BB-8 Watercolor

 As part of my May the 4th swap package that I sent to my partner, I painted a watercolor BB-8 as my "extra".  I thought you might be interested in seeing a little of the step by step.

First, I drew BB-8 out with a regular pencil.  I recently started playing around with a water-soluble pencil with my watercolors but have discovered that I really need the lines to NOT disappear when I'm painting.  Perhaps in the future, this will not be the case, but for BB-8, I definitely needed the lines to stay put.

Then I started with the lightest washes.  For the background, I only used Payne's Grey.  The first wash was very diluted, then I added a little extra pigment, and that concoction was used for the next few layers (each layer was a mountain, working from far to near) at the same consistency.  I didn't add any additional pigment until the last mountain (the one closest to us).  I also used this same color for the grey areas and shadows of BB-8), layering as needed to make some places darker.  For the sand I think I used a combination of Nickel Azo yellow and pyrrole scarlet.  I may have added a little burnt sienna as well.  I kept layering the washes for the background, and started to add the orange areas, using a transparent Pyrrole Orange.

When it came time to add some details, I used Payne's grey again to add the seam lines around BB-8's sections as well as the shadows around his round panels.  Admittedly, these shadows did not want to behave quite like I wanted.  I was not quick enough to soften some of the edges with a damp brush and the edges dried a little harder than I wanted.  I could have tried to lift these spots, but this particular paper doesn't play nicely with this technique, so I left it.  I also "flicked" some darker browns onto the sand using more Burnt Sienna.  I debated with myself for a long time on whether I wanted to leave the sun white or color it yellow.  In the end, I used some Cadmium yellow and more of the Pyrrole Orange to create the sun.  At the last minute, my hand wobbled a bit, and my sun is not perfectly round.  Oh well, I guess my partner will know for sure that a human created this!

And there he is!  I hope she liked him!

Jen

May the 4th swap time!

 Each year, I look forward to participating in the May the 4th swap on Instagram.  It is a Star Wars themed swap, and in my opinion, the best swap of the year.  Everyone involved is highly motivated, talented, and has a geeky love of Star Wars.  It is awesome!

This year, my secret partner gave me a pretty wide range of likes, but did mention that she likes both the strong women characters and the droids.  Since I did Leia last year, I decided to take on a droid.

I found a fun pop art themed pin on Pinterest.  From what I can tell, the pin was created by a Hungarian man named, Dragonya, who is a huge fan of Star Wars.  I am assuming he made the graphic - thank you!  I chose it as the inspiration for my mini.

I am not sure why I do these things to myself, but instead of using my usual fusible applique methods, which I have become quite adept at, I chose to make this mini using the Applipiecing technique that I have recently learned (my most recent class taken was by Sheila Frampton Cooper).  Anyhow, this technique requires a lot more finesse and cursing than fusible applique.   However, it does result in a quilt top with fewer layers and no fusible to sew through.  Well, I did put a few fused pieces on the quilt, but the majority has zero fusible.  

Then I got to the part I have started to dread - the quilting.  I think I have just gotten out of practice a bit.  It feels like every time I put a quilt together and start quilting it, it takes me a long time to get into the groove of things and my stitching to start looking acceptable.  Sadly, I just don't have time to quilt a practice quilt before I start on actual projects.  I usually need them done yesterday.  So, I have to live with my stitch quality being a bit inconsistent from start to finish.  Usually, one can't tell.  

I think R2 turned out pretty good in the end.  He looks great from the front, and while the back had a couple of spots of inconsistent tension, I managed to cover most of them with the label - ha!

Cool design, right?

And while extras are optional for this swap, I also made this BB-8 in watercolor for my partner.  I made several mistakes while painting it, including dropping my brush full of orange paint, not once, but twice!  Also, some of the shadows didn't soften as much as I was hoping.   I think it turned out alright despite my mistakes.

The person who had me as a partner, Sarah Jay, didn't disappoint!  She made me this awesome Grand Admiral Thrawn mini.  

I don't think I would like Thrawn as much as I do if I hadn't read Timothy Zahn's book series that features Thrawn as a main character.  His development of Thrawn's character is amazing, and really sheds light on why he is so ruthless and successful as an Empire commander.

