Welcome to my turn and the last day of the Stitching Sunshine Blog Hop sponsored by Carla at Creatin’ in the Sticks. As I was getting ready to write this I rand across a saying from Walt Whitman – “Some people are so much sunshine to the square inch.” What I am going to show you might require a rephrasing of that saying – “Some quilting techniques are so much sunshine to the square inch”.
I was thinking of redoing a picture of the sun from my return flight from Austin and QuiltCon2020 in February. I decided I would rather work this in thread, and didn’t have the thread colors I really wanted. However, this picture did point me in the right direction.
When I was at QuiltCon I met Jen Carlton Baily and bought her Make it Curvy templates. For years, I have heard about BettyCrockerAss and thought it was such an hysterical name, so I had to investigate her booth. She demoed the product and I was sold. I also loved the idea of a group of templates in fairly usable sizes so it seemed like a good deal to me.
Jen has videos on her page, under the Tips and Tricks tab. Check out the ones on Glue Basting or Close Up Sewing to get an idea of her technique. She also has a great video on the Modern Quilt Guild website. If you weren’t sure you wanted to join, there are a few education webinars worth the price of admission.
I will not share her technique, but to tell you that I loved it is an understatement. Now, I have sewn curves for years. I could sew a set in sleeve almost flawlessly when I was making garments. Easy peasy to do curves by hand, but time consuming. One of my first ambassador projects, I used “The Learning Curve Ruler” and I loved it (you can read about it here). One problem, however is the limitations are that they are one size. Jen’s templates make my heart sing; six sizes from 1.5″ to 6.5″!
Now, I don’t sew with a lot of yellow but knew I had some Island Batik yellows and oranges from my days as an ambassador. Here are my first two attempts. The piece on the right has a little more seam allowance – a design choice perhaps. It is true that I learned a few things about squaring up, and what was meant by her sizes. I used a 4.5″ size to make this. I have a 4.5″ drunkards path template page for you to play with, if you are curious. You can download it here.
While I can’t give you Jen’s templates, you can use this one. You can buy her curve set here.
Now for what I made! I decided to do a striped sun, my way of stitching sunshine. This is done by folding the striped set in half and lining up the fold line with the seam line. The same was done for the background piece. Next were some pieces that would become sand and water. The sand has an orange from the reflection of the sun – that sorching, hot summer sun.
Note to self, the little bit of yellow disappears at a distance. Why? the value of the blue background and yellow are too close.
The quilting is just narrow lines, done in Superior MonoPoly*, as I didn’t want the thread to distract from the piece. The lines are horizontal for all but inside the sun, where I wanted the curves emphasized. Simple is best, sometimes and this felt like that kind of quilt. I also thought in the right light there might be a little glimmer off the threads. The batting is Hobbs Thermore – perfect for this quilt.
“Sunset My Way”
15″ wide by 10″ high
Hobbs Thermore© Batting*
Thread: Aurifil 50 wt* & Superior MonoPoly*
Here are all the talented quilters for the blog hop. Be sure to visit them and enter the giveaways sponsored by a few of them.
Thursday, June 25th
Kathleen McMusing (you are here)
Den syende himmel
Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
Samelia’s Mum
Hill Valley Quilter
Seams To Be Sew
That Fabric Feeling
Creatin’ in the Sticks
Wednesday, June 24th
MooseStashQuilting
PamelaQuilts
Podunk Pretties
Homespun Hannah’s Blog
Ridge Top Quilts
Words & Stitches
Storied Quilts
Ms P Designs USA
selina quilts
Tuesday, June 23rd
Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Scrapdash
MaryMack’s blog
karen’s korner
Sue S – hosted at Creatin’ in the Sticks
The Joyful Quilter
For the love of geese
Monday, June 22nd
Just Let Me Quilt
VroomansQuilts
Quilt Schmilt
QuiltFabrication
Life in the Scrapatch
Karrin’s Crazy World
Just Because Quilts
Quilting Gail
Coming Up on the Blog:
Monthly Color Block (7/1)
Partners in Design Announcement (7/7)
Pattern Release (TBD)
Linking Up:
What I Made Monday
Main Crush Monday
Show Me Something….Mini
I love this. I grew up by the beach, and spent much of my adult life looking at the ocean through my kitchen window while I did the dishes or made dinner–such a joy. I’ve been away from it for 15 years and lately have been feeling so homesick. Something to do with the pandemic and being on lockdown, likely. Your quilt did my heart good. Thanks for sharing.
