Welcome Home, Sajan!

Margaret is now a mommy! Sajan came home from Nepal in July and the whole family just couldn't be more thrilled. I wanted to make a quilt that would wrap him up in something as warm as a welcoming hug, as colorful as green grass and blue sky. I found some fabrics with pulltoys and kites and frogs and all sorts of things little boys love. And I found this super-fun strip-quilt pattern from the Quilts of Valor site. Quilts of Valor is an amazing group that creates and sends handmade quilts to comfort our wounded soldiers. They have a network of piecers, seamstresses, longarm operators, and quilters all over the country and they are also very generous in sharing their patterns. If you have a chance, check their site out and if you have a few dollars send them their way; they are doing very important work.

For this quilt you simply sew strips of fabric together in a 1,2,3,4,5 pattern, repeat the strips several times, and when you get to the end you sew the top and bottom together so that you end up with a big fabric tube.

Then you turn the tube and carefully cut strips the other way... so that you end up with a bunch of fabric "rings." By carefully "unsewing" the rings in order (between 1,2, then 2, 3, then 3,4, etc...), you end up with a bunch of strips that form a diagonal pattern of blocks. So clever, eh? Who thinks these things up!?

I am lucky to have a big porch and on the day i needed to make the quilt "sandwich" I was lucky to have a dry, sunny day with no wind! I pin a king-sized sheet right to the deck, and then I have plenty of room to smooth out and pin the layers. I had run out of acrylic "basting" spray, so i did it the old-fashioned way with a million safety pins.

For the backing I used this gorgeous vintage fabric I had on hand - I'd been saving it for something special and was so happy it blended perfectly with the colors in the quilt top.

Welcome, Sajan!
We are so glad you are here!

Bento Box Pillows for Mom

This was a quickie project for my mom, who made a gorgeous amazing quilt and had fabric left over to play with. I have been meaning to try the Bento Box pattern so she let me have at it.


This pattern is super-easy and fun... IF you have a rotary cutter and mat. If you don't... well... the cutting might be laborious. Of course, once you've gotten a rotary cutter & mat, any other type of cutting is going to seem archaic and laborious anyway, so just go get these amazing tools and watch a whole new world of sewing fun open up for you. No, I do not work for Olfa or Fiskars, but I welcome sponsorship invitations or kickbacks, haha! (I have no shame I have a ginormous student loan to pay off after all ;-) ]


I made my own pillow forms. I am always floored at how expensive pre-made pillow forms are, and since I always have yardage of neutral-hued cottons on hand, why not spend a few extra minutes whipping up my own? You can purchase by-the-bag fiberfill economically at Joann Fabrics (if you get on their mailing list they send great coupons every month) and stock up for occasions just such as this.

The decorative pillows are actually pillow CASES - I like to make them with a simple envelope closure in the back so you can take them off easily for washing & put them back on just as easily. If you want to get fancy you can use a button or toggle or other such closure but if you've made the envelope with enough overlap you probably don't need it.

Aren't they cute? I think this pattern translates well to traditional "country" fabrics like this just as well as more modern applications. I especially like how it looks when used for whole quilts - here is a gorgeous example, and here's another. I can't wait to make a full-sized quilt with this pattern!

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!

a great giveaway! and other blatherings from the insomnia zone

I have had a bit of insomniomniomniomnia.... so what am I doing? Trolling the intermanet, of course, and finding all sorts of gorgeous new projects I want to play with. Something about the cool weather (complete with frosty mornings) that make me just want to sew. Quilts, in particular, if i can get my foolish Singer to start cooperating! I still have a set of pillows in progress, as well as a small flannel/chenille quilt that I started several YEARS ago (oh, hush now. like you don't). And ALL the squares ready to go into my daughter's Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. Yes, my daughter joined our family in 2004, but, you know, I've been sort of busy. ;-) This is the year, however. Both kids know they're getting quilts from me for Christmas and my daughter is not going to let me off the hook, believe me.

I didn't make this, i just snitched it from this nice lady
so I could show you an example. Isn't it gorgeous?
I love the Chinese characters in the corners.

If you have not heard of the Bai Jia Bei, please click on the link and check it out! While I'm dubious that this tradition still continues in China, it has certainly become a tradition among Americans waiting for the referrals of their adopted Chinese babies! While waiting for Halle I solicited squares from family and friends (okay, I also joined a Yahoo group and participated in more swaps than I care to admit to), and now have all of these gorgeous 6" squares to put into a quilt (okay, several quilts). Along with the 6" squares people added 2" squares that will go into a scrapbook along with their cards and well-wishes. Halle will be able to look at the scrapbook and find the fabric that each person sent; it will be fun to look at and match up the names to the squares that are in the quilt. So tonight (with the insomniomniomnia.....) I have been trolling for quilt patterns that will be heirloom-worthy but also not so complicated that the lovely fabrics aren't showcased. I am quite enamored with the disappearing 9-patch that everyone seems to be playing with these days; it looks do-able for the newbie and also a great way to use pre-cut squares. But I also might want to do something just very simple with sashing around each square to showcase the variety of fabrics. Sometimes simple just really is better. We shall see!


In my travels, I found this great giveaway! Okay, so maybe the blog title lured me in: Feeling Lucky? (tee hee!) But it's a great giveaway from a very talented artist and the prize is to die for! I'm sharing it here with you for extra brownie points. My foster dog will be going to his new home soon and I'll need an extra quilt to help keep me warm at night, so I hope I win!!

A few short for the upcoming three dog nights...

My foster dog, Dakota, has gone to live with his new forever family! I drove him down to his new home in Portsmouth, NH yesterday and he slept curled up with his head in my hand the whole way down. The lovely young woman who will be Dakota's new best friend has another dog for Dakota to play with and, in fact, her dog is super-shy and the hope is that Dakota will help bring the other dog out of her shell a bit.

It was heartbreaking leaving him there (those eyes! he was just so confused that I wasn't bringing him with me!) but I am confident that he is in capable and loving hands. Dakota is the kind of dog that is trusting and open to new people, and the fact that he bonded so strongly to me after being here for so short a time (he was here for a month, but he decided I was trustworthy after about four minutes) is a great sign that he is able to adapt and form attachments to new people. I, on the other hand, am having a bit of a hard time with it! I sure will miss that goofy, loveable guy. And, you know, now I'll be down by two when we have another "three dog night." Heating oil is coming down in price, that's true, but for me, a couple of dogs on the bed is better than a nice warm quilt or cranking up the furnace. Better for the environment, too, because you can turn that thermostat down a few notches at bedtime.

Adopting a dog is good for the planet! :-) If you're buying what I'm selling, you might want to visit petfinder.com for your next bedwarmer.

In the meantime, (speaking of the quilt option...) Here's what I've got in progress:

"Tree of Life" panels going into a modified log cabin design for pillows.

Strips for the "Pinwheels" version of the Bamboo & Pinwheels design.

You know, the one I couldn't wait to start and so I didn't bother ordering the pattern? Well, the bamboo portion was pretty easy but the pinwheels -- oy vey! I'm just winging it. If I can't get it to look like the picture in the pattern I'm just going to pretend I invented a new design. ;-)