Leftovers

We eat leftovers almost every single work day for lunch~  Only because we try not to waste much and I am very frugal! Two meals created from one preparation means less cooking and more time for sewing too!

But when you get a bag of leftovers - aka "Scraps", what do we do! Get excited with all of the possibilities of course! I see quilts-in-a-bag! No rhyme, no reason, no pattern. But I will tell you now, I pulled each of scrap out and admired it - close to 12 pounds of fabric. Then I had to sort by color to determine a scheme. Almost every single cut was a yard or more so I didn't really call them scraps.

My thought for all of the cuts were to create Quilts for Babies. The idea came to mind when I ran across One piece in particular. It definitely looks vintage to me, but what do I know. There was no selvage that I could identify the fabric by. There were a few 1980's labeled fabrics. Would anyone venture to take a guess?

There were plenty of coordinating fabrics to go with it in the gifted bag, so I went for it! I'll be using some white yardage I  had in my stash for background. The perfect pattern called Yankee Doodle Star Quilt came from Mostly Crafty. You can see Melanie's version at her blog!

If you use the pattern to create your own version, share your pictures with #sewingwithfwfabricstudio and @fwfabricstudio and @mellierc.

The tutorial is easy to use with large cuts so the quilt comes together quickly. 

I chose the pinks in the bag for a girlie design And purchased one yard of the Anchor Print to modernize it a bit.

I occasionally link up with some of my other quilty friends, visit them and see what they have going on this week~  Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts, Moving It Forward Monday at Em's ScrapBag, Modern Patch Monday, Patch Work Times Design Wall, Mop Monday with Tweety Loves Quilting, Monday Making,  Main Crush Monday's, Sew Cute Tuesdays, Fiber Tuesday,  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Wednesday Wait Loss with Jennifer, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Fabric Frenzy Friday, Finish it Up Friday, Sunday Stash, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and Finished or Not Friday. 

Camp Hobe Hands2Helpers Quilt~

Sarah Craig of Confessions of a Fabric Addict is hosting the 2017 Challenge. You can read and view many of the beautiful quilts made and donated to the several charities Here.

This I chose to make will be for Camp Hobe, a special summer camp experience for children currently being treated for cancer that have missed out on traditional summer camps for kids. 

I was a little challenged deciding how to finish. I went the simple route with a cotton sheeting backing to make it cooler but still had the snuggly top. I folded the edges to make the binding to give some of the cuddly to the back of the quilt. 

30" x 41" 

I am glad to say, the quilt is sent to find someone to love it and provide much comfort~

Art With Fabric Blog Hop: Spring 2017 Celebrating "WOMEN"

THIRD edition of Art With Fabric Blog Hop: Spring 2017

Celebrating "WOMEN"

photo from wvgazettemail.com

Being a West Virginian through and true, I wished to share some West Virginia Artist Love. Grace Martin Taylor was born in Morgantown, WV in 1903 and graduated from WVU in 1928. She was a printmaker, artist, collage artist, painter and educator and became one of America’s most innovative printmakers of the second quarter of the 20th century. She was most known for her woodblock prints.

Since her death in 1995, Taylor’s art has been exhibited throughout the United States, at widely known places such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design, the Smithsonian Institution, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, ACME Fine Art in Boston and the British Museum. Just recently her daughter donated 27 of her prints for permanent display to West Virginia University's Art Museum. She is still highly regarded as one of the most influential 20th century artists from West Virginia.

         “Lucie at Piano” by Grace Martin Taylor, 1938, linoleum block print on paper. Isn't it just adorable?!

                                                             wvutoday.wvu.edu

"Studio Window", one of her woodblock prints, was inspired by her view from her Morgantown, WV studio. See more Charleston Gazette  and The Art Store WVor visit the Art Museum of West Virginia University which is located  near the corner of Patteson Drive and Morrill Way at the Evansdale Campus of West Virginia University - if you happen to be driving through Morgantown, WV that is.

                                   And one of her lovely still lifes. You can get the down load here.

As an alumni of WVU and a West Virginia resident, I wanted to represent an artist close to home! I will be choosing one of Grace's much celebrated prints as inspiration to create my own "Studio View" at Morgantown.

Although I did not have a down-town view, my view is still nice; the back yard with my two apple trees and flower gardens. You can only see one of the trees from the window view.

In the construction of the quilt, I chose to use a blank slate much as Grace would use a blank sheet  to transfer her wood block print to. The image was created using applique cut-outs made from fusible cotton fabrics. To fuse the applique pieces to the blank fabric I used Heat-n-bond lite and fabric adhesive.

After arranging each piece and ironing down, the whole cloth was machine quilted with emphasis on tacking each applique piece and creating texture. The machine was set up for free motion quilting (lower the feed dogs and use a darning foot) and using a matching or contrasting thread stitching around the outer edges of the images, adding detail for texture. This is a machine drawing technique that was learned through following some of Janet Clare's work.

