The Joyful Quilter: January 2023

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Tidy Up Tuesday - Shades of Blue - Prize Patrol

Welcome to another edition of Tidy Up Tuesday!! If you read to the bottom of my Shades of Blue Challenge post, you probably know why I'm here. You see, when I participate in a Blog Hop of any kind, I like to offer readers a prize. Last night was the comment deadline to express interest in winning. As such, Mr. Random has spoken.

And the WINNER is...

Susan @ Desert Sky Quilting

What did Susan win???

She won my Unconstructed in Blue mini runner shown below on the table at Evening Bee...

On the front porch...

And finally on the front porch swing:

Needless to say, this one was a challenge to photograph!

Thank you...

Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in adopting this little quilt. Rest assured, YOU will have another chance to win during the next event. In the meanwhile, I've reached out to Susan in a comment on her blog and got the following response:

Susan Nixon just commented on Stash Report.

In response to The Joyful Quilter:
Congrats on your progress AND on winning my Shades of Blue Unconstructed mini runner!!!

What? I won it? How exciting! I will get with you tomorrow.

Good news...

She's happy. Yay!! I'll follow up later today and get Susan's prize off in the mail soon.

Until next time...

SEW Lucky!!!

Monday, January 30, 2023

The Guest Blogger(s) - Vol.45 - Jeannie and the Letter "J"

Welcome to another edition of The Guest Blogger(s)! I've got an addition to the January's ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge link party. Jeannie's was busy, but I never checked the discussion thread where she posted. I'm hoping I can add it in. My apologies, Jeannie!

The following, from Ravelry's Quilters Knitting Group...

I’m doing Joy’s Table Scraps Challenge again this year. January is “J” and dark blue. This is my interpretation.

Give Jeannie's BLUE project some quilty love in the comments below. Surely, you enjoyed seeing her unique quilted "J" project, right? I certainly did! Thank you for sending this photo for the blog, Jeannie. I'm looking forward to seeing what you will do will the rest of the letters!

Link Party REMINDER...

All entries should have been submitted by Tuesday, January 31st @ 11:59PM (EST). Here's the LINK, in case you missed seeing the submitted quilts. Again, my apologies to Jeannie for missing her challenge entry by twenty days! Fingers crossed that I can fix my mistake.

Until next time...

USE those table scraps!!!

#ABCtableSCRAPSchallenge2023

#tablescrapschallenge2023

Sunday, January 29, 2023

(Not So...) Mini Monday (on Sunday?!) - SAHRR 2023 - Round One

Welcome to (Not so) Mini Monday... a little bit early!! I shared the center of my 2023 Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR) last week. Roseanne & Sue @ Home Sewn by Us are leading off by selecting how we should proceed for Round One.

And the verdict is...

SPOOLS

Have you developed a plan, Joyful???

NOPE!! That forced me to look thru all the presenter posts for ideas. They were all SEW different, but I decided that my choice would be a toss up between Wendy's, Emily's and Chris's style of Spool blocks. I like the jauntiness of Emily's and the variety of fabrics I could use in the one Chris made, but Wendy's applique seems like I could get away with less math. That's always a bonus in my book!

Remember these adorable blocks...

Unfortunately, neither one of these blocks felt like the right fit for the center of my SAHRR:

Found in holiday stash. Most likely from my friend Diane.

So...

I took another stroll through the stack of blocks and found this beautiful wreath block, which immediately changed my mind about what I would use for the center of my quilt:

Let's see how Round 1 played out...

Looking at the block, I determined that my RED scraps would be the best way to begin:

As I started sewing, I realized additional strips would be needed...

Once the spool was assembled (and without any real thought), I ditched the planned applique technique and cut background strips for piecing:

I meant to make two, but only managed to choose scraps for a single block. Plus, it was time to go make dinner. What would YOU do?

Hours later...

Please, visit the other participants in this week's Link Party and stop back here to see how my quilt will progress with Round Two.

Here's this year's SAHRR hosting schedule:

January 16: Center Block Reveal: Gail @ Quilting Gail
January 23: Round 1: Roseanne & Sue @ Home Sewn by Us
January 30 : Round 2: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
February 6: Round 3: Chris @ Chrisknitssews
February 13: Round 4: Anja @ Anja Quilts
February 20: Round 5: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
February 27: Round 6: Gail @ Quilting Gail
March 13: Link Party Parade for finished SAHRRs (quilts or tops!)

