Summer of Joy Kick-off

June 1 (tomorrow) marks the beginning of the Summer Lovin Seaglass SAL hosted by Kitty @nightquilter and Allie @exhaustedoctupus. I'm excited to be playing along and have prepped some pieces so far. (I'd really love some more variety in my seaglass pieces so if anyone has any Alison Glass small scraps they are willing to pass on, please let me know!)

Here is my plan for a summer of joy:

• Red/orange - Small project creativity. I make time everyday for some kind of creative activity involving fabric and thread, even just for a few minutes. For my red/orange seaglass piece, I want to focus spending time on creating smaller pieces that are about exploring new ideas. Any day that includes this activity earns a piece of seaglass
• Yellow - Date night! Seaglass pieces here are earned anytime my husband and I go off and do something together. This could be dinner or a movie but it can also be stargazing or biking.
• Mustard yellow- Pickleball and biking! My summer exercise revolves around swimming but I want to also make time for pickleball games with my friends and biking.
• Green - Handwork, preferably on the back porch on a summer afternoon. This activity always brings me peace. A seaglass earned for each day I just sit and stitch outdoors.
• Aqua - Swimming! I swim a mile each day during the summer although it can take me several days worth of swims of increasing my distance to achieve that mile. The very first day I swim a mile earns a celebratory piece of seaglass and then pieces are earned every three miles. Returning to the pool a second time in a day just to relax would earn a bonus piece. (This is something I say I will do every summer yet never have.)
• Blue - Reading! I love to read and will do so everyday. Seaglass pieces will be earned when a book is finished.
• Navy - Adventure! I'd like to fill summer with unique experiences, something that makes the day extra special. This could be as simple as going out for ice cream and more complicated like planning a small trip. Seaglass pieces are earned each time we do something that is not routine. To incent myself, I can also earn seaglass for planning a trip away.
• Purple - Friends and Family! Any day spent with friends counts here as well as visits to or with family from out of town. We've got a family visit trip planned for early June so I'll earn some seaglass soon!

The same activity could earn multiple pieces of seaglass - Pickleball with friends for example would earn a mustard yellow and a purple.

I am planning a second joy quilt focused on creativity. more on that next week.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

May OMG Finish Link-up

Ready to link up your finishes?

Don't panic - this link-up is open until May 31 at 11:55 pm ET.

I'm pleased to be sharing hosting duties with Anne-Marie from Stories From the Sewing Room.  You can link up at either of our blogs and your OMG project will show up in the same link party!  

My goal for May was to start the hand quilting on this orange peel quilt. I brought it along during a family beach vacation anticipating lots of time stitching. I ended up splitting my handwork time between this and a cross-stitch project so while I started (which was my goal), I only have about 20% of the  orange peels done at this point. I do plan to do some quilting in the low volume background area too so this will become my back porch stitching project for summer.

Now it's your turn to link up!  Please add a link to this OMG post so others can follow where you are linking.   Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - May Finish Link-up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Prepping for Joy

Summer is by far my favorite season of the year. I love to swim and hit the pool early every morning. I love sitting on the back porch in the afternoon to read or stitch. And I love the long days of daylight. 

I follow both Kitty @nightquilter and Allie @exhaustedoctupus. They've recently teamed up to offer a summer QAL called the Summer Lovin' Seaglass Sew Along and I've joined in!

The intent with the QAL is to identify things that bring you joy in the summer, seek out the joy, tracking the fun and rewarding yourself with a piece of fabric seaglass. The QAL begins on June 1 and runs through August.

To get started, you need to identify the areas of joy you will be tracking and the fabric you will assign to each event. The project is advertised as a scrap buster and as tempted as I am to buy some fabric, turns out I have a lot of good scrap pieces that I can use!

I'm still working on my list of items to track but I know for sure it will include swimming - maybe a seaglass piece for every 3 miles (I swim a mile a day) and also for socializing with family or friends. Other thoughts are finished quilts and/or books as well as planning unique things to look forward to each week. This could be as simple as going out for an ice cream treat or more involved like a day trip.

