RSC Catching Up

Earlier this year, I completed my first Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt. It ended up going in a slightly different direction than I’d first planned. I then got busy with the quilt that’s in the current issue of make modern as well as the planning and sewing for my annual quilt along. I’m pleased to say that I spent the last couple of days finalizing what will be the next RSC project for the year and I am caught up with six months' worth of blocks. Because June is pastel colours, here is my pastel blue block.

I’ve wanted to make this block forever; think the first I saw it was way back on Craftsy! Diann of Little Penguin Quilts made it last year and it reminded me to keep it in mind for this year.

Sewcial Bee Sampler Blocks

Like an itch you just have to scratch, I continued making the rest of the 25 blocks for the 2017 Sewcial Bee Sampler. I knew that if I started focusing on the next pattern I plan to release, the stack of blocks might get put back in the cupboard and I really didn’t want that. Here are the last nine blocks I made since I pulled this UFO project out last week. The first two were in a previous post, and all been shown on Instagram.

Top row: Block 17 Spools and Block 18 Square Peg; Bottom: Block 19 Circle of Friends and Block 20 Irish Chain Variation

This quilt along was hosted by Sharon Holland and Maureen Cracknell, both designers for Art Gallery Fabrics. It was the first one they did. 

Back in my Sewing Room

Do you find that after you've been away for a week or two, it's hard to get back into the swing of sewing unless you've left mid-project? I had everything tied up before we left other than quilting the Tropical Puzzle quilt. That entailed sewing the backing yardage, so that is the first thing I did. I have the perfect backing, a Wilmington Fabrics piece I'd picked up in the clearance section of Sew Sisters about... eight years ago, knowing it would be a great back somewhere.

This quilt is it. Here is the first little bit. I saw a cool pantograph in an older quilting magazine on a Christmas quilt that I quite liked and thought I could probably free-motion. It doesn't look too much like the panto, other than big swirls, in continuous S shapes, but I'm liking it and I think it's perfect with the tropical theme: swirling winds through palm trees. I'm using Hobbs 100% wool with Connecting Threads 50 wt cotton in Sky, love.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project 1

I really enjoyed making my Scrappy Stars in 2023, and last year had a glimmer (yup, one of those moments) when I thought I might be able to do a churn dash block using the same idea—crumbs and strips in the colour of the month to make the main components of the block. Once I had Cradled finished and blogged, I got out my graph paper, fired up my math brain, and created a 15" block.

I love it! I plan to make nine for a quilt which I intend to give to the Windsor Sexual Assault Centre as I do each year for a child. The tutorial is below if you’d like to make this scrap-(sort of)-busting block.

Follow Your Own Path - First Four Blocks

And just like that, it's time to sew! I hope you have all managed to find your way here. I now am mmmquilts.ca. My renewal came up and I decided to go with .ca since I live in Canada. Don't worry, the .com URL will point you here but it might take a day still. I am hoping that Feedburner will still bring those of you who get my posts via email here regardless; we all have heard of the big changes coming there. I do have my email subscription list and have downloaded it. I have some time to figure out just what to do with it (LOL) before July. Right now this QAL is my #1 priority. So let's get started!

This week we are going to make the first four arrow blocks.

The Marauder's Map OMG

I am happy to report that just past the mid-way mark of the month I had one of my two OMGs finished. This is a cushion, or as Dayna calls it, a pillow cover. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but it got pushed out of the way, forgotten, remembered, no time, forgotten...and now DONE!

I picked up this fabric at JoAnn's to make Dayna a pillow cover at the same time as I picked up the Slytherin fabric for Brady's and Game of Thrones fabric for Brianne's. I got theirs done in record time since I was flying out there in a couple of days for Christmas. I meant to do Dayna's, but the suitcase quilt, and a Mexico trip got in the way... And then I forgot about it because I'd put the fabric in a cupboard, then remembered, then forgot...sigh. When I was packing up my sewing stuff for the renovations, I found it, and was stabbed with guilt, so I kept it out, and made it my OMG.

Modern by the Yard New Issue and I'm in it!

And it's not a quilt of the fabric kind but a block of the digital kind!

