The World Surrounding Me

7 or 8 years. 3 different sewing machines. At least 6 different colors of thread. Countless hours spent cutting, sewing, pressing, ripping, re-sewing, squaring-up, and the rest. And, the top might be done. Or maybe not. Most of this fabric came to me as a matched set (as a gift). The set came with a [...]

Here’s yet another completed appliqué block waiting to be made into something! This one is loosely inspired by the Bird of Paradise flower. I designed this block myself, inspired by flowers we saw on our first trip to Maui (though apparently these plants are native to South Africa). If you look at the blueish-purple shapes in each [...]

Inspired by a few photos on flickr (which I bookmarked to consider making later), I thought it would be fun to try a simple color-block quilt. I started this yesterday and finished today before a bike ride to Rudy’s for breakfast tacos! It looks a little wonky in the photo (due to perspective), but is [...]

I finally bound this quilt. It’s been waiting for me to finish it for at least a year. *sigh* I even cheated and sewed the binding down by machine. But, it’s done! I’m sad I waited so long to finish it – I really like how it turned out! The design is custom, started probably [...]

My cast is off, and I’m finally back to my sewing room. Here are some things I’ve finished over the past few days: Chevron table runner. Custom design, but it’s so basic I imagine it’s been made before. Made from leftovers from another charm-square project. Almost all are Sandy Gervais fabrics. Small doll-quilt or table-topper [...]

I finished another table-runner-runner last night (just the top, it’s not quilted/ready to use yet). It is the same pattern as the last runner I made, “Sweet Escape” from Heather Mulder Peterson. The new one is out of Sandy Gervais’ Essence fabric for Moda. It is shown here (on top) along with the first runner [...]

Leftover charm squares + a scrap of yellow fabric (about 12″ wide) and a 1/2 yard of floral fabric = a really quick gift! Ideally, I’d add one more border, but I’m out of matching fabric, so I’ll call this done! It is about 3 feet X 3 feet more or less (and that’s a [...]

From Thursday to Saturday, I visited 5 quilt shops. I picked out fabric for a new project or two at 4 of them (the other, alas, I just bought something for my stash). Here’s a preview of what’s to come: Flannel baby quilt out of Anna Maria Horner’s Folksy Flannels set. This isn’t yet earmarked [...]

I’m not sure why, but the last few days, I’ve been a big bundle of stress. I could just feel my shoulders creeping up to my ears. My body was screaming at me to rest. Thankfully, today was my monthly “solitude day” at work — a day intended to get away from the office, recharge [...]

Here’s the start of my next Hawaiian Applique block. I wanted to make one more (custom-designed) small block before I tackle the larger wall-hanging which is in my goals for 2010. The block pictured here is a custom design, which is roughly based on the Texas Bluebonnet. So, it will be a mix of Texas [...]