I hope you enjoyed these Star Wars inspired minis.  While I am publishing this on the 5th, remember May the 4th be with you, always!

Jen

Colony Collapse - a diptych of art quilts

Do you ever have a chat with yourself that goes something like this?  "Now, Jen, you only have a small amount of time before the deadline.  You have to do less (insert activity here) than usual if you are going to finish in time.  Alright?"  And then once you get started, that chat goes completely out the window?  It seems to happen to me all the time.

I really wanted to enter a call for SAQA for "Joining Threads".  It was to create a diptych of two related concepts and make two small (less than 12 inches square) art quilts of them.  As you know, I love bees, and thought a pair of quilts depicting what the world might look like if the bees disappeared might be interesting.  I came up with the following.

But as usual, once I started quilting these quilts, I couldn't stop myself.  I just kept adding more and more thread.  SO many starts and stops and thread changes.  It is somewhat comical.  I think the only thing consistent about my "style" at the moment is heavy quilting.  lol

Because I couldn't hold myself back, I ended up quilting straight through the deadline for the call.  Ah well!  That is ok. 

I finished them up and had the thought that I would like them better in a different size.  I think they would look better in maybe 12 x 18 portrait configuration.  Since I used my Cricut to cut out all the bees and flowers, I could make another set.  Do I want to?  Decisions.  I have several other calls I want to work on (this time with plenty of time before the deadlines!  Ha!) so it may have to wait a little while.

Jen

A quick update before I move on to the future.

What have I been doing since May of 2021.  So much, so little, so much!  It seems every to-do list still has items on it, but when I look back, I did quite a few things.

I spent a lot of time in my garden.

I made my first SAQA benefit auction quilt in June 2021.  I am currently working on this year's now.  

My kids convinced me to adopt 3 little (very naughty) kittens, which helped soothe the heartache when my Professional Quilting Cat, Tookie, passed away that Christmas.  All three of these kitties have taken on the role of quilt helper, but I still miss the Tookster every time I am working on a quilt. 

I've made several more One Block Wonders, and discovered a new book allowing you to use a panel as your fabric, One Block Wonder Panel Quilts.  Since you are always looking for large scale prints, panels are awesome to use, and you can choose to incorporate a whole panel into your quilt or not.  It has been a fun option to play with.

I've also participated more Star Wars mini swaps.  I created this "band poster" for the Max Rebo band (plays in multiple Star Wars movies).  I think this is my all-time favorite of the ones I have made for the annual swap.  It is so fun and different, and I designed the entire thing myself instead of using someone else's design.  

And last year I made this Leia mini for my partner.  

I participated in the Graffiti challenge for Cherrywood Fabrics.  I must admit I didn't enjoy this one as much as some of the past challenges.  It also had me questioning if I really wanted to participate in future challenges, and I haven't to date.  

I went to a bunch of quilt shows, soccer games, and diving competitions, and traveled with family to some amazing destinations like Sicily, and Fargo, ND (which I list as a funny thing, but was actually a great place to go!).  And I had a quilt accepted into Road2CA that wasn't part of a Cherrywood challenge.

I took a drawing class, finally!  And feel like this is the ONE essential skill that has tremendously helped my art quilts progress.   I am currently in a second drawing class because I couldn't keep up the drawing habit without the accountability of being in a class with homework and grades, etc.  

I also took two painting classes recently and have learned so much!!!  I highly recommend you expand into other mediums if you are leaning toward making art quilts in the future.  The oil painting class was my favorite of the two, probably because it is more forgiving than watercolor.  Both classes were great, and I hope to continue with both these mediums.  I'll share more on that experience in a future post.

That's it for now!

Jen

 

Resurrection or Reincarnation?

 

Wow! I can't believe it has been nearly two years since I published a blog post.  I wrote a few, periodically, but they stayed drafts.  I haven't exactly been idle either.  I've made several bed quilts and art quilts and had some lovely quilt-time that I could have shared.  And I have really been missing the feeling of community I used to have when writing the blog regularly.  Which brings me to my question actually; should I continue with this blog where I left off?  Or just start a fresh one?  

