One Monthly Goal May Finish Link-Up

Ready to link up your May finishes?

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

My goal for May was to create a jelly roll rug out of my scrappy ball of fabric scraps and batting scraps.  I was successful - and I love the result! - but it was a bumpy adventure.  Read more about it here!

Now it's your turn to link-up!  There will be 3 winners - Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate, Make Modern is offering a 6 month subscription, and Aurifil is offering a thread pack!

Congratulations to Terry, Chris, and Rebecca!  (updated 6/2/21)

Visit the One Monthly Goal event page for the specific requirements for links and social tags. 

And remember, to be eligible for the prize(s) by random drawing you must linkup at both the goal setting and the accomplishment linkup in a given month. (May Goal Setting Link-up)

Make sure you 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

Thanks for linking up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Book Review - Design Make Quilt Modern and Boro & Sashiko

I've been enjoying flipping through two new books and learning more about design and stitching   (Note these books were supplied to me by C&T Publishing.  The opinions are my own.)

First up is Design Make Quilt Modern by Heather Black (affiliate link).  I've been a major fan of Heather's for a long time and I was excited to look through her book.  It is amazing!

The book contains 4 projects with all the information you need to make these wonderful quilts.  For me, the best part is Heather's perspective on modern design.  The book covers a broad range of design insights including creating balance, choosing colors and quilting design.  I really liked the discussion on techniques and styles and taking inventory of my own skills as a quilter.    

The chapter on Design Basics for Modern Quilts is my favorite.  I've read it through once and know that I will do so many times in the future.  So much information packed into those pages!   I would highly recommend Design Make Quilt Modern by Heather Black.   

The second book is Boro & Sashiko Harmonious Imperfection by Shannon & Jason Mullett-Bowlsby, the Shibaguyz (affiliate link) . This book also has a number of projects more interesting to me - love the toolkit rollup.   Perhaps even more exciting is the historical context and, of course, the glossary of stitch designs.

Examples of visible mending has been showing up in my Instagram stream for awhile.  Modern day visible mending has its roots in sashiko (a style of stitching from Japan) and boro (patching clothing with a patch held in place with sashiko stitches.)  I've been wanting to learn more about visible mending and I look forward to reading through Boro & Sashiko Harmonious Imperfection to learn more.

Thanks C&T Publishing for sending these books my way!

P.S. My last book review was Step by Step Texture Quilting & Modern Curves and Bold Stripes.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

The Adventure of my Scrappy Fabric Rug

My scrappy fabric rug has a happy ending but there was rough going there for awhile!  Things were going great until they weren't.  Here's what happened and some tips if you venture down this path!

The story begins with a large ball of fabric created from fabric and batting scraps with the intention to make an oval jelly roll like rug.  There was intent behind the placement of color - I didn't have a enough scraps for a true rainbow plus I wanted to enjoy the process of creating by surprising myself along the way with color choices.

I tackled the sewing over several sessions.

Session one (above photo) left me tired of all the red but excited to see some green and purple and hints of orange to come!

Session two (below photo) was fun as I worked through the green and was heading into the purple.

Everything looked good and I was happy with my result.

After a marathon session (session #3) of sewing on a Friday night, I was done or so I briefly thought.  

The rug, however, was not in agreement.  Somehow in my rush to finish, peddle to the floor, I created a weirdly shaped item that was definitely not a rug.  

When nothing relaxed overnight I decided to just rip out to the point where I had a flat starting point and begin again.  Besides moving too fast through the process, my zigzag setting of 5.7 wide and 1.0 length was creating tension issues, thread breaking and  just a bit of frustration.

 I ripped back to where the green met the purple (same spot as above photo after 2nd session of sewing) and created a mess of thread. 

When I started to sew again, I switched to using my walking foot and changed so my zigzag setting was now 6.2 wide and 2.0 length.  And I took it slow!  I added about 2 strips one night and another 2 the next.   

 With the third session of sewing, my rug was done!

I really like it!  The colors really brighten up the space!   (Rug dimensions are 38'' x 48''.)

Would I do it again?  No.  Although it used up a lot of scraps and was fun to work on something different, it was just too much work. 

That said, I don't regret spending the time to make, rip out and make again.  If you want to give it a try, read the directions, search out some online tutorials and take your time.   The end result is really fun!

Have a wonderful day! Patty