Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Sunshine Makes You Happy

I feel lucky to live in
a place that has on average
300 sunny days a year.

John Denver said it beautifully
in his lyrics 
"Sunshine on my Shoulders 
Makes Me Happy".

I thought of that song 
while I worked on my August mini.


"Sunshine Makes Me Happy"
34" X 34"

I found all of the hst's hiding out
in a zip lock baggie and rescued 
them from an unused fate.


I think I had made extras
when I was working on something else.
No sense saving them any longer.

Yellow is one of those colors
that doesn't seem to get used very often.


I tried lots of different fabrics for 
the border, but this older yellow
print was the perfect choice.

I machine quilted it with
# 2110 Aurifil thread, a soft pale yellow.


A simple design in the alternating 
plain blocks.


A gentle wavy curve in the borders
was all that was needed.

When I was deciding about the 
binding every color seemed so dark. 
 Not like the sunshine on my shoulders. 


The best choice:
just a tiny flange of the blue
I had used in the narrow border
and then the same yellow as the border.

It even made me smile
when I was sewing the binding.


Every once in a while 
the tiny design in the blue flange
would be perfectly centered.

Sometimes when you're
outside you suddenly realize
how happy the sunshine has made you feel.

The only other thing that could make
you feel happier
would be wearing yellow shoes!


Until Next Time-
Kyle

23 comments:

  1. I love that old song...your quilt is perfect! I am glad you rescued those blocks! I have no yellow shoes, but I have red ones, which a happy color, too!

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  2. That's it, you've convinced me, I need some yellow shoes! LOL
    The quilt is darling.

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  3. This is the sweetest quilt! You are so right about yellow not being used much. It is my favorite color so it ends up in many of mine, but I so enjoy it when I see it in other quilts. I just love the soft yellow of this border!! And, those yellow shoes - whoa! I covet them all! Thanks for another great mini. I will link the post on Friday when I post mine. Fun!

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  4. A sweet quilt! So glad you found those blocks and made your lovely quilt. I've got blue shoes! LOL

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  5. Such a cute and happy little quilt..love it!

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  6. Thanks so much for such a sweet reminder that we should enjoy the sunshine in our lives. Your blog was very refreshing to me this morning after the 102 degrees we have suffered and complained about for the past few days in Texas. Your quilt is just precious. I love how you did the binding. ---"Love"

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  7. We are big John Denver fans at our house--I have been since I was in 9th grade. Your title made me think of his song immediately. And it is a perfect intro to your soft, sweet, very vintage looking quilt. Great use of your leftover HSTs, and the yellow border is an excellent choice. I love the way you bound it, too.
    My goodness, I don't know that I have ever had a pair of yellow shoes (though I currently have two pairs of purple). You must have very happy toes. :)

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  8. What an adorable quilt you made out of leftovers. I love the blue flange in your binding...just perfect!

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  9. What a lovely quilt to get out of left overs! I especially love the border fabric, all leaf prints are divine. Thanks for the close up of your quilting, that will go into my memory bank for those plain blocks. Never attached a flange to a quilt, but this is a great example of why I should give it a try sometime!

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  10. Yellow shoes, a sunny yellow quilt, and John Denver records, now that just sings summertime! Love those leftovers and the beauty you've created with them!

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  11. A wonderful tribute to yellow! It's a happy color and truly does need to be used in quilts more! :-) Beautiful quilt and I love that flange on the binding....a perfect accent! Now I need to get me some yellow shoes....lol!

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  12. Love this sunny post. What a great place to live - the big sky and sunshine, dry air too. I love the soft yellow border and your binding idea was genius. I've only done a flange once and I keep forgetting how special that is to do. In the case of your quilt it is just the perfect touch!

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  13. Your new mini is liquid sunshine. It makes me happy to look at it. I love the size too. Perfect for a wall or a table top.
    Great scrappy blocks and setting blocks. The yellow is just a great touch and as you say, not used as often. Your flange of blue is just right. Can you tell I love this quilt?
    What good collection of yellow shoes! I bet they go with a lot of different colors and looks.
    Maybe all that clear sunshine is why all your photos look so great - wonderful post.

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  14. When I saw the title of your post that song came to mind at once. It is on a cd that I am playing in our car for the last weeks. The other day I was telling Rosa how much I love this, and other songs of John Denver and how sadly he died in that plane crash.
    Your quilt will remind you for ever of that song! It is beautifully made, as always!

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  15. Kyle muy bonito, delicioso tu mini ¡¡amarillo!!
    Me encantan tus zapatos.
    Saludos

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  16. Your August mini makes me smile! Such a nice finish using all those hsts. That yellow border fabric is perfect. I always admire your binding treatment when you insert a flange. It is the finishing touch! Fun yellow shoes, too!

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  17. It is a lovely, pretty quilt, such a nice pattern and I love the fabrics you used. Yellow (like purple) is a color not often used in quilts but I have grown to like it, I do not use it much but it really does bring a bit of sunshine to a quilt I think. Imagine living in a place with 300 days of sunshine a year, I could do with that. We have lots of grey skies and used to have a lot of rain in our country (the last two years have been the driest ever) and I do not like that at all. Looking at your quilt I see the sun, lovely.

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  18. What a happy little quilt and so appropriately named :0) What a lovely way to use those extra hst's. The flange binding is a beautiful finish.

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  19. What a wonderful "recycling" project! I love all the different fabrics - so much to study and appreciate!
    Thanks for the CO weather report. Oldest son is about to move to Denver (he starts working at Denver Medical on September 10) and he keeps telling us we should retire to Colorado. I'm not sure I could handle the winter weather, but knowing there is lots of sunshine is a positive factor!!

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  20. Hi Kyle I was scrolling and found you again, not that you were lost! haha! Love your scrappy blocks, but what got me going was your words from John Denver, and the fact that you have 300 days a year of sunshine. Don't you get tired of it? I am being facetious and jealous as we have had 27 out of 29 days of rain in Auckland NZ for the month of August!

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  21. Love your little quilt--it's a very happy one! The binding is perfect for it and it's so strange that I had just been planning to do the same thing for a quilt I'm working on. I just switched up the binding fabric yesterday though, but I may still do the blue flange. I have to admit that I don't have a single pair of yellow shoes though--maybe I need to do a little shopping--lol!

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