Recovering from Retreat!

I'm back!! I just had the most fabulous 4 days retreating with the Utah Valley Quilt Guild in Park City. It almost turned into a longer retreat as we got socked in with a snowstorm! I loved it! There were 76 quilters . . . so amazingly talented with such diverse skills! I arrived the night before (Tuesday) and was able to get my area set up so I was ready to jump in first thing Wednesday morning. Good thing, as I set far too large an agenda for such a relatively short time (I know, I know, 4 days is really a long time, but not for the 12 projects I wanted to complete)!! 

Nevertheless, I'm so thrilled with what I accomplished. In ramping up before the retreat I had been prepping my pieced scrap border quilt strips so that I'd be ready to assemble the blocks. I actually had finished all but about 20 of the blocks before the retreat, so at the retreat I was able to finish that up, piece together the rows of alternating white and pieced blocks, and then finally sew it all together. My final goal was to baste the quilt before I returned home. I knew that I'd never get as good a baste as I could get on two tables pushed together (picture instead me at home: the quilt laid out on the carpeted floor, the dog hair flying through the air, with the dogs trying to lie down on the quilt top -- hopeless!). So, here she is! 

Now "all" I have to do is quilt and bind it, and I'll be done! My current idea (thanks Machelle!!) is to do concentric squares inside the squares. I do think that much spinning in circles on my little machine may drive me a bit dizzy, however!

While at the retreat, I also worked on the tablerunner for the swap. Here's the design I've come up with (again, with much help from the amazing women at my table!!). Thank you Sue, Vonda, Michelle, and Machelle! I was originally going to have the trees facing each other in the other direction (picture the shorter end of the table?), but Sue steered me in this direction instead, which I love!

 This is a closeup of one set of the trees. It was a bit of a monster to design the paper piecing pattern. Isn't it funny how simple it looks once it's done? I had to sew and unpick that tree on the left about 3 or 4 times because I first couldn't get the left line of the bottom of the big tree to align with the left line of the top of the tree, and then my tree trunk on the little tree on the left somehow ended up on the far left of the tree. Sigh. You know how some people wear little scissors around their neck when they're sewing? I think I need to wear my seam ripper instead!

There's lots more to tell about the retreat, so stay tuned for more in another post, but I'm oh so tired! Before I close up shop for the day, however, let me give a shout out to my retreat roomie, Sue. She was a great partner in crime, taught me so much, and kept me so entertained throughout the retreat! And hi to Robyn too! If you haven't yet, go check out her great blog. Look at what she can make!!

Fabric Frenzy!

Weeeee! Fabric!! I think one of my favorite parts of sewing and quilting is playing with er, selecting fabrics for my projects. I love the complex interactions between value, texture, pattern, color, and the  inexplicable role that whimsy plays. 

Take the American Jane Punctuation fabric in black, green, and red in the foreground of the picture, for example. I'm not sure what it is about that fabric, but I find it just captivating! It has a life to it, a bounciness and life that adds so much to a quilt or Christmas stocking or zippy pouch!
This the color palette I'm playing with for the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap. As you may have seen already, this is the possible draft of a tablerunner for my secret partner:

The colors are just to brighten up the design. Can you picture this design in the colors above? Not in ALL of the fabrics, but in a subset of the greens, reds and aquas.

What do you think? Which ones do you like? Which ones would you dump? I don't have it in my stash yet, but I was thinking of adding some Winterkist too . . .

Tools of the Trade

Isn't this the cutest pin ever?? April brought me back a little bit of goodness from Market. Thank you April, you're the best!

I'm totally jealous of everyone who has been at Market; it sounds like an exhausting, but also an exhilarating experience! And all that fabric! What an amazing candy store of delicious textiles! Someday, some way, I'm going to find a way to get there!

Ella, April, Sue, and I met for a sewing day yesterday and I got so much done, yay! I worked on my pieced scrap border quilt, piecing my white blocks and the smaller of the scrappy strips:

I also worked on my starflower block pillow:

Finally, I came up with a sketch of a possible design for my tablerunner for the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap I'm participating in. The colors aren't really true, more just to jazz things up . . .

Stay tuned tomorrow to see what I'm playing with in terms of possible fabrics . . .  I'd love your opinions!

Halloween WIPs & Storm Thoughts

Happy Halloween everybody!

Before I get on to the "business" of quilty stuff, let me comment a minute on the goings on along the East Coast. You may not know, but I'm a 13th generation Jersey Girl (yup, back to the 17th century!), and my thoughts are very much with my "people" right now. The devastation we're seeing on television is incomprehensible. My uncle and aunt, and many friends are awaiting word on the status of their homes, while other friends have already heard that they've lost their homes. My mother lost her electricity Monday night, and will likely not get it back for at least another week to ten days. Thankfully, the loss of life is remarkably low, but even so, more than 40 people have lost their lives across the East Coast, a number that is sadly sure to rise.

I feel helpless out here in Utah, and strangely guilty as I drive blithely around in beautiful 65 degree weather. The ones most effected by this disaster can't watch the news coverage, while the rest of us can tune in! When I spoke to my mother on the phone this morning, she was hungry for news about what was going on.  We just sent off a care package via FedEx, which will hopefully arrive tomorrow. She has been missing her morning coffee, so we sent her a french press coffee pot that doesn't require electricity, along with some crossword puzzles, some snacks, a wind-up flashlight, a lantern, and a supply of batteries (something hard to come by back east!). I feel a bit better to  be able to ease her discomfort somewhat.

I also feel good that I was able to finish my mom's Mama Lilly quilt so I know that she is keeping warm (since the heat is off) snuggling beneath the quilt!







