ten weeks was a long time to be away

from this little space,

but in the grand scheme of things

it went by in the blink of an eye.

i spent the last ten weeks watching this little bean grow, settling into our family of four, giving my big girl (who is now a big sister!) lots of extra love, and even sneaking in some sewing time here and there. i can honestly say that my quiet time spent at my sewing table first thing in the morning is rejuvenating and oh so welcome. big shout out to the husband for making that work for me - he's golden!

that sewing time has allowed me to finish my first postpartum quilt, a custom baby quilt made for an awesome barter deal. some half square triangles and flying geese allowed me an easy transition back into quilt mode. but let me tell you, all of that straight line quilting probably won't be happening again any time in the near future.

until next time, xo.

sneak peek :: dark night wonky stars

since i made these wonky stars about a week ago, the technique and the idea of a dark night sky filled with little (wonky) twinklers have been dominating my quilting brain lately. i started with eight yards of cotton solids, mostly white or charcoal with an ashy grey in between. i dyed the white using basic rit powder dye in shades of blue, purple, and teal and orange, yellow, and grey. from there, tiny stars are being made with my custom yellow and galaxy blue, plus the addition of a few sky and star prints from my stash.

i did a little internet research after deciding that this would be a massive quilt - one that could live on our bed forever and more than adequately cover a family of four. i know that no matter how hard i try i would never be able to fit a king size quilt in my tiny singer. it just can't happen. my first thought was to send a finished top, batting, and back sandwich to a professional long arm quilter. oh how beautiful it could be - just think of the possibilities!

but i know my budget would never cover something like that, at least not now. so back to the drawing board. i quickly found a few tutorials and ideas for 'quilt as you go'. and so an experiment has begun: with an ever-changing collection of wonky stars and improv strips, i will be making various quilted blocks that will eventually come together for a finished king size quilt.

with one 20" x 20" quilted wonky star block done, i feel like i could be venturing into a collection of mini quilts. and i am very excited.

and then it was quiet, again - oops. but i promise, i have a good excuse! i've been working on cutting and sewing and quilting as much as i can in the last few weeks for the few craft fairs that i'm taking part in before the holidays hit. while it is fun to make lots of little things that might catch people's eyes, it is hard to remain inspired when your main motivating factor is sell, sell, sell.

so i indulge myself a bit with little quilts. while the zig zag quilt is still for sale (if it doesn't go at mass market this weekend, it will be listed on etsy), the woven quilt was a gift for a new little friend - due to hit the scene by the end of january. i love making baby quilts. lovelovelove. expect to see many more.

the challenge with taking photos on this island isn't the lack of scenery or the right lighting. it's the fierce wind that likes to whip across the island - taking hats and quilts with it. although this quilt has been finished for almost a week, i had to wait for a calm day on which to photograph it. and while i did manage to explore the woods with frankie and rosie (my previously mentioned best helpers) on a foggy/windless morning to get some snapshots of it, today might not have been the best day to try to get a picture of the full, finished quilt. but i managed, i guess.

as you can see, rosie is the least helpful of the bunch.

this is a quilt that i have been working on intermittently for (ahem) about five months. i designed it after making my chevron mini quilt, with a calmer color palette in mind. little did i know that sewing, cutting and trimming, and piecing 352 half square triangles would take me so long. i soon grew bored and frustrated with the tedious process and set the few blocks that i had finished aside. but at some point - probably when i cleaned my sewing table and realized that there were unfinished half square triangles everywhere - i decided that it was about time that i finish it. and so i did, and just in time to bring it with me to the local craft fairs that i'll be taking part in in the next month or so. 

see what i mean about the wind?

almost every photo turned out like this, or worse.

details:

measures 60" x 60"

machine pieced and quilted

fabrics used are kona cotton in ash, vintage sheet,

and crazy for dots and stripes in bright blue by rjr fabrics

it seems that its been mini quilt weather around these parts - rainy, quiet mornings and sunny afternoons lend an appealing air to my little sewing table by the kitchen window. though i miss my 'studio' in the bright sunroom we had in our home in maine, this will have to do. and it is.

mini quilts seem to be my distraction these days. i should be cutting triangles and wool felt, attaching zippers to linings and outers, designing a simple dolly that wears skirts or shirts or hats, and finally finishing that twin size quilt that's been hanging around forever. but instead i choose to experiment with new techniques and blocks, mixing fabrics that i never thought would compliment each other. not such a bad distraction if you ask me!

what a way to start of the week - one blog post down, three mini quilts done, one in progress, and the sun is shining! it would seem that quilting-all-day-with-frankie-as-helper rather than serving-food-while-family-is-home-without-me is agreeing with this mama. now, if i could get some better lighting in here i would show you the progress that i made this weekend - winter craft fairs, here i come!

 

a + b + c =

a new trio of mini quilts:

improv pieced,

patchwork letters,

meant to hang in a row.

i fully intend to continue on with this project - whether that means completing the alphabet or moving on to numbers. i love how freeing the patchwork became and the puzzle that improv piecing can be. the process of straight line quilting (i echoed the shape of the letters with a new line every 1/4") was a bit addictive as well. it became a chance to meditate on the work that i had done and the possibilities of what could be.

frankie insists that the letter 'a' quilt should be full size - she sits her little self down on the floor and tries to cover her  toes with a quilt that is just not big enough. maybe a 'frances mae' quilt is in the starts for my baby girl.

and with the return of cool air comes the return of my inspiration/motivation/creative brain. let's face it, summer time just isn't my thing. besides enjoying the occasional frozen yogurt and a farmer's market here or there, humid air, bathing suits, mosquitoes and i just do not get along. 

but now - oh now! - there are craft fairs right around the corner that require planning and preparation. there are cool, quiet nights that are just screaming for quilts that need to be bound (and therefore snuggled underneath). and finally a sewing table that is tidy - i won't say clean - enough to stack fabric and sort scraps and sew sew sew!

the next few weeks (and months, perhaps) around these parts will be spent:

:: making piles of triangles to sew onto my new bunting bags. 

