Still here....

It's that time of year that always seems so hectic but exciting. Preschool activities, Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS), and soccer are all wrapping up and we are looking ahead to a fun summer filled with camping, biking, swimming and traveling. 


My irises were beautiful this Mother's Day. I transferred some from my parents home in Tennessee and last year I only had one or two blooms but this year they were plentiful. They were originally from my aunt's garden who got them from my grandmother's garden so they make me smile when I see them taking off.


I was really spoiled for Mother's Day this year. So much so, I'm I little embarrassed to tell how wonderful it was. One of my gifts was a weekend at home to sew while everyone else went camping. I love to camp but enjoying the quiet was a rare treat. So I finally got this quilt basted, quilted and the binding sewn on. I just need to turn the binding and hand stitch the back now.

 

Hope you are all doing well!

Japanese Fabric

Hello Friends!

Just a quick little post. I'm busy getting ready for my sister and her family to visit from Tennessee and I can hardly wait. They'll be here for almost a week and we have tons of fun planned.

I signed up for tha Japanese Fabric Swap over at Gen X Quilters so I picked up this cute print at Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence today. I know, you are thinking great boy fabric, right? Actually, Jenna has been in love with dinosaurs since last summer when we visited two different dinosaur exhibits.

I have a few other little scraps of Japanese fabrics with cute novelty prints and thought it would be fun to have a few more so I'd have enough for a little project. Here's the Flickr group for this swap if you're wondering what some of these Japanese prints look like.

Home on the Free Range Chickens - A Collaborative Quilt

I have been so fortunate to get to know and quilt with a group of women and one young lady (9 years old). Camille, Sheryl, Darcy, Diane, and Lydia have been meeting to work on various projects over the last few months. This quilt is our second collaborative project.

 Here's how it came together:

Sheryl suggested we create a chicken quilt inspired by the style and techniques in this book. We each started making chickens on our own and in Darcy's wonderful studio. Thank goodness, Darcy made me a step by step cheat sheet/pattern because I don't think I would've ever been able to figure out how to put one of those chickens together just looking at the directions in the book. After a few chickens, Camille got started on making "parts" (borders, eggs, a star) that could be added somewhere. We brought all of our chickens and parts with extra fabric to a retreat that some of us were able to attend and put the top together there.

Several people asked how it was possible for all of us to work on and come up with this quilt together. I think we might all have a different answer to that question but I can tell a bit from my perspective. We used a design wall at the retreat and put our chickens on it. We had many different sized chicken blocks and played around with different layouts and putting different parts in and around the chickens. Ideas where thrown around. Other retreat friends shared some ideas and opinions.

At some point more stars and a length of half square triangles were created and moved around to different positions. We would sew some and stare some. We'd take a break from a meal and come back with more ideas and a fresh eye. When someone suggested that we get all the chicken blocks to the same size with a log cabin style border, things seemed to really take off. It took a few minutes to figure out how we wanted the colors and sides of the log cabin to look but then we had a more solid plan.

The chickens came together on the design wall and then it was decided that we needed some sashing to separate them so they didn't get lost in all the craziness. More playing and shuffling and it just came together!

Sheryl took it home to quilt and of course she is incredibly talented. (You may have seen here quilting here.) She quilted a yellow loopy pattern that hints toward the egg shape. I love this design and want to try it on something.

I added the binding and appliqued the eggs that Camille made onto the top. Darcy is finishing off the hanging sleeve right now and then it will be handed off to Camille for a very cool label that she's designed.

It will be displayed at the Kaw Valley Quilters Guild Annual Show in Lawrence KS, April 30 and May 1.

{Anything I should add ladies?}

This is what I learned:

1. Step out of my comfort zone. When Sheryl suggested making chickens I wasn't so sure about it. That was the last thing from the Collaborative Quilted book I would have tried. After a bit of thinking time, I decided why not. It was something different to piece and it would be fun to try something new.

It was completely different for me to go into making a quilt without some idea of the end result. It was definitely something I wouldn't have tried on my own. It was very eye opening to go through the process and see that it really will come out okay in the end. You just shift things and adjust.

The wild color scheme was way, way out of my comfort zone. I love scrappy quilts with lots of fabrics but usually with a lot of white space in between or with a simple repeated pattern throughout. But once we got started, it really worked well and the more free I felt to throw just about anything in.

When we got the chickens on the design wall with some other pieces, I really like it. By the time I was binding this quilt, I truly loved it.

2. I'm slow. And I'm okay with that. Seriously. I'm slow and methodical. With pretty much everything in life. I spend way too much time deciding, adjusting and lining things up. I do need to probably let go of some of the perfectionist tendencies but I sew because I enjoy it and really don't feel the need to rush through. I spent enough years as a teacher telling my slower readers not to worry and to just enjoy what they were doing that I just believe the same thing about sewing. I think as I gain more experience, I will get faster with a lot of things but I'm pretty sure I'll never be one of those people who can crank through much of anything. My favorite 30 minute meals still take me an hour to cook.

3. Sewing with other people is a great thing. It goes without saying that I love the virtual world of blogs and flickr and message boards for learning and inspiration. But sewing with other people is priceless. Not only is the company enjoyable and friendships made but there are so many little things you learn while sewing around other people. For example, I wanted to put together the rectangles in the outer border of this quilt and started cutting out individual blocks of a certain measurement. Luckily Sheryl caught me before I got too far and suggested sewing random strips together and then cutting the group of them down to the size I needed. Hellooooo! Brilliant and so simple! There's been countless other little things I've learned about color selection and techniques just by being around my sewing friends.

Sooooo, long post but inquiring minds wanted to know and it's nice to have this experience recorded to look back on.

