Wednesday, November 27, 2013

WIP Wednesday

There's actually a WIP in the house!  Oh frabjous day!  When it's cold and snowing outside, it feels great to sit down and accomplish something.  I'm just doing a simple quilting echo of the coloured strips.  I can see some pulling on the white bits, but once it's washed and used, no one but me will notice.


I'm not finished yet, but have no urge to rush just to get it done.  It will be done this week and the baby is due next week.  All I have to do is mail it and send it off to England.  Do you think it'll get there in time?!


I made a run down to St Albans, Vermont yesterday for quilt batting and thread, and found this adorable store brand print that I had to have for the backing.  The baby's mother to be is crazy about foxes and her mother is a collector of owl figurines.  It was kismet.


I've linked to The Needle and Thread Network today, so take a look at the other lovely works on the go.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Lost and Found

Do you ever have moments where you wonder where your brain was!  I know, past a certain age we have those moments every day, but most of the time that recalcitrant thought works its way to the surface and off we go.

Two years ago I was very sick and at the same time my daughter's apartment was robbed and she lost everything of value that she had.  I felt so helpless that I couldn't leap into mum mode and rush off to help her, but in my very fuzzy thinking, I decided to hide my valuables so the same thing wouldn't happen here.  (I know, what was I thinking?)  So I did, I hid them--my rings, bracelets, necklaces, the whole shebang.

A few months later when I was feeling better, my husband and I decided to go out and I went looking for my bijoux, but had a horrible sinking feeling when I realized that they were hidden.  I remembered walking towards my sewing room and nothing after that.  I tore that room apart more than once looking for my treasures and after two years I figured they were gone for good.

Fast forward to yesterday when I realized that I had one week to make a baby quilt for a dear friend's first child and gathered up my courage to approach the sewing machine.  (I have been paralyzed with indecision for weeks--you know, the same old story, everyone on the internet is so creative, so wonderful, so productive etc. and I'm not)

I dragged out some elderly WIPs and thought why not just get those done.  So I went looking for backing and dragged out a pile of solids that I could swear I'd looked through and what went all over the floor, but my jewelry.  In truth, the only things that I had missed horribly were my wedding ring and my engagement ring.  So in one day I found my treasures and my sewing mojo.  A good day!

So what did I whip up?  Well, this orange and brown item that will undoubtedly go as a donation quilt, but it will make someone happy.  I even rigged up a design wall using a dollar store tablecloth to give me some inspiration.


Then I found this little orphan which I think I meant to continue on with to make a low volume quilt.  Maybe I will, or maybe it could be a part of a backing for something else.


And then I cut some simple WOF strips and sewed them together, cut them into squares and then into triangles.  I made a whole bunch of half square triangles and placed them like this.  (The guest room bed doubles as a horizontal design wall.)  I like this combination and will sew it up for the baby quilt.


And then I put my feet up with a cup of tea and some of my Christmas shortbreads.  Yum!