Winter Blues Blog Hop - The Lucky Winner

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  Today, I'm here to share the fate of this little mug rug:

If you recall, this mug rug was one of the projects that I made for my STOP on the Winter Blues Blog Hop last week.  I hope YOU visited all of the links.  Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks gathered a great bunch of bloggers who shared SEW many wonderful projects!

In my Hop post, there was a note stating that comments would be open until 9PM on Wednesday, January 29th, when a winner would be drawn.  That's today and it's time for the prize drawing.

Wait for it!  Wait for it...

Mr. Random drew Deb A.  Congratulations!!  I have contacted Deb (who blogs at Happy to be Scrappy) and will be mailing her new mug rug off on Friday.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my Hop post!  I really appreciate all the quilty love.  Bonus!  It was great fun hearing about your favorite mug.  Right now, I'm about to fill my own favorite mug with a soothing cup of hot tea.

Until next time...
QUILT away those Winter Blues!!!

Mail Call Monday - Project QUILTING Edition

Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!!  This post is about a side benefit of Project QUILTING.  One that I didn't even take into account when I accepted the Notably Numeric 11.1 challenge!

You see...

I was in for the creative challenge.  Could I really make a project in just ONE WEEK?!  My design idea hit me like a ton of bricks and I was off and running.

What I didn't consider...

Was the possibility of getting an email with the heading
Project QUILTING winner.  However, that is exactly what happened after Challenge 11.1 (my VERY FIRST challenge with PQ!)

It turns out...

All of these prizes were up for grabs by random drawing:

What did you win, Joyful??

I was the winner of the prize offered by Oliso and my Mini Project Iron arrived in this carefully packed box:

It arrived in its very own...

... And came with a with a pleasant greeting. along with easy (4 simple steps!) start-up instructions:

Here's a peek inside:

It even comes with its own protective "solemate":

It's all unwrapped now and ready to attend it's first Quilt Retreat this coming weekend:

Thank you to Kim @ Project QUILTING and special thanks to Michelle @ Oliso (and ALL of the sponsors!) for your support of Project QUILTING!!

Until next time...
QUILT lucky!!!

Sew Some Love Sunday - #bushfireblocks

Welcome to another edition of Sew Some Love Sunday!!  I'm here with a donation opportunity for YOU.  As with Hearts for Christchurch, another disaster has presented itself.  This time, in the form of a natural disaster.  I'm sure you've heard that (parts of) Australia is burning.

What can we DO, Joyful??

Well, I'm glad you asked.  I've decided to offer my readers (and several of my quilt groups) my services as a collection point for the tree block drive organized by Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild and will mail them off to Australia for anyone who wants to donate.

Of course, I had heard about the fires.  I had even heard about the koala Joey Pouches that are being made around the globe.  Thank you to Raewyn at Stitching Farm Girl for alerting me to the ongoing Tree Block Collection for #bushfireblocks!  Look at the wonderful blocks she made over the weekend:

Blocks by Raewyn @ Stitching Farm Girl

Where did she find those cool patterns???

More patterns are available at the WMQG site, but any 12.5" finished Tree Block can be used.  And... they don't HAVE to be GREEN!!!  :o))

Your tree blocks can be in a RAINBOW of colors (including green) and they don't necessarily have to by pieced.  You are also free to make applique blocks or embroidered blocks.  The only stipulation is that you use low volume (plain white, pale gray or subtle prints) fabrics for the background.

I'm looking forward to trying my hand at New Shoots by Lorena Uriarte who blogs @ Lorena UriARTe:

Leave a comment, if you plan to make and send some blocks for me to ship to Australia.  I will email email my "snail mail" address. All block MUST BE RECEIVED by February 29, 2020 to be included in my shipment!!!  I will need to mail them on March 1, 2020 (per WMQG's instructions/FAQ).

NOTICE:  Please include your email address in your comment, if you are a NO REPLY blogger!!  Otherwise, I have no way to contact you with my mailing inform.  (Sorry about that, Tedagmar!)

Until next time...

QUILT for Australia!!!

Project QUILTING Season 11 - Challenge 11.2

Team Colors

I've followed Project QUILTING in the past, but only as a casual observer.

Until...

Sassy @ Farm Quilter sent me down a rabbit hole.  She posted her project for PQ 11.1 on one of the weekly link-ups that I follow and invited her readers to participate in the Challenge.

