That's How I Roll Tote III

Last weekend my local guild, the Long Island Quilters Society, had a 'quilt the day away' event where members teach other members.  I taught a wonderful group of four quilters how to make a tote using strips.  This is a pattern I've made twice before.  It's a nice sized basic tote and is great for using up 2 1/2 inch strips.

My previous versions have both been given away as gifts, so I'm excited to keep this one for myself.  The pattern was on the Make it Coats website, but I haven't been able to find it online anymore. 

These fabrics are the last of my Anna Maria Horner Honor Roll fabric.  I do have a bit of yardage of a few prints, but I've used up all my strips.  I added in some of her other prints that had similar colors. 

Linking up with Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty and Show Off Saturday over at Sew Can She. 

2018 Online Quilters Meet and Greet

Hello and welcome to Sew Some Sunshine!  I'm so glad you stopped by, especially visitors from the 2018 Quilters Meet and Greet hosted by Benita over at her Creative Space blog.  I'll be telling you a little bit more about myself and my quilting, along with other quilt bloggers who are participating.  Don't forget to visit the main page to find out more about all of the participating quilters.  There's also an incredible giveaway.

I began quilting in my early twenties to finish up some quilt projects that my grandmother had sewn.  Since I didn't have much money at the time, I thought it would be a good way to make some gifts for family members.  There wasn't much internet at that point, so I had to follow my instincts, read a few instruction books, and make a lot of mistakes.  I made quite a few small quilts from blocks my grandmother had sewn and was able to share her work with my cousins.  Fast forward twenty years and it is just amazing how the online quilt community has grown and flourished.  When my mother retired, she also began quilting, and now we have a shared passion for quilting.  It's definitely a family thing!

I really like the modern traditional asthetic in quilts, so you'll see that a lot of my quilts are made with modern fabrics in geometric shapes, with standard grid layouts and no borders.  The blocks themselves are usually traditional blocks though, so the quilt is familiar but modern at the same time.

Cobblestone Quilt

One block hexagon quilt

Disappearing Nine Patch

Other quilts styles include scrappy layouts, quilts with borders, or quilts with more traditional fabric.

One project (still unfinished) is my Delilah Quilt, designed by Jen Kingwell.  It is a block of the month using templates, which I machine pieced.  I have lots of advice and tutorials for this quilt on my Delilah page.  You can see how I worked through each block.  Templates and the pattern are now available outside of the BOM program.  I really learned so many new techniques working on the quilt.  I do have my top done, just figuring out how to quilt it now.

Not only do I love quilting, but I also love to make all sorts of other projects.  It's great to have faster finishes in between larger quilt projects.  It's also fun to use up favorite fabrics.

I hope you've enjoyed getting to know me a little more and seeing some of my work.  I'd love to hear what projects you liked, so please drop me a note below.  You can follow me on bloglovin, instagram, and pinterest using the links in the sidebar.  And don't forget to visit the other quilters here.

Thank you! 

August Happenings...

Time is always flying by, and this summer has been no different.  I was lucky to have a week off for vacation, and spent some quality time locally with my family, and my sewing machine!  I was able to finish my Carnival quilt top and put together the back, which included a fun strip of coordinating charm squares.

I pulled out my Anna Maria Horner scrappy trip blocks, got them back on my design wall and sewed those together.  Can you believe these were in a drawer since 2016?  Glad to have them sewn up.  Here's a sneak peak below.

Went deep in my fabric bins and pulled out a small quilt I made several years ago that I was going to write a pattern for.  Realized I have no time or desire for doing that and finally put together the back for it so it could be quilted.  Used one of my favorite Kate Spain lines, Sunnyside.

Next, I went crazy and cut and sewed the Anna Maria Horner Sweet Dreams Rainbow Blur quilt that I've been itching to make for a few months.  It was soooo much fun to see these amazing fabrics come together on the design wall, the colors are wonderful.  This was such an easy but satisfying quilt to put together.  I really enjoyed making this one.

So, in all, four quilts went off to the quilter, and I'll have plenty of binding to do in short order.  Feels really good to make some progress with my projects.  Some of these are on my Quarter 3 Finish-A-Long list and I'll be really happy if I get one of them fully finished by the quarter end. 

How's your summer (or winter!) going and what is everyone working on?

In September I'll be participating in the 2018 Quilters Meet & Greet, which will go live on September 4th, hope to see you back here then!  To find out more about the event and the fabulous grand prize visit here.

Linking at Design Wall Mondays, Finished or not Friday , and Main Crush Monday. 

