book worms

My sister came up with a challenge to a couple of us Harry Potter fans, starting April first we started reading from book one and we are reading all the way through to the end. Of course she already finished... I am in the middle of book two. One of my best friends gave me this awesome set of the books for my birthday last year and what a good time to break them in. I love the illustrations on the covers and the back of these each have another great image and a quote from the book. 

I have read the Harry Potter countless times, sometimes the entire series other times just parts of them, it has been a while though. I must say it is like meeting an old friend for coffee... picking up where you left off and before you know it three hours are gone... yep that is what reading HP is like. I had forgotten some of the details its great to get back into them, and I love a series!

Thought I would share my little guy, he was shivering the other day so this was our solution... and he resumed looking out the window. 

living.

It has been a long couple of months. The winter crept along slowly, and even though it is officially spring, we have only had a handful of those amazing Richmond spring days so far. Finally it looks like there is not a drop of snow on the forecast, insert me doing cart-wheels and back flips here (I can't do either, but use your imagination). Along with the weather I feel as if I have finally begun to accept that what is going on with my body is not going away. I have been vague on this blog, because I need to let things sink in before I expose everything to the world of the Internet, or really the whole world. Last year was rough I went to the Doctor more times that I ever have in my whole life. It was blood work after blood work and being sick every month, almost. At the end of the year I had not one but two bone marrow biopsy and even those proved to be strange and not completely full of answers. It is hard for me to have doctors tell me that they can not yet give what is happening a name, but that it is not going away, it makes my OCD tendencies go insane! To the point, what I am having issues with is my blood platelet levels... If you had asked me a year ago what a platelet did, I would simply say, help the blood clot. I had no idea that you could have too many or too little. In my case, I have way over the normal levels. I can live a normal life, but have to be more aware of my body. The most irritating symptoms I have shown are being tired and migraines so bad, that they wake me up out of a cold sleep. All of this has really taken some getting used to. Perhaps one of the hardest things to accept about all of this, is that there is little I can do, and there is no reason for it. 

It made a huge impact on my views towards living and how I really want to live my life. It gave me a kick in the ass to drop crappy habits, and start appreciating every day. I have heard of people going through cancer or other heath scares and how it changes who they are and how they live. I think that while I am the same person, I will never live the same way as I did before. Life, and living a healthy life are things that are too precious to take for granted, and that has in many ways altered my perspective on everything. 

I have been spoiled with time for making, which is one of the best gifts anyone has given me. The day Sandra suggested that I should work part-time and stay home in the studio the rest of the time, means everything to me. I have been pretty good about keeping up with studio time, and I am beginning to have a body of work to show for it. I guess that was the beginning of my living every day in the best way I can. Making is vital to who I am.  

More recently I have started to do yoga and Pilate's, I figure if I can keep the rest of me healthy and just deal with the blood thing, then I will be better off. Or at least do all that I can. What I do have to say about all this, is that all the times I said I did not have time for a workout or made excuses, I wish I had just started sooner. I feel better, I have more energy now than I did 3 months ago, and I sleep better. I have been doing this since the beginning of February, and I feel that now it is part of my habit. I rarely miss a class and if I do I try to go to a makeup one. Perhaps the best part is that in the hour that I am in a class, my mind stays there. I do not think of everything else in the world, or that needs to be done. I just move my body, follow directions and forget everything else. Looking forward to spring, and playing in the dirt, planting some things, and making every moment count. Not all of them will be good, I am still a realist, but as long as they are full of living that is what matters. 

March

The first week of March has swept on by and the weather went from a snowy/icey mess, into this amazing, almost 70 degree, Richmond in March, wonderfulness!!! If you can't tell I am over winter, I have been over it since January. I did take some time this week, while I was un-motivated to do little more than stitch, to make an alphabet sampler. It was a nice break from the speed sewing I am used to, and gave me time to catch up on some Oscar movies. (I loved Blue Jasmine, and American Hustle, and August Osage County). I used the pattern from Posie.com to make this sampler, that will be going to baby Ella.  

Love the hunter boots! 

and the tiny winter cabin, with the bunny... 

All together it took me about 3 days to get this finished. I used the colors that I felt like using from my collection, but I do like her suggestions. I pinned it and framed it myself, all in all I think it turned out pretty sweet for a new little baby. I am even considering making another one for myself. 

collage

Another finished quilt, that was finally photographed outside is my "collage" quilt. I call this "collage" because my goal was to make fabric appear as if it were paper that was pieced together to make a pattern, that flowed through itself. Or in short... I wanted to mimic the look of old letters and ledgers and papers with the peeks of color coming through them. I am pleased with how the final project ended up. I love that it doesn't really have a beginning or an end, this pattern and play on color could go on forever, the viewer is left to decide. 

