composing.

No matter how much I love a project that I am working on, there comes a time in all of the long projects that I just want to get to the finish line. I want to rush and be done. This feeling comes and goes, it does not linger- probably a good thing. At that moment I usually take the dog for a walk, or plan a future project that is still in my mind. Sometimes I will sketch it and get it out onto paper too. A couple of days ago I was feeling that way with my cross quilt, and so I made some gathered piles from my stash of fabric. These are theoretically where I will jump next, even though that changes sometimes too. 

Mostly soft pallets with a few pops of subdued color....

I have admired Lotta Jansdotter for a long time, and her new collection is at the top of my list for projects to come. I want to include her line from last year and marry the two. Love her textiles, stencils and patterns! Her blog is lovely if you ever want some inspiration. 

organic objects

I think that these flowers are the most perfect little things. They are difficult to grow and hard to find in good shape at the market. Rodundrums. I treated myself to a bunch the other day and find myself staring at their perfection. Lovely. 

I finished the Alicia Paulson "garden sampler" cross stitch a couple of weeks ago. It was a nice little mind-calming project. I altered her colors a bit and did not make an alphabet in the bottom, but mostly I followed her pattern. I love all the different shapes and soft colors mixed with brights from nature. I used a lot of WEEKS dye works floss for this project and think it was perfect because of the variegation, for organic shapes. This might end up stretched in a frame, or on a pillow perhaps. For now it awaits finishing... The Beehive is my favorite part!

progress

I have been vigorously working on the this cross-quilt for the last couple of weeks. I began it before the holidays, but with other projects in the works and all the traveling, it seems that I am just now really getting into it. This week I have actually completed the top of the quilt. I am pretty excited to be done with that part, because it is always nice to see a vision from your brain come out in reality. This pretty much has turned out exactly like I wanted; a study in color and places. All of the fabrics have to do with maps, or terrain sketches, with the exception of a few floral patterns, for an organic element. I want to make something interesting for the back of this quilt so it may take a couple more weeks to finish in its entirety, but I am finished with the major piecing! The above picture shows it almost complete, there were still a few rows missing when I photographed it. I am toying with the idea of hand quilting this one... or very precise machine quilting... the jury is still out. 

The above block was the start to a monthly quilt project. I started this back in January however, I do not seem to have kept up with it. The plan was to make a different quilt block every single month, and with each one to depict a different method of quilting. Some would be paper-pieced, some random quilting...etc. As much as I love the idea of a block a month, it is just not my kind of thing.... I work fast and usually finish one project before another is begun, sometimes I will have an embroidery and a quilt in the works but I like to stay focused for the most efficient finish. I think this little block will become a pillow. I still love the way it turned out.