MbyY, in case you are not familiar with it, is the ezine put out quarterly, for free, by Benartex Fabrics. You can get your copy by going to their blog, Sew in Love With Fabric, where you will find the link to the ezine on the sidebar. When they contacted me to ask if I would like to design a digital block, the assignment being a modern twist on the Log Cabin block, I jumped at the chance for several reasons. First, I love a good challenge to my creativity and second, it was another opportunity to work with EQ8, and third, well, being published is always a thrill that never gets old. Fourth, I'd just played with a log cabin challenge for November's Island Batik challenge, so log cabins were still bouncing around in my head. You can see that quilt top here.

Minestrone

Seems rather odd to share a terrific soup recipe in the lovely Spring but there are days where the lovely Spring weather still has a bite in the wind and it feels like a soup day.  Such was the case here during the first few days of April, and again of late.  This is one some very dear friends in Alberta shared with us, both in edible and recipe form.😋

Italian Vegetarian Minestrone Soup

2T olive oil
2 c shredded carrots
1 large finely chopped red onion
2 c sliced zucchini
1 c sliced mushrooms (I subbed cauliflower)
3 c fresh spinach (stems removed)
2.5 c shredded cabbage (red or green)
1 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes (not drained)
1 - 19 oz can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 - 19 oz can red kidney beans (or your choice of beans, rinsed and drained)
1 c uncooked noodles (such as small shell noodles)
10 c vegetable broth
2 T brown sugar
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp pepper
dash of salt

In a large soup or stockpot, sauté onion and carrots in olive oil over medium heat until onions are soft but not brown (5 min).  Add remaining ingredients except for chickpeas and beans.  Bring to boil and simmer covered over medium-low heat for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Add chickpeas and beans and simmer 10 more minutes uncovered.  Serve with a garnish of Italian cheese.  This soup freezes well. (It makes a LOT!)
Add cooked Italian sausage or chicken if desired.


Speaking of dear friends, I had the opportunity to meet up with Cindy of Stitchin at Home this past week!  I am so very thankful for flexible people; she said yep, to the approximate time and day and location...

The Canadians who are reading this know in a heartbeat that this is Tim Horton's!  It worked for us! 😉  Too bad this location hasn't had the facelift they are all getting to a more 'sit and visit, coffee house' vibe much like Second Cup or Starbucks.  It didn't matter though: we could've been standing on the side of the road for our meeting place; we'd have still loved every minute of being together in person.  Julie, Tish and Beth were with us in iMessage and spirit too! Sadly the wifi, as it is in a lot of public places, was pretty pathetic, so we couldn't FaceTime as planned. This will be the first of several get-togethers, we know it.
I spied several of these

as we worked our way back south along highway 3 that hugs Lake Erie coastline.  We went up on the 401, a major highway, aka interstate, aka motorway, so you don't see much but other vehicles.  This, now, is much more scenic:

I was waving madly to Julie 'just' on the other side of Lake Erie, lol. Doesn't it look like the ocean? It's 92 km/57 miles in width.

I am still not feeling very successful in the finding time to sew department.  I'm a creature of habit, routine, order (not obsessive order but still) and it is quite not that way as you know in my life this past while.  I'd hoped to be entirely caught up with the 150 Canadian Women QAL, but I am not, so here are the only three little blocks I've got to show in about two weeks.  As always, these women's stories absolutely amaze me.

Clockwise from bottom left: 67-Molly Kool: she waited 3 years(!) to get permission to take the coastal master's certificate (women weren't allowed) and became captain of her father's ship. Note the ship, the lighthouse, and the anchor in the tone-on-tone I used for 3 of the 4 centre 1" squares. 68-Leone Norwood Farrell: biochemist in 1933, quite an accomplishment in itself because of her gender, but developed 'The Toronto Technique' which enabled mass production of Salk's polio vaccine.  69-Frances Oldham Kelsey: scientist, earned her PhD in pharmacology in 1938 from the University of Chicago where she taught for the next 20+ years, 1960 began her career with the FDA. Her first assignment? Testing a pill for morning sickness, which she feared could be harmful to the fetus. Despite pressure from the drug companies (some things never change) she refused to approve it, thus ensuring not one thalidomide-deformed child was born in the USA.

