JULY'S BOM

 Here is July's blocks made for the Seatte Modern Quilt guild's Block of the Month, also known as SeaMQGBOM2026.

APRIL BOM MADE

 I got the this month's instructions for the SeaMQGBom2026 and made the blocks from strip sets we made in a previous month.

Here is my interpretation of the two big blocks:

MONTH 3 BOM

 They uploaded the instructions for this month's SeaMQGbom2026 and I was on it right away assembling some blocks.

OUT OF AFRICA TOP

 After a lot of frustrating unsewing and resewing and cutting to match, I'm finally done with putting together the Africa fabrics for this top.

And it's pretty close to flat.

ALMOST GOT IT TOGETHER

 I really thought I could get all of the pieces of the Out of Africa sewn together today and I'd be able to call it done.  But this is the part that's the most difficult - trying to get all of the parts together.  The quilt is getting large which compounds the difficulty, too.  It's not easy getting it up on the sewing table and keeping it from wanting to slide off.  

But I only have a seams or two left to do.  And maybe a few tucks.

GETTING IT DONE

 I've been making some progress on the Out of Africa quilt.  I'm using several different shades of brown for the 'background' colors that will connect all of the fabric samples together.

That 'orangish' fabrics at the top is a color I'm thinking of using on the fabrics in that upper corner.

STARTED ON IT

 I have finally started sewing the African Sample Fabrics together.  I'm making slow progress.  Almost every seam is a partial seam.  And I went with the brown background. 

I've named this quilt Out of Africa after my favorite movie.

CHOICES CHOICES CHOICES

 I've been working in Procreate to try different backgrounds for the African Fabric Samples quilt.

TRYING DIFFERENT LOOKS

 I moved some of the pieces around.  Then moved them around differently.  Then did it again.

This could be an endless exercise.

MIGHT BE INTERESTING

 I chanced washing the little fabric squares of the found African fabrics.  I added a Color Catcher and caught a little red which I thought might happen.  But, there was little to no ravelling of the edges.  

I pressed the wrinkles out and put them up on the wall.

It looks better than I thought it would!  Now I'm thinking about what color to use as the filler.  Maybe different colors for each area?

FOUND FABRICS

 When I was looking around for something else, I came across a bunch of African fabric sample pieces.  What a treasure.  What shall I do with them?

FINISHED JUNK JOURNAL

 I organized the Junk Journal signatures from yesterday and punched the binding holes in the spine of the cover I made.  (I love how this fabric looks on the cover - it always amazes me how much some fabrics look better than I thought when you cut them up).  Then using an awl, punched the holes into the four signatures.

I sewed the signatures into the cover with a simple pamphlet stitch and added some beads (some of which I inherited from my sister Sue) on the outside.

PLAYCATION 2024 QUILT TOP

 Over the last few day I've been sewing together the improv blocks from Cheryl Arkison's Quilters Playcation 2024 - all 49 of them.  I finished the top today.

Since I shy away from making square quilts, I made my blocks 10" by 12" because there would be 49 of them.  Which would make a great 7 by 7 blocks quilt.

WEEK 10 OF PLAYCATION 2024

 It's week ten of Quilter's Playcation 2024 with Cheryl Arkison.  This improv block was fun, quick and easy.

HOME AND UNPACKING

 Got in late last night.  Plane landed a bit early at 9:30pm.  I had to wait a bit for the luggage to come down.  Then I Ubered home.  Jelly greeted me at the door.  Darrell was sound asleep.  I was a bit wound up and it took me a while to fall asleep.

This morning, I unpacked and started laundry.  Then I gathered all of the stuff I had accumulated at Quiltcon and lined it up for a photo.

I know I didn't really need anything, but it was really fun!  All of the fabric needs to go back downstairs to be pre-washed before I use it.

Then, I got to work catching up on the Sunrise blocks.  I had six to make, including today's.

Here is eight weeks completed:

PLAYCATION 2024 BEGINS

 I'm excited to be able to watch Cheryl Arkison's new Playcation live this year.  I watched the 2022 version after the fact and really enjoyed it.

This year's will be on Tuesdays, live on Instagram, as Cheryl shows us a new improv block weekly.

I'm using an African print and Kona solids to start.

Here is the first block, a Rainbow:

THREE MORE

I've been watching old videos of Cheryl Arkison's Playcation 2022 and making the blocks.  I made three more today.  I just love this, it's so satisfying.

 

DAY TWO OF WORKSHOP

 It's day two of Sherri Lynn Wood's workshop Stack-n-Cut Curves Workshop.  Irene Roderick was able to make it and showed us a great slide show of her progression of her quilt-making.  It was fantastic and informative.

Afterwards, I continued working on my project.  I wanted to make the wedges I made yesterday longer.

I wanted to extend them with solid chunks of fabric with skinny strips going through them.   This was my opportunity to use the very bright and vibrant African fabric in clover-green and orange.  Zing!

But, using it in such small strips worked very well.

I thought I might use this other African fabric in the corner, but I wasn't loving it.  So, I got out some fabrics to make more wedges to put above the bland ones.  However, I ran out of steam before I got them sewed together.  Plus I was having difficulties because I used some prints again and some of the fabrics ended upside down, which frustrated me.  I wasn't sure how to proceed, so I gave it up for the day.