Creating murals are wonderful examples that you can use up some scraps from your scrap basket as well! I haven't decided where this beauty is going to go just yet....Maybe onto a zipper bag??? Got any ideas?

Visit all of the other Artists participating in the Spring 2017: Art With Fabric blog hop hosted by Alida at Tweety Loves Quilting.

Monday, May 15th, 2017

Andrée: http://quiltinglearningcombo.blogspot.com 

LeeAnna: http://lapaylor.blogspot.com/ 

Luke: http://www.lukehaynes.com/

Joan: http://www.moosestashquilting.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, May 16th, 2017 

Marian: http://www.seamstobesew.com

Sharon: http://www.yellowcatquiltdesigns.com

Adele: http://adelemogavero.com/

Judy: http://judywarner.com/

Wednesday, May 17th, 2017 

Abigail: http://www.cutandalter.blogspot.co.uk

Bea: http://www.beaquilter.com/ 

Janeen: http://quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com/ 

Thursday, May 18th, 2017 

Renee: http://www.quiltsofafeather.com/

Kat: http://www.katknapcrafts.blogspot.com

Jennifer: http://www.inquiringquilter.com/  

Carol: http://www.quiltedfabricart.com

Friday, May 19th, 2017 

Alida: http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/ 

Shannon: http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

Chris: http://chrissquiltinguniverse.blogspot.com/

Anita: http://quiltlovefordomesticfelicity.blogspot.com/ That's Me!

A "New Direction" Aurifil BOM

Each month I look forward to Aurifil Designer Challege day  hosted by Pat Sloan. This year the theme is a rainbow of colors and each designer is assigned a color going around the color wheel.

 April Designer featured is Sue Marsh, you can get to know each and learn some fun things about them by joining Pat each month!

I found the arrows a little tricky to make, but Pat has some wonderful tips here.

I chose to use lovely greens and yellows with a pop of bright pinks in some of the blocks. While working on Sue Marsh's block "New Direction", I thought of the colors showing up in my little garden. Right after the rains today, I went out for a little photo shoot. Beautiful!!!

Just A Peek

I've been busy working on some projects, getting stuck with some here and there And getting excited over others. I have no real progress though, but who does not Love to see some fresh fabric showing up in their own shopping carts, shopping bags and at their front door?!

If you would like to find a couple of fun blogs I like to follow and link up with on occasion, go check out some of the following!~  Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts, Moving It Forward Monday at Em's ScrapBag, Modern Patch Monday, Patch Work Times Design Wall, Mop Monday with Tweety Loves Quilting, Monday Making,  Main Crush Monday's, Sew Cute Tuesdays, Fiber Tuesday,  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Wednesday Wait Loss with Jennifer, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Fabric Frenzy Friday, Finish it Up Friday, Sunday Stash, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and Finished or Not Friday.  

And just for fun, some Christmas Joy I've been working on~ Lynette Anderson's Designs are just so darling!

One Monthly Goal - May ~ Cancer Ribbon Quilt

I initiated this project in April to make for a charity fundraiser then decided upon donating a different quilt to the benefit.

I chose multiple color ribbons to place in a strip setting with lots of colorful patches. I still want to complete the Cancer Ribbon Quilt for the month of May (check out the first post) to donate soon. It needs quilted and binding added. What color would you choose for the binding to frame it up nicely?

You can join Elm Street Quilts today to start your monthly goal setting too!

Go have a peek at some of my other quilty friends I may be linking up to this week~  Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts, Moving It Forward Monday at Em's ScrapBag, Modern Patch Monday, Patch Work Times Design Wall, Mop Monday with Tweety Loves Quilting, Monday Making,  Main Crush Monday's, Sew Cute Tuesdays, Fiber Tuesday,  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Wednesday Wait Loss with Jennifer, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Fabric Frenzy Friday, Finish it Up Friday, Sunday Stash, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and Finished or Not Friday. 

2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop~ Week 3

It is the third week of the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!

Visit and get to know not only the five featured in this week's hop, but all of my other hive mates.

Tami @Thrift Shop Commando

Sandy @Sandy Star Designs
Karen @Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Kathleen @Kathleen McMusing
Sarah @Designs by Sarah J

Amandy @Mommy’s Projects

Bobbi @Snowy Days Quilting

Fi @living cloth

Jennifer @Inquiring Quilter

Laura @Slice of Pi Quilts

Anita @Domestic Felicity ~

Cate @Chaos Theory Quilting

Liz @My Sew Called Life

Olusola @Alice Samuel’s Quilt Co.

Sandy @Sandy Star Designs

Danette @Nettie Sews

Debbie @Quilt Knowlogy

Olivia @Pumpkin Hollow Quilting

Raylee @Sunflower Stitcheries and Quilting

If you have time, please also visit the hosts Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl, Leanne @she can quilt and Beth @Cooking Up Quilts. They all have worked so hard to make the hop a success!