The Joyful Summer of '23

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. 

Joining the #summerlovinseaglassal hosted by Kitty @nightquilter and Allie @exhaustedoctupus was an easy decision and I just put the finishing touches into my quilt.

I am in love with my celebration of joy quilt for the months June through August! (In my last post, I considered extending my joy tracking until the first day of fall - September 23 - but I ended up getting lazy in my tracking so went with just the 3 months the SAL covered.)

I've posted about this SAL a few times - May kick-off,  June update, July update, and September update.

Besides making a fun quilt, my goal for participating was to be intentional about making time for things that I enjoy during my favorite season summer. It included things I usually do frequently - swimming and reading - and also things like seeking new adventures. I hoped it would get me out of the house more frequently that a typical summer.

Did it? Yes! 

What did I learn by participating? Actively seeking and recognizing joy makes me feel good. Earning a piece of seaglass was a more of a motivator than I had expected - when I saw a category was low in the overall count, I worked to plan more time with friends or playing pickleball than I would have likely done otherwise. A friend was participating as well so when we met for coffee - we were each tracking friend time! - we each earned seaglass!

Here is where my final count ended up:

• 13 days working on smaller creative works where improv and trying something were the goals. I spent the rest of the days working on larger quilts that were well planned out in advance.
• 19 days where some handwork project was worked on. I had hoped for more.
• 30 books read. I read daily in the early afternoon and most nights before sleep.
• 30 pieces earned for swimming. I earned a piece for every 3 miles swam which means I swam 90 miles!
• 9 sessions of playing pickleball. Early in the summer, my friends played early in the day while I was swimming. When we switched to evenings, I had the change to play often.
• 20 days which include time with family or friends. This could be my favorite category!
• 6 date nights. Spending time going out to dinner or a show was certainly a highlight
• 20 days with adventure. This category included all kinds of fun as simple as going out to ice cream as well as a trip to NJ.

Somewhere in the middle of the SAL I started earning seaglass for unexpected spontaneous moments of joy. There were 7 of those tracked. Should I do this SAL again, this would most definitely be a seaglass category.

The final quilt measures 14" x 25". The seaglass pieces were FMQ once fused down and then I added some big stitch x's in spots plus a '2023'.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Mended Fences

My guild's (Triangle MQG) challenge for this year is to draw inspiration from a photograph. You can pull out colors, shapes, portions of the design - whatever you want. 

My quilt Mended Fences will be my entry. (I am running the challenge so I won't actually put my quilt up for Viewer's Choice voting but wanted to enter it anyway.)

The quilt is inspired from one of the many photos I've taken over the  years of fences along the dunes of the North Carolina beaches. I pulled out some of the shapes and had a fun time making my quilt.

The quilting was done with my walking foot - quite an enjoyable process on such a small quilt.

Mending Fences measures 15" x 17".    

Have a wonderful day! Patty

New 100 Day Project - Play

My friend Sarah kicked off a 100 day project last week. It started September 23 and runs to the last day of the year. I decided to join in and use the project to tackle my scraps!

A recent (and yes still in progress!) decluttering of all my fabric uncovered several plastic bags full of scraps. My goal for these 100 days is to sort through these and sew them together to make blocks, throw them out, or put them aside for a very specific project. Whatever happens, it is about 100 day of play - sewing and playing with fabric without a goal in mind. I suspect a goal may develop over time but that isn't where I am starting.

At the end of the year, all my bags of scraps should be gone and I should have a stack of scrappy squares to be used for a new quilt or to make bags.

My goal for October is to make a whole bunch of squares! I will be linking up with One Monthly Goal hosted by Anne-Marie from Stories From the Sewing Room!

Have a wonderful day! Patty