Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Sparkling and Sparking

I love it when a good title comes to me! I am actually this week focusing on a couple of my Q1FAL projects. This one is long overdue. You've seen some in-progress shots, but I have a flimsy, and that flimsy is actually on the frame now so a finish is imminent. This is 'Sparkle On!'
This is a kit, called Box-a-Lot, that I bought 3+ years ago at Connecting Threads. It's Amanda Jean Nyberg's (Crazy Mom Quilts) fabric, Good Neighbors, and it's so bright and cheery isn't it? That is a link to her last post. She stopped blogging as of December 31, and that post has a Good Neighbors quilt as her final finish! Who knew. I loved her blog, glad she's keeping it available.


I liked the fabric so much I bought yardage and a fat quarter stack, and made two other quilts (see below), both for Hands2Help which I've signed up for once again this year. See the link in my sidebar.

My niece's quilt was on the design wall, progressing along merrily and then it had to come down in order to work on the magazine quilt. How to keep it in order? I took a photo of course, but then I decided to gather it in six sections of two blocks by four blocks. I used my Book it! method and wrote in the seam allowance, 'top left, top centre, top right', and so on for the bottom sections. I sewed each section together on Billie, my darling 1947 Featherweight:


Once I had my design wall back, I placed each section on the wall:

There was a lot of leftover fabric in the kit, so I decided I would use what was left to make a happy back! And I forgot to take photos of that construction so you'll have to come back to see the finish post.

Here it is at the beginning of quilting. I posted this on Instagram on the weekend. I'm doing my favourite flower motif, daisies, loops and leaves....

and a couple of half daisies that I saw Lynette (What a Hoot Quilts) use on her daisies quilt, which reminded me of the fun feathered flowers below, which I think are an Angela Walters design.

I didn't even think about until right now, but I'm using a Connecting Threads thread to quilt this! Fawn loves pink and this thread should not disappoint! It sure hasn't disappointed me with how it quilts up and I'm using it in top and bottom. It's Essential 100% cotton 50 weight.

Okay, the sparking part of the title is from the new Netflix show, Tidying Up. If you haven't seen it, you must. It's about more than tidying up your house contents...just sayin'. I just love how Marie greets the home, and am moved nearly to tears each episode. She talks of 'sparking joy', how items from clothing to household goods should do that for us, and those which do not, we need to thank, and then give them away. I decided, since we are about to enter a renovation upstairs, and, in order to facilitate things for the construction, we moved our bedroom to the guest room, that I would tidy up my clothes. (Yes!!! my sewing loft is going to be improved by a couple of dormers!)

Here's the pile:
I didn't take out my stuff from the closet too, as you are supposed to, and make one giant pile of every single item of your clothing on your bed (because our bed had already been moved), but I figured I could see those clothes easily, and I'm tidying them too.

After going through the process, (and it really works!) here is one drawer, à la Marie Kondo.

There are twenty t-shirts in that drawer, my long-sleeved ones and some of my short-sleeved ones. More short-sleeved ones share the drawer above with tank tops. I can see every one of those 20! This sparks definite joy when I look in my drawer. All my drawers and shelves of clothes now look like this and a ton got given away to Goodwill. It feels good. A few that I couldn't decide upon I've worn this past several days, and it's amazing how after a few hours, if that, I know, yep, or, in most cases, nope, I'm over this.

Keeping only joy in my life is what I am striving for.

But nope, I'm not doing the KonMari method in my stash. It ALL sparks joy: Every. Single. Piece.😍

So (mostly) does this guy, who is steadily gaining weight, loving his raw food diet.
Such abandon! He loves being on the cool floor, or outside on the deck. Oh to have an inner furnace like his!

Remember it's not too late to join in the 30 Quilt Designs Challenge! Just email me (ephdra at gmail dot com) with a photo of your first design and I can invite you to the FaceBook private group.

There are three great prizes so far from these sponsors. Check out this post for details!