I feel like blogs are coming back, and I really miss the interaction I used to share with you all.  I suppose there are other ways to get that interaction, but this is the way I have experience with.  I think either way, I will start blogging again to see what happens.  What I don't know is if this blog has any value.  What do you think?  Are any of my followers still out there?   Will it be weird for me to pick up where I left off even though my quilting focus has changed?  

If anyone is still receiving my signal, give me a sign.

Flexing my quilting muscles

 Anytime I have a lag in quilting time/mojo, it seems it takes one of two things to get me going again.  Either it is a good swap or it is a One Block Wonder quilt.  This time around, it was swapping that got me back in the studio in 2021.  

Starting in January, I started keeping my eye out for my favorite swap of the year - May the 4th, a Star Wars swap.  As the middle of March approached, it was looking like it wasn't going to happen and the previous host finally admitted that she wasn't going to do it this year.  I was bummed but still determined to do a swap when I saw a call out for the #booknerdswap.   Being a huge Book Nerd, I thought this swap would fulfill the itch to create.  Boy did it!  One of my partner's favorite books was The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis and one scene in which a boy named Eustace who had been turned into a dragon because of his selfish thoughts is transformed back into a boy with Aslan's help.  I reread the book and knew I had to attempt to interpret the scene.  This was the result:

I think it turned out pretty well.  I was most nervous about getting Eustace to look like a real boy.  Whether it is drawing or another medium, doing people intimidates me.  

About the time I was halfway finished with my Book Nerd swap mini, I got the news that the May the 4th swap would indeed happen, just with a new host.  I was ecstatic.  I got my partner's information and froze.  Turns out my partner's favorite character was one that I wasn't familiar with.  Here I thought I was a pretty up-to-date Star Wars fan but it turns out there are a bunch of aspects of the Star Wars multiverse that I was ignoring.  This realization led me down a rabbit hole that I am still exploring.  Initially, it had me binge-watching the entire Star Wars Rebels animated series to figure out who Kanan Jarrus was and why my partner thought he was so great.  Turns out the series is pretty good and Kanan is a worthy character.  I ended up making the below mini using the design aesthetics of Angela Bowman, a very talented quilter who often participates in the May the 4th swap.  She has done a bunch of foundation paper pieced quilts where she breaks up the image into a grid first.  If you have time, check out some of her amazing quilts on Instagram @angelabdesign.

I thought Angela's process would make the FPP easier - it did and it didn't.  I took the decision of where each piece should be out of my hands, but I still had some very complicated pieces in the middle of the quilt.  That also might have been my fault since I was pretty married to the design.  I do like how the finished quilt looks like you are viewing it through a piece of shattered glass.  I may have to revisit this technique again sometime (maybe with a simpler design though, lol).

I used over 30 colors of Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in this quilt, so my stash is now flush with different greens.  Those will come in handy later.

So now we get to the sad part.  As we were approaching the swap deadline, I made a joke about how I was secretly hoping my partner would disappear so I could keep the quilt I made.  Well, the universe answered.  My partner went MIA.  I really hope it wasn't due to some tragedy and that my partner isn't laying in a hospital bed somewhere or something else terrible happened.  Sadly, it is where my mind jumped to first given the state of things in the world today.  I really hope that is not the case.  

I was worried but also disappointed, selfishly, because I really wanted to know if my partner would be blown away by the effort I made to create a quilt so individualized to my partner's information.  It took me a few minutes to get over my selfish self and move on to the more immediate issue - because my partner went MIA, there was someone else out there waiting for a quilt.  I offered to be a quilt angel right away.  I had the time that week and I NEVER have a shortage of motivation and inspiration for Star Wars quilts.

My new partner's favorite character is Han Solo.  Oh my gosh, I was over the moon.  I love Han too!  Who doesn't?  And there are so many great ideas out there for Han (with and without Leia).  I settled on a graphic design by Rogan Voight and got to work.  

Surprisingly, this quilt came together so fast!  Bless the miracle of Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite!  Looking at a picture of the design, I drew out Han's face using similar shapes from the original design.  Of course, as I was quilting the quilt, I had the epiphany that I probably could have found a way to print out and trace the darn thing!  Yeah, sometimes my brain doesn't work great.  I think I got the eyes pretty close, but I know I was way off on the mouth.  Oh well, it still looks like Han... right (fingers crossed)?  

