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. 

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...

fast output.

I had the whole weekend off last week, and even extended it to Thursday and Monday... and the most amazing part is that I mostly stayed close to home. I love to travel but when I do that means that the studio work gets put on hold... well being around home a lot got done and I still had time to take a couple of day trips. On Thursday I went to the quilt expo in Fredericksburg with my mom, which was lovely,  and then on Sunday some friends, Sandra and I went to Charlottesville to see the autumn colors beginning to turn, it was a really nice time. I had some time to rest my brain as well as gather inspiration. 

The view from Blue Mountain Brewery is always one of my favorites in the Blue Ridge mountains. One of the perks of living in Richmond, is that we are an hour away from this, and two from the beach, and if I ever start to feel that I am becoming to soft from living in the south, I can fight the traffic and go home to D.C. where I am reminded of city living... anyhow I digress.. 

So with my long weekend I had finished my camp quilt, and started working on this... It is a log cabin pattern, and I made it for a little boy baby shower. I never really stick to blue for boys, pink for girls, and I have been wanting to make a black, white, grey, and minty color quilt for a while. I used the animal eyes fabric for the middle and then used dark on one side and pale on the other. I guess technically this is really a courthouse steps pattern. It came together much faster than I planned, so instead of quilting it myself I took it in to be quilted with the camping quilt. I will post better photos when they both come back home and are bound. 

I was pleased with the finished outcome, and happy that an image I had in my mind came out pretty clear once it was complete. 

complete.

The small paper-pieced quilt that I have been working on is now complete. It is so satisfying to finish a quilt, no matter how large or small it is a very rewarding feeling. This is a small quilt about 36 inches by 36 inches. I made this little one, as a gift for a baby shower. The parents went on Safari for their honeymoon, and I know that they love animals, so it seemed fitting. Even though I know the gender of the baby, I am not fond of pink and blue being the only solutions for baby gifts... or pastels for that matter. I used mostly neutral grey, black, white and then threw in the flamingo, elephant and safari prints.
It was a fun little project to work on that moved quickly, and I loved the quilting process on this one, which usually seems like a bit of a chore to me. I also love the way the overage of patterns works with the quilt. They are excessive I probably could have pared them down, but at the moment, I am really enjoying working with many patterns and prints at once.

For the quilting I used a grey thread and outlined each of the "books", then I sewed a 1/4'' around each of the joining corners. I love the way it turned out and the drape of the finished piece is great it folds so nicely. I think I will quilt more things like this in the future with the solid lines running up and down, creating a grid. In the past I think that sometimes I swore off quilting process because I was trying to make it too complicated, this just seemed to work. 

the finish line

It has been another busy couple of weeks, between work, going out of town and life.... Somewhere in the middle of it all I did manage to finish my "cross-quilt". This project was inspired by the traditional look of the first aid kits and of course the red cross symbol. I love the look of the simple shape and thought it would a great composition with some of my favorite collections of fabric. The design is my own the piecing is my own too. This is the first quilt that I have ever sent out to be top-stitched by Kelly Woods of i-quilt . I have always been torn on sending something out to be quilted but I must admit that I love the final outcome, and I was still able to choose the quilt pattern and thread color. I feel as if I still had all of the say in the design work and just a little time saver with the quilting... It is a nice feeling, considering that is never my favorite part of making, and long arm machines have give a really nice finished look. 

I enjoy this fuzzy picture, my camera got all fuzzy from the cold house to the HOT HOT HOT outside. 

In focus. I used 26 different fabrics all together and 5 different designers. 

The back. I am pleased with this backside. 

Nice drape. 

Paper Piecing

I recently purchased this book by Ayumi Takahashi, and despite the somewhat cheesy title, love the projects and the book itself. It is a second volume of the Zakka Style book that has become one of my favorites and this one is right up there as far as well written, and beautiful projects. The main reason that I purchased this book was the very descriptive paper piecing instructions. It has been years since I have paper-pieced anything and recently I have really wanted to because of the precision and accuracy of it. I needed a re-fresher and this had the best instructions and a lot of paper templates to copy. Definitely a good buy.

I had to practice, just like riding a bike it does come back to you, but you must make a few to get into the groove again. The more blocks I made the faster I got. The first day I made one block in two hours, it kept messing up and remembering which side of the fabric to face each way became complicated. Then the second day I made 7 blocks in 3 hours so I have definitely gotten back into the process of making a paper-pieced block. 

I either have friends getting married, or friends having babies, every couple of years it happens again like a cycle. (One day this will pass, as we get older, but I enjoy it at the moment). Since there are more babies on the way, and I love making a baby-quilt I practiced my paper-piecing on the book project inside of the Patchwork book. The fabrics above are what I am using (the parents of this baby love Safari animals.)

It took a few trials, some seam ripper action, and lots of patience... 

By the end of the day yesterday I had blocks that were successfully looking like books! I need to remember my notes on color theory though, because its funny how the shape of the book shows so well against some of the fabrics and got lost with others. Good practice, and a fun project in the works.

I took my cross-quilt to be quilted on a long arm machine, I should get it back today... I am nervous, I have never sent anything out, and even debated on if it was cheating for a while. I was re-assured by many traditional quilters that it is ok to send a quilt out to be topstitched. It is easier than working with the bulk on my small machines. Hope it comes back and I love it, then I can send others out. Which will save me time and frustration! 

working away

This past month has been a whirl-wind, we went to Italy, then came back for a couple weeks and went away again to Arizona. A lot of traveling, which is always a nice adventure, but a little bit exhausting. While I was home, I had just enough time to catch my breath, and make a few little things to give as gifts. The long lasting winter and snow did help keep me in my studio, which I must admit is the ONLY nice thing about winter. 

I made these tea towels for my family for Easter, which were a quick fun project. I used some natural linen I had on hand and some Aneela Hooey fabric from her Posy collection. I love this sweet fabric and what better time than Easter to make some towels with bunnies and chicks on it. Not being very religious myself I enjoy the celebration of spring and new life that comes with Easter and this time of year. It is always very gratifying to make something in under two hours, instant gratification! 

I also made a quilt in the 3 weeks I was home, for a new baby that is to come. I wanted to deliver it in person in Arizona, so I was in a bit of a time crunch. I used the same pattern I used when I made my fall quilt, a simple block style. I hand quilted the whole piece which I knew would take some time, but I wanted to make it fun and interesting. So I used the lines in the fabric to make shapes and designs and bring out some of the patterns in the fabrics. (It is easier to see this in the bottom picture.) I also used different colors depending on the square I was quilting. It was fun using this orange, yellow color pallet, appropriate for a boy or girl and yet still looks appropriate for a child. 

the back

 

simple block style

As much as I love to travel, I must admit it is nice to come home. Especially filled with inspiration and new ideas to apply in the studio! 

winter

This small quilt has been finished for a while, but it has taken me a long time to get around to photographing it. It is a winter/Christmas quilt that is meant more as a display than to be used for warmth, even though it would be a good child size. I used an altered log cabin to make the blocks, and the whole thing is a square 60"by 60". Most of the fabric is Aneela Hooey and there is a little Heather Ross in there too. The solids are a mixture of brands, and I can not remember what the red is, but it is very soft! This was a quick project that I wanted for the holidays, even though it was not really done until January. And while there are some Christmas motifs I think it could be a nice winter piece. At the moment it resides in my guestroom on my quilt hooks that usually hold vintage and antique quilts. 

I love this snowman teapot. 

The back is clothes pieces by Aneela Hooey,  and I almost like the back of this one better than the front! 

It is nice to be done with another project...