I loved the Moda Marbles soft pink so much in Molly's block that I used it again in Leone's, and then found the softer-yet pink floral in my scraps, which I believe is a bit from a skirt of my sister Wendy's. I was able to used several small pieces for the ivory background of that block too.  These three blocks were intense!  All are based on a 36-patch grid, so 36 @ 1" finished squares!  Here's a tip for Molly's block, which is the one on the lower left. Instead of making 32 HSTs that finish at 1", make flying geese units the no-waste way (see tutorial here) using these measurements:
For the pink 'goose' or 'peak' part of the unit, cut a square 3 1/4"
For the 'wings' aka side triangles, cut four squares 1 7/8"

Those five squares will yield you four flying geese.  Yeah yeah you have to do a partial seam to sew them around the 1.5" squares, but it's simple.  Here's how:

The top part of the photo shows the first seam, sewing not quite half of the flying geese unit to the centre square. The lower part of the photo shows the second seam, sewing the pink flying geese unit to the left side of that unit.

The top part of this photo shows the red flying geese unit sewn to the bottom of the unit from step 2, and the lower part of the photo shows you how to line up the final pink flying geese unit to sew onto the fourth side.
You will have

this!  The lower part shows you what it looks like after sewing the fourth side.  All you have to do is fold down the top red flying geese unit, matching the seam with the side of the pink flying geese unit, and finish that partial seam from the first step! It's a bit tight because these are tiny units but the top section of the photo shows you what you end up with!  Four less seams and no wasted fabric from the connector corners method.

You're welcome!

Wouldn't the centre of the last block make a beautiful block in and of itself? Might have to try it in perhaps double the size...

Those are cherubs in the four corners, a nod to the babies she saved from being deformed

Soft pink!

Spied this gorgeous girl a week ago on a very early morning walk. The photo, of course, does not do her justice. These pale pink magnolias are pretty much finished now, but the deep pink ones are still in their finery for the most part, and the yellow ones should be out soon! I can't wait to get one for our new house.

NOT done is Craftsy with their class sales.  Beginning tomorrow, May 4, all classes yes ALL of 'em, are on for less than $20! Might be a good idea to snag one you've had on your wishlist, just sayin'.  I am an affiliate, so yes, I do get a small compensation if you click through and buy using my links!  Thank YOU!  It goes right back to Craftsy usually LOL, or, in the case of my latest purchase, to Connecting Threads (do I have some deals to tell you about...and yes I finally got my approval to be an affiliate with them, but my show 'n tell is from pre-affiliation, so plain pure unadulterated passion for fabric you will be shown...stay tuned. :-)  OMG and such good and welcome news from them I will share for my Canuck readers!

Linking up
Sew Fresh Quilts
Quilt Fabrication

And uh, yes, if you were looking for Sunday Stretch on April 30, it wasn't there.  I forgot.  😖 I hope to have one for you tomorrow(?!)  I will try my best!🙏

Red & White For Days

It feels like it.  I didn't realize until I typed the title, and these first few lines, that I'd be posting this on St. George's Day.  Heh? you say... Do you know St. Patrick?  Of course! Patron saint of Ireland.  His colour?  Green, duh! Well, St. George is the patron saint of England, the very same guy who slew the dragon (not slayed; I looked it up and that would indicate St. George was amused by it.  Which he could have been I supposed.  Before he slew it.  Or maybe the dragon slayed himself with St. George, as a cat does with a mouse, and then St. George retaliated.  In any event, St. George survived.  The dragon, sadly, did not.)  St. George's colour? Red, of course!

Here are the next three sets of blocks for 150 Canadian Women QAL at Next Step Quilt Designs, with a couple of tips in case you haven't made these yet, or for future reference.

58 - Leonora Howard King: first Canadian doctor in China, where she opened the first Chinese hospital for women and children, awarded the Imperial Chinese Order of the Imperial Dragon, the first woman to achieve such an honour; 59 - Jean Lumb: Chinese name Wong Toy Jin, at age 17, she opened her own (prosperous) fruit store in Toronto, spokesperson to PM Diefenbaker wrt Chinese concerns regarding immigration, led a successful campaign to preserve Toronto's Chinatown, 60 - Laura Goodman Salverson: Icelandic immigrant, a writer, first editor of  "Icelandic Canadian" magazine, a pioneer author of immigrant literature

30 Quilt Designs Challenge 2017

Announcing!  Last year Rachel at Stitched in Color started a 30 Days of Quilt Design Challenge which ran from August 5 to Oct. 31.  Sadly, I missed out on it, but thought it such a great idea.  With 2017 shaping up to be more of a year of design, I thought well, why not just do this on my own?  And The Universe said, "Uh, no..."   Shortly thereafter, in conversation with Lisa at Sunlight in Winter Quilts, I brought this up and she said she'd love to do it with me, because she, too, just hadn't been able to join in last year.