The photo above is of the back of the top, before I quilted the layers together. I was fascinated by the back on this quilt and did not want to finish it for a while longer than necessary because I wanted to admire it for a bit. I might one day do a series simply based on the backs of the pieced tops. 

The top of "collage" is all paper-pieced, and then pieced together. I did all of the top stitching on this quilt in addition to the piecing. 

The back is made of some leftover prints and larger piece of fabric. Improv style. 

Nice drape. 

camping?

I finally took photographs of this camping quilt, which was finished sometime back in the fall. The colors that I used for this are a bit out of my normal routine, but I did enjoy making this and having fun really just playing with it, with no real idea where it was going to end up. I started by paper-piecing each of the animals, or camp related objects, and then worked the rows around them. This is definitely a project that I made solely for the fun of making it. 

The back was made using leftovers and a large chunk of brown with tiny dot print fabric. I am pleased with this final outcome, and did learn to just let go and make in the process of doing it. 

February

This Gnome is the best image that I can find to describe how I feel about this month. In general February is just not a great time of year for me... I did meet Sandra in February, four years ago so that did help make it better, and it does make me smile to think of those days. Other than that, I really could just skip the cold, miserable month, that occasionally has a missing day. We have had a much colder winter than normal here in RVA, and while I know that we are usually spoiled we have been cold and even had some snow, sleet, rain, mess this year. I know that some sewists, and artists love days like this to sit in inside and make... I have to agree a rainy day is great, but I could live without the white stuff, not really a fan, (and that is putting it nicely)! So while I long for warmer, longer days I have been cutting up and sewing some things, and trying to gather inspiration from anywhere that I can. 

A few weeks ago I found this gorgeous vintage quilt at an antique store, I was half tempted to buy it, however I keep reminding myself, "I can not rescue all of the old textiles in all the antique stores and estate sales, because that is how hoarders are created." I did take a picture to remember the simple lines of it, the pale colors, paired with bold accents and the aged fabric, so soft. I am putting this around 1930-1940 based on the colors, the pattern and the fabric. It looked as if some of it was made from cotton shirts or even old pajamas. I love finding a textile that is as relevant the day it was made, as it is today. This quilt could be in a modern quilting magazine as easily as on a 1932 bed. It looked to be all cotton and wool batting, sewn and quilted by hand.

It is on my list to get outside and photograph some finished quilts, but in the meantime I started this... All of the hexagon "fabric" that I have been making over the past year, from my scrap bin has now been cut into squares. I am framing each square in a pale fabric and can't wait to get deeper into this project, so far pretty addicting! 

Of course there has been some reading while trying to keep warm. The Country Living, U.K. edition never seems to disappoint, with the most gorgeous covers and great articles. I could almost climb into that room! 

And finally on the book front I have been working my way through this... Wally Lamb's new book. He is such a brilliant writer that does not leave out one detail. I have read all of his books, and while they are not really "fun" reads they do spark a different feeling of depth into the characters lives. It is a bit of a slow read for me, a few pages here and there, but sometimes that is exactly what I want... a book that takes a bit of time, sort of like this winter...

January

I have decided that for this year, I want to continue using this writing platform as a way to showcase what I am making and how I bounce ideas around.... along with the things that I do in my life that I gain inspiration from, traveling, reading, exploring... I am going to use mostly instagram and photos from my phone, so that I can update more frequently. Over the past year of studio time, and part-time work I have learned that to have time to post, the editing process from my camera is very time consuming, and in the end I can convey a similar image quickly and in real-time, that is important to me. I will still photograph the finished works and other things with a real camera, I am not giving up on it completely. I am trying to get back to posting more regularly though, I hope that the more filtered photographs are still interesting to anyone that is reading. 

It has been a bitter cold start to the year with snow every week. I am not a fan of winter weather, I much prefer the regular 50-60 degree winter here in Richmond. It has definitely kept me inside sewing though, and I hope to take some quilt photos outside before the snow completely melts away. I have been working on this quilt for longer than I would have liked, with some medical stuff that came up and the holidays it was just one of those projects that has taken longer than expected. I am pleased with the way the top of the quilt turned out. I wanted a paper-collage feel to this project and I think that I have accomplished that. This week I am going to work on the back and the binding. I have decided that I want to hand tie this piece. Something about the traditional fabrics, which some are, mixed with the

un-conventional layout and the then traditional hand tying just sounds like a good mix to me. 

I love how the pieces are all meeting. 

Quilt top... I love how it keeps the eye moving around like a paper collage does. 

Also on my mind lately, the underside of textiles... how they show the structure and the shape of the piece.  

Especially loving the back of this quilt top... almost makes me not want to cover it...