My view, this weekend

Not my usual view, I took a short trip for a bit of a mental health break. This is the view from a little B&B over cross-country trails.

Faster, higher, stronger has never been my motto, but a sport whose highest aspiration is gliding through the woods might be one I can appreciate, maybe it’ll even redeem all this snow. Once I get over the sore muscles from my first try at it anyways. :)

 

I’ll be back to sewing and regular life soon. Until then, I hope you’ve all had wonderful weekends.

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Starry, starry night…

I’m toying with ideas for my month in my bee, and I — of course — have too many ideas. One of them involves stars, so I went trolling through flickr. I’m not sure why I thought this would help me narrow down my choices – but, at least I decided to share some of the beautiful stars I found with all of you:

1. DQS #9 – Front, 2. Curly Boy’s Roundabout – 4 blocks, 3. dqs7 received, 4. Purple Passion Star quilt, 5. Kitty stars baby quilt, 6. Mini Lone Star, 7. mini three: ice star, 8. Fab 12 Stars, 9. Eight Pointed Star Quilt, 10. Amy’s Wonky Star Block, 11. Friendship Star – PTS4, 12. 60 BoS {15.60}

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Winter weather…

I gave a sneak peak a couple of weeks ago, when this project was all but finished, then wandered off and forgot to show you all the final results. Sorry!

I don’t know about where you are, but around here, we’ve had snow, after snow, after snow. So, I keep picking out the blue-gray palettes of the world right now, and find myself ending alot of emails “Stay warm!”

The scarf pattern is inspired by the (in my opinion) brilliant scarf print from Aneela Hoey’s Sherbert Pips

 

Lots of straightline quilting: In addition to intheditch rows, and more just outside the ditch along the body of the scarves, I used it to emphasize the fringe and to add extra stripes.

This is my second recent quilt all in solids – but the stripe-y binding and especially the rick-rack print backing make me happy. :)

I think the table runner was a trial run; as I was sewing, I’ve been thinking of a version as a tree-skirt (or maybe just a small quilt), with snowball blocks, and green and white and ash.

In the mean time, I’ll be putting one of these in my shop

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Sewing for a new space

A little before Christmas, I moved offices at work to a newly renovated space. The renovations have been nicely done to make the suite a functional, welcoming space, and to bring sunlight through, even though there are windows on only one wall.

My empty office on move-in day

My office is currently a rather white block, a blank canvas in desperate need of some warming up. Perfect, sewing project time. I started  planning a full set: mug rug (I bring coffee every day), a throw pillow for my visitors chair, a little wall quilt and a topper for a free standing file…

I haven’t started sewing yet, though. I have a wall of glass looking out on the main area, which has warm red and orange colors.  Not my normal color scheme at all: I use clear colors and lean towards the cool side of the spectrum with lots of white. (If you haven’t noticed) These are warm, autumn colors with brown tones (brick rather than bright red, pumkin rather than tangerine), and I’ve got so much white in the paint and furniture that I don’t really want to add more.

So, I’m trying to stretch a bit, and have pulled dozens of pieces of fabric as I consider my options. I think the Wonderland floral print in the center there will be the focus, but I haven’t really settled on designs either. I’m shopping for new art, too, for the walls, and various accessories,  so that will have some influence.

I did fill most of those empty shelves, and re-appropriated this pillow (originally intended for my shop) for one of the chairs. It’s a start…

Anyone else ever challenged by the space you’re sewing for?

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Work in Progress

Just a sneak peak of a new project:

I’ll post more once I’m done:

 

 

 

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Still posting Christmas gift projects…

January 8th, perfect time to post a Christmas present, right?. I showed you a preview of this here, when it was just a trial block on the design wall, but nothing since.

This is the (almost) finished runner. Observant readers will note the binding clips and threaded needle. I took these pictures as I was packing up to travel on Christmas Eve, and finished it that night after everyone else had gone to bed, barely in time to give Christmas morning.

I really like the Dresden plates in the cobalt blue, but I think the rows of  echo quilting are my favorite part:

(I used this Dresden Plate  tutorial from Elizabeth Hartman (Oh, Franson) on Sew Mama Sew)

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Tutorials: Getting Organized

Happy New Year! (I can still say ‘happy new year’ three post’s into 2011, right?)

Continuing my not-terribly-regular series of sifting through my long list of bookmarked tutorials, and passing them along to you.

In honor of new year’s resolutions to get organized…

… a tutorial to sew Simple Fabric boxes from One Crafty Mumma

…  a  weighted pincushion/organizer tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman/Oh Fransson via Sew Mama Sew:

… and, one that’s not sewing related, but I think I may need to implement this winter: Meal planning magnets (including printable PDF) by Amy from The Red Chair Blog via Tatertots and Jello

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Charming

 I don’t buy charm packs – or layercakes, jelly rolls, fat quarter bundles or whatever precut configuration they’ve come up with now. I know I’m the odd ball on this, but I like to put my money just into the fabrics that I really like from a line. But, I made an exception for Dream On and bought charm packs. They’ve been sitting on my shelf, cheery and bright, waiting.



1. Juicy quilt, 2. Nicey Jane Charm Quilt: Front, 3. Moda Hunky Dory charm pack quilt using disappearing 9 patch quilt blocks, 4. P1040581, 5. Doll Quilt Swap 5 ready to go!, 6. Game Day Quilt, 7. Mini Quilt!, 8. A sweet little quilt, 9. Chocolate Momo quilt

I’ve decided to use them to make a quilt for myself – something fun and bright. But, now I  need to decide what to do with them.  I want something simple, and easy: this is not the fabric for fussy, fidgetty piecing. I think HST’s are about as complicated as I’m interested in.  

1. Spring, 2. Quilt for Baby Elise, 3. Audrey’s Quilt, 4. For my sister-in-law, 5. 18th June, 2010, 6. or this one?, 7. Braylin’s quilt, 8. Larger DQS Inspired Quilt 1, 9. swell zig zag quilt

I’ve got two charm packs, a little bit of yardage, and probably lots of white kona. So, I went searching through flickr for charm square patterns: and found lots of inspiration. Now I’m deciding between so many options: a nice problem to have.  :)

But, I’m open to more: do you have a favorite charm-friendly pattern?

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New Year’s (Sewing) Resolutions

As I mentioned, my sewing resolution is to sew more for myself, and less because I “should” in some way.  It’s really a sub-set of a bigger resolution about prioritizing, and not taking on more than I can handle with inner calm and good humor.

Last year, I said I would make a  project from my scrap bin, or finish a WIP/UFO,  for every new project started. (And I largely stuck with that one)

Not a new pillow, but one I'm reclaiming from the shop to keep for myself

 

It got me thinking, does anyone else make resolutions about their sewing (or other craft/art/hobby etc.)? Or am I the only one? If you make them, what’s yours?

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