In the Works

I have a couple of projects going on right now.  One is a baby quilt using this adorable teapot block from Pink Penguin.  I've assembled six of the blocks so far, and the most fiddly part of the process is cutting out the pieces.  I have very little patience with precision cutting (remind me why quilting is fun again?), and keeping the tinier pieces in their place can be exasperating.  But the assembly is actually very straightforward and with a little care these blocks are turning out to be extremely cute!  I'm using grey and white prints for the teapots and hand-dyed hot pink muslin for the background.

I'm also working on a black-and-white version of this Alchemy Quilt by Amy Butler.  It's my first real foray into machine applique, and it turned out rather well.  I'm in the middle of machine quilting it right now...this project has been interrupted by my purple baby quilt and the teapot quilt, but I'll finish it eventually.

As always, my brain works way faster than my hands and I'm planning many more quilting and sewing projects, including some quilts inspired by Elizabeth Hartman's beautiful mod blocks.  I'm also planning to finally sew some of the patterns in my Burdastyle book!  Whew...if only I had more hours in the day.  

Purple Crib Quilt

I started this baby quilt for my friend Margaret a couple of weeks ago.  I wanted to experiment with strippy blocks and use my new walking foot.  I pieced together a few different watercolor print fabrics in pink, green, and purple and used a plain dark purple fabric for the sashing.  I used my walking foot to quilt intersecting squares and rectangles in a random pattern.  I think it worked pretty well!

I started another baby quilt last night using a hot pink fabric I tie-dyed and some grey and white fat quarters. The blocks will be based on a sweet little teapot pattern I found via Pinterest.  More on that later!

\

I forgot to introduce someone!

Say hello to my new friend.  She's a My Double dress form and a Christmas gift from my mom!  I'm looking forward to many happy hours of sewing together.  This is also a horrible shot of my basement sewing studio. As soon as I figure out how to take photographs in the fluorescent light and without showing off the giant furnace or the cat box, I'll post some real ones!  

New Year, New Stuff!

I'm back!  Again!  And, hey, I finally finished that quilt for my sister and her husband.  Finally!

Here's the happy couple with their quilt.  It was a Christmas present, so of course I finished tying and binding it on Christmas Eve.  I had a good time with the layout and sewing together the quilt top.  Unfortunately, I picked a nice soft poly-blend flat sheet for the backing, which slipped and slid all over my sewing machine and did not stick to the batting.  Even with ridiculous amounts of safety pins, I couldn't get it to stay put.  So...I hand-tied the whole darn thing.  Something like 300+ individual ties.  It took awhile.  But the result was homespun and pretty and very nice overall.  Besides, hand-tying gave me a chance to put a little extra love and intention into the gift...a little Craft in the craft, if you will.  

More projects are in the works!  I'm just about to finish quilting a crib quilt for a friend's baby shower this weekend, and I'm halfway done quilting a couch quilt for a wedding at the end of March.  I have all the materials for a wedding quilt for my best friend (they got married in August, so at this point it looks like it might be an anniversary quilt), and I'm drawing up plans for yet another baby quilt (there is seriously something in the water...four of my friends are pregnant right now!) and a scrappy mandala quilt for our bed.  Oh yes, and I also have several dip-dye projects going.  Whew!  I blame Pinterest for giving me too many good ideas.  

Lots of things have been happening on the home front.  Mac Mini starts morning daycare on Tuesday, and that will be a big change.  I'm excited to have a somewhat set schedule for the first time in three years!  I'm sure we'll get used to it in a couple of weeks, but right now I'm a little nervous to send her off to "school" every day.  Mr. Mac also bought a pressure cooker a couple of weeks ago (best Valentine's Day gift ever!), so we've been using it for just about everything.  Perfect risotto in 15 minutes?  No problem.  The most delicious carrot soup you've ever tasted?  Sure.  Caramelized onions that smell like they came straight from a bistro in Montmartre?  Give me 10 minutes.  That thing is amazing.  It goes very well with the copy of Modernist Cuisine at Home that we received as a housewarming gift!  Oh, and one of our cats has diabetes. Long story.  Lots to tell.  Later.