I quilted this mini with tiny little straight lines - about 1/8 inch or so.  I used Superior Thread's Monopoly for the first time.  I gotta tell you, it was SO much easier to use than similar products from other manufacturers that I've tried in the past.  I even once had one get all tangled up in my tension disks and swore off nylon monofilament until now.  I'm glad that I tried it and it worked out so well, especially since I think I will be needing invisible thread more in the future.  

There you have it.  Aslan and the dragon really stretched my quilting muscles the most.  Not only did I have to come up with an original design, but it also had me doing fabric collage again for the first time in years.  I want to be using that technique more in the future.

Kanan challenged my FPP skills.  I thought I was pretty good at paper piecing but there were a lot of little sections within that design that I struggled getting put together.  

With Han, it was my drawing skills that got challenged.  I am not very good with a pencil so I rely on breaking an image up into a grid and focusing on each section.  Doing it that way allows me to complete an image in a more abstract way and takes the pressure off me getting everything right and proportional from the get-go.  Then I can go in and trace the resulting shapes onto fusible and put them together to form the finished image.  Obviously, this system relies heavily on having an image to look at, to begin with.  I'm not sure when, if ever, I will be comfortable just drawing something from my head.  I hope that day will come.  For now, this is where I am on my artistic journey.

Until I have something more to share, have a good one!

 

Gouldian Finches - a finish!

At New Year's, I knew that there was no better way to get me back into the quilting grove than to join a swap.  The trouble was, that I hadn't really seen any swaps in my Instagram feed for a while.  I guess that is what happens when you are out of the loop for a couple of years, the players change and new people that I didn't follow had replaced them.  Luckily, I did find a swap and joined the Quilters for Koalas swap hosted by @shoppershaz_swaphost (who hosts quite a few swaps in case you are interested).  This particular swap was to benefit the wildlife affected by the fires in Australia and had an animal theme (preferably Australian animals).

Based on my partner's inspiration mosaic, it seemed she preferred paper pieced designs and liked birds in particular, so I went about trying to find something special for her.  Now, when I signed up for the swap, one of the questions the form asks you is your level of experience.  Instead of "beginner" or "expert", one of the choices was "Not much intimidates me", which is true for me, not necessarily because I am an expert, but more because I'll try anything, so that's what I put.  Why, oh why, did I take that as a personal challenge though???  I decided to create my own paper pieced pattern for my partner.......

I started with a beautiful photo by David Clode.  Then I traced the image, got my ruler out to straighten all the lines, etc. and eventually came up with a paper pieced pattern with zillions of little pieces.  Ok maybe not zillions, but probably close to a hundred per bird - zero stars, would not recommend.

Then I got to work.  I lucked out on the bird on the left.  I found the perfect piece to use as his eye, so instead of having 15 little seams there, I ended up fussy cutting what used to be the handle of a pair of scissors.  It worked perfectly.

Unfortunately, the bird on the right had a different eye, so I had to do a bunch of tiny seams there.

I also have a confession to make.  I had some difficulty quilting it!  It's been YEARS since I've quilted anything on my domestic machine and I'm embarrased to say that I am out of practice.  Plus, I didn't make things easier on myself by doing that jigsaw puzzle low volume background.  It created a ton of bulky seams that my machine was spectacularly finicky about.  As a result, the quality of the stitching is much lower than I would like.  I considered ripping it all out and starting over, but then realized that given those seams it was unlikely that I would do much better the second time around.  Hopefully, my partner will admire it from at least arm's length.  Fingers crossed that she likes it!!

One Block Wonder Updates

I made progress on my Fall OBW.




I got it all pieced together and started on the borders, only to run out of the solid black I was using, so I had to order more and am currently waiting on it to arrive.

In the meantime, I started on another (which I secretly like a whole lot more).





I've sewn together all the strips of partial hexagons, now I need to sew the strips together.  The good news is that I have all the border fabric I need to finish it up when I get to that stage, so hopefully, I will be able to finish this one up before the end of winter.

I am really loving this technique of using panels together with the OBW techniques!

Oh!  And thank you, Marlene, for the tip about the OBW Facebook group.  I did join up and I love seeing what everyone else is doing there.