I am already so glad that I joined the QAL and making an investment in myself a priority.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Scrappy Quilt Progress

Just got back from a beautiful week at the beach (Avon on OBX, NC). We had plenty of sunshine, no humidity and just lots of family fun. Prior to leaving, I prepped a couple of projects include lots of scraps for a scrappy quilt - see that post.

This quilt was a perfect beach project - there was no need to trim blocks - just sew and press. In fact, I actually just finger pressed most of the time.

I still plan on adding a border using the little white fabric I have left. This whole quilt came from scraps and stash and the final size was determined by the amount of background fabric!

The quilt was originally intended for a friend who fell suddenly and seriously ill. Sadly, we lost this wonderful person last week. I decided to finish the quilt and will be donating it to our guild charity. 

Have a wonderful day! Patty

New Improv Project

One of my favorite quilt artists is Irene Roderick. I was introduced to her work at QuiltCon several years ago and her pieces were always favorites, visited several times. Irene had four quilts in QuiltCon Atlanta and I loved them all. In that same show, I noticed myself admiring quilts that were made by makers who had taken one of her classes.

Searching for a possible opportunity to take on-line class myself, I learned of her book Dancing With The Wall and it promptly fell into my Amazon cart. It is such a great book!

Design wall was cleared off and I starting working on my own two color improv quilt guided by the things she talks about in the book. I've made and added units across three sewing seasons so far and decided to document each day with a photo so I can watch how this progresses.

I've absolutely no idea where this is going to end up other than a piece wall hanging sized. What I do know is I am having fun!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Magenta Pantone Fractal Quilt

As soon as I heard about the Pantone Quilt Challenge, the decision to participate was an easy one! I love a good challenge plus one of the co-hosts is a friend. QuiltCon gave me an opportunity to purchase fabrics - Painter's Palette solids Cherry Blossom and Petal.

The challenge offered several categories of possible entries (plus an amazing sponsor list.) While my original goal was to enter a finished quilt, I'm going to enter the quilt top category since I came to a point where I couldn't decide how best to quilt.

My quilt (that doesn't yet have a name) is based on a Flowsnake Fractal. (A fractal is a never-ending pattern. I love a good math quilt.)

The piecing was done using templates and were an easy shape to cut and sew. That said, my first take at a quilt top wasn't balanced right - it had too much empty space that wasn't helping the design. After seeking some advise from some quilting friends, I broke out the seam ripper and made some modifications.

Once basted, I outlined the path through the fractal with my walking foot and also quilted some ghost shapes in the negative space.

But now what?

Do I call it done? Hard for me to do because I am most definitely in the "quilt it to death club".

Do I add some hand quilting - I'm thinking X's in the magenta color? 

Do I do some straight line quilting across the whole quilt?

Thankfully, entering just a quilt top is an option for the challenge so I've a path forward while I stew on what to do next! I'll be linking up here.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Scrappy Quilt Prep

We've got a family beach vacation coming up this month and I've kitted myself up a fun project.  The key to vacation projects (similar for a quilt retreat) is to have handwork - my Orange Peel quilt - and some mindless piecing.

I've raided my scraps which includes lots of 5" squares from random swaps and project leftovers and kitted up about 600 2 1/2" squares and a pile of background fabric squares. I'll be making twenty-five 16-patch blocks and twenty-four X blocks. The beauty of these blocks is there is very little trimming along the way which means I don't need to carry along large cutting mats and rulers.

My scraps are clearly much scrappier than my EQ8 image but this will at least give you an idea of the quilt. The design is NOT original - I've seen many quilts like this over the years. A recent post here reminded me of the quilt and I decided to give it a try. 

The quilt will be a gift to a good friend faced with a long recovery from a serious and sudden illness. I look forward to sewing love and good wishes into every stitch.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

May One Monthly Goal

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus, some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or  and add that photo to the link-up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link-up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

I'm pleased to be sharing hosting duties with Anne-Marie from Stories From the Sewing Room.  You can link up at either of our blogs and your OMG project will show up in the same link party!  

My goal for May is to start the hand quilting on my orange peel quilt. Read more about the quilt.

Now it is your turn to link up - what is your goal for this month?   The One Monthly Goal accomplishment linkup will be available on May 25.  Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link-up from your blog.  Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal May Link-up

Take a few minutes to visit others and make new friends!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty