Sew Some Love Sunday - H2H 2023 - Quilt Link Up

Welcome to the 2023 edition of the Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge Link-Up!!  Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict is the mastermind behind the event.  I signed up, as I have the last 5 years.  Today is the day that participating quilters are supposed to share their completed quilts.  How many of you readers believe that is what will happen here??  If you guessed yes...

Well...

Not exactly!  When I went to join the Link Party, I realized that it was LAST WEEK and the link-up was already CLOSED!!  :o((

Shall I tell my tale, anyway???

OK.  This is the quilt top that I plucked out of my UFO drawer:

For the record, here is a closer look at the fabric:

Lots of memories in this one!  Of course, there's a story that accompanies many of them and with the quilt top itself, as well.  Any number of gifts, donations, and challenges in the mix.  If the stars had aligned, it would have been ready to donate at last month's Quilt Guild meeting.

Unfortunately...

Two things thwarted that plan.  An extended trip to Florida in the middle of the month and the fact that my longarm is holding another quilt hostage:

That one will be given to a Hometown Hero.  It will serve as a comfort quilt for a local traumatized teacher.  Additional photos will be provide when that quilt is complete.

For the purposes of H2H 2023, the Back Front Quilt has been given to another longarmer to be quilted.  (Special thanks to Stacy @ Over the Moon Quilts for taking on the quilting of my donation!)  This was the night I handed it over:

Stacy will be using a guild-provided backing and batting for the quilt and returning it to me for binding.  My apologies for the delay, Sarah!  The local Crisis Center needs quilts throughout the year and the Guild will happily accept it whenever it is completed.  That doesn't do much for this year's H2H totals even though it was my intention for them to be included.  I'll try to do better next year.

Until next time...

Quilt to GIVE!!!

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC23 - Week 22

Welcome to Week 22 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  This week felt really long for some reason. Strange, since it was actually only a 3-day work week for me.

Read on to see how the week panned out.

SUNDAY - Zooming with Sue...

Was followed by Messy May Creative Hour on Zoom:

MONDAY - Work Holiday!!!

I spent the bulk of my day sitting at the sewing machine:

Making use of Angela's advanced notice regarding June's Color of the Month!!

The painting in my journal fell right in line as well.  Just look at that Bright BLUE sky:

TUESDAY - Tidy Up Tuesday

Back to work today, but I spent some time at the sewing machine this afternoon piecing together small bits of fabric scraps:

Getting a jump on Bright BLUE, Joyful???

WEDNESDAY - Work was followed by...

This week's Zoom with LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color:

Goodbye, ORANGE:

THURSDAY - Hello, Dark and/or Bright BLUE & Light BLUE and/or Light GREEN:

Photo Currently Unavailable!!

Angela has more Dark and/or Bright BLUE but, added the others for June.

Work and a WIN at Wordle today, but you've GOT to see the obscure Quordle words:

After work, I ran a couple of errands and put the finishing touches on the final page of my Messy May journal:

Note to self:  Do NOT use a Sharpie marker to color in large areas of a journal page EVER again!!

FRIDAY - Knit Group included ME this morning! Unfortunately, most of our members had other obligations today, so there were only a few of us knitting:

I spent the afternoon running errands and preparing for a meeting.  (Whoops!  I completely ignoring Mt. Washmore.)

SATURDAY - It's LINK PARTY day for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I hope you will join me in visiting Angela @ So Scrappy to see what the RSC Quilters have been up to this week.  I'm off to my Quarterly Quilt Bee meeting this morning, so you go on ahead.  I'll catch up with everyone this evening (and link up when I can.)

Until next time...

Get SCRAPPY!!

Tidy Up Tuesday - Bookbinding - Two Journals

Welcome to TidyUp Tuesday... the bookbinding edition!!  It's hard to believe that a month can go by so quickly.  I'm here with a quick post to document an ARTventure Day with B.

Life got in the way before I realized that I hadn't released this post, but here's what happened that late-April day...

Just as May was on the horizon, we met to make our journals for Messy May: 

While there, I spied the Matchbook Journal that I made in a class with Ali Manning.  Imagine my surprise and delight to find that Britt has actually been working on a number of tiny collages, as evidenced in the photo below:

I neglected to make my completed, yet to be decorated, journal smile for the camera before heading for home.  Here it is after trying out the stamp set that I had purchased for just such an occasion:

For the curious among you readers, I used a manila envelope with the ends cut off to make my journal cover.  LOVE the built-in pockets that created!!  :o))

Once that was done...