Since I have begun, I mean to go on.  With that said, I checked the Challenge post for 11.2 the morning after the release and put on my thinking cap...

I have SEW many fabric scraps!!  Scraps of all shapes and sizes.  Quilting cottons and T-Quilt remnants.  My goal with these challenge assignments is to make some "down-and-dirty" designs to use some of those scraps. This is what happened next...

Insert a chorus of angels singing...

Inspiration struck (again!!!)

I remembered the stack of shirts that came from a friend:

Then, I chose a few to compose my design:

A few more were needed to make it work.  That meant a search through the T-Quilt scrap drawer:

When that didn't produce the "right" shade (of ANY color) I had to re-think my design.  Unfortunately, that particular shad of Bright GREEN doesn't seem to exist in my stash:

Days passed...


I found ONE fabric that felt like is might work:

Less than 24 hours before the deadline...


I took a left turn, deciding to see what I could come up with using only the shirts I had chosen:

That ALMOST worked, but eventually, the top was pieced with some scrap strips of quilting cotton and the backing was prepared:

Quickly running out of time...


I suddenly realized that I needed to layer the pillow top for quilting.  That meant digging in my batting scraps... 

... And searching the scrap bin to produce the quilt sandwich:

Ready to begin a down-and-dirty HUGE allover meander...

... My domestic "quilting" machine had other ideas, producing stitches with terrible tension, but I had no time to troubleshoot:

No worries!  Off to Plan B.  Straight line quilting on my new-to-me 20 year old Pfaff (thank goodness - and DS1 - for this machine!) which is (almost) always up for a round of precision sewing:

With that done, it was time to put a finish on this thing.  For those of you who regularly see me sew, you don't see too much of this...  LOOK!!  This is one application where I actually use pins:

Next, a quick trip around the perimeter and the stitching  was done...

... It was off to trim the stray edges:

Now, the time had come to stuff in one of the random pillows that DS1 was recently complaining about so kindly pointed out when snooping around assessing the state of the sewing room:

Ultimately, the piece for the PQ11.2 challenge was completed:

This sale item from IKEA is finally being put to good use:

In a stroke of brilliance, I even used the hems of the shirts in the "envelope" portion of the pillow.  Here's what the back looks like:

This is the final product...

SEW...


Instead of a wall hanging like my 11.1 project turned out to be, this piece decided that it wanted to be a pillow... Obviously, NOT a pillow for our living room sofa:

Anyway...

When I assembled the pillow,  I actually FORGOT to add my label... AGAIN!!  :o((

But WHY a pillow made from T-shirt scraps, Joyful???

Well, that stack of shirts came from a friend who commissioned me to make THIS quilt for her son.  These few remaining shirts were still being worn when that quilt was made.  He recently graduated from college and I thought a pillow to go with his quilt would be the PERFECT gift.  (Let's hope I'm right.)

Thank you to the quilting gods for inspiring this project.  (OK, so it really MIGHT have had something to do with the fact that DS1 pointed out several pillow forms hiding in various nooks and crannies around the studio when he was assessing the chaos a couple of weeks ago.)  And special thanks to Sassy at Farm Quilter for encouraging me to go on when I was ready to give up with a little less than 18 hours before the deadline.  Without her encouragement, I really would have caved!

There you have it!!  Process, product, and the REAL reason for accepting this Challenge.  I hope you like it.  He DID!!  (When he saw a photo of it not long before I released this post, he was thrilled that these additional shirts will be represented with his memory quilt.)

Mission accomplished (with little more than an hour to spare.)

The finish was particularly sweet since it worked right in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  As you may have noticed, the shirts incorporated were a shade of Bright GREEN and that (along with Light GREEN) is January's Color of the Month.

Follow THIS LINK to the Season 11 overview.  Check back on the Challenge release days (or sign-up to be notified automatically) and there may be one that YOU just can't resist.

It is a SHORT turnaround time!

Depending on the size and complexity of your project, that doesn't HAVE to be insurmountable.  With a little creativity and a few evenings, you really CAN do this!  My project was (really) begun with only ONE DAY until the deadline.

Linking up with Cynthia

for

Oh Scrap!

@

Quilting is more fun than Housework

Until next time...

Challenge accepted!!!

Remember:  If I can do this, YOU can do it, too!

(Plus, there's a spot to post your completed Project QUILTING inspired projects AFTER the deadline for any of the challenges.)