I never thought I would live so near the ocean, and I am grateful for it. I am glad my heart did you good and hope that maybe you can return to the beach, even for a visit, soon!
Very cute! Makes me smile! Thanks for the info on the templates – they look awesome!
The templates are awesome! You can, or course, do it without but any tool that helps is a great thing to me.
Your sunset quilt is so lovely!
Thank you!
That’s a beautiful sunrise!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Thats a fun little sun Kathleen, thanks for sharing.
You are so welcome.
Beautiful little quilt! I actually love the yellow on the top of the sun… I like the way it disappears. It looks like a real sunset. I haven’t seen you work much in yellows and oranges. Thanks for sharing your process and the finished quilt!
It is so funny about colors that we use and don’t use. I loved using the yellow and orange and so I think more may creep into my stash. Enjoyed the process on this quick little make!
You really nailed those curves! I have done curves and really don’t enjoy them so I will let the pro’s do them;)
Some curves are easier than others. I don’t generally sew them alot, but always wonder why I don’t once I get going. I am going to try to incorporate them more in my work.
Wow, beautiful photo, beautiful quilt, Kathleen! You’ve got me interested in checking this technique out.
Thank you! It was a gorgeous sunset and I still am itching to do it in a quilt. The technique is awesome
Now I see why you were having so much fun! This is great, Kathleen. I hope you have it up in your studio to greet you whenever you are there. I have those templates too; have been making a few little curvelets – hand piecing them! Her technique is great!
I love it. I want to try the curvelets, too but haven’t gotten to it.
Wow, those templates look very interesting. I haven’t curve pieced in a long time. Drunkards path’s are fun to play with, but I’m really captivated with your complete half circle piecing. I see a new toy on the horizon! LOL!!
It is great. I highly suggest watching her videos so you can see how she does it…amazing and like why didn’t I think of that!
I love this finish. Sunrise or sunset, it leaves you to imagine either. The quilting is great too.
Thanks, Denise. It was a fun little project and makes me smile!
Your sunset/sunrise quilt is lovely!! Thanks for sharing.
You are so welcome!
Love your cute little sunshine. I’ve been meaning to get Jen’s templates. Your quarter circle and the half circles look so good.
Her technique is great and the variety of shapes is ideal. Because my bag was overloaded I didn’t get the cut box – a big regret!
Beautiful bit of sunshine. Thanks so much for sharing your technique!
Its a fun one and fun to do the half circle!
Yellow is a tricky color; it’s value is deceptively lighter than it appears, I think. I am glad you love Jen’s templates, they are my go-to as well. This will be a happy quilt to have on display. 🙂
Yellow is funny and since I don’t work with it a lot, I never thought about the value! Its fun to have rookie mistakes, even when you are no longer a rookie! I was trying it out in a few places, but I think it will need to be near me, as I love it.
Lovely project. That curved set is tempting but the price has me easily walking away. I’ve been interested in experimenting with curves lately but I can’t justify that investment. I love what you created and it would be lovely to try it on a larger scale too! Thanks so much for the inspiration.
The price seems like a lot, but when you think one template is often 12-15, 6 is not so bad for that price. You don’t need the templates. Do take a look at her video and cut as you like, we don’t always need templates to cut by hand. It works too! I like speed and think the accuracy is a help, and it was a little treat while I was at a show.
I’ve not done much with curve sewing, but I love the look of it. Your little sunshine pieces is beautiful! I love how you quilted it…thank you for sharing!
I am glad you enjoyed it. I recommend the curves and I will be doing more in the future.
I love that it is “Sunset My Way” – the best way to do it is your way. This is awesome. I’ve always wanted to try a bit of striped curves. Your quilting is spot on too. Thanks for joining the Stitching Sunshine blog hop!
Your blog hops are always the best! And we all know, my way or the highway, right? The stripes are easy you can do it! Tack the seams down first so they don’t split, it sure helps (Thanks to BettyCrockerAss).
That is a beautiful little piece and perfect for this blog hop! I love how you finished it off, too. I’ve been wondering if I should try some of the monopoly when I don’t want the quilting to contrast with the fabric.
The Monopoly is perfect. I used to use YLI but I rarely have trouble with the Monopoly and have used it for years. I don’t have to change a thing on my Bernina or Janome to use it.
Beautiful sunset wall hanging! Love the colors you chose. Thank you for the information on how you achieved this gorgeous piece and for the templates.