Until next time...

Sew a Round!!!

Saturday, January 28, 2023

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC23 - Week 4

Welcome to Week FOUR of the 2023 Rainbow Scrap Challege!! How did THAT happen?? This week didn't do any sewing, but I released several posts about sewn items or sewing related tasks. Links are provide, in cased you missed any of them.

Read on to see how the week played out...

SUNDAY - PQ 14.2

This morning began with my weekly Zoom call to Knittingsuek...

During which, I selected fabrics for my personal RSC23 Scrap Jar Star Sew Along with my friend Chantal of At the Corner of Scraps and Quilts blog, of course YOU are welcome to join in:

Back to yesterday...

I enjoyed an Art Day with Britt:

Friday, January 27, 2023

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

Welcome to the January 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. It's amazing that another month is coming to a close. Where DOES the time go?

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 August'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.

January's letters were...

C, R, and/or J

Here's what I did with that...

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge Color of the Month was Dark/Bright BLUE and there were a number of bits that looked interesting in my scrap basket...

I began with a desire to participate in Kristen's Scrap Quilt Along on her blog and @ Scrap Fabric Love on YouTube. You can also find her @scrapfabriclove on Instagram:

With that in mind, I decided to make a JUNIOR size CRUMB block for the center:

It measure 2.5" square.

But how would I include the final letter of this month's challenge???

With a RED scrappy background, of course:

I pieced the sub-units of the block...

And then assembled it like a traditional 9-Patch block:

But, what will you DO with the completed Scrap Buster Plus block, Joyful???

Hmm... That's a good question and I have a few ideas about what I might make.

Let's start by searching for a scrap chunk that will work for backing. Yep! That lovely dot will work perfectly with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Color of the Month, so I layered it up with a scrap of batting...

Quilted it right up and stuffed it with a combination of fiber fill and crushed walnut shells:

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

As I mentioned before, it worked like this:

C - CRUMB block for the center square

R - I used a RED scrappy background

J - The block is JUNIOR sized! I shrunk the Scrap Buster Plus Sew Along 12" block from Scrap Fabric Love down to 6.5 inches.

Here is my completed ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge entry for January:

With just less than two week to go until the Link Party, it's already fulfilling its duty as a chunky pincushion:

What's next, Joyful???

February is still a few days away. UPDATE!! Angela has chosen PINK as the Color of the Month for February. YOU just might be able to come up with something to do with that! :o))

February's letters are:

M and/or V

NOTE: Take them wherever they lead you.

And now...

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

Until next time...

USE those table scraps!!!

#ABCtableSCRAPSchallenge2023

#tablescrapschallenge2023

Britt liked the pincushion, so I let her keep it. Actually... I took it with me HOPING that she would like it enough to adopt it! :o))

By the way, please ignore the strange glare on my glasses.

Sharing with Cynthia

for

Oh, Scrap!

and

With Alycia

for

Finished (Or Not) Friday

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Wonderful Wednesday - Weekend Art Day

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!! I'm here to share my weekend Art Day with @britt_quilts.

It wasn't my best ever "us-ie taking" day, but here we are, ready to make an attempt at catching up on the Junk Journal January prompts from Meg Journals:

I started by adding some details to the MAP prompt:

From there I added some embellishments to my HAND LETTERING page:

The cool folded paper bit was from at tutorial by Helen @ Journal With Purpose

My TEXTURE page was a bit of a challenge. It might look like a bit of a hot mess, but I wanted to focus on textured images rather than creating background texture:

The BEST part of the day was when (finally) I added the cover art to my Board Book Journal begun in a FREE class with quilter/artist Drew Steinbrecher:

With that done, I moved on to interpreting the EXPERIMENTAL prompt...

I chose a stenciled page from Britt's scrap folder and built around it with other scraps and some custom papers she created for me:

It went through several iterations, including eliminating "floating" elements...

Cutting out a large portion of the straight lines...

Along with playing hide and seek with our prompted word...

Before arriving at the spread you see below:

It might not feel very much like "me" in color choices or page layout, but it was an enjoyable experiment. Thanks for hosting the first Art Day of the new year, B! I was pleased to have a dedicated time to catch up on the Junk Journal January prompts.

Until next time...

PLAY!!!