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC20 - Week 4

Welcome to Week 4 of the 2020 Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  It will prove to be a(nother) busy week in Joyful QuilterLand.  With appointments and meetings scheduled throughout the week, it will be a miracle if I get any sewing done!

Take a look...

SUNDAY - This morning, I released a new Sew Some Love Sunday post.

This afternoon, cleaning and organizing the studio fell to the wayside in favor of working on my projects for the Winter Blues Blog Hop.  Here's a sneak peek at what you will see in Wednesday's post:

This evening, I released a public service announcement post.  I wanted make sure that all of my readers were aware of the upcoming Blog Hop that I am participating in this week.

MONDAY - MLK Holiday and a haircut for my DH.  I also checked out the next challenge for Project QUILTING.  You can find the Team Colors Challenge HERE.  Your project is due at 12 PM Central time on Sunday, January 26th.  Think hard, work fast, quilt small!

I used my holiday to catch up on some quilting:

TUESDAY - A long-awaited dental appointment was on today's agenda and was followed by Girls Night Out!!  I still managed to release a new edition of Tidy Up Tuesday during the day.

WEDNESDAY - My STOP on the Winter Blues Blog Hop.  Are YOU feeling lucky??  One of my signature mug rugs will be awarded to ONE lucky reader!!  Entry comments MUST be received by 9 PM on Wednesday, January 29th.

THURSDAY - Weekly Quilt Group with or without me??  I was moving in slow motion today, so they met without me and my trusty sidekick.

Later...  I woke up enough to do some quilting.  I'm on the final approach on this client quilt.  Only three or four more passes:

FRIDAY - The weekend is on the horizon.   This morning, I stopped by Knit Group for a little while and then met a friend for a visit to the nail salon...  Where I finally have a bit of Light Bright GREEN to show off even though there is only one week left in January.  Whoops!  That's why I added a few (5) other colors, too:

The yellow on the sky blue background turned a lovely shade of Light/Bright GREEN!!
I totally planned that... NOT!
But, I'm glad it worked out that way.  :o))

Next, I was off to meet friends for a celebration lunch and after that, thrift/consignment shopping ate up a good chunk of my afternoon.

Early evening saw me releasing a new Design Floor Friday post.  Here's a (small) preview of what you'll see:

SATURDAY - It's LINK PARTY day over on Angela's So Scrappy blog.  There will be loads of projects to see in Light/Bright GREEN.  Kermit the Frog would be in his glory!  What about YOU???

This funky vase was spotted during yesterday's shopping adventure.  I snapped a shot just for my RSC Quilter friends.

I'm off to visit them now.

Until next time...
Get SCRAPPY!!!

Design Floor Friday - January 2020 - Friday Night Sew-In

Welcome to another edition of Design Floor Friday!!  I'm here to share the events of this month's Friday Night Sew-In.  We started off the year with light attendance.  Only 7 people in attendance.  Honestly, I enjoyed the quiet evening.

Everyone was busy with projects!  Have a look...

Sara completed a baby sweater...

... And brought it along to sew on buttons:

Sherry worked on another of her lovely Fan blocks:

Joy cut a bunch of strips for her niece's wedding quilt:

Ann worked on her Christmas wall/door hangings:

Marian laid out blocks for her Fall table runner:

Ann readies the mitered borders to finish up her second Holiday project:

Dale cut more pieces for her friend's quilt:

Karen showed her Challenge quilt for the Original Works group:

The theme was Remake or Re-imagine an Old Quilt or Pattern:

Marian added binding to her latest donation quilt:

Karen set up her machine to apply binding to her Challenge quilt:

Joy wanted to make sure that the RSC Quilter knew that she was working with some Light/Bright GREEN which is January's Color of the Month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge:

Ann grimaces for the camera, as she was in a hurry and got that last border sewn on the WRONG direction:

Marian's wall hanging is coming together beautifully:

Karen prepares to hand stitch her binding:

With strips cut, Joy breaks out her Sizzix Die Cutter:

Ann began the onerous task of ripping out the paper on her project:

A bajillion triangles, ready to meet Joy's sewing machine:

Marian got this far on assembling her table runner:

Ann, Joy, Marian were the "night owls".  As usual.  Long after everyone else had gone home, you could hear the following around the room...  "One more seam."  "Oh! Only a few more pieces to cut."  "Just need to pack up."  Eventually, we went home, too.  Exhausted, but pleased with putting in a good night's work.

Until next time...

Quilt til you wilt!!!