wall in my dining room, which is where I'm going to hang it this weekend. It will be the perfect amount of color in there, and I know I'll smile every time I see it.

As for a favorite block, I still can't choose one! I love that the owl and the kitten are right next to each other, though.

Everyone have as wonderful a weekend as possible in this strange time we're living in. I'm going to rest a bit, I hope, because classes end next week and finals begin. Yahoo! The end is in sight, and I could not be happier.  Stay safe and healthy out there!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, and soscrappy for RSC20.