Creative flounder (fishy pun intended)

I have so much to post about...and nothing to post about! I have made lots of progress on several projects with few completions to show....until now.

BEHOLD! (Another!?!) patchy baby blanket.

It's for a work colleague. She is very stylish and bohemian - a perfect fit for some fabric from the fabulous Anna Maria Horner. (Yes pink lovers, she is having a girl!).

The patchwork and quilting happens to be a repeat of a quilt that I made for another work colleague. I really love making simple patchwork quilts. Does a production of two quilts make it my trademark-go-to quilt???

I was especially happy with the back. Some vintage linen (that was purchased at the Fabric Flea Market last fall) and a tiny strip of patchwork. I do like a little "surprise" on the back of a quilt.

Now that the weather has turned colder, my thought are starting to turn to Christmas projects. Too early???! When do you start tackling your Christmas list?

Zombie stitching...

Does anybody else have their attention span just melt in the heat?

I have had to resort to super simple stitching to accomodate my lazy summer attitude.

We have spent much of the summer with a cold beverage in hand in company of friends and family. It's been a restful summer (for the most part - let's not talk about the day it "rained" in the dining room - darn you roof! Grrrr).

Back to restful, mindless, summer stitching:

I have also been taken hostage to the allure of the hexagon. I have been amassing a humongous pile. Originally I had decided that I would make an entire hexagon quilt from my Anna Maria Horner fabrics (don't they seem so bohemian, Horner fabrics and hexies???). 100s (and I DO mean 100s!) of hexagons in, I have changed my mind and decided that hexagons look best as a mish-mash of scraps of fabric. Once again I fall prey to my indecisiveness. No matter. I will need years of hexagons to ever end up with a quilt. I view this as a project that I will keep coming back to over the years.

Maybe I should sign myself up in some hexagon swaps to trade some Horner hexies for other fabrics???


In the meanwhile, I have abandoned my mindless hand work for a simple patchwork baby blanket. Can't wait to spend some time sitting behind my sewing machine. It's been a while!


Happy summer stitching to all!

Loveliness...

I'm sure that you have heard by now that the Victoria & Albert Museum (in London) is having a quilting exhibit.

When I travelled to London a few years ago, missing the V&A was high on my list of "Oooo....I wish that I had more time so that I could have seen that!" regrets. I am practically frothing at the mouth now with all of the exciting details of the quilting exhibit!

I followed the links to the V&A on-line shop. Loveliness! I am particularly taken with these scarves, which are crocheted, not quilted, but remind me of all of the hex-y love that is happening in the quilting world.

link to scarf in the V&A shop

Close, but no cigar!

I love me some hand stitching. When life gets to be stressful in the slightest I start to crave a little bit of hand stitching to slow life down and put everything into perspective. Yesterday was one of those days where I was itching to get into my pyjamas and hand stitch up a storm! OOooHHHMMmmmmm....

In preparation for my exciting evening plans, I purchased this London embroidery pattern from Comfort Stitching that I have been coveting for quite some time. I feel certain that it will make the perfect gift for my sister to memorialize the trip that she, my mom and I took to London together.

I gathered all of my material and successfully transferred the pattern onto a lovely piece of white linen that I had hanging about the house....and then I realized my problem....NO EMBROIDERY NEEDLE!! Argh. I spent the next 20 minutes pulling out all of my craft supplies because I could not believe that it could be true. Regrettably it was. Any of you out there have similar crafty tragedies befall your happy crafting night??? Any crazy rampages through your crafting supplies? Do you ever contemplate frenzied emergency trips to the supply store late at night?

Fortunately, the evening was not a complete wash. I managed to located my two baggies of vintage buttons that were missing for another project. One vintage white buttons, another vintage shell buttons. (NOTE to self: perhaps a re-org of the crafting shelves is due??? If one spends more time hunting for craft supplies than crafting, it is a problem.)

Images of how the buttons were used to follow! For now, please enjoy the pictures of the lovely roses that my husband purchased.

Gorgeous, non?!

Why we are having pizza tonight...

268 - 4" hourglass squares


Half of which are currently carefully laid out on the dining room floor....


Tonight I must keep the 3-year old boy out of the dining room and off of the quilty mess. I must "randomly" lay out the rest of the squares and then create orderly little stacks to be pieced for a quilt top.

My lovely husband is celebrating his 40th birthday this year. I was so flattered when he told me that he wanted a quilt. He loves these Kaffe fabrics...and so do I!

Can I deliver this quilt by a Friday deadline? It seems doubtful. I would at least like to have the top pieced for that lovely man. It would be nice if he had an actual gift to open. I would really do almost anything to make certain that he enjoys his BIG day. He's a bit nervous about 40, and I want to make sure that the day is filled with happy, loving memories.

I love you sweetie! I'm racing to finish on time....but I know that you really know me. I'm always running late. You love that about me, right? RIGHT???

Everybody out of the dining room! No time for dinner preparation! Quilting-palooza all week at my house!

Whoopsy! Not all colour and pattern are created equal

I finished this quilt for a co-worker (and friend)'s baby quite some time ago. I must confess that I was slightly embarrassed to give it to him...and I am slightly embarrassed to show it here.

As you can see, I was trying to pay homage to my friend's love of bright colour. I love it too! I also love lots of pattern. Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh....While I love almost all colour and almost all pattern, it turns out that I don't love them all together at the same time. May I suggest that you don your sunglasses? BEHOLD:


I did warn you! Bright, non? Do you see how some of the colours and some of the patterns compete? It's like they are locked in a mortal combat. Not pretty. I wonder also if it could be the battle of solid versus pattern???

While the colours and patterns are not serene, the quilting is simple and straight forward (plain ole' straight line). Good thing...your eyes might have exploded if this quilt had also had busy quilting.

Fortunately, something can be salvaged from this brutal lesson in colour and pattern...the very simple back turned out quite well. I love this recycled IKEA bedding and vintage turquoise linen together. The gingham binding makes me deliriously happy. Yeah...I know that it is weird, but I really do love gingham that much - to the point of delirium!

What do I learn from this quilting experience besides some more humility??? I need to read a bit more about colour theory. OK - true confession, when I say "read a bit more" it really means "I really should bother to read something - anything at all - about colour theory since it is clearly not innate to me". Any suggestions for reading material to hone my fabric selecting skills????

Sweet smugness

Look what I grew!!

Yup, after only 3 years I have managed to grow a peony. In fact, I actually grew two of them...but it has been so grey that the other flower fell apart before I got a chance to take a picture. You'll have to take my word for it...it was pretty too!

I seem to remember when I was a kid that they used to talk about the creation of "smell-o-vision". Hmmm...is my vague memory of this accurate, or do I just really wish that I could share the fabulous smell of this bloom with you??