I've also decided to join up with the APQ UFO Challenge.  I am supposed to work on Project #2 on my list which is my Van Gogh Cafe quilt.  I probably should have looked to see which number was chosen for January before I made my list.  That is the project that I am the least finished with on my list.  I only have the basic outline completed.  But, I guess it will be good for me to be encouraged to work on it.  After all, progress is progress.

Has it really been over two years since I've blogged?

Wow!  Yes, yes it has.

What happened?  Well, I got majorly burnt out.  Two years ago, I was preparing to be the featured quilter in our local quilt show and I was quilting, quilting, quilting to have enough to showcase.  Some of the projects I finished were intense!  Like this Aviatrix quilt:




I burned the midnight oil, the candles at both ends, burned rubber, etc., and completely burned myself out.  I could barely look at my studio and sewing machine afterward.  Taking a break turned into a year-long hiatus before I made a few feeble attempts at getting back into things.  At that point, I took a couple of classes to try to jump-start my inspiration and motivation, but only managed to finish one of the projects from one of the classes and almost completed another.



Then I thought, "Hey!  Maybe making a quilt for someone else will get back my mojo."  So, I took on this quilt:



I enjoyed making it, but I still didn't feel like I wanted to quilt regularly again - until now.

What fabulous project has woken me from my motivational hibernation, you ask?  Would you believe it is a One Block Wonder?  Yep, I'm going back to one of the first quilt design techniques I tried as a newish quilter.  My quilt guild formed a One Block Wonder group last month and I couldn't resist.  I went out and bought enough fabric to make 4 quilts and I've already cut up my first one!

By the way, can you imagine not even buying fabric for 2 years?  My husband probably thought he got an unexpected raise from all the extra money in our accounts.

This time around, I'm experimenting with using a panel for my OBW.  I got some fabulous tips and inspiration from Jackie O'Brien's website If These Threads Could Talk - gallery   OH My!  If you have time, please do check out her gallery.  She is an instructor of the technique and is very generous with her tips, some of which I wish I read before I started cutting my first panel.  There is also a new book out by the original author that shows how to do the technique, One-Block Wonder Panel Quilts

Here is a pic of my initial progress.  I am so excited to see how it turns out! 



Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

Cherrywood Fabrics Van Gogh challenge - a finish!

I have really enjoyed seeing the last two challenges hosted by Cherrywood Fabrics.  There was the Wicked challenge (see pics HERE) and last year, the Lion King challenge was phenomenal!

While at Road to California in January, I was intrigued with the idea of entering this year's challenge - inspired by Van Gogh.  But I don't think I actually purchased the fabric bundle until QuiltCon in February.  I lacked the confidence and was worried about lack of time as well.  In the end, the colors won me over.  Who could resist the lovely blues??

In true "Jen form", I waited until nearly the last minute to start my challenge piece.  I chose Van Gogh's "Starry Night over the Rhone" as my inspiration and got to work.  Here are some progression pics of the process I used.  I basically used the same technique as My Monet quilt, you can find the tutorial HERE, but I'm sure you will get the gist from the pics below.

My rough plan:



I like to draw out a rough plan, like a road map to see where I am going.




I started blocking in the background colors. I even kept some of the "fringe" edges where the fabric had been ripped.  I figured that rough edge would help me with a blended look along the horizon.



Finally, I started laying down the first "brushstrokes".  These were pieces of fabric fused with Steam a Seam Lite and then cut into random wavy strips.




I just kept adding more and more layers of these little pieces.




More and more layers of detail.  As you can see, I started with larger pieces and moved on to smaller pieces to add details.




Once everything was where I wanted it, I fused the pieces in place with my iron and started quilting in long wavy lines.




Normally, I would have added tulle to the entire quilt before quilting on top of those tiny fused pieces, but I wasn't sure if tulle was allowed in the challenge and I really didn't have time to find out.  Boy, does tulle make things easier!!!  It keeps all your pieces in place and lets the quilting foot just glide over everything.  Without the tulle, some of my fused pieces wanted to flip over and get caught.



In fact, I started free motion quilting this project, but after a few minutes of my pieces getting mangled by the foot, I switched up to my walking foot.  I ended up quilting nearly the entire quilt with my walking foot.




