Yearly Archives: 2016

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How is it already February? And, of course, it'll be March before we know it. At least we get a bonus day this month! :-)

Purple Sewing Challenge

#purplesewingchallenge

Not too much progress yet, but I got all of my purple fabric cut out (okay, all but one, due to an apparent miscounting incident). Now I need to acquire some Kona White since I don't have enough in the stash for the entire quilt.

 

4x7 Sewing Challenge

#4x7sewingchallenge

I decided for my 30 minutes of selfish sewing a day this month I would pick up where I left off on my Swoon quilt. We're just a couple days in, but I've organized all my pieces of my two in progress blocks. I did a bunch of pressing and a little bit of sewing, and I have the pile all ready to go for today's sewing. Here's a peek at how these blocks are shaping up. I kind of love them! Just 28 more seams per block and they'll be done.

Other Sewing

No photos, but I cut out a ton of 3 1/2" squares of fabric in preparation for teaching 20 kindergarteners how to hand piece 4-patch quilt blocks starting tomorrow. The kids have decorated a white square and they will choose three colored fabrics to complete their 4-patch. I'll put them all together and finish the quilt. I'm working with two groups, so there will be two finished quilts. I decided to go with warm colors for one and cool colors for the other... and oh boy was it hard to come up with warm color scraps. I have a clear preference for cool colors.

oneofthe52

My son and I participated in 52 Quilters in August. We are sorely behind on making our blocks. We have, however, finally decided what blocks we're making. G is going to make a Preppy the Whale block and I'm going to make a rainbow 1/4 Dresden block. Here are our fabric pulls.

I finished piecing my secret Rainbow Mini Swap quilt. I can't show it off yet, but here's the back view of the craziest seam. There are eighteen fabrics that come together at that point. I'll be doing some careful planning to quilt around that mess. ;-)

Before I jumped into my February sewing I got as far as finishing the piecing all my stratas for my Color Strata quilt. Lots of seams to press, but it's been set aside for the moment in favor of the above projects.

Oh, and I enjoyed a night out this week with friends for puzzle night. I love the colors in this one!

You can check out my "Sarah's Cooking Show" video on Katch, where I show how to make one of our favorite crock pot meals. I love throwing food in the crock pot in the morning so that I don't have to interrupt my sewing to prep dinner in the evening.

Phew, that all makes me kind of tired. Thanks for visiting!

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

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Purple is my favorite color. It has been for as long as I can remember. At my bridal shower when they quizzed me about my then fiancé (and had his answers in advance) I learned that his favorite color is purple, too. What a lovely surprise. This means we now have a purple bedroom. The color just makes me happy, so this really works for me.

An Ode to Purple

Oh Purple,
The color of kings and emperors.
You are a feast to the eyes,
With your beautiful saturated tones
Of Amethyst, Aubergine, Violet, Boysenberry, Magenta.
I love how you appear in a beautiful sunset
and delight me in a variety of flowers.
Oh Purple,
Even the rainbow knows,
As it saves the best for last.

 

I was recently admiring some really excellent purple fabric pulls on IG and ran across Meg's purple fabric post on Instagram and instantly knew I had to share with my purple-loving quilting friend Jess. This led to the three of us deciding to host the Purple Sewing Challenge on Instagram. We're encouraging everyone to join us in sewing and quilting purple in February. The challenge is just for fun (no restrictions or prizes, just fun!). When you link up on IG please tag Jess (@quiltyhabit), Meg (@myteaandbrie) and myself (@sarahmgoer) and use our hashtag (#purplesewingchallenge).

Purple Sewing Challenge

I looked over my WIP list for purple projects, and the list was sorely lacking. So naturally, I started a new project. I showed it to you in my WIP Wednesday post last week. I'll be making the Royalty quilt by Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation. Here's a peak of some of my fabric pull, with my first two sections pieced.

Previous Purple Projects

Check out some of my finished quilts that featured my favorite color.

Raccoon Envelope Mug Rug

Retro Campers 1 and 2

Schnitzel and Boo Mini Swap (round 4)

Prince Charming

Purple Quilt

Stellar Wind

Purple Ninjas

In addition to my new purple quilt, my intention for the month of February is to make progress on at least one of my WIP quilt projects that is for me/my home. Atop my list are my Swoon quilt and my Patchwork City quilt. The other one that comes to mind as definitely being for me, and currently being very neglected, is the Memory House project where I'm making a house block with scraps from each of my finished quilts. The problem with having a very productive quilting year is that I'm even farther behind on this project than I was at the start of last year. ;-) I'm participating in Sarah from Berry Barn Design's 4x7 Sewing Challenge this month to keep me on track with doing some sewing for me! I hope you'll join us! Are you making something purple for yourself? Double dip and participate in both the 4x7 Sewing Challenge (#4x7sewingchallenge on IG) and the Purple Sewing Challenge (#purplesewingchallenge).

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Okay, so if you've seen my WIP list, you know that I don't really need two new projects. Nonetheless, that's what the past week has had in store for me.

Inspired by some pretty purple fabrics, Meg, Jess and I are hosting the just-for-fun Purple Sewing Challenge on Instagram. Since none of my 29 WIPs were primarily purple (and an embarrassingly small number had any purple), naturally, I had to start a new project. I've decided on the Royalty pattern by Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation. I'm sizing up the blocks from 12" to 18". Here are my first couple blocks (well, quarters of blocks) with some of my 27 other purple fabrics that will be joining them. I love how quickly these went together. Now to cut out a bunch of fabric!

Want to join us for the challenge? Check out my recent IG post and use the hashtag #purplesewingchallenge when you post your purple projects though March 1st. Start now by sharing your purple stash, scraps or fabric pull.

Yesterday I attended my first quilting class ever, with Rob Appell from Man Sewing. He was in town to speak at our SCVQA guild meeting on Monday and teach his Color Strata class.

I love the bright, vibrant colors in his samples and I wanted to choose something with rich, saturated color. I decided on Christa Watson's Designer Palette Jelly Roll. It had a variety of fabrics in each color family and I'm happy with how it's turned out. I did play with the order of the color so that the two ends wouldn't be green and red, as they are out of the pack. It was so fun to see everyone's different color palette's in class. I look forward to seeing their finishes at upcoming guild meetings. I did 1/6 of the strip piecing and had to cut out early to pick the kids up from school. Here's my first set of strips.

I brought my son along to Monday's meeting so he could meet Rob and see his work. He also got to show and tell his second and third quilts since he hadn't shown them off at a meeting yet. Rob was so impressed with his work, he gave "the short quilter" a shirt.
Before diving into a couple new quilt projects I made a little progress on quilting R's Pattern, the quilt my daughter laid out when she was 2 1/2. 37% quilted.

 

I'm also trying to make progress on how exactly I'm going to fashion my Emerald City in my Wizard of Oz baby quilt. Preached the fabric. Lots of sketching. No pics to share, since I want to keep it a surprise.

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday.