Summer ABC Bloom Stitchalong

Rarely one to purchase a kit for a quilt or an embroidery sampler or whatever, I couldn't resist when I saw Dropcloth's new Limited Edition Summer ABC BLOOM Stitchalong Kit. I do love a stitchalong, and I was especially intrigued by this mystery project that will eventually become a needle roll. Honestly, I didn't know what that was and had to look it up!

The kit included:

• One Printed ABC Bloom Sampler, an alphabet garden themed design exclusive to the kit
• One Hand Printed Piece of Silk Organza 
• Bias Tape
• 2 Vintage Buttons
• Pendleton Wool Felt

The stitchalong just started last week while I was on vacation, so I need to catch up! But I did get my fabric all hooped up, so I'm ready to go. The piece of organza I got has the printed design very near the edges, so it won't show in my finished work much. But I'm still curious to see how the layers stitch up together. Oh, and I did back my sampler with SF101, as it will be used in a project, so we'll see how that goes. Meanwhile, I've pulled some threads - Wonderfil #8 perle cotton, which I'll use double-thickness - to start stitching those stems and leaves. I'm anxious to get started!

Additional PNQFAM Exhibits

Before I left on vacation, I was able to share about the Seattle MQG "I Heard It On the Radio" quilt exhibit being shown at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum. But there were also two other exhibits on display when we visited, and I thought you might enjoy seeing just a few pictures from each of those.

First, from Victoria Findlay Wolfe @victoriafindlaywolfe, the pieces displayed were quite different from others I'd seen in the past, yet representative of her current work.

Note that Better Days, shown below, is hung in front of a window. I'm very curious if that was done intentionally. See all the small circles in the background? That is actually the backing fabric showing through. 

And from Terrie Hancock Mangat @terriehancockmangat....

I really appreciated seeing the work of these two artists while we were at the museum. Note that both exhibits will be there a while longer, so if you are in the area, be sure and stop in!

Calendar Cascade Catch Up

Back a few months when I began piecing my Calendar Cascade quilt, Seattle MQG's 2025 BOM, I didn't expect to wait quite so long to revisit the project. But time flew by, and finally I managed to catch up and make rows for May, June, and July.

Each month's assignment doesn't exactly match up with the actual month of the year when it's released. Remember, count how many shapes are in a specific row and that will tell you what month it's for - one for January, two for February, etc. So our assignments so far:

• February - make rows for January and April
• March - make rows for July and August
• April - make row for May
• May - make row for February
• June - make row for December
• July - make row for October 

Thus, we're actually 2/3 of the way through the year's rows! The bottom row for December shown above will actually receive borders along the top and bottom edges, once I order a bit more fabric. So I'll add that one day soon. Meanwhile, let's see if I can keep up a little better going forward.

"I Heard It On the Radio" PNQFAM Artist Reception

 I Heard It On the Radio

Seattle Modern Quilt Guild

June 11 - August 3, 2025

Back in December, I shared about the Seattle MQG "I Heard It On the Radio" challenge exhibit being displayed at the KEXP Gathering Space in Seattle. Well, it was our good fortune to have the exhibit shown again at the local (about an hour from my home)  Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum in La Connor, WA. The Artist Reception was last Saturday, and happily my husband and I were able to attend.

The quilt shown above is Golden Blunders, inspired by Golden Blunders by The Posies, created by Christa Poel. I wasn't able to get photos of the entire exhibit, but have several of the quilts shared below. If you want to see more, be sure and look back at my post from December.

And finally, here is my entry on the left, Surrounds, inspired by Seattle by Perry Como. 

I guess I got a little distracted, and didn't get close-ups of the two quilts hanging next to mine, but here are the cards hanging next to them, Major Tom in the center, and The Neon Lights Are Bright on the right. Hopefully you can zoom in a bit and see them better. Totally missed getting a photo of my card, darn.

