Fabric Challenge Update

I've finished the machine quilting on my entry for the QuiltCon fabric challenge! I chose the Windham Artisan Cotton in Aqua/Blue, Red/Royal, and Apple Green/Chartreuse and think they look really amazing together. Started back in June (see that post), the piecing went together quite quickly. After much debate, I settled on a quilting plan that complimented the quilt design instead of just straight lines.

This meant making templates and burying lots and lots of threads but I am really pleased with how it is looking! This is the first time I've attempted something this complex and it has been quite fun.

With the machine quilting done, I've moved on to the hand-quilting and am greatly enjoying the process.

For thread colors, I choose colors that were available in both the 50 and 12 weights. The colors are  1231 (chartreuse), 2545 (purple), and 2815 (blue). The chartreuse is the best match. (And it is really hard to photograph these colors accurately.)

Have a wonderful day! Patty

July OMG Finish Link-up

Ready to link up your finishes?

Don't panic - this link-up is open until July 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 July was bind my scrappy quilt - it is done and ready to be donated! Read more.

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 - July Finish Link-up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Scrappy Finish

My scrappy quilt is finished!

This was a fun one and a great way to use up leftover mini-charms and scraps - the more variety, the better! The design is NOT original - I've seen many quilts like this over the years. You can find a tutorial of sorts for the blocks here.

This quilt was such a fun scrap buster and used up plenty of leftover charm squares and smaller scraps. Even the batting was assembled from scraps!

For the quilting, I did a basic meander with a few loops thrown in for fun. This quilt will be donated to my local guild's charity.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Forever Homes for a UFO

Way back in 2016, I participated in a QAL using the Farmer's Wife book. I choose (some not all) fabric that I wasn't in love with but enjoyed the challenge of sewing the blocks. (You can see all of them here.)

Fast forward to 2023, I decided to offer them up to anyone who wanted them via my newsletter. 

I got a fun email recently from Elaine sharing the first of two quilts her group assembled from the blocks. The quilts will be gifted as prayer quilts.

I really love how they offset each of the blocks and am thrilled that they are now a quilt that will bring comfort to someone.

Thanks Elaine for sharing the photo with me!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Improv Update

In May, I posted (blog) about my purchase of the book  Dancing With The Wall by Irene Roderick and the results of my first sew session (above photo). I cleared off my design wall and the project greeted me each time I walked into the sewing space. 

I played around a more sometime in June (above photo) and added more units to the collection, all inspired by chapters in Irene's book.

Last weekend, I want to play more with curves and created a few more units, even joining a few together. 

The final piece will likely be about 24" square. I've some more units to make and more rearranging to do. I find this slow paced approach to improv to be such a wonderful process and so freeing to just sew and see what happens! Using just two colors has been a positive experience as well.

I'm glad I am capturing the progression of the piece. Until next time....

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Needle Minder Tutorial

My greatest fear when stitching is that I will loose my needle and someone with sit or step on it. A friend gifted me with a small needle minder one day and I've managed to collect a few more over time. In an upcoming guild meeting, we are going to put some together so I put together this quick tutorial.

Supplies were all sourced from Amazon (affiliate links) and bought in bulk to support a guild meeting. Here is what you will need plus scraps of fabric:

• Ceramic Magnets sized 18 mm x 5 mm - These come in all different numbers of magnets so you can get what you need. Just make sure you don't get the ones with the adhesive edge.

• Buttons to cover with flat backs which includes the tool were available in the 100 count. You can also get a smaller packages like this one. (Note this small one has backs with loops and the flat backs you need for the needle minder.) The key is you need the 'tool' - more about that later - and the flat backs. The size that matches the magnets is size 36.

• E6000 Adhesive or some kind of glue

The button kit had a cardboard template which I place on a folded scrap and traced the half circle. To assemble the needle minder button part, you need your fabric, a button front, the flat back and the 'tool' - i.e. the round clear plastic cup and the smaller blue cup.

The actual assembly process is fun and quite satisfying! 

Center the fabric scrap right side facing down in the clear cup and place a button on top. Use the blue cup/plunger to push the button down. Wrap fabric and then tuck the button back over it. Use the blue cup/plunger to secure the back to the button and then pop it out!

Grab a magnet pair and spread adhesive on one side of one of the magnets. Gently push the blue cup/plunger into the back of the button. Let everything dry for 24 hours.

Now you have a new needle minder .. or maybe many more! ... ready for all your projects! Just put on magnet underneath your work and the rest of the needle minder on top and everything will stay nice and secure!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

2023 Mid-Year Check-in

Yvonne @QuiltingJetgirl has a link-up to check in with our yearly goals now that we've passed the half-way point of the year.   

I had six goals for the year (see the goal post) and have been doing reasonably well with all of them. 

• Run a quilt-along with a quilting friend - Done! I ran a QAL for the Loves Me, Loves Me Not quilt on the Quilt Fiction website. Have you heard about Quilt Fiction? My friend Frances @offkilterquilt has been sharing quilt stories for a several years and has a two brand new quilt novels she will be reading.  Loves me, Loves Me Not was designed to coordinate with Friendship Album: Forget-Me-Not.

• Make at least one quilt to submit to QuiltCon 2024 - I've got two quilts underway that I plan to submit to the show and am really happy with both of them.

• Donate one quilt to our guild charity using only fabric from stash - my scrappy quilt top is pieced and now I need to pull together a scrap based backing. I am on track to finish this year.

• Adopt the 'container' concept in my sewing room and donate or sell fabric I no longer want - So far, so good. I've listed a bunch of fabric and have been surprisingly disciplined about not buying new fabric just because!

• Continue to challenge my fabric color choices to explore new color combinations - I have chosen some bright fabric combinations for the QuiltCon charity quilt challenge and am excited to play with a different than my normal palette combination. That said, I need to focus on this more and just play and make some mini quilts.

• Blog 1-2 times weekly and continue to host OMG (but without sponsors.) - Ideally I would like to publish two blog posts each week. Since I've been working on bigger projects, I find myself posting less frequently. 

A new goal for the year is to get a few UFOs finished. I finally quilted this quilt top made in 2015/2016 and gifted it to a new baby. I've a few more UFOs I'd like to finish too.

Thanks Yvonne for the reminder to check-in with my goals.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

July OMG Link-Up

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 July is to bind my scrappy quilt. I will be donating this to our guild charity.

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 July 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 July 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