Monday, July 30, 2018

July Challenge Progress

Thought I'd pop in with a quick update here and a little quilting motif to show you too. The challenge for July is to make a quilt that has a secondary pattern. Totally up my alley! This is one of the things that drew me in to quilting in the first place. I'm using fabrics from three different groups, which is something I love about Island Batik fabrics, who supplied all the fabric, is that very thing, how different lines play well with each other. I got the blocks all done and laid them out on the kitchen floor...
and discovered my secondary pattern was Bella! But of course, she thinks she looks good with this quilt too.

Saturday, July 28, 2018

DrEAMi! #18

It's squirrel parade time again! I do have a partial squirrel (now that sounds nasty) which is leftovers from an Island Batik project, Lift Up, because I did flying geese the square on the rectangle method, which leaves a bunch of cut-off triangles. What's a girl to do but sew them back up? When I was working on piecing (finally) the Meadow Mystery quilt blocks into a top, I needed a leader/ender, and the stack of 36 was sitting close by, so...
a 14" square was born! I first thought I'd sew it into a cushion cover, but then I had an idea... So it has evolved further than shown, but then it stalled because this month's Island Batik challenge has to be done and done asap!

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Un Mélange

That's French for a mixture. Kind of what I've been doing for the past week and a bit. Things have been a bit quiet on the blog; I actually had thought to take a break after the Plus Playtime QAL finished, but I am still here. Might take that break in August but I'll let you know. Allow me to show you the mélange of sewing I've been doing.


I Like/Love #18 Five Senses

This is another of those posts that kind of showed me its cohesiveness after I put in the first few likes with pics a couple of weeks ago. I only publish one a month, but note things all month long, not all of which I publish. It's cool how they often end up just flowing together like I'd been planning it all month long!

1. I like that on July 13 I first noticed the sound of cicadas. I used to call them 'heat bugs' because it seemed it was super-hot when I'd hear them, and I had no idea what they were as they aren't in Alberta. It was around that time that I also heard the first crickets

2. I love the sound of Bobby Bazini's voice, that sexy, gravelly kind. He's easy on the eyes too, just sayin'... Two of my favourites are "Never Let Go," and "C'est La Vie". Check out the first one below; maybe it'll play while you continue reading? It's his live version; I love love love live music.


Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Mid Year Review

Okay here we go! Got the music blasting; Bobby Bazini and The Jerry Cans are being featured on CBC Radio 2's "q the Music" with Tom Power. Mmmmm.

My over-arching goals are Lifelong Learning and Balance. Doing well on the first one (despite a near-meltdown this afternoon on EQ8) and struggling a bit on the second.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Q3FAL - My List

It's time to link up the plans for the third quarter FAL of 2018. It's also time to reflect on the first half of 2018. I was going to do that quickly here, but now that I look back at what I wrote for Yvonne's Planning Party 2018, I think I need a separate post. And here I was planning to step back from posting for the remainder of July! Anyhow...

How did I do on my Q2FAL List?
I got 7 of 11 on that list. (Note that I did make all four kitty mats, just two are pictured in the collage.)

Saturday, July 14, 2018

A Bright Addition & Prize Winners For Plus Playtime QAL

You've seen the flimsy, and if you follow me on Instagram, @mmmquilts, you might've seen a quick shot of the finished quilt. Here's another, better one of the quilt I've named A Bright Addition:

This quilt is on my Q3FAL List which is here.
As soon as I saw the Alison Glass fabric bundle for the small plus blocks that Darla at Clinton Modern Creative had put together, I knew they had to pack themselves up and fly their way to me for another Plus Playtime quilt. Well, there's a surprise to this little cutie.  'Little' being the clue... When I got them, I had an idea....

Ketchup

Or Catch-up! However,  ketchup, which I really like, is red, and red is the RSC2018 colour for July...see the crazy way my mind works?!  I got my red blocks done over a week ago, super-early for me!

Once again, I love them. Memories abound, both old and new, probably the main reason I love scrap quilts so very much.

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Lift Up

This is finally my finish for the June Challenge for us Island Batik ambassadors, and I believe it's my favourite quilt this year that I've made for them!
We were to create a modern quilt, using one or more elements as defined by the MQG:
The Modern Quilt Guild states, “Modern quilts are primarily functional and inspired by modern design. Modern quilters work in different styles and define modern quilting in different ways, but several characteristics often appear which may help identify a modern quilt. These include, but are not limited to: the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work. "Modern traditionalism" or the updating of classic quilt designs is also often seen in modern quilting.”

This is one of my designs I created while in the #30quiltdesignschallenge2018 hosted by moi in the spring. It is truly a rush to have something you drew on paper, or on a computer come to life in fabric.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Sunday Stash - Island Batik

Christmas in July it was indeed....
I have the advantage of having a daughter who lives across the river from me. Why is that an advantage, you ask? Well, she is in one country, America, and I am in another, Canada. So to save Island Batik a little postage money, and to get the fabric to me a little bit faster, I had them send my box to her! Can you see the heart shadow above the box?! Made by her fake wasp nest that hangs by her front door, but rather à propos, nest-ce pas?!

Friday, July 6, 2018

Plus Playtime QAL Parade of Finishes and Giveaway

It's here! It's HERE! How did it come up so fast? Seems to be a theme in my life of late. Nonetheless, I've been getting more and more excited as I see all the finished flimsies and quilts in QBL, from blogs to Instagram to Flickr.

Before we go any further, I'd like to thank my sponsors once more:

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Throwback Thursday #7 - Dad's Quilt

Welcome to another month of Throwback Thursday. How can it be that the 18th year of the 2000s is past the halfway point? It floors me how fast the time goes. My dad always said how when he was a kid, the days dragged until the weekend, and the weekend was over in a flash. He'd say now that he was retired, the months go by like days, entire seasons fly by as a month used to...

And I know all too well what he meant!