:: cooking casseroles and baking muffins.

:: rekindling my love for this little island that has been our home for five months now.

:: digging into my giant pile of works in progress.

:: knitting up some beautiful alpaca that has been in my stash for far too long.

and a sneak peak of another project that is so close to being done i can almost taste it. i can't wait to share.

swoon block #2 done.
both blocks quilted.
(and machine quilted at that. pat one the back for a new skill.)
now to back and bind.
et voila, new pillows!

it took me a long time to cut all of the pieces for this enormous (twenty four by twenty four inches!) quilt block - let's just say that miss frances mae is not the best helper. she very much enjoys sitting her little bum down right in the center of my cutting mat and kicking and twirling and screaming. she also wants nothing more than to sit on my lap while my sewing machine is going. while i love that she wants to watch and occasionally help, it takes a lot of energy to stop those quick little fingers from going under the veryveryvery fast needle.

anyways: after about three hours of work, here's the first swoon block made by my own two hands. and while this one is not destined for a full quilt, i can't wait to get started on more and more!

spiderweb mini quilt: done!
oh how nice it is to both start and finish a project all in one day.
a nice sense of accomplishment on my end, thank you very much.

and now to gather the prettiest shells and stones i can find at the seashore, a good bar of local chocolate, and some other fancy vineyard goodies - wrap it all up in brown paper packaging, and send this baby to its rightful owner! (wink, wink. can you guess who you are!?)

and then she was back.

i must say the silence on my end was not so deafening - it actually felt good to learn what is necessary in my "digital life" and to learn what is a distraction. in the meantime, i've started multiple projects, unpacked dozens of boxes, visited the mainland, and dipped my toes in the sand a few times, too.

besides all of that, i am most excited to share the beginnings of a project that has been dominating my free time and attention lately (i don't have very much of either). a month or so ago i was browsing for my usuals on etsy - vintage quilts, ceramic mixing bowls, canvas totes - when i stumbled across a listing for a slightly deteriorated, bright pink quilt. i didn't like the quilt (which is why i didn't bookmark it, and can't find it now) but i loved the pattern of the blocks. and so my project started with a mini quilt mock up. and now i'm on to piecing the real thing.

it's taken some fiddling around with steam setting on my iron, but as i continue to sew and press, the ripples have become fewer and farther between. my points are starting to match up more and more often, often lining up so perfectly that i have to pat myself on the back.

i guess the point is this: challenging myself to a new project, with many components and steps, has made me focus on refining my skills and mastering my machine. i've learned to pin and adjust and pin to get that perfect match, i've learned how important it is to find the straight of grain, i've learned to be patient with the process.

a quilt isn't born over night, y'know.

and now i will promise you this: i'm already compiling some new etsy finds, i have four blocks done for my farmer's wife quilt (part of the fwqal that i am taking part in) and a few other goodies up my sleeve. i will never leave you again, i promise.

just a little update before its moving time again:
well actually, today is moving day but i needed a moment, so i'm stealing one.

in the few spare moments that i have had and in a few wee evening hours, i've managed to piece together a quit top (later to be quilted and bound) - it feels good to buy fabric and immediately use it. no more of this piling it up, looking at it, wondering what it could turn into to, timidly cutting into it...and so on. i've even managed to save some cuts of this dsquilts collection for the binding. hurrah!

this is how i relax -



some hand quilting, a lot of sun, a laughing baby.
life is good (when this is what is in it).

i miss my huge bins of fabric so much. at this moment, all of my scraps and bits and pieces, and thrift store sheets and pillowcases, and beautiful yards of quilting cotton are sitting in a barn in maine. i am two states away, patiently waiting for the day that they will make it on to the boat and on to my island and in to my hands. only a few more days.

in the meantime,
i will be trying to put together a back
for this with not even close to enough fabric.

see, i received a scrap pack from hawthorne threads for winning the spring runner sew-along at stumbles & stitches (by the way, jenny and angel are running a fantastic fundraiser for the tornado disaster relief in alabama - awesome work, ladies!). i have been living off of the beautiful little pieces of fabric that came in the mail. patiently waiting and waiting, biting my nails until i can get my hands on my stash.

i have two quilts (one bed size, one picnic) planned that i must make now.

mini quilt top is done! and i'm unsure -

don't get me wrong, i'm very proud of myself for how well all of my corners line up and for measuring everything correctly - in fact, measuring and sewing well enough that my quilt top is exactly the size i wanted it to be. its the fabric choices i made that i'm unsure of (good news is that the bed size quilt i have planned that is based on this will be much more calm color wise. so calm that i'm only using two fabrics). for the most part, i love how the blue stands out and contrasts against the green and orange prints. but there are two big blocks of orange that just stare at me. i don't like them. one bit. and if i could go back and re-cut and reposition, i would.

but its just an experiment. just a mini mock up.
and it will make a beautiful doll quilt for frankie's friends.
(after i piece together a back and quilt and bind, of course)

new mini quilt in the works -

i'm trying to decide if the bed size quilt i have planned would really work.
although it seems that i've taken this mini mock-up in a different direction than intended.

so far all of my triangle points are matching up (!!!) and even though i cut the wrong number of triangles from one specific fabric, i'm pretty excited to see how this one comes together. and the nicest thing about making a mini quilt? i might be able to get it made in a reasonable amount of time - considering i have a wild toddler and a full time job.