My TUAC 5-Minute Challenge journal was made and decorated with a pretty cover from a junk mail magazine:

The interior of the former tissue box turned traveler's journal sized book was covered with a map of Sweden (in honor of my two Swedish Pen Pals from junior high school) and filled with a few pages of copy paper and a couple of old gelli prints which paired well with the exterior:

This one took a backseat to the Messy May journal where filling was concerned.  I applied the day/prompt labels, but only managed a few pages before the Get Messy event was underway.

Stay tuned.  Another ARTventure is coming soon.  :o))

Until next time...

Book it!!

The Guest Blogger(s) - Vol. 48 - Robobeagle Flies thru F and L

Welcome to another edition of The Guest Blogger(s) here at The Joyful Quilter!!  I'm here to share the ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge project that Robobeagle posted over on Ravelry the other day.  She posts it there because she doesn't have a blog and then I bring it to you.  It works that way or with an email and I would be pleased to share YOUR project, too.

Robobeagle had this to say:

I made a “placemat” for the Table Scraps challenge yesterday. I have been making disappearing HSTs and was tired of seeing all the points that don’t quite match because I apparently can’t consistently sew a straight line or cut exactly at 2” or whatever. The blocks are pretty, and I doubt if the eventual recipient will care. So, I switched gears and did some crumb piecing. I ended up with an extra block/slab/whatever that may become a zipper bag or wait for other inspiration.

These are from my orange, but not specifically Halloween fabrics. The little bursts of color for the most part are from triangles cut off another strip pieced project. F = “fun” and “finished (in one day)”, and the wavy quilting “lines” are the L. It’s about 13 x 17. I used variegated cotton petite 50 thread for the top, and a variegated green sewing thread in the bobbin.

Robobeagle shared these photos...

Front:

Back:

Give Robobeagle's ORANGE project some quilty love in the comments below.  I know that you enjoyed seeing her useful quilted "F and L" project as much as I did!  Thank you for sharing these photos for the blog, Robobeagle.  I'll be looking forward to seeing what you will do with the next challenge!

Link Party REMINDER...

All entries for the May 2023 ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge should be submitted by Wednesday, May 31st @ 11:59PM (EST).  Here's the LINK in case you would like to make a quick project to add or if you haven't yet seen the submitted quilted items for May.  Note:  You will find June's letter prompts included near the bottom of that post.

Until next time...

USE those table scraps!!!

#ABCtableSCRAPSchallenge2023

#tablescrapschallenge2023

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC23 - Week 21

Welcome to Week 21 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  This was a crazybusy week in Joyful QuilterLand.  It was filled with work, meetings and artistic endeavors.

Read on to see the results...

SUNDAY - Today, six brave souls met for a handful of 5-minute 1-to-1 discussions about a variety of art related topics.  While waiting to gain admission to what @cayleegray calls Artist Speed Dating with members and friends of Get Messy Art,  I worked on the TRUST (the process) page in my art journal for Messy May:

Zooming in Sue's World started my week off right:

Sorry, SZQ, but I wanted the rainbow photo at the top of the blog today!

MONDAY - Work was followed by figuring out how I wanted to use these painted papers to create a page for today's IDENTITY prompt:

Hours later...

The papers were collaged onto the page, a zine was added, and the envelope used to attach it to my journal had been decorated with postage stamps, washi tape, and notes about what makes up our identity and the names I'm called - a big part of my own identity:

TUESDAY - Off to work with my ORANGE purse, used in honor of May's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Color of the Month.  Shown here with the new-to-me book from my friend Karoline.  She knows how much I like making small quilts and I was the perfect choice to off-load er... gift this book to:

Thanks for thinking of me as you destashed your quilt library, Karoline!!

I haven't shown any Wordle or Quordle photos lately, but I clicked on Quordle Sequence for the first time.  It's even MORE challenging than regular Quordle, but I actually WON my very first attempt:

For those of you who are curious, this version of the game only shows where the letters are one word at a time.  Players must solve for the first word, then the second and so on.  No jumping around to solve the third word first!