So here we go!  If anyone would like to join in, feel free!  I don't have a sponsor (yet...but you never know) but I do have a couple of prizes for certain milestones, for example, 10th design.  I've been saving selvages for a while now since I saw some people like to make things with them!  So this is one prize:

Another is these two fat quarters:

Of course, the best prize is the designs that are yours and yours alone, and that you've challenged yourself, and realized growth. 💖

Here's what I envision:

Who:  Anyone!

What:

• Design a quilt block or an entire quilt.  If you draw a quilt block, maybe put a few together to see what an overall pattern might look like.  Add some colour.  Just as Rachel said in her challenge, you can use non-original blocks, but re-invent them by changing up colour or value, or put two non-original different ones together and see what magic can occur!
• You may submit hand-drawn designs or digital designs.  Personally I find there is something relaxing and Zen-like in getting out the old Crayola pencil crayons and notebook...
• No construction directions needed.
• The goal is to create 30 quilt designs by March 15.

Where:

• Take a photo of your design, number it, and post it on Instagram using the following hashtag:

#30quiltdesignschallenge2017

• Please tag each photo @mmmquilts and @sunlightinwinterquilts so we can see your designs!
• Be sure to number each design.
• To be eligible for prizes, be sure to follow both @mmmquilts and @sunlightinwinterquilts

When:  Today, January 2 - March 15, 2017

Why:  Because...as Henri Matisse said, "Creativity takes courage."  And, as Helen Keller said, "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all."

Here is my Design #1

What a surprise when I thought, 'What if I put sashing between the blocks?' and then saw half-blocks, and then thought, 'Hmm, need to add a third colour...I wonder...'  I like!

Linking up with
Patchwork Times
Cooking Up Quilts

Note: If you have any questions, or I've not thought of something, don't hesitate to shoot me an email, (click View my Complete Profile or use: ephdra at gmail dot com) or ask in the comments below. Be sure to leave your email address if you are a no-reply so I can respond!

Sunday Stretch for Sewists #15 - Butterfly

Merry Christmas!
Today's pose is Butterfly, a wonderful one for your hips and low back, a very gentle pose for this last stretch of the year.

I took that back in July. It is one of my favourite shots of all time.  Think of this Monarch butterfly's gorgeous wings when you are in this pose.

Butterfly

This is a very gentle decompression for your low back, and a great hip opener.  Many Yin yoga flows begin with this pose.  In the beginning, use blocks or cushions under the sides of your thighs to support your legs if it pulls too intensely on your hips.  Remember you do want a tugging feeling though; that means you are starting to lengthen the connective tissues, which will lead to more freedom of movement.

The beauty of this pose is that you can do it sitting your couch, a suggestion by one of my 70-year-old yoga students. 😍 You don't even need to wear yoga clothes. 😉

While reading a good book, like this one, a gift from a darling friend, or while watching TV

Butterfly is similar to, but different from, Baddha Konasana in that the feet are further away from the groin.  Your legs should form a diamond shape.  Lean forward, letting your back round.  This is a lovely way to stretch the lower back without requiring loose hamstrings!

Beware of 'puddy-tats' who want to worm their way into your lap, wait, there is no lap, what's with that?!

I did these photos with the timer on my phone, so it does a 'burst' of 7-10 photos. Thought this was hilarious; the last four photos showed her emerging into the photo!

Let your hands rest wherever they naturally fall:  on the floor inside your legs, on your feet or outside of your feet.  Let your head hang if it is okay for your neck; otherwise keep it in line with your spine.

Notice the butterfly shape in one of the 150 Canadian Women blocks? That's your legs!