Have any of you been involved in a collaborative process? I'm curious to know how you liked it. If you haven't, is it something you'd try?

Cozy Mornings

Just as I'd hoped, Jenna is using her quilt to cozy up in the morning while I make breakfast. She always watches a cartoon and usually has one of her stuffed friends with her.

Even better, we got to cuddle under it together last night while we watched a Friday night movie.

I love seeing it folded up across the chair during the day, and even when it's rumpled up on the sofa or floor by evening. It's used and loved!

Tooth Fairy Pillow Complete...

and waiting for a tooth. 

I was at a retreat this weekend and was able to work on this little pillow which took far too long to complete. Leave it to me to make a rectangle shape pillow complicated! The corners ended up being too pointy and weird so I unstuffed it and slightly curved the corners and tried again. My mom is an expert stuffer after years of making dolls but I've never been able to stuff things to my satisfaction. I wish she'd been there to help me out (and to have fun sewing with). But I finally stitched it up and called it GOOD. If I make another, I'll round the corners more and maybe even try rounding out the sides a bit.

Both fabrics are Echino from Kokka which is a bit pricey but they were the perfect color and I wanted something special knowing she'd use it for a few years. She picked out the pony print over the bird, squirrel, bunny and flowers.

When I showed the finished pillow to Jenna she had this puzzled look on her face. She thought it would be tooth shaped. I was surprised because I didn't think she'd ever seen a tooth fairy pillow before. I showed her how the tooth would go in the pocket and that she could leave the fairy a note and a stick of gum in the pocket (which were her requirements) and she rolled with it.

When I taught first grade I had sweet little children wiggling their teeth for me on daily basis. I used to dream of my teeth falling out! So I just couldn't bring myself to go with the tooth shape. I'll make her a little tooth shaped note paper from cardstock to write a message to the Tooth Fairy so she'll have a touch of the tooth theme.

We are still having gloomy, snowy, rainy weather so I had a hard time getting a good photo of the ribbon. I found it in my stash of scrapbook supplies and loved the color and the texture.

Now we're waiting for those first couple of teeth to wiggle out. I can't believe we're at that stage already. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were standing in my Mom and Dad's living room, getting ready to head back to Kansas and I felt her first tiny little tooth breaking through her gum. She was four months old!

Is it Fate?

What a day! It's almost midnight but I had to sit down with a cup of tea and touch base with you all before I end my day since I said I'd be back. I had to say goodbye to my much loved but very old car today and find something new (to me) that won't leave us sitting on the side of the road. A few errands, picking up a friend's dog from the vet, soccer practice, dinner, dishes, more dishes...= no time for sewing. I'm smiling though after reading such kind comments from everyone at Stash Manicure and those who stopped by here today. Thank you!

I'll share a neat story about the antique quilt pictured above since I don't have any sewing to share.

We have a stack of quilts from my husband's grandmother. My husband's mother and I were looking at them at Thanksgiving and spent some time with this particular quilt. It's a signature quilt with signatures of family and friends from roughly 50 or 60 years ago. The signature you see in the photo is of my father-in-law. I also happens to be my first two initials and last name! What are the odds that quilt would end up with someone who has the same name and loves quilts even when they are worn and tattered. It must be fate :)

Don't you just love the hand quilting in the border?

Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure

I just wanted to say a quick hello to everyone visiting from Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure....Hello! 

I have a guest post there today about encouraging new quilters. If you've never been to visit go take a look. The blog is full of great advise on managing our stash and also has wonderful tutorials. A wealth of information!

I'll be back later today...

Tooth Fairy Pillow

My girl has 4 loose teeth already! One is very loose and we really need to get prepared for the tooth fairy. So while she was at preschool today I stopped in at Sarah's and went on the hunt for purple fabric to make a tooth fairy pillow. I imagined a small pillow with a pocket to hang from Jenna's doorknob. I searched from the front of the store all the way to the register when I spotted this next to the cutting table with a large collection of other Echino fabrics. I didn't really know for sure what I was looking for but when I saw it, I knew it was perfection!

After I picked Jenna up from school, I showed her the fabric and thankfully she approved. She rattled off several suggestions for the design which I wasn't expecting (but I think is sweet). So it'll be a bit larger than I anticipated.

We were at Stitch On last night to pick up my retreat packet and she chose these for her own personal. My brain must have registered the color because it's a pretty close match to what I bought today.

I'm playing around with trim choices. I want to keep it pretty simple but considering just a touch of lace. We'll see what I come up with. 


Have a great weekend!

A Little Green...

One last touch of green to wrap up this fabulous St. Patrick's Day. It feels like Spring is finally here. Yesterday morning, the birds were singing like crazy. The weather was perfect for two friends and all of our kids to watch the St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Lawrence. 


I'm thinking of camping, hikes, Spring Break, summer vacation, road trips and swim lessons. Which means I need to get my little hexie kit pulled together again. I cut another Hunky Dory charm pack the other day and actually got a few hexies sewn on the way to the zoo.

Does warm weather signal a change in your sewing?

Reading...

My sister and I had a long chat on the phone yesterday and we eventually got around to books. We both love fiction, cookbooks and sewing books and I can hardly wait until she comes to visit so we can flip through some of our recent favorites together.

I've always been a huge reader but lately my fiction reading has slowed waaaay down in favor of quilting blogs, magazines and books. This is just one of several growing stacks around my house.

This series of books is a favorite lately for keeping little hands busy in the studio while I'm sewing.

The sewing machine has been quiet for almost a week but I've been working through a stalled project (gathering information, asking questions). I have some chicken blocks on the agenda for tomorrow night. Yes, chicken blocks :)

I'd love to hear your suggestions for some good books to check out and activities to keep a 5 year old happily occupied.