Gratitude and Glimmers #83

Give yourself a gift of five minutes of 

contemplation in awe of everything

you see around you.

--Wayne Dyer

Welcome to another post of glimmers: moments, sights, sounds, happenings that give a little glow or glimmer of happiness in my soul. Glimmers spark gratitude. You can read more of these uplifting posts from like-minded people if you hop over to LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

1. I loved being in the path of totality during the April 8 eclipse. We sat on our back deck for an excellent view. Pelee Island, 20 km due south of our deck in Lake Erie, was the first Canadian land to experience it. Essex County, which is where Kingsville is situated, was the first spot on the mainland in Canada to experience it. It was pretty surreal how dark it got, to the point of my solar-powered fairy lights on the deck and tree coming on, solar lights in the garden coming on, and neighbours' light-sensitive and solar-powered lights all coming on for just under three minutes. A few dogs barked, Rufus growled, the birds roosted and went pretty quiet, and then as it lightened up, they started chirping as they do before dawn.

I also watched it on CBC livestream and that in itself was fascinating as reporters in various cities gave their experience. It amazed us both how quickly it made it to Gander, Newfoundland! The moon travels at 2400 km/hour I learned!

2. I like YouTube, and curating my own playlists. Recently while playing my Classical Music playlist a piece just captivated me, Symphonie Lumière by Sarah Class. I went to iTunes to see if I could purchase it and found it was part of an entire album by Cantamus called Aurora, for just $5.99. I had a little left on an iTunes gift card Brady gave me for Christmas 2022, so I bought it! Here is Symphonie Lumière, a song on the Aurora album. Listen and be transported.

Luminous Layers QAL Giant Star Points

This week we are making the giant (gold in the cover quilt) star points. I built this quilt from the outside in when I first designed it, so that is how we will build our quilt along quilts.

This week's step is a snap after last week's rather involved cutting directions. I think what made it 'involved' for me was keeping the colours straight. As mentioned, I labelled my stacks Fabric A dark green, etc. to keep them straight in my mind.

Luminous Layers QAL Cutting Instructions

For me, the best part of putting my designs out into the world is seeing others' renditions. So I am super-excited to see your fabric choices, which is why we have a linkup today at the end of this post. If you don't do social media, then please email me a photo and I will add you into the linkup. I will draw one name for a PDF copy of Luminous Layers, or if they've already bought it, a free PDF of their choice.

If you are still undecided (that's me in most projects) as to what colour palette you are going to use, then I have a few quilt photos for inspiration for you to check out.

Luminous Layers QAL Fabric Requirements

It's time to talk fabric, our favourite subject, right? This week I'll be going over the fabric requirements for making either the small or large throw quilt and giving you some ideas as to how to go about choosing your fabrics, hopefully from within your own stash. Then it's like you've got a totally free quilt at the end: free pattern and 'free' fabric!

If you're 'in' with us, grab that icon and post it to your blog or Instagram or FaceBook (I don't do FB, but it's totally fine if you want to post your progress there). Do you have to have a social media account though to participate? Nope! Email me any photos when it's time for a prize draw and I will enter your name. All are welcome here.

Luminous Layers Quilt Along Schedule and Sponsors

Welcome to the eighth annual quilt along here at mmmquilts! I am so glad you are here, and I do hope you will join in with us for yet another year of fun sewing and prizes galore! If you are new to the blog, welcome! I hope you'll peruse the tabs up top, check out some of the activities and makes of mine. Be sure to follow me (see the 'Get new posts by email' buttons for the blog and Instagram on my sidebar) to be notified of new posts over the next few months of the quilt along.

Once again, the free Quilt Along kicks off on my birthday, April 3, and ends on what was the birthday of one 'famous Canadian', (explanation further along) my dad, June 15. The pace is nice and relaxed, so I hope you can squeeze in a little star- (a few little stars!) creating with your other quilt commitments.

Here is the graphic for the QAL. I hope you'll pop it on the sidebar of your blog and/or post it in your feed and stories on Instagram.

This is a quilt I designed for Island Batik in 2019 when I was an ambassador for them. It was a most rewarding three years sewing with their beautiful fabrics. At the time several people asked if I'd write up the pattern and I had planned to, but those were busy years sewing for Island Batik, and it did not happen ... until this year!