WEDNESDAY - Work was followed by a quick series of errands and my weekly Zoom with my friend LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color:

During our session, LeeAnna helped me choose the inspiration photo for today's PALETTE prompt.  (Thanks, Lana!)  Below, you can see what I did with it:

THURSDAY - The day started and ended with my quilting friends.  Weekly Quilt Bee met this morning (without a photo) and Monthly Evening Quilt Bee met tonight.  I nearly missed getting a group photo then:

And...

Between those two events, I received these items from Britt:

To create a page for today's COLLABORATION prompt for Messy May:

But...

Before the finishing touches were added to the page, Britt loaded my latest T-Quilt on her longarm for quilting:

Thank you.  Thank You.  THANK YOU, Britt!!!

I quilted while she finished up her workday.  Stay tuned to see how that turned out...  Sorry!  Not now.  You will have to wait for an upcoming post, as there's a whole story to go along with it.

FRIDAY - ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge

Work was followed by catching up on emails and catching a new online art journal class:

FREE Fringe Flip Book Class with @bbhenry

LOOK!!  The construction workers next door appear to have gotten the RSC color memo...

The photo above shows the ORANGE clay they trucked in from another construction site.  Got scraps?

Speaking of scraps...

That's today's prompt for Messy May!  :o))

I paired remnants from previous journaling sessions with the page extension that I added yesterday.  The flap from an envelope that I bound into my journal simply wouldn't have provided enough real estate for very much scrappy play:

SATURDAY - It's LINK PARTY day for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I hope you will join me in visiting Angela @ So Scrappy to see what the RSC Quilters have been up to this week.  Please accept this lovely ORANGE rose, along with my apologies, for never getting around to visiting last week's links, friends.  I'll try to do better this week!

Until next time...

Get SCRAPPY!!

May 2023 - ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge - Link Party

APOLOGIES FOR THE EARLY BIRDS WHO FOUND NO LINK!!!

Welcome to the May 2023 edition of the ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge here at the Joyful Quilter!!  Thanks for stopping by the Link Party to see what participants have made this month.  In my part of the world, Spring and Summer have once again been struggling for power this month.  Have the moderate temperatures arrived in your neck of the woods or has someone turned up the heat?  Allergy season seems to be at its peak.  I can't think of a better reason to stay inside and quilt!!

I host this challenge in conjunction with Angela's (RSC) Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ So Scrappy.  It's been SEW much fun to offer the...

Button credit to Susan @ Desert Sky Quilts, updated by me.

Since basically ANY small quilted item qualifies for this challenge, I scrounge through my scrap basket to see what I can come up with.  

Each month I offer a prompt to help get your creative juices flowing.  While you are NOT required to use it in your project, the guiding word is revealed at the end of each month's LINK PARTY post.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the next month's focus.  It, along with the RSC Color of the Month (as soon as Angela releases it - around the 1st of the month) will also be added to the 2023 ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge page at the top of the blog.

May's letters were:

F and/or L

This month, I ended up with something completely different that what I had expected to create.  My plan was to combine the two letters and come up with a design that represented Florida, as well as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Color of the Month.

What better way to depict the Sunshine State???

May's color was ORANGE, after all.  As you can see, I have a fair amount in my scrap basket(s)...

This was yet another month that I neglected to take many process photos...

Here are the little quilt tops in the making:

Soon enough, the quilting was DONE on the (expanded) backing...

(What I'm considering...) The front has also been quilted.  Although, you might notice a fabric substitution.  One strip was bothering me enough to get out the seam ripper and re-sew:

SEW...

I'm pleased to present my completed ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge entry for May:

The clip side:

How does that fit this month's theme, Joyful???

It worked like this:

F = FLORAL... A couple of small scraps displaying a floral theme were used in making this little pin cushion.

L = LINE... The Autumn-themed ORANGE fabric on the back (or would that be the front?) form a line on which to store a few quilt clips.  However, I would probably construct that portion differently, if I were to make this project for someone else.

What's next, Joyful???

The month of June is nearly a week away.  Angela will pick a new Color of the Month then... Er... now:

 

Dark and/or Bright BLUE

Whoops!!!  That was done in January.

For June... Let's do Light GREEN and/or Any BLUE!!!

June's letters are:

D and/or I

And now...

It's time for YOU to link up your F and/or L projects in the LINK PARTY below.  All entries MUST be submitted by Wednesday, May 31st @ 11:59PM (EST).

Until next time...

USE those table scraps!!!

#ABCtableSCRAPSchallenge2023

#tablescrapschallenge2023

Linking with Cynthia

for

Oh, Scrap!