I'm so happy that Carla from Creatn' In the Sticks thinks of great blog hops at the best times! Let's share some Sunshine!
Stitching Sunshine!
I hope you had a few minutes to check out yesterday's posts. I'll share the list at the bottom, so you can go back. I also encourage you to visit today's bloggers, and see how they chose to spread some sunshine and inspiration. And check with Carla each day for the daily list this week.
I've been making lots of really big quilts, and haven't made many table runners lately, so my goal when this hop was announced was to use some of my large stash of prints I've purchased over the years to make this design. I love how the Ribbon Star block looks when it joins another. I've made this same pattern (my own) a number of times, and love how it looks. This time I picked fabrics that reminded me of sunny days, blue skies, lemonade, and yellow roses. Okay, and a chocolate cupcake, too.

The Lemon print is an older one from Hoffman. I paired it with the blue with silvery feathers, a white tone on tone, and a yellow swirl fabric. I wanted to emphasize the blue in this one, so turned the blocks so the blue would continue and twist around the center block of lemon fabric. I quilted it with Warm and White batting, and an all-over floral design. It's pieced with Aurifil 50wt, and the bobbin has Aurifil 40-3, the top thread is Superior King Tut, which I'm trying to use up, but the variegated light blue gives a nice accent to the design. I'm hoping that Aurifil starts adding more colors and variegated threads to the 40-3 line.



The second runner, same block, same blue and white fabrics, uses an old yellow rose print. The yellow is an older Island Batik fabric I received in an Ambassador box. You know I had to use Island Batik for at least part of this, right?? This was also pieced with Aurifil 50wt, and quilted with the same King Tut, with 40-3 in the bobbin. I used more scraps of batting, which makes me very happy.
For this one, I used the Funky Roses panto for quilting, and wanted the yellow to twist. When you see the runners next to each other, you can see the difference playing with the block makes.
It's the same block, same color order, just placed one turn to the right. That's why I love making this design. I usually try to pick the first border to play up the twist color. I also play with blocks in the corners of each border. All the triangle block pieces were cut on my Accuquilt GO! machine. It makes it so fast, and no trimming needed for the blocks.



I'm happy to say that I also got a number of other runners, a mini quilt, a flag, and some mug rugs quilted at the same time. I had a piece of wide backing that was only about 62" wide. I think I had purchased a few yards at once, and this was left from 2 other quilts. So, I loaded that, found batting scraps to match each piece, and layered them as they fit on the backing. I did have to change threads a few times, because the pieces were different colors, but I feel I accomplished a lot, especially since I didn't have to load new backing each time. I'll share photos of the rest as soon as I finish the binding. It felt so good to have a sunny day, glass of lemonade and bouquet of yellow roses, as well as be productive with a number of UFOs.
I want to remind you to just sew something, by hand, or machine, either quilting, piecing or garment, for at least 10 to 15 minutes a day, and add the hashtag #JustSewJune. I'm cheering everyone one. Post on Instagram or Facebook, please. It really does make you feel good to be productive and relax into the hum of stitching for just a few minutes. You can of course sew for more than 15 minutes.
Let me know what you sew!
I'll have a little gift of some fabric next week for anyone who leaves a comment on this blog post. Maybe it will be enough to motivate you to Just Sew! I'll cover shipping to US addresses, so if you live elsewhere, and want to cover the additional cost of shipping, let me know when your name is picked by Random.org.
And here's the list of yesterday and today's bloggers. Go spread some sunshine, then sew something!
Monday, June 22nd
Tuesday, June 23rd
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Maryellen