Do not pull, because you will then be engaging muscles.  In Yin we relax the muscles so that we target connective tissues, or fascia, the ligaments, the tendons, that white gristle you see in meat that we, too, have throughout our bodies.  This tightens up, or shrinks, as we age.  If we've been injured, the filaments that are naturally mostly elongated, tend to bunch up like shrunk yarn strands, and cross-weave themselves to protect the injured area.  That creates scar tissue.  These long-held poses can help to encourage the filaments to let go, to elongate, stimulating regeneration at the microscopic level, which will leave us with better blood circulation, better flexibility, better range of motion, and that, my friends, leads to a happier human, right?  I once said in a yoga class, it just popped out of my mouth, that I think politicians should practise Yin yoga!

Hold for 3 to 5 minutes or even longer.  Breathe slowly and steadily, in and out through your nose, feeling your lungs expand and contract, continuing to relax as you let gravity have you.

If you have low back issues that require you not to round, then simply lean forward from the hips, keeping your tummy pulled in and your back flat.

If you suffer from sciatica, this can aggravate it, so elevate your hips by sitting on a cushion, or a couple of cushions, until the knees are below the hips.  Bernie Clark, Yinyoga.com, says to beware of your hips rotating backward while seated; we want them to rotate forward.

If your back still doesn't like this pose, do it lying down, known as Reclined Butterfly.

Ahhh!  Feels divine!

To come out from seated Butterfly, roll up slowly, and then lean back on your hands to release your hips.  Slowly straighten each leg and enjoy that 'spearmint' feeling of hot/cold as the blood flows back into the compressed areas.  This works in the same way that massage therapy does, to remove toxins and/or blockages.  Slowly straighten each leg.  To come out from Reclined Butterfly, slowly bring or help the legs back together, roll to one side, pausing for a few breaths, and then help yourself up  and slowly straighten each leg.

It used to take about a day, I believe, in the olden days, for a group of neighbours to raise a barn on a new homesteader's place.  It took me about that to raise this barn block, from drafting it, to finished block.  It is based on Lori Holt's Barn Along of a couple of years ago and another re-drafted block from a blogger (which I spent half an hour trying to find with no luck) who was doing the Barn Along but made some changes to the roof, and then my own version of hers.  So here is my 12" version:

Cows need a barn, right?!  A Churn Dash block on the side to echo the others that will be in the quilt as well.  Purple, because that is my aunt's favourite colour.  Cats.  But of course. Keep the mice down, y'know?!

Hope you are having a most wonderful day today, doing what you love, and/or loving what you are doing!

Linking up with:
Cooking Up Quilts
Patchwork Times

Thursday Thoughts

Do you ever sit at your computer with the blank post screen, and spend a good five minutes or more, mulling over a good post title?  That's me, and that's what happened yet again for the title of this post. Subject material has been gathering itself on the back burner of my mind all week.  A few people I follow, and even my own self, have done or are doing basically a being thankful, or simply being aware, post on a Thursday.  At this time of giving, I've been reflecting once again on all I have been given.

Some Blocks and A Quiche

I've been doing a little pattern-testing for a couple of friends and here is another of Stitchin At Home Cindy's appliqué blocks for her Canada Quilt for her guild's BOM.

Isn't it a fabulous design?  And how about the Moda Grunge as a fabulous ice fabric?? Who knew...

I used Lara's (Buzzin Bumble) Crafted Appliqué method and it works like a damn!  (Sorry, but it really does, especially on fine details like those trees, gulp.)  Sidenote: check out that link to Lara's blog where she is having a giveaway of her book, and also is offering a beautiful free pattern she designed for a Christmassy tabletopper.

This hasn't been stitched down yet, but there's no lifting going on.  I thought the embossed flowers white fabric that has the palest of mauves mottled here and there on it would effectively replicate the blue-whites and mauve/pinky-whites of real snow as well as provide a contrast to the white of the ice.  I'd like to say I planned that white 'blob' area to land there to evoke the glare of the sun on ice, but nope, a happy accident!  This is an example of what Lara calls the need to back-coat some fabrics; see how the snow fabric became sort of opaque or see-through where it overlapped the mountain fabric?  I was really pleased with how well the brown fabric did work for the mountain.  I had chosen another grey/black denim-look fabric but then thought, hmm, I wonder if the white blotches here and there might evoke thoughts of snow... Yep!  Goes to show to try fabrics you would think would not work when doing appliqué.  This fabric has sketched-in-black flower shapes with bleached-out-looking areas and even has glitter on it!