When I first started quilting, I was a little mad at myself for "ruining a perfectly good quilt with too much stitching", but as I added more and more layers and colors of thread, I felt that was in keeping with what I was trying to accomplish as Van Gogh inspired.  I love how it turned out in the end.




What do you think?

I found out today that my quilt was juried into the finalist group.  But I have to send it off to be judged and only then will I know if my quilt was accepted into the traveling exhibition.  I'll find out sometime next month.  I really have my fingers crossed.  I just think it would be so neat to have a quilt traveling around for a year to a bunch of shows!  I may not sleep until I know if it was accepted.

Thanks for reading today!  I hope you found it interesting.

Jen

Blowing off the dust

A finish!  And an old one at that.



I have had this one loaded on the longarm for months, just sitting there.  Waiting.  Waiting for me to feel like it. It's not even like I had to decide what to quilt.  I had already decided to try to do my first pantograph.  I just needed to find my sewing mojo again.

I am happy to report that I have found it!  After months of only going in my sewing room to find stuff that I put in there during the remodel, I have been sewing again.  I literally had to blow the dust off my machines and cutting table.  My first order of business was to finish up this Batik Tile quilt that was one of my oldest UFO's.  The pattern was "Tile Style" by Cheryl Rose Creations and was published in American Patchwork & Quilting back in 2010.  2010!!

One big boost to my sewing mojo was being asked if I wanted to be the featured quilter at our guild's annual quilt show in September.  While I am not sure yet if I have been chosen, I realized that if it happens, I better have some stuff to feature!  So, it has really lit a fire under me!  Now that my longarm is free, I've pulled out a few other finished or close to finished tops to do next.  I've also started piecing my Aviatrix Medallion quilt.  AND......I took a class on a technique that I am so excited to try out!!!  I don't want to tell you about it just yet (in case I fail miserably at it).

In other news, I finished the Whole 30 diet and am right in the middle of reintroducing different problematic foods.  I am still not 100% sure what was causing my issues, but I am feeling so much better.  I've also lost 9 pounds!  The diet was hard!!!  I didn't realize how much I eat to comfort myself or because I was bored.  Identifying these things has helped me though, and I can now recognize cravings vs. real hunger.  I do plan on trying to eat similarly to the diet going forward.

Yes, despite the difficulty, I recommend the diet.  I feel better, look better and I know I ate better.  I never starved myself.  In fact, I stuffed myself the entire time - but only with foods from the plan (meat, veggies, and fruit).  If you want to check it out, the book is It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig (Affiliate Link***).  If you have any questions, you can also email me.

Thanks for reading today!  Now back to work.....

Jen


***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Decisions - going forward

When I last posted, I was contemplating quitting the blog.   I'm not, but I am not going to continue in the same way that I was previously.

When I first started this blog, I was a different person.  Well, that's not exactly accurate.  I was a person with different things going on in my life.  In fact, when I started quilting and later this blog, I think I was still in my adjustment period in my transition to being at home full time.  I am not going to debate who does more - working moms or stay at home moms.  All I know is that when I first started being at home, I felt like I had some time to fill.  I filled that time with quilting and blogging.  Back then it was easier too, with small kids that napped or when to preschool for some of the day.

My life is no longer like that.  Sure, my kids go to school now,  And one would think I would have even more free time, but I have found new ways to fill my time and feel busier than ever.  Somehow, the time to quilt and blog has dwindled significantly.  While quilting has remained a "fun" and "relaxing" activity in my mind as something to do when I do get the chance.  Blogging has become more of an obligation, and that is not what is supposed to be.  I don't want you to read the negativity between the lines of any of my posts.  When I look back at the posts I've written in the last few months, all of them seem negative.  I want to get back to the upbeat and excited posts.....but I have to feel that way when I'm writing them in order for them to convey those feelings.

So....for now.....I am going to only blog when I feel that way; when I have something exciting to share; when I have some happy news tell you.  I'm also going to remind myself that a blog is supposed to be an online journal.  Somedays, I may have a lot to write.  Somedays I might have two lines.  Sometimes it might be hours between posts, others months.  (I think initially, my posts will be less frequent).  Basically, I'm going to write when I want to write.

Ironically, I have some things today that I am excited to share!!

First, we took a family trip to Italy for Spring Break and had a truly marvelous time.




I posted a bunch of pics on my Instagram feed during our trip, and I will probably make my Flickr album public shortly.

The trip was amazing.  The kids got along.  The adults got along.  We saw so many wonderful things.  We ate like kings.  We visited family.  And we had fun as a family.  It was excellent.  We are already talking about our next Spring Break.

Second, when we got back, I repacked my bags and went on a quilting retreat!  It was just what I needed.  I felt like I hadn't touched anything sewing related in months, and after a long journey, I needed a little down time to craft.

I finished up my Modern Quilt Guild Riley Blake Challenge.  I made this little mini:




It didn't turn out exactly like I envisioned, but I like it.  I think a couple of the ladies at retreat wanted to take it home with them.

I also took my Aviatrix quilt kit with me to start cutting.  I almost got through all the cutting before it was time to leave.  It was a LOT of cutting!!!  I have since finished up the cutting and will start piecing things together when I have some time.  I'm not rushing myself!

Third, I have started a new diet.  Typically, I am not one to diet.  However, I wasn't feeling very well before our trip and I had the feeling it was something that I was eating.  I felt great while in Italy, but they have different food requirements/laws and seemed to have a lot less processed food (we barely ate anything processed while there).  When I returned, within a day or two I was already not feeling great again.

I happened across a post on Facebook about the Whole 30 and looked into it.  The drastic reduction of food categories actually appealed to me.  You basically only eat meat, veggies, fruit and healthy fat.  No sugar, no dairy, no grains, no legumes, no alcohol.   I suppose I could have randomly chosen a few things in my diet to test if they were making me feel bad, but eliminating nearly everything for 30 days and slowly reintroducing things seems to be a better approach for me.   I don't care so much about weight loss, I just want my body to feel better and my brain to feel better about what I am eating.  Have any of you done the Whole 30?

I am only on Day 3, and I am already feeling better.  Not completely cured, but better all the same.   I hope that things continue.

That's it for now.  I can't tell you when my next post will be, but I hope you pop back by periodically to say hello.


Keep quilting!

Jen

100 Day Challenge - Finale!

Welcome to the finale of the 100 Day Challenge!  I hope everyone got loads of things accomplished (especially since I didn't)!

My 3 things:

1) Update the blog - I haven't done anything on this.  I must admit, I am considering taking a break from blogging altogether.  It is not that I don't enjoy blogging, it is more that I am so stretched on time lately.  I even find it difficult to remember to post the Building Blocks Tuesday link up each week.  I am currently on a bit of a Mom-cation and I intend to do some soul searching on this topic.  It may mean a short hiatus or just a transition to more infrequent posts.  When I return, I expect to have an answer.
2) Aviatrix Medallion Quilt - Life has gotten in the way big time lately, and I haven't moved much past getting the fabric out on this one.  However, I do have a quilting retreat coming up in a couple of weeks and this will be one of two projects I am going to bring, so progress is inevitable.
3) Finish Batik Tile Quilt - I loaded it on my longarm, and chose the thread, but then had a bunch of tension issues.  I've chosen an alternative, but just haven't gotten started yet.  So no progress since last check in.

Wow, so big fail on my part!  But I am not discouraged.  We have had a lot going on as a family since New Year's and it has been hard to keep up.  I can either choose to get down on myself or I can move forward.  I choose the later.

How did you do on your goals?  Link up your progress and then go cheer for someone else!

Thanks for participating!

Jen

Building Blocks Tuesday - hiatus

Building Blocks Tuesday is taking a break.

Thank you for your patience.

Jen

Sawtooth Stars still in progress - Building Blocks Tuesday

I'm still working on these Sawtooth Stars!  Got quite a few, but still need more.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie


***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Sawtooth marathon - Building Blocks Tuesday

And the Sawtooth Star marathon begins!



I finished up all the flying geese components for these Sawtooth Star blocks over the weekend and have been making about 10 stars a day since then.

This is what they look like so far:

The finished quilt will not be so heavy on the yellows/golds.  I just happened to start on those stars first.  The final quilt will have them more evenly distributed with other colors.

This is a commission project.  The recipient is planning on having the guests at her wedding sign the stars and then I will assemble it as a nice keepsake of the occasion.  I love the idea and wish I had thought of it for my wedding.


What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie


***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!