Welcome to the final day (and my day) of the Quilt Qwazy Queens (QQQ) Blog Hop. A huge thank you to Joan of Moosestash Quilting for hosting this very fun blog hop! If you haven’t checked out her blog, please do so. She is very talented and has a great sense of humor, which is most definitely needed in today’s world! She is also doing posts about making small items celebrating Silly Holidays of the year, as well! And, if you missed the first few days of the blog hop, you can find the schedule there so you can visit those you’ve missed.
Speaking of our crazy world, we are in our second week of self quarantine here in Alabama. This is also spring break for many of our students – and our beaches are closed!! My daughter is an SLP with our city school system which is a good thing that she is out when the kiddos are. My SIL is in tech support with our county government, and they usually go to the beach during spring break – or somewhere – but everything is closed, so that’s not working out for them. The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 rises each time our Department of Public Health does an update. As of this writing we are at 196, and our first case was just diagnosed just 10 days ago. It’s scary times, so all of you stay safe. At least we can sew and quilt and craft, right?!! I guess I’ll be working on their taxes next week, in addition to playing in my stash!! My DH is a DBA (data base analyst) and we are so blessed that he can work from home. Now, lets get our giggle on!!
We had one directive for this blog hop – create something to make us laugh, and though the sign ups happened before COVID-19, the hop timing couldn’t have been better! I have been eye-balling a pattern for some time, and I thought this would be the perfect time to make it! My pattern is by Emily of Aunt Em’s Patterns! I LOVE everything about this pattern, but needed to make a few changes to make it work for me!! While I love the pieced letters, I’m lazy…and I have an embroidery machine! LOL By the way, Emily also has some awesome handmade soaps on her Etsy shop, Aunt Em’s Place, as well.
After purchasing it, I emailed Emily to be sure the changes I wanted to make to it would be acceptable to her. Upon receiving her OK, I proceeded to make the following adjustments: I downsized everything and instead of piecing the letters, I machine embroidered them and rearranged the sheep and words a little. I wanted a smaller quilt so that I can hang it in my studio!! Instead of piecing everything about the sheep, I made their tails and heads applique and added fun, googly eyes to them!! I LOVE batiks, so instead of taking the time to tie-dye some PFD fabric, I decided to use batiks in “my colors!!” So here is my finished project!!
Quilt Stats:
Size: @24-1/2 x 28-1/2 inches
Fabrics: Background: Raise the Volume – Capsules White Noise White; “Tie-dyed” Sheep and Borders: Artisan Batiks – Inspired by Nature Sunflowers Nature, face fabric is Lilac & Sage Toile Lavender Copper Pearl Metallic; Black Sheep are from my scrap bag, face fabric is Interlude – Texture Light Gray (these fabrics from Missouri Star Quilt Co.
Thread: Piecing: 50 wt Cotton Mako Dove Gray from Aurifil (my favorite for piecing!); Quilting: Superior Thread Rainbows #40 Wt #801 Jester and Superior Magnifico #2001 (white).
Quilting: Two layers of Quilter’s Dream 80/20 batting, free motion, ruler work, and Pro-Stitcher half feathers.
Black Sheep blocks are 4×4 inches and tie-dyed sheep is 8×8 inches.
So what are you all doing to stay sane in our crazy world? This week I’ll be linking up with Home Sewn By Us’s To-Do List Tuesday linky as I work on the following:
1. Begin cutting out a quilt for our guild challenge (yeah – pattern and panels came last week!)
2. Pull jelly rolls for youth fundraiser quilt and begin sewing strips together.
3. Either bravely venture out (EEK!) to purchase some fabric to complete the above said quilts OR order
online, though I prefer to support my LQSs if they are open.
I hope my little quilt gave you a giggle – or at least a smile! This was SEW much fun to make – and really is me!!! I’m definitely the Tie-Dyed (Batik!) One! And now I invite you to hop on over to my fellow bloggers and check out what they created to make us laugh. Here is today’s schedule:
Tuesday, March 24th
Songbird Designs (you are here!)
