Watercolor Card

What do you do when you live ten miles from town and need a special sympathy card during the Covid-19 stay-at-home order? You DIY-it and paint one!

Pretty spring florals always invoke love in my mind and the perfect way to send my love for special family members during an especially difficult time. The time painting this morning was a welcomed creative outlet for me and I hope it brings some moment of joy for the recipients.

~Sharla

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Joining The Face Mask Making Crowd

Today I decided to make a few face masks to send to my daughter and her family. I had visited with our local health care facilities when this pandemic became urgent the middle of March and they did not have a need at the present for sewn masks. But, now that the general population is asked to wear sewn masks in public, I decided to make a few for my family.

I kind of followed the general directions provided by See Kate Sew blog here. This pattern provides a pocket on the inside to add additional filter material if desired. I added a pipe cleaner across the top for a nose piece in the masks I made.

And then I modified it to make a couple of smaller masks for my grandsons. I used elastic instead of ties because I thought it would be easier for them to put on and take off.

Are you making masks? What's your favorite pattern? Please share any tips you might have!

~Sharla

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Q1 2020 Finish-A-Long Finishes Deadline

Today - Wednesday, April 8 - is the deadline to post your 1st quarter finishes for the Finish-A-Long. This year the FAL has made some changes and all finishes are to be posted on Instagram with the hashtag #2020FALQ1Finish. If you have questions, please refer to my 2020 Finish-A-Long page here.

As for me, I only finished one of my projects and I can't even show it because it will be an upcoming Moda Bake Shop project. But I can't wait to see all of your finishes so hurry and get them posted today!

~Sharla

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Temperature Quilt - Month 2

As I was downloading the temperatures for March this morning, I realized I never shared my February block for my temperature quilt.

In the photo, the left block is January and the right block is February. I did correct the first day of January where I accidentally used the wrong fabric for the low. I ended up just ripping out that day and was able to insert the high and low in without remaking the whole section. Yay!!! Nobody but me would have known it was wrong but it would have bugged me forever if I didn't fix it.

I am amused that we entered and exited February with the same high and low temps. And see that one orange triangle? That is the day we broke the high temperature record with a 79 degree official reading (it actually hit 80 at our farm). On February 2!

I sat up until 2 a.m. the other night working on an inspiration I had for the layout of this quilt. I'm still refining the design but excited with how it's working out. 

And lastly, I was excited to see that the Modern Quilt Guild is going to have a temperature quilt exhibit at QuiltCon 2022! That gives me incentive to keep working on this project and get it finished before entries are due in July 2021.

Stay safe and healthy out there!

~Sharla

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Moda Block Heads: Blocks 5-8

I'm trying to get caught up on my Moda Block Heads blocks today and realized I haven't shown my second month of blocks here yet. 

I'm trying to be caught up each month by our quilt guild meeting so I can share them at our show & tell. So far, so good. 


I substituted this block for the Block 5 Love block. I just didn't think it fit into the quilt I have envisioned. I shared my Love block that I turned into a mini quilt here. This was a substitute block that Lisa Bongean shared for the 4" Block 4. I enlarged the pattern for my 6" block. I love the little fussy cut dress in the center of this block! Not sure I'm wild about the striped fabric but it'll be ok in the overall scheme of things. As they say, don't sweat the small stuff!

This is Block 6 - Magic by Lisa Bongean. Using my Triangulations 3.0 CD by Brenda Henning makes it easy to make accurate little half square triangles. I'd hate to attempt it without some kind of paper piecing assistance! 

This is Block 7 by Lissa Alexander called Zest. Lissa's pattern was for one large heart but I decided to reduce the pattern and make four small hearts and pieced them together for this 6" cutie.


And here's Block 8, a 9-patch block by Laurie Simpson. I fussy cut the center block and fussy cut the rectangles on the four sides of the center block. You can't really tell that they are a dresden plate in the center and stacks of suitcases in the four side blocks. Oh well, it still adds some dimension to the block I think.

Outside the sun is shining but the wind is howling! How is everyone doing with the social distancing and self quarantining thing? I've got enough sewing to keep me busy for the next number of years so I don't think this will be too bad - unless we run out of food (although I need to get back on my diet anyway!). Stay safe and keep healthy!

~Sharla

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Apron Strings Fabric

Squeee! I got some happy mail today! It was 5 yards of linen fabric that I designed and printed at Spoonflower! It's called Apron Strings.

In April (barring any postponements due to the coronavirus), I am giving a presentation on the history of aprons. My mom and I have amassed over 70 vintage aprons over the last year and have at least one sample for each decade from 1900 through 1970. I've researched styles and trends, histories on companies that sold aprons and apron kits, and gathered vintage patterns and catalogues featuring aprons. I'm hoping this presentation goes above and beyond the typical apron program people have given.

I've purchased a portable umbrella clothes line to hang the aprons on and I'm working on a backdrop to hang additional aprons for display. I'll have a table for the printed material, such as patterns and catalogues, and that is where I ran into trouble. I wanted a tablecloth for the table that fit the apron theme but couldn't find any fabric that had aprons on it. So, what's an aspiring fabric designer to do? Of course, I designed my own fabric!

I wanted it to have a 50's vibe, so I drew aprons from that era and placed them on a background of cream polka dots on my favorite color of vintage green (well, almost my favorite color of green, it's a little bit more mint than jadeite, but I like it). Although it's hard to tell from the photo, the print is rather large, with each apron 3"-4" tall with 1/2" polka dots. 

I decided while I was ordering fabric, to order enough to make a 54" x 120" tablecloth for the refreshment table also. Can't wait to see it all together! I'll share more later....

~Sharla

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BMH3 Love Mini Quilt

A couple of weeks ago I shared my 'love' block from the Moda Blockheads 3 sew along. Today I'm sharing my finished Love mini quilt. 

A couple of weeks after Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chick shared her Love block in the MBH3 sew along, Lissa Alexander (a.k.a. Moda Lissa - Moda's Marketing Director) shared a heart block she called Zest. I decided to add a few hearts to my Love block, even including the clipped corner HSTs from the hearts, and made a mini quilt. This last week I quilted and bound my 16" x 17" mini quilt.

I love the sewing themed backing fabric! Gives off a little badass biker chic vibe. And I actually remembered to add my label before binding! Too bad Valentine's Day is past. Now I'll have to wait a whole year before I can enjoy it.

Happy Quilting!
~Sharla

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