Odds and Ends

I'm embarrassed to have let almost an entire month go by without a single post. But we've been busy. and I have to remind myself, blogging about my hobby is not my job. Working, and mothering, and paying bills (etc) is my job. This is just a tether to my heart. Hmmm... maybe that's why my heart has felt floppy lately...

Anyway, here's what I've been up to.

Remember those scraps I had plans for? Inspired by CrazyMomQuilts Tickertape Quilt? Well, I made my own. (Thank you so much, Amandajean, it was such a fun quilt to make!) And the baby who I was making it for did me the great favor of being a week late (Welcome to this crazy world, Cora Simone!) and I finished it just as she was being born.

Maybe it looks tedious to you, but I found it so satisfying. I think part of every quilter is an OCD sufferer. This project goes straight to that itch.

And I continued to have fun with the backing. I totally heart Ikea fabric and sheets for quilting materials!
And after I washed it it got all nubbly and perfect for a wee baby's curious fingers.

I'm sorry to see this treasure go. But I know it is going somewhere very, very special.

Happy Birthday, Cora!




I also wanted to post about the flannel quilt I made last year. This is the first autumn season I've pulled it out since making it, and it totally warmed my heart. It took me a whole year to finally finish it, probably because I knew it was for me and me alone, so it always took a back burner to the other projects for babies born, auctions, and commissions.

It's FLANNEL!!


I had so much fun with a new kind of free motion quilting, jaggedy instead of swirly. It's not perfect, but it goes with the pattern. I cannot tell you how snuggly this quilt is. I'm already making another flannel quilt for my son. It's a great "guy quilt" option. I think new quilts for my brothers are on the list...

I've also started working on the next baby quilt for the next baby, due in a couple of weeks. I fell in love with this other project of AmandaJean's, Happy Little Community,
which she found here
and I just couldn't help myself.
I've actually gotten a lot further along now, and will post more pics soon. It is really so sweet, and although I am a little nervous about the quilting, since so much white will highlight the quilting, I have faith in the loveliness of these little houses, and the ideas in Mindful Meandering, the free-motion quilting book that has been my bible lately. Link to that to come.

And last, but not least, I promised a pic of the top I made after I made dresses for my daughter and her friend. Here 'tis, and I look forward to wearing it again when I'm not rehearsing and sweating so much.

It's hanging off an old vine I helped clear out of the park that abuts our yard, another reason I love where I live.
it is so important to find peace in creativity, in sunlight, in nature, and in the everyday beauty right in front of us.

this is not new thinking.

just a gentle reminder.

blessings. peace. simplicity.

embrace it.