Bumbleberry Stitches
Quilting Gail
Just Because Quilts
Patchwork Breeze
MooseStashQuilting (our host!)
“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
I think this quote says it all. Now, let those creative juices inside of you find fabric and needle, brush and paint, or your preferred medium, and create something beautiful!!
Until next time, stay safe and healthy, and…
Yes, this self quarantine is awful here in Alabama. So many are sick and have died. ‘Love those tye-dyed sheep! That would describe me as well.
Seriously cute and funny! In my case, it’s also true! 😉 Thank you for visiting – I’m so glad to see your awesome post! It’s just right for these times!
Love this so much, both the original inspiration and your version! One of my best friends from college wears tie-dye all the time. He wore a tie-dye shirt to my wedding! With a suit jacket over it. Friends who didn’t know him thought it was odd, I thought it was the best! Totally made me think of him. Thanks for the smile!
Aunt Em’s pattern is a wonderful place for you to jump from. Your version is terrific and so you. Great interpretation.
Love it! Looks like you had a ton of fun making the design your own. Thanks for sharing!
Love both the original design and your tweaks to allow you to make it with your resources. This project will be so much fun for you to have around the home, the eyes are just perfect!
Just love your tie dyed sheep – that’s something to aspire to!
What a cute quilt – a wonderful design. The changes you made are perfect. Don’t tell Aunt Em, but I think yours is actually cuter. Ssssh!
This is cute! It made me laugh!
That is really funny! I am the black sheep in the family depending on the family member your talking too. lol
That is too funny, and that is me…
This quilt is so cute and so me…love it! It is beautiful in the fabrics you chose and your quilting is fabulous. Thank you, thank you for sharing this wonderful smile worthy quilt!
Your version of this quilt is so adorable. Thanks for helping to put a smile on our faces as we live in these unusual times.
I agree with Joan, this fits me to a T also… Such a cute quilt and so much fun. It’s great that the pattern designer let you change it up and it looks wonderful. I had a big smile on my face with this one. You’ve done the last day of the hop justice, thanks for sharing today Brenda.
Love your batik version!
Brenda, your quilt is darling and completely you!! Thank you for the smile you brought to my face today! I’ve made changes to designers’ patterns before, but never thought to ask their permission…oops!! I’m with you…if you can embroider those words, do it!!
Oh Brenda, you have certainly made us laugh today. This is just so fitting for me! LOL!!
I do believe I have to go pattern shopping now. tee hee. Thanks for brightening up our day!
Your quilt made me chuckle. I can definitely relate. In fact, I have a fridge magnet that says ‘who says I want to fit in?’ 🙂
Thanks for participating in such a fun hop.
On today’s list – brave the pharmacy, hoping I can get a prescription and some vitamins, put up a hot air balloon planter in the solarium, and do some kind of craft. Not sure what as I have no mojo right now. Silly, because a creative outlet is one thing that will get us all through this.
Oh my goodness, Yes many giggles. I love your version. Thanks for sharing.
So fun, thank you.
Good morning, Brenda! Oh wow, you made some c.u.t.e. and fun changes to the pattern. Your embroidery letters look fab . . . especially the tie-died ones. And the sheep eyes!! How cute are those sheep?! You did indeed make me smile, and you also make me want to make this pattern. Thanks for sharing the link! Thank you also for linking up today. Good luck with your to-do list. I enjoy sewing jelly roll strips together, either as a leader/ender or just outright. Stay healthy and safe. It is my school’s Spring Break as well, and I think there is no traveling in anyone’s plans. ~smile~ Roseanne
Brenda that is just too cute! As a knitter, I love sheep and I would certainly be the tie dyed one too, lol!!!
Too fun! Thanks for the chuckle.
Your quilt is lovely, and funny, and definitely made me smile! Your choice of fabric was perfect.
I can relate to this! What a great little quilt! I love the original pattern, but your tweaked one using the embroidery machine is adorable! The perfect size, too! You definitely made me giggle! Your googly-eyed sheep are hilarious!