Anyway, that was very fun! Surrounds will be coming home in August, but it was really a joy to participate in this challenge with nearly 40 of my guild mates. Thankfully Beth @goolaffgirl got good shots of the entire exhibit, so check out her post if you'd like to see more.

Effervescence

Started back in January of this year, my Effervescence quilt is done! 

Following along with Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl and the Effervescence Quilt Along, I found it easy to keep up, and once my quilt top was done, I was anxious to jump right in on making a pieced quilt back.

Honestly, I put more into it than I originally expected, but I'm totally fine with that. Besides the scraps I started with, I kept making more scraps while piecing the back, so I tried really hard to incorporate those too. In fact, when I first thought I was done with the back, I noticed two HSTs hanging out on the design wall that I'd forgotten about, and yes I took the time (just 20 minutes!) to get my seam ripper out and get those final HSTs pieced in. Just that bit gave me the energy I needed to trim threads, repress the back and front, and get that thing basted! 

As for a quilting design, I settled on using  Jacquie Gering's "Fancy Straight Line" from her WALK book, which I've used many times with great result. With so many vertical lines, as well as angles in Effervescence, I thought they would look good together. Thread was a little more difficult choice. I knew I didn't want to color-match throughout the quilt, so I finally was inspired by the lime-ish Kona Sprout used through the middle of quilt, and chose Aurifil 50wt 7001 [Neon Yellow].

For binding, I chose four Kona solids - Pickle, Sprout, Caribbean, and Tangerine.

Finished, the quilt measured 56" x 72" and I feel such a sense of accomplishment having it finally done. Plus I just really really like it!

Many thanks to Yvonne for her terrific pattern inspired by her improv design, a fun quiltalong, and her inspiring palette. I thoroughly enjoyed it all.

Linking up with Quilting Jetgirl's Effervescence QAL {Final Linkup}.

Linking up with Quilting Jetgirl's Favorite Finish {July 2025}.

Trying Out Embroidered Handwriting

Recently, I purchased Laura Hartrich's @laurahartrich on-demand class, Embroidered Handwriting, with a bit of an idea of how I'd be using what I learned. First off, though, I needed to do a little sample or test of the different style options, and see which I wanted to move forward with.

After trying all three styles - block text, backstitch text, and cursive text - I decided I was most comfortable with the backstitch method. (Pretty obvious, right?) So stay tuned, and we'll see if my idea pans out....

Improv for Everyone :: The Scrapbuster Edition

Last Saturday, I was able to join the Improv for Everyone workshop with Maria Shell @mariashellquilts, The Scrapbuster Edition. 

This was the third Improv for Everyone (AKA budget-priced) workshop I've taken with Maria - the others being On the Grid and Perfectly Pointless. One of the first methods of using scraps mentioned in this workshop was that of the repeated unit or block inspired by a traditional block design. 

This caught my imagination and when I thought of combining my teal solids scraps with my basket of low-volume scraps to make improv plus blocks, I was off and going.

Seriously, I love these so much. I could have kept going and going.

I had to leave the workshop early, so there may be more scrappy ideas that I add to this bunch, but right now, I'm totally invested in making more of these plus blocks and using them together. I've been mulling over what scrappy quilt to make next, and this just might be it.

So for now, I'm just noting the start of this exploration. Time will tell where it takes me - and how long the teal scraps hold out. So no specific plan at this point. Just enjoying the improv and the scraps until I don't.

You Me We

Our July Bee Sewcial @beesewcial prompt is from Jen @jen.broemel, YOU ME WE. Using a palette primarily of bright reds, pinks, and oranges, Jen asked us to "make two 13” x 13” blocks in your signature style or how you most enjoy making." Fun, right? 

Then we're to cut our 13" x 13” blocks into quarters so that Jen will have 8 square(ish) blocks from each of us that she can quilt and embroider upon (her signature style). Here's my first block, 13" square, and then cut into 6.5" blocks.

For my second block, I started with all of the scraps from making me first - something I love to do after any project.

So that was a very fun prompt! I just know that Jen's quilting and embroidery on all of our blocks will take them to the next level!