Quilts in the Etsy Shop!

Right now I've got some lovely quilts in the shop looking for new homes - two vintage and two handmade. It's getting chilly out there so it's a good time to feather your nest with one of these beauties!
First up is this gorgeous vintage red and white quilt of colorful feedsack star blocks with red gingham sashing between. Charming as all heck.

UPDATE - this quilt is sold :-)

Below is the "Tangerine Dream" quilt i blogged about previously. I am so proud of it! I love that it features some gorgeous vintage prints in the middle and then makes use of some de-stash materials given to me by another quilting friend. One person's de-stash is another person's "Oh that's exactly what i need for a border!"

UPDATE - this quilt is sold :-)


Next up is another vintage jobbie - a lovely pink & blue checkerboard patchwork, this one is made of re-purposed fabric, in the classic "waste not, want not" fashion. If you look close you can see from the bottom photo that whomever made this quilt very carefully pieced the checkerboard fabric so that the grain is every-other and forms a herringbone pattern. Please check out this item in my shop, it would make a gorgeous bedspread for a girl's room or cottage-y guest room.


And finally, the Garden Patch quilt that I also bragged - er.... blogged about earlier. I love that my mom and I both had a hand in this one. Also, it's the perfect size for bringing along when you visit friends or relatives with le bebe - just spread it out on the floor and let baby play. :-)

These are going fast (thanks to an unseasonably cold New England autumn!) so if you are interested in any of these, snap 'em up!

COMING SOON: I just got in a great lot of vintage clothing, just in time for Halloween! Check back soon!

Plum Basket Quilt

Just finished today and up in the Etsy shop - a 38" x 39.5" quilt, just the right size for a lap quilt or crib quilt or, actually, what I would do with it is use it as a wall hanging. I used a combination of asian fabrics in plummy purples and blues, a lush Japanese kanji batik, and some calicos of aqua and yellows for something on the opposite of the color wheel. The pattern is a sort of basketweave adaptation. It's machine pieced and quilted and then bound using machine plus hand slip-stitching for an invisible bind at the back.

in progress, strips stitched and ready for sashing in between


quilting the "long lines" first

machine quilting around each square

to paraphrase my friend Brooke, here I am making binding my bitch ;-)
I used the binding method shown here in this tutorial: (click)

The back. I like how the quilting came out, with the stitching around each square.
The benefit to using dark thread to contrast
light backing fabric: it's eye-catching!
The drawback to using dark thread to contrast
light backing fabric: it's eye-catching!
(ie: it shows every misplaced stitch or tension glitch. yikes!)

another closeup of the back with
contrasting hand slip-stitched binding.

Available now in my Etsy shop.
[note: this item has sold]

it's the most...wonderful time... of the yeeearrrr!

Oh HEY! The email I sent myself from downstairs yesterday finally arrived. So here's what's cooking at the magic cottage:

All year I save pictures, magazines, wrapping paper scraps -- anything holiday-related -- and stash them in a special folder for my exclusive line of Pandenominational Holiday Ornaments! I've been making these for several years now. Like Newman's Own brand (without the wild financial success-- yet!), it sort of "started as a joke and has gotten out of hand."

A few years ago I was asked why, as a self-proclaimed neo-pagan Buddhist, I bothered with a Christmas tree. The short answer is "why can't we all just get along?" My ornaments are just a fun, visual way to say Hey! Christians don't corner the market on holiday fun! We can all take this time to love each other, celebrate family, eat way too much pie, and pay homage to all our ascended masters without discrimination. The first year I just made a few for friends, and a family Yankee Swap. Last year I made even more, hosted an ornament swap, and posted a bunch on my Etsy shop where, much to my surprise, they sold like hotcakes! (okay! i sold all of the four hotcakes I listed! LOL!) You can check out pics from my 2007 line here at Flickr.

Fancy scissors & Astronomy magazine; yup, the holidays are coming!

Here are three in-progress samples from my brandy-new 2008 line; these still need the glitter glue edging, brass screw-eyes with fancy-schmancy ribbon hangers, and a final gloss-coat of Mod Podge.

Now back to that critical analysis of Carson, Butcher, and Mineka's Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life.
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mood: hopeful

currently listening to: