Rainbow Connection: RSC 2023 and 2024 Progress

This is my original Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt of 2023. I had three ongoing projects, and just have one left to get into a flimsy and quilted up for a donation quilt. This one will be donated somewhere too.

The original dark blue blocks were in this post. It is a quilt from Quick & Easy Quilts August/September 2022. Mine is a scrappy version of the Saskatchewan designer's quilt.

Project Quilting 15.2 Sky Color

I got SO excited at this week's prompt for Project Quilting because I am a bit of a nut when it comes to watching the skies. I have a lot of it to see from my sewing room windows which face south, east and west. Yep tons and tons of light. Our house is pretty much like that, one of the main reasons I agreed to buy it is that it is filled with light thanks to lots of windows.

Here is where the challenge ended:

It had some definite growing pains along the way and missed the deadline by a couple of hours.

One of the things I love most about PQ challenges is getting to paw through my glorious stash. This challenge was no different. So we were to make a project that evokes sky colour (I use Canadian aka English spelling) with only 10% cerulean. Love that word, a beautiful name for the colour sky-blue. Blue is my favourite colour, so making a quilt about the sky without it at first seems strange, but not when I think of the sunset I saw Sunday night, hours after the challenge was posted. Look at those fiery pinks and oranges and the reflection in the clouds overhead. This is pure Mother Nature, no filters or enhancement.

or the sunrise on Monday, again no filters or special touchups:

Gratitude and Glimmers #81

Let another year of being grateful, consciously grateful, begin. It's so true that little aha, or wow moments of gratitude give you a little glimmer, whether that glimmer is a lift to your spirits or a little squeeze of your heart or a secret smile. You can find more posts from like-minded grateful peeps at Not Afraid of Color.

1. Dogs are the BEST! Cats are a close second, but sorry Bella and Harper, they do come second. I love dogs, and am proud and honoured to say I have been and still am owned by several of these beautiful souls over the 43.5 years of our marriage. We actually got our first dog, Rex, about two months before we were married, and he lived with my husband for a bit, and with me at my parents for a bit before we were married. Anyhow, THIS--?!!! You will be amazed and moved by Ruby who saved her master's life.

Christmas Garland Runner

I seem to be on a roll of finishes this month, and here is another. Dayna made several requests last summer and I do believe I've now fulfilled them all, though in the other day's conversation mention was made of her needing a heart quilt... She had requested two table runners, one in pink and another in traditional Christmas colours. You've seen the flimsy in the pattern release post. Well, here it is complete.

Dayna loves it. Mission accomplished!

Harper's Heart Quilt

Another long-standing request of Dayna's is a quilt for Harper. Yes, I made her a cat mat a few years ago, which she loves, but Dayna wanted an actual quilt for her. When I was making the pixellated heart quilt for Millie, Dayna's BFF's daughter, I made one using 2.5" squares that ended up being too small. I made the second one, using 3.5" squares to get it to a better size. The small pixellated heart has been sitting for almost exactly two years, waiting patiently for something to happen with it.

When Dayna and Tyler were in Detroit for last week's game against the Rams, which the Lions won, woot woot, we met them at Toast, a family-owned restaurant in Windsor (no relation to Toast in Ferndale, Michigan across the river). Meeting up with them was the impetus to check off this item on her list of quilt requests.

SAHRR and RSC Progress

I posted some of these photos on my Instagram @mmmquilts but it's good to keep a record here on the blog too. I'm leaving comments off this post since a lot of it is what's been shown there.

I joined in with the Stay At Home Round Robin or SAHRR hosted by QuiltingGail for the first time last year and it was a blast. A good brain workout and good push for the creativity! Here is my centre block for this year:

It measure 17.5" x 16.5".

Rosebud Garland Pattern Release

Ta-da! May I present Rosebud Garland! I am very excited to release my first pattern of 2024, which technically is my last pattern of 2023, since it was in the previous issue of Make Modern, issue #55 to be specific. One of the many things I love about this magazine is that they only keep the rights to your patterns until the next issue comes out, in other words, just two months.

What you won't get in the Make Modern issue is the pattern for the accompanying placemats, as well as a tip in this post to make an extra-long runner if you've got a large dining table, as does my daughter, Dayna. Read on to find out and also to check out the low price at which it's being offered.

W-EVdnesday #7 - Power Grids

First of all, I have made a tab at the top of my blog which, if you click it, takes to to a page where you can find links to all of my W-EVdnesday posts.

Last week Alberta issued an Emergency Alert:

Screenshot courtesy of our daughter Brianne. 

My first thought was well, I guess I can see that; I mean earlier Brianne had sent us a couple of screenshots of unbelievably cold actual temperatures and insane windchills:

But my nano-second close second thought was wait, 'delay charging electric vehicles?' That is what they are purporting to be one of the significant drains on the grid? 'Berta gonna 'Berta as they say these days...

However, it’s not just Alberta; this narrative is all too common. 

“Our power grid won't be able to handle all these EVs coming online.”

So MacGyver and I had a little chat, and he told me about Tim Weiss, @TimWeissAB a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta (yay, my alma mater) who he follows who had this to say about that very thing.

Project Quilting 15.1 Bird House

I am always excited to kick off the year with challenges to my creative spirit. Project Quilting, along with the Stay At Home Round Robin, aka SAHRR, which starts this coming weekend, do just that!

Our first challenge is to make something that evokes "the myriad places a bird calls 'home,'" as explained by Trish at kimlapacek.com Here is my finished piece. Read on to see how it evolved.

TGIFF! Postcard from Sweden Finish

Welcome to TGIFF! This is a celebration of finishes, and I'm happy to be back hosting the second one of 2024. I am also very pleased to show off my second finish of 2024, my third Postcard from Sweden quilt.

Like the first two, this one is not going to live with me, and that is just fine. Like the first two, it is on its way to a good home where I know it will be cherished. If you are interested in hosting TGIFF go here to pick a date to sign up. It's super-easy.

Sofia’s Quilt

This was the second quilt commission that I got in 2023. One of my neighbours asked me to make a quilt for another neighbour who had a baby girl in the middle of December. Technically the quilt should’ve been easily finished by December 31 but the flu that weekend prevented that from happening so it only got completed on January 2.

I gave some glimpses on Instagram during the construction and quilting process. It is the third time I’ve made my pattern, Sunset strip, which you can see on my sideboard where there is a link to it in my Etsy shop.

2024 Setting Intentions and Summarizing 2023

I decided to put some of my intentions for 2024 into words this year; last year they were in my head, rather nebulous and definitely not prescriptive. I did enough of those kind of goal-setting missives complete with measures and strategies over 30 years of teaching! Although the main reason for starting my blog was to keep in touch with friends and family, as well as keep a record of my creations, it certainly has evolved over the ten years I've been writing it. Yep, I hit ten years (wow) in September 2023. It has evolved into such an enriching exciting part of my life and I couldn't be more awed or grateful for all the directions I've gone.

A brief recap of what I'd sort of expected of 2023 is worth noting. My previous post was The Best Of, and it differs from this recap of expectations I had, something I didn't realize until after I'd made my notes, and then thought whoops, have I repeated myself... strangely, no, except for one item!

1. I had hoped to get a quilt or two published during the course of that year, since I hadn't had any published designs in 2022, and so I submitted to two publications, Golden Peak Media and Make Modern. Both submissions were accepted, Tinker Toys in Love of Quilting September/October and Rosebud Garland in Make Modern November/December.

The pattern for Rosebud Garland will soon be released as I get the rights back when issue 56 is published, on January 12. 

My Best of 2023

My dad used to say that when he was a kid, the days would go so slowly from one weekend to the next, and it would take forever to get to his birthday or summer vacation. Now that he was retired, months passed like days, and a year was gone in a blink. I understand exactly what he meant! How is it three, no, coming up on four years since the world locked down for the pandemic? I feel my brain wanting to explode.

Regardless, another year has marched on by, and I am joining in with Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs for a look back at things to celebrate in 2023. I usually start by flipping through all the posts I wrote - 81 - to see which ones got the most views. 

1. The most-viewed post was The Art of Riding Thermals, a quilt I made for the Villa Rosa Designs January blog hop I was asked to be a part of.

This quilt lives with my niece, Sheila, in Edmonton, where it keeps her Postcard from Sweden quilt company.