I've also started a quilt along called 150 Canadian Women...150 blocks to be made which finish at 6".  Hope I can do better than I have been doing with Tula Pink's City Sampler blocks (gulp).  I need to do blocks 1-3 yet, but here are blocks 4-6:

From left to right: Major Margaret C. MacDonald, (first woman to attain the rank of Major in the Britsh Empire), Nellie McClung, (one of the Famous Five, one of Canada's greatest women's rights activists) and Alice Wilson (Geologist who was not granted a car to do her field work, but a bicycle, because women 'shouldn't drive' -- she went out and bought her own Model T!)

I get overwhelmed with emotion when I read about the accomplishments of these women in the face of incredible chauvinism, racism, and a multitude of other obstacles.  This is a BOM from The Next Step, a quilt shop in Calgary, Alberta.  I first saw it on a blog belonging to another Sandra, Quilting at the Cro's Nest and was intrigued by the symbolism and educational component (shocker, I know).

Tip Time!
I've mentioned this method before, but when I showed Beth and David at our retreat at Julie's in October, they hadn't seen it, and thought it a cool method for cutting your HST squaring up time in half.  So here it is again.  Two at a time!  Note that this method means you're going 'to the dark side' as Angela Walters does... one more day until her show, squeal!  In other words it requires pressing your seams to one side, the darker of the two.

1.  Lie two HSTs atop each other, nudging the seams together so they nest.  Peel back the top HST if you want to check, but you will soon develop a feel for the nesting with your fingetips.  You don't have to, but in order to not touch the nested pair, set them on a small rotary cutting mat which is on top of your larger one, or on a revolving rotary mat too if you have one.

2. Lay the 45-degree line along the seam, leaving a little wiggle room to eventually cut all the way around the HSTs.  I'm going for 2.5" squares, but you can see I have my left and bottom marks at about 2 3/8". Cut the first two sides, as I have done if you are right-handed.  It will be the opposite two if you are left-handed.  Rotate the mat.

3.  Now line the 2.5" marks on the ruler with the just-cut two sides, and the 45-degree line again along the seam. Trim both sides as before.

4.  Lift off the top HST and voilà!  (not viola, that'a a flower, or a musical instrument) you have two 2.5" HSTs.

The other day I had a hankering for quiche and decided to use a tried and true recipe that I've had and used for decades.  It was a hit, and I am very glad I doubled the recipe and made two!

Yum!  Enjoying another year's use out of my Snowman placemats. ⛄

Below is the recipe in case you'd like to make one! Now I cheat and just buy a pie crust (sorry Mum!) as I can't be bothered to make that part from scratch.  I omitted the bacon, making mine with cauliflower and broccoli.  We had a Caesar salad on the side.

Linking up with
Freemotion by the River
and woo hoo! Beth still has Main Crush Monday open at Cooking Up Quilts
Quilting Jet Girl for Tips and Tutorials Tuesday

Quiche Lorraine
May be frozen.  Line 36 muffin cups with pie pastry or a 9x9“ pie plate.

6 slices cooked (crisp) bacon

2 oz natural Swiss or cheddar cheese

2 eggs

1 c whipping cream or Half & Half

½ tsp salt

pinch of pepper

pinch of nutmeg

1 tsp sugar

Heat oven to 400°.  Shred cheese.  Combine eggs, cream, salt, sugar, nutmeg and pepper.  Beat to blend well.  Sprinkle bottom of pie plate with chunks of bacon and then cheese.  Pour filling over.  Sprinkle with nutmeg.  Bake 30-40 min at 400° or until egg mixture has solidified.

Sunday Stretch for Sewists #11...Something's Fishy

...because it is not Sunday today! I totally forgot to do the last Sunday of the month stretch post, and well, we were gone all day Sunday anyhow.

I volunteered to test one of Lorna's patterns, and picked Kissy Fishy, thinking most people would go for the animals...bzzzt! Lorna said this was the most popular pattern! It was fun.

