2020 Monthly Color Challenge quilt top

 It's the end of the 2020 Monthly Color Challenge and I have a quilt top!

This month's color was red and, due to the size of my fabric pieces, I reversed my dark and light reds.

The linkup at Jen's blog is still open this weekend to give you a chance to win one of the amazing prizes she gathered for this quilt along.

Jen has also supplied a setting for the blocks which is fantastic! Go see! Challenge Layout

I used stash for my fabrics and didn't have enough of most to make a go of her setting so I decided to try out my Summer Sampler setting pattern instead.

It made for a really big quilt! I like how picking the neutral colors for the setting makes the colors pop but also ties them together.

You can find the Summer Sampler Setting pattern in my online shop.

Happy to have a quilt top finish already in 2021!

Jen is doing it all again this year with a theme of veggies to inspire her color choices. January's block is already available so you can start today :)

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Finishes in 2020

 It's been hard this year to keep track of time and accomplishments. I'm so grateful that I had this time off to look back on what I finished this year. 

I started the year with a mini quilt for my word of the year. Who knew how much I would need to believe this year!

I kept the rainbow theme going in February with this fun pincushion! It was one of my featured projects for my posts on QUILTsocial. You can find all the links in this blog post:

Rainbow pincushion and lucky thread catcher

I made and finished this Oh My Stars quilt in February and March. It was my guild's fun day project. This quilt has stayed in my house and is currently on my daughter's bed.

My daughter came home for a bit earlier in the year. We made a quilt together! This rainbow quilt lives with her and definitely was a highlight of my quiltmaking this year. You can read more about it and see that it has another quilt as it's backing - from 2015!

Time to create again with the PFAFF performance icon which led to this fun modern quilt. I played with the radiating stitches and used a story to help me quilt it. You can find the links and see closeups of these happy stitches in this post.

Modern Baby Quilt

At some point I also finally quilted my Bunny Lady quilt. This was a 10 year old UFO - I know I have more from 10 years ago that still need finished but this post is about finishes so we won't go there ;)

I tried free-motion quilting this year, thanks to the features on the PFAFF performance icon. This heart cushion cover was a fun challenge for me. 

Cushions are a quick finish! This one was fun too - a free block and one of my new patterns combined for a summer project. 

Quiltblockmania - Sleeping Under the Stars

In August I hosted my first Sew Joy Sew Along and finished another quilt.

The Dropping In quilt is a quick project and a great pattern for bold fabrics. 

You can still follow the sew along posts to make your own this year.

Teaching full time during a pandemic left little mental time or energy for quilting for the last few months of the year. I did still have a few more projects for QUILTsocial and this bedrunner was one of them. I'm not sure if there hadn't been a pandemic that I would have reached into my saved fabrics and made this project.

Vintage Holiday Quilted Bedrunner

I now have 4 of these placemats finished. I wanted to update the photos for this free pattern and now I have a set of placemats to use between Christmas and New Years!

9s a Charm Placemat Pattern

I finished up my QUILTsocial posts this year - with another pincushion! Can you really have too many LOL! I guess I'll have to put my thinking cap back on for next year's projects. 

Pincushion and Matching Threadcatcher

Looking forward to another year of creating in 2021!

With Joy,

Sarah V

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Quilt Patterns Released in 2020

 

It was a great year for Sew Joy Creations. In spite of everything, or perhaps because of it, I was able to focus and release several patterns. Granted most were designed and written during 2019, but 2020 was when I started to share these designs with you!

Amazing Rows

Sunbeams

Dazzle - will be my first Sew Along for 2021! Details to come.

Dropping In Quilt - my first ever Sew Along!

Sleeping Under the Stars block for #quiltblockmania made into a pillow with the Summer Sampler setting

Show Up and Shine - 2nd free block of the summer for #quiltblockmania

Delightful Stars was the final pattern released in 2020. This one might get renamed as Autumn Sampler quilt as you can substitute blocks for the large print fabric squares.

It's been a joyful year here! I am grateful for all of the opportunities I had this year and look forward to embracing more in 2021.

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With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Quilt Tops of 2020

 

January - Winter Fun quilt top designed by Pat Sloan - more yardage bought and plan devised to make it larger; backing fabric also purchased

April - 2 Cheri Payne mini tops - also a star block from Darlene D'eon's scrap mystery quilt which has fallen by the wayside. 

May - got the final borders on my Mashup Roosting Robin started several years ago

July - Rainbow Quilt Along using Prayer Flag jelly roll - will be center of quilt with 12 blocks from the Layer Cake Quilt along years ago added around it

Apparently these blocks are from 2010! I designed the basket block.

December - Hearts and Churns was designed using Sherry Shish's (Powered by Quilting) first signature line with Island Batiks. The pattern will be released in early 2021! Make sure you are signed up to my newsletter to be notified.

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This was a smaller group than I thought! Guess that means I finished what I started this year! LOL I'm pretty sure there a couple of PHDs - Projects Half Done - but they may be harder to find photos of to document.

Stay tuned :)

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Pincushion and Threadcatcher are matching scrap projects

 My posts for QUILTsocial this month focussed on creating with scraps to make useful things for my sewing space using PFAFF's performance icon.

Making quilting bright with the PFAFF performance icon

At this time of year when the gift-making is finished, I spend a bit of time tidying up in my space. My most recent scraps are from the Hearts and Churns quilt I made with Sherry Shish's new fabric Love and Kisses. 

New quilt for the Love and Kisses blog hop

I used leftover fabric strips and the stitches on the PFAFF performance icon to create a pincushion.

Floating stitches make a strippy pincushion sparkle

I tried out the Stitch Creator feature for the first time too!

Make it personal with the PFAFF Stitch Creator Program

Not only did I try out this program, I delved into the User's Guide and discovered I could follow tutorials and watch videos right from the performance icon!

Performance icon:built-in tutorials keep you learning and safe at home

I used stitched phrases I created with the Stitch Creator program to make myself a tall threadcatcher to sit behind the performance icon. Now I can put my thread snips in by reaching through the wide harp space of the machine. I love the coffee cup stitch!

A pretty quilted threadcatcher is a happiness catcher

You can find all of the different projects I've made for QUILTsocial through this link to my posts.

I hope you have some time to tidy - or at least make something from your scraps!

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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