Go with it!

Inspiration took me on a lovely creative adventure with a rather circuitous route, that (not surprisingly) landed me in my scrap stash for some instant gratification sewing. 

I have this thing for making scrappy blocks.  Especially if I get to use bright colours paired with low volume fabrics. Maybe it's a phase. Maybe it's just ME.  Time will tell...

Several elements (and people) brought inspired me to a mad dash to my sewing machine.

No surprise, I just couldn't resist going as scrappy as I could with this second version of the block!

First, I was struck by the beauty of a photo of some purple cone flowers, taken by Sharon Holland, the colours so lush and vivid that they were vibrating with energy!  This, in turn, triggered my memory of having a flower block set aside in  my "must sew one day" folder, one that could mimic the look of a cone flower.  A delightful, simple patchwork flower block with large petals, designed by Lori Holt.  The final inspirational influence that prompted my action?  Remembering the  most beautiful quilt using this block, made by  Dana Bolyard.  It's jaw dropping gorgeous!

I love and appreciate the creative talents of these women and the countless others that  share those talents with the rest of us.  I also enjoy how creativity can be sparked and spread, which is why I love the times when I just follow that energy and see what happens.  It's magic!

**Edited to add** Here's the link to the page where you can find the Zinnia block for sale as a downloadable PDF pattern. Enjoy!

Made Mine Scrappy

Guess what? All those scrappy blocks that I have been sharing in previous posts have become a quilt top!

I had the most fun using my scrap stash to sew the free block designs in the Community Sampler sew along (hosted by the talented and lovely Art Gallery Fabrics designers;  Sharon Holland and Maureen Cracknell). 

 Working from my scrap stash, I selected a mix of low volume fabrics to frame each block. It just so happened that I still had a few special low volume fabrics from a swap that were the perfect size!

Low volume scraps were pieced to make the inner borders and then for the outer borders, I altered the design so that I could have little pops of colour (and a larger quilt top).

The trickiest part is photographing a finished quilt top! Lucky for me, I stumbled upon the idea of hanging the freshly completed top over the window, which happens to show off all the extra piecing that went into my version.

It's easier to see the areas that I pieced from tiny scraps to make my blocks unique. Check out how tiny some of the scraps are!

The above block, Square dance,  has lots of extra piecing that went into it - the original design has a single fabric for the center (which is an 8.5" square).  Held up against the light, you can see that I made four log cabin style blocks in low volume scraps and then added a quarter of a circle (also pieced from scraps) to one corner of each of these.  I love the secondary pattern that I created by doing this extra design and piecing.

Pieced entirely from scraps and full of happy colours, this quilt will be a wonderful reminder of a time of transition in my life - the unexpected move and then the amazing summer rental on the mountain.

Life higher up

This week marked one month since we've been renting on the mountain.  We have watched the record breaking amounts of snow that fell this winter, mostly melt off during that time as we experienced some gorgeous warm weather. However, it is a mountain that is home to a ski resort, so at this elevation, rain can become snow - which is exactly what we awoke to, yesterday morning!

 The sky was so heavy with precipitation, we couldn't even see the Okanagan valley, as the snow came down, fast and furious.  It was a brief white out of snow!

The view from the windows in our living/kitchen area in the morning May 30/18.

It was beautiful! I knew the snow wasn't going to stay, so it didn't bother me to see it coating the trees and cocooning us. 

The view from the dining room table (where I have my sewing machine set up).

The views are changing and always inspiring. It is one of my favourite things about renting here. I am grateful for this temporary home and love being able to step right out into Nature.  It is so peaceful and we are doing our best to make the most of this opportunity - hikes are becoming a daily treat, allowing us to commune with the rhythms of the season at a higher elevation.

An evening view from the deck off our living room. If you look off into the distance, you can see Kalamalka Lake ( it's that bright area in the valley and one of two large lakes that the city of Vernon is blessed with).

Besides enjoying the great outdoors, I have also been making time to work on my final blocks for the Community Sampler sew along hosted by the talented and lovely Art Gallery Fabrics designers;  Sharon Holland and Maureen Cracknell.  You couldn't ask for more supportive and helpful guides for quilting!  The blocks can be found on their blogs as free PDFs for you to download, along with tips to help you achieve the best results.

Here are my versions of the final three blocks for the quilt I'm making in the Community Sampler sew along.  Each one has been made using scraps from my stash!

Block 9 of 11; Double - T, for Community Sampler sew along.

Rather than use a single fabric square in the center of this block, I chose to piece some of my tiny low volume fabric scraps into a square.  It always makes me happy when I find fun ways to use up even the smallest bits of fabric!

Block 10 of 11; New Four Patch, for the Community Sampler sew along.

This block kept me busy digging through my scraps to find just the "right" colours to mix! ;o)

Block 11 of 11; Sawtooth for the Community Sampler sew along.

The final block of the sew along is actually a half block as the quilt layout has the blocks on point, so each row of blocks needed a half block (the other 2 half blocks were made in week 4 of the sew along).

Here's a mock up of the blocks (you will notice that the 4th block is actually a half block, so it has 2 places in the mosaic). The final layout may change and of course the blocks won't be positioned like this as they are place on point in the final design. I may move things around a bit, but love seeing all the blocks gathered in a mosaic to see how the colours are working with one another.

Late yesterday, I started playing with possible layouts and auditioning fabrics for the background.  Lots of fun! It's a bit different doing a layout without the aide of a design wall - so I laid my blocks out on our bed to help me with placement.  This worked pretty well and I took several pictures, which gives me another perspective when deciding if I have a layout that works nicely.  I am getting so excited to start piecing this top together!  Guess what I'm going to set aside time to work on this weekend? ;o)

My new sewing set up

This week I finally got back to sewing blocks for the Community Sampler sew along!

I do not have a sewing room in the home we're renting here on the mountain, but I have the most incredible view from the dining room table where I set up one of my Singer featherweights.

Block 7 of 11; Weathervane, for the Community Sampler sew along.

 The scenery is absolutely stunning and inspiring.  I am loving it!

Block 8 of 11; Morning Star, for the Community Sampler sew along.

I have been thoroughly enjoying stitching up my signature bright colours mixed with low volume fabrics for some scrappy blocks.  

Here's a peek at all the blocks I have stitched so far. This is not the final layout, but a good way for me to view the mix as I select fabrics for the next block (especially as my first 6 blocks haven't been unpacked yet ;o). Hopefully, I will complete the final blocks before the weekend is over, so that I can get the top assembled.  The sew along has progressed to adding borders to the quilt top and I would love to catch up!  Looks like that along with sewing like crazy, I will need to unpack my first blocks and some fabric for setting the blocks (oh, and my large quilt ruler would be pretty handy to have, too!).  Wish me luck!  Happy weekend!

Catching my breath

Life has been a whirlwind of activity, with lots of changes happening. The biggest is the unplanned and unexpected move that came at the end of April. The news from our landlord came days ahead of a month long (working away from home) departure and it admittedly left me a little dazed.  I immediately had thoughts of cancelling the trip!  The timing meant I would have about six weeks to pack our household and find a new place for our family, without help from my husband - who continued to work away from home until about a week before our move.

I think I am finally starting to slow down a bit and catch my breath after so much change in such a short time-span!

Block 1 of 11 in the Community Sampler, is Kitty Corner.