Linking up
Sew Fresh Quilts

17 comments:

  1. Hi Sandra! I feel quite clever having stumbled upon your post before I got the email telling me about it. Oh, those fabrics in Sparkle On are so cute. Of course, I suspect they are no longer available but I'll give it a fair shot at trying to find out for sure. So many great prints in there! And by Amanda, no less. I miss her blog and her laying out quilts on the floor for what seemed like miles and miles. And oodles of pins. I hope she is doing well. We are doing our first H2H quilt(s) this year - I have been pondering fabrics and which pattern to use. Thanks for sharing the closeups of your quilting - I LOVE seeing them - always inspiring. I don't have Netflix but maybe Prime might have Tidying Up. Who know. Happy Tuesday to you. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  2. Very fun quilt! I love the prints and the quilting pattern you used. I have also been KonMari-ing (is that a verb?). We are getting new carpet upstairs so I have taken the opportunity to go through 4 rooms full of stuff.

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  3. Love the quilt, the name, and I too, miss Amanda Jean. She is as nice in person as she writes! Good to see your pup and hear that he is gaining weight. Love the pic of him sleeping - haha! I do need to go through my clothes, and I've started, but more to go!

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  4. What a fun quilt and great quilting - why don't you live closer so you could domine??? Seriously, you have great ideas. Its so great that you are getting 1QFAL2019 done, I have one that might not make it again - again quilting iwll be the problem. I love you are getting more space....jealous really! Your drawers look fab.

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  5. I like the drawers, mine look nowhere like that. hmmm another to do item. I think I need to minimalism my to do list. Love the quilting on your niece's quilt.

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  6. I was sad to see Amanda stop blogging, but I too have several of her fabrics that I picked up in FQ bundles at Connecting threads. Good job on getting a couple quilts ready for H2H.

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  7. A lovely quilt! I had a precut pack of that fabric once upon a time. I enjoyed her blog, too, and really miss her. Good job 'tidying up'! Truly, I should take a page from your playbook, but......

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  8. I love the Good Neighbors line. I have just a few bits and pieces left of it. Your quilt is adorable!

    The drawers!! I learned the same from her tho I have only refolded one drawer. But that drawer looks great. Maybe I will do another one or two today. It takes only minutes and I love seeing everything instead of digging through the stack to see what is in there.

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  9. Such a cheerful top! It looks like it would be fun to quilt.

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  10. I love that Good Neighbors fabric! Your quilt is looking great. And what a beautiful t-shirt drawer!!! You did good!

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  11. Beautifully sparkling quilt. Love your happy quilting as always. I may steal the spiral flower design for something I currently have on the frame.

    I did a good cleaning of my sewing area but not at the KonMari scale. Takes away too much time from my already limited sewing time :-)

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  12. Great choice of fabrics for Sparkle On! It is going to be a great quilt!

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  13. The goal really is joy, isn't it? I know it's not a sustainable be-there-all-the-time kind of goal, but I do love the delightful sparkle joy can add to the day. Joy and gratitude and love and connection. Yup. Good stuff. Just like the quilt: good stuff. Seems like quilting your favorite motifs are a great way to add that spark into the quilt, too!

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  14. It does sparkle. I might bother that daisy pattern. I haven't had time to create a design yet. Best get moving.

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  15. That is a great name for the colourful quilt you made. Absolutely perfect! I look forward to seeing the finish. Although your clothes drawer looks fabulous, I don't blame you for what not wanting to do the KonMari method in your stash! You would definitely regret it. :) I am so happy to hear that the pup is steadily gaining weight, hopefully a bit calmer now.

    -Soma

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  16. Congrats on a very bright and fun finished flimsy (maybe finished quilt as I'm a bit behind on blog posts). Enjoy your stitching time and your cleaned out closet!

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  17. The whole quilt looks great. It looks beautiful. I like such colors. I will be happy to follow new posts. A good selection of materials is the basis of beautiful-looking quilts.

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