small hands

What I Learned From This Quilt



1. How to finally get my corners of my binding right!!! I am so happy about that. I will write a tutorial later this week.

2. That I love the Kaffe Fassett Birdboxes pattern, but I am done making it. The quilting part made me think Basta!! with this design.

Since I pieced this quilt, I got a scrap piecing book which gives me good ideas about using scraps. One of the greatest virtues of the Birdboxes pattern is its use of scraps.



3. I made this quilt because I have a blue version that I love, love.



Every time I go to my parents' cabin, I think it could use more quilts and I would love to see a version of the blue Birdboxes quilt. I am sending it to the cabin, so I am fulfilling my wish.



4. There are lots of quilt fabrics that have a "country" flavor and I'm glad that I was able to use them in this project. The binding is made from a Ralph Lauren sheet--Yvette.



Done making this pattern. Love it, but done.

On to the next one:

The weather has gotten cooler, the fall issues are out with the home and garden magazines, which immediately inspires me to nest. And nothing says nest to me more than beds and bedding.

I love the bed on the upper right, the use of the darker, tweed and paisley material for bedding. It's very Thomas O'Brien, though it's a scan from the Ethan Allen catalogue.

I am inspired by the Donna Karan bedding, especially the top coverlet. I think a quilt of predominately white, with stripes of fabric would be interesting.

flickr love

I'm curious:

I was listening to [or reading]* an interview with a pollster about microtrends and he said that microtrends are important because they reveal facts you would never have guessed. His example was: who would have known that young people are knitting? And my first thought was: he's late; knitting is over. [Over in the same sense that trucker hats are over.]

Hold on, before the knitters get upset :0), my question is this: has crafting and crafty-blogging peaked? Is it over or is it at an ebb in an ebb and flow kind of thing?

Is it seasonal and folks have been otherwise occupied during the summer? [Which would not explain the quiet from the folks Down Under. For example, one of the crafty blogs that always inspired me has been discontinued indefinitely.]

Am I reading the wrong blogs and there is a lot of activity elsewhere? Because the blogs I'm reading are very, very quiet.

As I was working on my quilt this morning, I gazed up at my bookshelves containing my fabric stash. I realized that I have not been excited about any new fabric collections in about a year or more. Not like the first Denyse Schmidt collection or the Martha Negley Westminster fruits and dahlias from 2005.

I would hate for all the money that has been spent on yarn, fabric, and supplies from all the people who used to blog/create to be wasted.

I don't intend to stop, but I've been questioning this quieting down I've been noticing.

What gives?


*It's interesting how when one is so bombarded by media--television, radio, internet, newspapers--one can forget the source of the information.

Inspiration Wednesday



Linda, thank you for your question. The quilt is from Kaffe Fassett's Book Passionate Patchwork and is called the Fonthill quilt.

Monica, thank you for your question. No, I've never made a quilt from old clothes. I think part of the reason is because my children were always enamored with clothes made from material that would never make a good quilt. From time to time I see an amazing toddler outfit made out of a great fabric and I want to buy it and cut it up, but the economics of paying for a finished garmet to yield a small amount of useable quilt fabric always stop me. Though Lyn's use of Oilily fabric makes me think twice.

Autumn is on its way. I was walking yesterday and I almost slipped on a bunch of leaves covering the ground. And then my friend J. described a pork roast she made with a vegetable tagine and I told her "You're cooking for fall already." Autumn is my favorite season, but Halloween candy in the stores in August is offensive to me.

The comments on my last post got me thinking.

Quilting is definitely more strenuous than piecing, as well as being much, much slower. But then again, it's the only way to the finished quilt.

I am not finding the quilting physically taxing, either to my arms or my wrists. Then again, I'm not moving like gangbusters either.

One problem is that my study always becomes the most fun place to be in the house when my kids are home. It results in them commandeering my desk/sewing chair and turning the television to their favorite shows every time I get up to put a load of laundry in the washer/dryer or to cook or to organize an overflowing closet. I couldn't possibly kick them out, claiming the space as mine [!!!] because one day they will not live with me and the truth is that they can have anything of mine that they want.

However, they and housework interrupts my quilting flow. I am well aware of my momentum on a quilting project: slow start, incremental progress, completing an encouraging percentage of blocks, moving past the midway mark, increasing speed and duration as the finish line approaches.



Diane Gaudynski is a quilting goddess and the above images are from her book. I like how scrunched up the quilts are in her machine and how they end up gorgeous and wonderful anyway. I don't have a Bernina and my quilting will never reach the level of hers, but reading her book is always very encouraging and inspiring.

When I take a break from the quilting, I love snipping threads and poring over the fabric, which leads to a craving for piecing a new quilt. Which will have to wait; but that's when I'm very open to inspiration:

My plan for Labor Day weekend was just to lay low and be a complete hermit and work on my quilt. I am really digging the fabrics:




Then I remembered my friend had a wedding reception planned to celebrate her elopement on Saturday night. I mentioned it to my girl and she was adamant that we go.

So I headed to Sur La Table and then we had to get my sweet girl a dress. She looked beautiful and it warmed my heart to see her dancing with my mom at the reception.

Today I so did not feel like going grocery shopping, but then I reminded myself that I would have to go tomorrow, on the holiday, if I didn't. So I headed out and got it done. Whew.

There's a dead possum in front of my house. It's a teenager, not fully mature, and my son was really sad abot its demise. As much as I do for neighborhood beautification, I'm not touching a dead possum.

Have a great holiday.