Update

Well, looky here. It has been an age since I posted. This, I'm sure, is not the last time I will disappear from here for a while. It's just the way I roll. I get really into something and then it's pretty much dead to me. For example, grilled cheese sandwiches were dead to me from age 7 until about 12 and then made a brief shining reappearance before being gone now for longer than my kids have been around. I just don't want one. I know I have enjoyed them and will enjoy them again, but there it is.

Short version, I have a pitiful span of attention.

So what has been going on, you ask? Well have a look...


There has been a lot of quilting. It isn't something I thought I would like but as it turns out, it's pretty addictive. I really enjoy that they always keep you warm and you don't have to worry about making them flattering. Quilts fit everybody.

And then there was some felted art for a show in December. Seriously. I know I've been gone a long time but I really have let this time away get a bit out of hand.

And some non-felted art for the same show based on the very amusing novel Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters.
And all the while teaching myself how to do my own eyebrows and make myself look like the undead. A girl only has so much time to perfect these critical things.

I know I could have spread these projects out to get the maximum air-play from each of them but time marches on. There will be more in the future but I am leaving you for now with this charming picture of myself at Halloween.

When I say "Craft or Die" I mean it.

A Summer of Quilting

If there is one thing I know it is how to rock a summer. Obviously, there is nothing cooler than teaching yourself how to quilt off Youtube. I did have some motivation, Eden got chicken pox and we have been in quarantine for the last two weeks. If you can't go out, you may as well learn something new at home.

The first picture is the back of the quilt which MAY not appear to be a stunning or revolutionary view but hot d*mn! it is a thing of beauty. I quilted it on my regular home Janome and there is not one pucker. Seriously, what are the odds. I meant to go get a walking foot for my machine to make quilting easier but with sick kids and exhaustion I never made it out. So this is a double miracle in my books. Now, on to the flashy side...
I think these blocks are called Amish Star blocks. I learned to make them and a ton of other random blocks from Missouri Star Quilt Co. on Youtube. There are some mad geniuses at work in the quilting community. I had no idea. The ladies break down scary, intimidating blocks like these (scary to me anyway) and actually make them so simple that they become monotonous to make.
I also realized that I have had a rotary cutter for about 6 years that I had never used. I don't know why I am so slow to embrace new tools but I can be stubborn that way. The rotary cutter has CHANGED MY LIFE!! sob, sob, sniffle... I'm ok. It is pretty cool and saves so much time and headache that I feel a bit stupid for not using it for so long. Those days are behind me now though, onward and upward.
It was just a quilt waiting to happen in my studio. I had all the fabric ready and purchased for someone who had told me his preferred colour scheme but I just couldn't see how to put them together. I will be giving him his quilt next weekend so for now it is a *secret* ssshhhh.
Each block is 11" so the final quilt is just over 4' x 5'. It should be perfect to throw on the couch for him and his lady to watch movies all snuggled up.

It seems weird to me that I could make this. I am after all not Amish and not a grandma and it was secretly really fun. My next quilt for my own couch is a Bento Box quilt made with a Moda Honey Bun (fancy quilting name for set of pre-cut 1.5" strips of fabric) that Dark Cloud sent me and some fabric from my stash. It's pretty ugly but I'm glad, I won't be as upset when Eden and Arlo spread jam on it and make it into a quilt sandwich.

**edited to add that the Bento Box quilt is not ugly because of the fabric sent by Dark Cloud, her fabric is awesome. I however did not think the design through all the steps very well and the end result, to put it mildly, is incredibly buzy.

Black and White

Here's a quilt I have been waiting to finish for WAY too long. However, in this case I think procrastination has paid off. I finally found the perfect flannel for the back. Amazingly, nearly ten years after I found the black flower print on the from that I hard-core love, I found a flannel print that matches up really well and doesn't scream "kids pajamas"!

And to top off the serendipity of this quilt production, my in-laws stopped by on Saturday and took the kids for two hours and I managed to get all the machine quilting done without smoke coming out of my sewing machine. Now I need to bind the edges and finish the printing and hand sewing parts in the large empty grey rectangles and then straight into the mail without a moment to lose.