You, of course, don’t need the templates for a tiny project, but I do love curvy blocks so anything that helps is fun to have on hand. I do hope to do more one day in the not too distant future.
What a terrific mini you made Kathleen! The quilting choice is perfect. Yay for those IB batiks. I love that Betty Crockerass name too! I’ve checked out some of her stuff but will be heading over again for these curves. Loved sewing the improv curves with Karla Alexander’s techniques, but the method for these precise ones intrigues me.
The batiks are hard to beat for projects like this. I have to laugh every time I say BettyCrockerAss! And now, I will investigate Karla’s techniques, don’t know that I know them. Improv is scary for me….gotta let go one day and do it!
I will definitely check out the templates. Love the sunset photo, truly a gorgeous one. I also liked your project even tho there wasn’t a lot of yellow, the quilting was simply amazing.
The templates and technique are spot on. You are right, not too much yellow. I think that is because you can only stretch your wings so far in one project.
Oh I love it! So happy and original. That Drunkard’s Path is always difficult for me, I need more practice for sure.
So glad you liked it. They aren’t hard and her method is nearly foolproof. Check out the videos.
Great little quilt, and your quilting perfect for the quilt design.
I am glad you enjoyed it!
Great project! Thanks for sharing.
You are so welcome!
What a lovely project. A little ray of sunshine anywhere you hang it.
I was thinking about where it should go today, and I am just not sure.
I really like your sunshine quilt! The horizontal lines on most of it and the curved lines on the sun really make the project great! Thanks for sharing!
I think the quilting worked well, too.
I can definitely see why you purchased that template set, Kathleen. I’m impressed that you have already put those templates to work. LOVE the quilt you designed for the Hop!
Hi Kathleen! Wowee! What a great piece and you can definitely get the vibe of your inspiration photo in the piece. This will definitely brighten your sewing space even on cloudy days. Nice job! ~smile~ Roseanne
I think it is reflective of that sunset. I still want to make something with that picture, but this was not the time. I have to decide where it should go, but definitely were I see it frequently is a requirement.
So much sunshine in your post. We’re more relaxed with sunshine. And when you can take it with you and hang it up, just perfect.
My own portable sunshine! I love that idea.
That’s one beautiful little sunset!
Thank you so much!
Well done. It looks great. I have Jen’s templates as well. I bought them in advance of QuiltCon for pickup, but I didn’t get the pretty box. 🙁 Need to find something to store them in.
I am sorry you didn’t get the box. Right now I store my rulers in a file cabinet with instructions. For hers, I put each set in a bag with the size so I don’t loose any and then have them all in the 6.5” bag. So far so good. Have you watched the video on Modern Quilt Guild?
This is gorgeous!
Thank you!
Love your sunset. Very sunshiny and creative. Well done.
I am so glad you enjoyed it. Now for me to figure out where to put it!
Beautiful wall hanging! I like the quilting you did on it too. Thanks for sharing.
You are so welcome.
Love this! A brilliant stylized sunset! I’m super wary of curves, but I’m going to at least read the description of these rulers 🙂 What a great sun!
Thanks for another way of looking at the sunshine idea. I like your beach sand and the information on the templates. Thanks also for the download. I’ve made a few curvy pieces for occasional projects, but never gotten proficient. I appreciate the help, and will investigate the templates, too.
I wanted a more modern take, and though it was simple it is fun. I hope you do play….curves can be fun!
Your sunshine looks lovely and very happy. Hope you have a lovely weekend
Thank you, and a lovely weekend to you too!
That is an absolutely gorgeous picture that you opened your post with; I love it. I’ve not heard of BettyCrockerAss but thanks for pointing me toward Jen. Curved piecing is always intimidating. Loved how you pieced a sun using the templates – such a sunshiny project.
I hadn’t heard of her until a few months ago, too. I hope you learn something and try it sometime.
I think you will like her technique…MQG has the video and you can see it. You don’t need the rulers but having a bunch of sizes were the attraction for me. And that you can do half/full circles.
I love your sun and the back story. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Sharing the backstory is a fun part of blogging. So glad you enjoyed it.
Beautifully interpreted, Kathleen. It may be small but your sunny piece packs a punch!!! The quilting shows that you paid attention to every detail. Bravo!!! Hugs and stay safe.
It is easier for me to pay attention when the piece is small. Its a fun piece, looking for a home to keep my spirits up. Hope you are staying safe and well. Things feel a little better here, in that our state and neighboring ones are in a downward trend. Now, if people can keep their wits about them, we will be ok!