In the pattern, her orange fish is the thinner one, and her blue fish the chunkier one; I reversed it (setting myself up for a 'leedle' confusion in this already fog-brain of mine? Sigh...) It all worked out.  Rather splendidly, IMHO.  I wanted to do scrappy fish: hot pink and orange and turquoise and green.  All fabrics are scraps, outside of the clamshell Michael Miller print that was in a fat quarter bundle I bought from Craftsy.  The results were very pleasing. An unplanned pleasant surprise was the polka dot lower fin picking up on some dots in that coral print I used for the face. I did hope the orange Kaffe fabric left over from my Three Quarter Patch Tote would have a good eye effect, and it did.  Not sure, but think I may make these into a cushion cover, or two wallhangings, maybe for Florida.

Craftsy Blog Hop Day 4 - Giveaway and RAK

Double Cross Block - by Cindy of Stitchin At Home available here for free

It doesn't take much to brighten someone's day: a word, a deed, a small gesture.  I hope to brighten the designer of this block's day by making her newest block as my random act of kindness.  More below because we have a certain hop to discuss!

It's hard to believe we are already on Day 4 of the Craftsy Sweetens Up My Quilting Life! Blog Hop. Today we have Tish and Anja weathering the snowstorms in their areas to take you into some other areas of Craftsy you may not know about.

Tish at Tish's Adventures In Wonderland is reviewing "Dot to Dot Quilting" with Angela Walters, and then takes us out of the quilting realm a bit with reviews of two photography classes: "Product Photography at Home" with Jessica Marquez and "Shoot It! A Product Photography Primer" with Caro Sheridan, great for us quilter bloggers.  Enjoy 50% off these 3 classes on Tish's site!

Anja at Anja Quilts is showing us some patterns she's picked up and made that will most assuredly warm our hearts and hands:  Postcard from Sweden, 1 Hour Basket, Star Bright, and Reusable Handwarmers.

Sweet Giveaway On Now - over $500 of free Craftsy products

Enter the Craftsy Giveaway here as well as through any of the bloggers in this hop.  The main schedule can be found here or by clicking the Heart Button on the sidebar.

Click here to enter.  That's it!  

THREE prizes:

• 2 free classes to 2 different people
• 1- Boundless Solids Crown Jewels by Amy Gibson Quilt Kit  
• AND two packs of precuts: a 6" strip set and a 10" squares pack, both of Boundless Solids Modern Brights

 

One entry per person.  Enter until Sunday, February 21, 2016, at 11:59 pm MST.  The winners will be announced Feb. 22 here and at Pink Doxies.

Did you know that RAK Week, Random Acts of Kindness Week, is February 14-20 this year?  Be kind.  It really is easy, and like FMQ, the more you practice, the better you get, and the easier it comes.  Random Acts of Kindness has a great site.  I love all 10 items on this list.  Number 6, "Give compliments" is one that has always come naturally to me.  I think one of the best compliments one can give in QBL is making another quilter's design.  I hope you like my rendition of your design, Cindy, and I hope it makes your Saturday!  It was a fun block to make, and Cindy's directions are clear.  Does anyone else see the star there too?!  My favourite block is a star, so I tend to see them everywhere.

There is also a great RAK FaceBook page here.  When I was teaching, we always celebrated this week in various ways.  My class would pick a charity and we'd sell baked goods at school lunches and then donate our proceeds to that charity; the Crimestoppers group I ran for a few years would do a locker check, reminding students to fully lock their locks with a "AHA! Protect your stuff! Lock your lock!" sign we'd tape inside after locking back up the locker.

Got a new app... possibilities for Cindy's block!

"Imagine" by John Lennon comes to mind today as I write this.  Can you imagine if we could all, starting with ourselves, simply be kind.

Be kind.  It costs nothing to smile.  To hug.  To tell someone how great they look.  Notice their outfit or their pretty hair.  Tell them you love them.  Write a thoughtful comment on a blog post rather than simply "Great quilt!"

As Julie writes in her post today, "Kindness breaks down many barriers."  She has a card hanging on her wall, given to her many years ago by a friend.  It is a quote from the Dalai Lama, whose free app I have and love:

My religion is simple.

My religion is kindness.

~Dalai Lama

Now pop on over to Tish and to Anja for some not-so-random information about Craftsy!