2018 Finish-A-Long Quarter 3

Life has gotten in the way of sewing lately and I only got a bit of work done on my Quarter 2 FAL list, so no finishes for me.  But, I did make progress on my Carnival quilt, the top is done, so I'm going to make a new list and keep at it!  I've got lots of quilts I want to make so I'm going to pile them up here.

1.  Carnival Quilt - top done

2.  Delilah - top done

3.  Scrappy AMH - blocks done

4.  Rainbow Blur Quilt

5.  Elizabeth's Dowry Quilt

6.  River Log Cabin Quilt

You can find the linkup to the FAL here if you want to join in.  Have fun sewing!

Mostly Manor Table Runner

Here's a table runner I made to give to my cousin who will be getting married this July.  My mom and I also gave her a Big Star quilt with matching fabric, similar to this one I made for another cousin. 

I just love the floral fabric with this collection, the colors are gorgeous.  I used a large hexagon template and this fabric is just perfect for fussy cutting.  The stripe is another great fabric.  It's wonderful how the different directions are printed into the pattern so you don't have to piece it to get variety.  And look at this backing fabric, another winner.  Just can't get enough of this line. 

Made a few bowl potholders to give as well.  Used a Cotton + Steel print for these.  I always stick a little tag on these explaining what they are in case they haven't seen these before.  I was happy that I had one that matched the fabric so well!  You can find the free pattern here. 

I really enjoy making these handmade gifts.  The process is fun and it's nice to give something unique.  What's your go-to handmade gift? 

2018 Finish-A-Long Quarter 2

For the second quarter of the Finish-A-Long, I'm rolling over a few projects from last quarter.  I've made progress on some of these so hopefully, I can keep the momentum going.

First is my Carnival quilt, I now have four rows done on this one.

Second is my Delilah quilt, I have most of the top together now, so the goal is to quilt it and bind.  You can see more about this quilt here and get inspiration here.   

Third is my AMH scrappy trip, not much progress, but this one needs to stay on so I can remember to work on it.

I've got some other projects in mind but I'm not going to add them until I get these three further along.  I try not to have too many UFOs around at any time.  How about you?  Do you have a lot going at once, or try to keep a short list?  Either way, it's fun and exciting!  Good luck on your second quarter, can't wait to see the finishes. 

You can join the Finish-A-Long here. 

Dreamweaver Quilt

Today I have a big finish to share...literally as it is a king size bed quilt!  When I saw this pattern online done in Anna Maria Horner's Fibs and Fables line, I knew I wanted to make it for my bedroom.  Although I love Fibs and Fables, it's more youthful than the look I wanted.  I decided on her Mod Corsage line as a more grown-up alternative.  It's such a gorgeous collection of floral prints in different styles.

This was a relatively easy quilt to put together, although I did construct it a bit differently than the pattern to avoid a few extra seams.  If you have this pattern, the cutting directions are not correct for some of the sizes.  I couldn't find any corrections online so I fixed it myself, not a problem, but required some extra work.

I used another Anna Maria Horner print, Halos, for the back.  This is a 108 inch wide sateen and the hand is just so luxurious, I wish you could feel it!

The quilting is an allover edge to edge design done by Allison at AB Quilting Studio.

 

I'm delighted to have this quilt completed for the first quarter of the 2018 Finish-A-Long.  Will be getting this on our bed soon, can't wait!  How'd you do with your first quarter?  Looking forward to seeing all the linkup finishes.

My Quarter 1 2018 Finish-A-Long list is here.
Linking up with 2018 Finish-A-Long, My Quilt Infatuation, and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Delilah Quilt: Pinwheels and more...

I'm continuing on my Delilah Quilt journey with the last of the block piecing.  So far we've had twelve months of blocks with twelve, nine, and six inch finished sizes.  The final month included directions for piecing 31 pinwheels and cutting 34 squares to finish at three inches.  So off to work I went.  Here's where I started.

Then I moved on to these.

And a few more.

At this point, I realized that 31 pinwheels are a lot of the same thing.  So with the last set, I decided to put them together into a variation and here's what I ended up with.

I'm happy that I decided to add a little variety to the mix.  Here are a few close-ups of my favorites.

Next, I'll be working on my layout and adding the squares.  My plan is to use one fabric for the filler squares to keep things a little calmer. After all, there's a lot going on with this quilt!  Although I won't make this quilt as a finish for quarter 1 of the 2018 Finish-A-Long, I am happy with my continued progress.  How are you doing with your sewing goals?  

Linking up with BOMs Away.