My Birthday Present to Myself

July is my birthday month.  As all good quilters will do, I treated myself with something I have had my eye on for a few months.  I have admired Australian Quilter Jen Kingwell's quilts around the internet. There are a whole bunch of bloggers working on her patterns.  There have been quilt-a-longs for several of her other designs.  She is quite a talent in the quilt world.

Everything about her style appeals to me. It is the simple applique. It is the use of many scrappy colorful fabrics.  She uses color and low volume background in very clever ways.  Lots of polka dots and stripes. It is a lot about making one block and moving on. It is a challenging combination of applique and piecing.   It is a sampler quilt. I have never made a sampler style quilt.  

She has published several patterns and books but I chose her Green Tea and Sweet Beans. I got mine here.   

I have been wanting to make clamshells.  The pattern calls for 21.  I made them. That is about all I want to make for a while.  

I feel the same way about hexagons.  I also feel the same way about that hand pieced Squared Daisy.

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In all honesty, even though the designs seem basic you need some background in making templates, hand piecing and quilting to understand the written directions.  I had a few start overs on that daisy.  But I stuck with it and it turned out pretty cute.   

Lots of these little oval flowers are scattered throughout the pattern. I adapted this flower basket to make a mini quilt for my mom.

This quilt will develop your quilting skills no matter what level you are. The pattern looks delightfully simple. But there is a lot going on here.  Creativity. Color and texture applied to design.  Hand piecing. Template making. Hand quilting.  These are skills I have been concentrating on improving in 2015.   Check out Pinterest for progress on other Green Tea and Sweet Bean quilts.

Find some time to stitch today!  Thanks for stopping by!

Sunflowers

I LOVE Sunflowers!

When the summer heat starts cranking up (like it is now), I bring out the sunflowers.  I like these big sunflowers and decorate with other sunflower themed items.  Bears and birdhouses to name a few.

My love for sunflowers is not new thing.  I have been collecting sunflower themed cuties for years.  Here are just a few.

I have also been collecting sunflower quilt projects in a zip lock bag. None of which have been finished.  Over the weekend I pulled out the bag because it is sunflower time.

Check out this October 2000 issue of  American Patchwork & Quilting by Better Homes and Gardens Issue 46 Vol 8 No 5.  Inside is this darling little hexagon sunflower quilt by Jill Reber.

I started this quilt sometime after 2000. It seems every summer about this time I bring out the sunflower project bag with this issue folded open to this page with the unfinished quilt top. I get warm fuzzys when I see this bag of unfinished sunflower projects. I look at this little mini quilt with love.  I make a few stitches. I press it. But I don't know why I have never finished it.  One year I trimmed the edges because I had decided I didn't want to make the full size.   

However, THIS is going to be the year of the finished sunflower mini quilt!

See I have it pin basted and I am ready to start hand quilting.  But when I was making this photograph of my actual quilt along with the magazine article, I notice that I still have to add the leaves.  I am going to get on that tonight.  Got to finish this one! 

Another year I started this applique sunflower mini quilt.  For several years I have worked on this one only to get side tracked by something else and it gets put back in the bag with the other one. Unfinished.  Yesterday, I added the black bird and the center circle.  I hand quilted around the background squares with a matching thread and did accent hand quilting with black on the sunflowers. I am determined to get this one finished as well.  

I am a little bit proud of this one.  It is my own design. I didn't have a pattern. I brought together ideas from other projects like using the pieced background of neutral scraps.  I took inspiration from vintage applique for the circular floral design.  I drew the bird freehand and placed him on a rather oddly long branch.  Sometime it takes years for a project to come together.  Quilters do have patience!   All that is left for this one is the binding.

Another year I started these little sunflower appliques.  Again  I worked on them for a little while and then they ended up back in the project bag with those other two quilts.  At the moment I don't know how I want this one to finish so it may go back in the project bag. I am giving myself permission to set this one aside until I receive the inspiration needed to complete it.   

I also have a stash of sunflower fabric. 

Here are a couple of zipper bags I made to sell in my Etsy store.  

Do you have a favorite flower like the sunflower that makes you really happy?

Stay cool!  It is getting really hot and dry in south Texas.

Thanks for stopping by!   

Note:  The big sunflowers are from Hobby Lobby! 

Red White and Blue

I've gotten into making little mini quilts.  I never really had a place to display minis but now that my mom has moved to a retirement apartment, she decorates her wall shelf by her door with different displays.  She likes flowers and she likes my quilts. So I am making more minis for her little decorating spot.

I made two of these little scrappy tumbler flags shortly before Memorial Day. One for me and one for her. She decorated for Memorial Day and she will be able to display hers again this week for July 4th.

She chose this vintage style flag with muted reds and beige tones. The button stars are vintage and random.  She has received many compliments from friends and guests.  A nice conversation starter. 

This is mine.

I used the brighter reds and white. I have a button box full of random buttons and found some whites and a heart for the center star. 

Both were backed in this cute little patriotic print.  I machine quilted wavy lines.  Simple, quick and happy to see and celebrate.

Hooray for the Red, White and Blue!  Happy Fourth of July!