A? B? or C? Layout Decisions

I decided what shape I am making with my offset log cabin blocks.  Yay.  Today I got all 12 blocks sewn together.  Now I need to figure out a layout.  I know which one I'm leaning towards; if you want to weigh in, do so in the comments!  The quilt is named Wings.
A.

Here the wings go from dark to light, sort of ROYGBIV but not really

B.

I flipped some of the darks to the opposite ends to balance it

C.

Totally random, winging it, ha

For that last one, I took all my freshly ironed blocks, threw them in a Rubbermaid container that holds batting, closed the lid, and pulled out random ones without looking.  Put them up in order starting at the top left.  I only ignored this total randomness on the second draw when the dark green came out right after the first pale green block. I just put it in the second spot but the second row as opposed to the first.

I could not believe how not one of the low volume strips touches an identical strip in all 3 layouts.  I did not plan to have so many different final 8.5 and 9.5" strips.  That's why it's good to have LOTS of scraps, right?!

As suggested by Judy, I edited a photo to tonal to see the values.

Interesting how you see the more even distribution of lights and darks in black and white.

I'm thinking that this is going to be my August goal for ALYoF at Sew Bittersweet Designs.  I had no idea I was going to make this quilt, no idea how it would turn out, or that I would even be near to a flimsy a few days into August, so why not see if I can't get it quilted by the end of the month?

So which do you prefer?  Let me know, and why.  If you haven't seen this before, it is Cynthia's Scrap-a-Palooza quilt #16 found here.  Sixteen.  I have made nine of them so far, I think...and my scrap bins have not gone down much at all...

I actually have an idea for a scrap quilt of my own to be used as another wheelchair quilt for seniors.  My guild has decided that as the charity event for our Christmas party this year, they want members to make one to donate to one of several seniors' residences in Essex County.  I get to do the demo at the September meeting.  Eeek.  Since I already gave away the two I made using Scrap-a-Palooza patterns, I will have to make another.  Oh darn.

This afternoon:  since there was no cushion on the footstool, Rocco decided to take advantage of the cushion on the patio chair I had just vacated! He is such a funny boy.

He had a big day today: we walked to the library, where he got to go inside with me, a first for him, to pick up a book I had on hold (the second in Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series, Young Adult books, the first one was excellent, inspired by actual, very odd, old black and white photographs).

He walked sedately beside me up to the desk and, much to the delight of the two librarians, promptly hopped up on his hind legs, front paws on the counter, as if to say, hi!  We then trotted a few blocks over to the bank, where we went just inside the vestibule to the Instant Teller, been there, done that, although he pulled to go all the way inside to the real tellers!  Figured he'd been allowed inside the library, why not inside here too?!

Linking up with WIP at Freshly Pieced.

Two Blocks for Two Kids

Although I don't know Yvonne, I have run into her work several times over the past several months of linking up at various linky parties.  When I heard from Judy at Quilt Paradigm that she was asking for blocks for two kids whose father passed away very suddenly, I thought, well this sounds like a worthy cause.  I went to her blog, and hey! found that she does Thankful Thursdays!  I wrote my first one here, thinking I had something unique and original...well, great minds think alike is what my mum always says, and she is absolutely right.  I truly believe in the idea that all beings, animals too, are linked, connected, that we can tap into a mega stream of consciousness if we only find the right frame of mind.  Anyhow, I'm not sure when Yvonne started doing Thankful Thursdays, but I will have to link up my next post.  I don't do them weekly anymore; all right, let's be honest, last week's was the first in several months!  But talk about synchronicity (another thing my mum says a lot), it was right around the time I wrote my last Thankful Thursday post that I went to Yvonne's at Quilting Jetgirl.

Yvonne's April 2 Thankful Thursday shows some of the blocks she has received, and provides links to her original posts where she explains about the project and about Mike's death, her friend, who was the kids' dad, the pilot of the Virgin Galactic mission.  This post is worth the read about a challenge quilt she created that expresses grief, yet hope in working through the aftermath of the tragedy.

The first block I made is for the girl.  Her blocks need to be in portrait orientation, 7X10" finished, and could be ocean or dance-themed.  My first thought was, no surprise, the ocean.  I went to Google and eventually with much surfing (and digressing), found this page.  I also did a second Google search for "lighthouse quilt blocks" and combined and rearranged a couple I saw there.  Got out my newsprint paper, and drew this: