a little inspiration

  Here it is.  All done.  I finished it at the sewing weekend we had at my wonderful mother's house.  I had to take a piece of rayon from her stash for the back.  It belonged to my Grammie.  None of the pictures I took of it came out, all are blurry.  But it was the perfect match and just the right size to do a fold over binding instead of attaching a separate binding piece.  This is surely cheating but I love the style.  So much faster than making binding and nicer than buying something that sort of matches.  I used this basic idea.  But then I felt it was too skinny and so I added strips on the sides.  I was afraid they'd be weird but I think it turned out just right. I got stalled on this for a long time because the strips weren't lining up.  I finally just went for it and decided to embrace it.  I don't do perfect.  I do pretty, I do nice work, I do functional.  I'm happy with that. I have b...

I have wanted to make this quilt for a long, long time.  I have thought of it in many ways, imagined it with many fabrics, recreated it in my mind with whole cloth, blocks and different embroidery.  It was made for one of those people who deserves the best and you know that you need to get it "just right" for.  Not that she wouldn't love it no matter what, but you know what I mean. With her birthday coming up and the birth day of this baby right around the corner I knew we had arrived at the "now or never" phase.  Or at least, the now or not for another three to five years phase...  And since I have been thinking of it for the last five years....  Obviously, it was time to move this out of the "wish to make" brain pile. I went with super simple.  Two fabrics I thought she'd love and a super neutral opposite side.  I am not sure which side is the front and which side is the back.  I guess that means it is reversible.   I alre...

          I've been working on a quilt.  With wool on the inside to keep me nice and toasty. And big summer flowers on the outside to keep me cheerful all winter long.  I got this fabric about year ago.  The wool that I used for the batting in actually a fabric someone gifted me from an old stash.  It was a huge plaid I couldn't imagine ever using but it is so warm and such a nice wool.  I knew it must have some use.  And 60" inches wide even after washing! I practiced my embroidery to keep it in place.  I finally got the chain stitch down.  I think it is funny I waited so long....  it is so easy and pretty.  (I always say this.  Why did I wait so long to try x?  It is so easy!) Desi liked the quilt from the beginning.  You can see the evidence on all the pictures....  That white hair really does stick. (ps- there are even more pictures if you click on any one of these.)

In August, the Bug starts "school".  I can't believe our little boy has only been with us two years and some months.  I can't imagine being with out him.  When I think about things we did before him I find myself searching those memories for him.  Surely, he has always been with me.  He must have gone rock climbing and camping and caving with us.  I'm sure he was in California that month I worked there.  And then I realize how silly it is.  He is only TWO.  You could say he was there, a tiny egg, an invisible thought, a future I had no idea would come.  I am excited for us all to start this new phase.  In all honesty, I need to have a break from full-time parenting.  I don't have the energy to keep up every day with such a potent, fresh life.  I also know he craves the time with others his own age and loves the play that he already engages in on the playground with some of his soon to be classmates. In preparation I ...

I know you have all been waiting with baited breath.  So I thought I wouldn't keep you in suspense any more. Here it is!  I want to tell you about how it came to be- are you ready to listen to a convoluted history of how my brain works?  If not, just look at the pretty pictures. First- I love Alicia Paulson .  You all know her, right?  She makes all these beautiful things with little squares full of flowers and pink and purple.  I always want to do one of these projects when she shows them but let's face it: one- I am not so girly, two- I live with a grown (very wonderful and sensitive but still a) man and a little boy who is showing me each and every day how little boy he is.  Yesterday he bit into his first earthworm.  Today he wanted to go find more.  I did make that last quilt , which was very likely Alicia's fault.  I love it too. Two- I then found this basic quilt style done for boys.  It was already sold when ...

And Opa is here of course.  We are visiting for a few days this week in hopes of some time by the fire where the Oma and the Mama can tie up about 300 squares.  Remember this ?  The top is finally all together and ready to be sandwiched into a quilt the Bug can actually use.  The minky fabric is really what held things up (and you know, all the rest of life) because it is slippery and I am a lazy pinner.   But, this project may have cured me of that problem. Here are a couple views of the top so far.  I hope to be back at the beginning of next week with finished-on-the-bed pictures.

We had a wonderful time visiting my parents this last week.  Getting out of the city and into the woods was just what was needed.  And the weather being crisp, the leaves changing and falling, and so many crafty things getting done was icing on the cake. My camera had an accident last week and the screen is no longer working so it really is just point and shoot now.  Shooting without seeing exactly what the camera is seeing is certainly different.  Here are a few I had to share: For the record, only the first and last images were edited at all.   And he wore the vest almost every single day.  And he picked the orange minky for the quilt. Have a lovely weekend friends!

Weirdly, at the end of this weekend I felt as if I hadn't gotten anything done.  This must mean I am insane cause looky here: I made three blocks for this month.  I couldn't help it.  I didn't like how the first one was going and then once I decided to go with a more traditional log cabin style I knew I would need one for myself too.  Because I am very selfish about log cabin blocks.  Especially pretty, contrasty ones.  This was the first try.  I wanted to do the log cabin once I had found the fabric and came across this wonky style.  It turned out too wonky for me to like enough to send it away.  And it will NOT lay flat.  But it is interesting.   The second try I went ahead and made two of them because making two is as easy as making one if you know where you are going with it.  I ran out of strips and so only one of them is 10" and the other one then stays here with me.  I LOVE how they turned out. For Barbara: ...

I fixed the machine. Don't ask me how but it is running again. To make sure it was working I put together all the strips for the top of the quilt. And then finished this skirt. Yay! The skirt has been floating around in my head for a while. It is super simple which means it isn't the most flattering. I used a peice of stretch knit for the waist band and then just cut a full width of the floral (which is a swiss cotton dot lawn that is so nice!) and sewed them together. So the skirt gets fuller right on my hips (the unflattering part I mentioned). The main part of the skirt is lined with another bit of the knit. Once I had that together I felt like it was too short for everyday wear so I added the ruffle. I love it. It was hard to gather that much fabric in one go (I used two widths) and next time I will gather each side separately. With the ruffle I can sit down or squat to play with the Bug and no one has to see my under bits... Next time I make it (I have another ...