Now, onto Wednesday's WIPs!

First, my starts:
1) I've signed up for the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap that Kirsten over at Gemini Stitches is running, and I've gotten started on stalking my secret partner and designing a table runner . . .  good times! I'm thinking trees . . . .
2) Dog bone quilt: I've just started a fabulous gift quilt with paper pieced dog bones. By "started" I mean I've decided to do it, selected the fabric, and am starting to cut out the paper pieces I need for the bones. Early stages people!
3) Tree skirt: I've designed the layout for a combination paper pieced/appliquéd Christmas tree skirt. This is also a retreat project. See my prior post for my ambitious plans!

Next, my continuing WIPs:
1) Red cardigan: I finished the back and have started on the front side panels
2) Pieced scrap border quilt: I have all the pieces cut out and ready to sew together. I'm going to my 3-day retreat next Wednesday, so I'm holding off on sewing those together until then . . .  I think!
3) Denyse Schmidt block quilt: I have the blocks sewn together, and now just have to figure out the layout . . .

And finally, my finishes:
1) Starflower zippy pouch
2) a little traveling sewing kit (photo to follow!)

I'm linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced for her Wednesday WIPs. Go check out the fabulous projects that everyone has linked up over there!!

Swap Happy!

I've been on the road so much the past several months that I've missed out on a few great swaps. With the Christmas holiday fast approaching (8 weeks people!), I've been hankering for a swap opp, and now I've found just the one!

As you may remember (because I just know that you've been committing all my blog posts to memory!), I participated in the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap last fall, run by Swap Mama Susan of Canadian Abroad. It was my very first swap and my very first tablerunner, and it was simply a fabulous experience. This is what I made:

I had never done paper piecing before and thought I'd just pick it up (not realizing how difficult it is). But I fell head over heels in love with paper piecing during the process.

And just look at the totally amazing tablerunner that Emily at Strawberry Patch Ramblings made for me! Go check out Emily's blog; she does beautiful work!

I'm so so lucky! Isn't this completely gorgeous?!












I was so inspired by this experience that when I heard that Kirsten at Gemini Stitches is going to be Swap Mama on another round of a Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap, I just knew that I had to jump in! Susan did such a great job leading this swap last year, but she has her hands full right now, so Kirsten is stepping in to keep the swap going. Yay!

I'm particularly excited because when I did this swap last year I was really just starting out as a sewist. While I still have so much to learn and improve on (FMQing, anyone?!), I'm excited by how much my skills have developed and I'm really psyched to try out some new techniques and play with some new ideas. This swap last year also really got me in the mood for the Christmas holiday--nothing like stalking your swap-ee and making something for someone else to get the holiday spirit going!

For anyone interested in joining this swap, there is going to be a fast turnaround, so sign up now! Sign-ups close on October 29th, partners assigned by October 31st, and the finished tablerunner should be in the mail by the end of November. You can sign up here on Flickr. It's going to be fun!!

Live from Broadway!

I've taken my show on the road and am blogging live from Broadway! Or almost . . . I'm actually in NJ at the moment, having returned from NYC yesterday. I had a glorious day in THE CITY with my mom. We had a great lunch at The Modern, MOMA's (the Museum of Modern Art) fab restaurant, followed by a great showing of Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along." We then did some early Christmas shopping (if you can believe it) at the MOMA Design Store, which is really too much fun. After what seemed a long train ride home (it was making ALL local stops), we picked up some sushi, and then I crashed hard with a migraine (an easy price to pay for such a great great day!). Having lived in NYC for three years and having grown up a quick train ride from NYC, it was so great to be back again in that vibrant place! So so different from Salt Lake City--like night and day!

I did, of course, bring my sewing machine home with me for the long weekend. Surprisingly easy as a carry-on, actually. Brought just a little bit of fabric, because my plan was to surprise my mom by working on some window valences for her. I think that's today's plan.

On other news, I am now eagerly awaiting arrival via post of this beautiful work of art from Emily:

Isn't she just absolutely beautiful?!?!?!?! Emily posted a picture of one she had done a week or so ago, and I just simply fell in love with her and had to have one of my own.

I had fallen in love with Emily's work back during the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap last winter, when I first watched with awe the stunning table runner she was making for some lucky swap partner and THEN later discovered with total glee and amazement that I was in fact that lucky swap partner!! Emily sent her package out a wee bit early, so I had to keep my total excitement under wraps (which was near to impossible, as I was ready to burst) until the others in our swap began to receive theirs a few weeks later. I have the world's most gorgeously made table runner, which I will treasure forever! I was hard-pressed to pack her away (I actually do keep pulling her out of the Christmas box, frankly!).

Having fallen deep in love with Emily's little girl work of art, I was originally just going to put her in my Evernote file of things I might like to try "someday when I get better at stuff." But then I had an inspiration!! I knew that sweet Emily's trip to the FQ Retreat had been jeopardized by an ill-timed and costly pet emergency (and who can say no when our dear pets need us?!), and that she was having a sale of several of her wonderful pieces to help raise funds to support her trip. Ta da! Brilliant insight (it seemed to me)! Since I knew I couldn't conjure up the magic to make that wondrous little girl image, but Emily could, I could commission her to make one for me!! And faster than it's taken me to write this poorly written blog post, she has already designed and made my sweet little girl in a pink polka dot dress, swinging on her apple tree swing set, set against a setting sun!!! Thank you so much to my talented friend Emily!!!

Running to catch up

Done at last! Down to the wire, but finished with the tablerunner for Susan's Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap. Just as I was finishing my quilting, I snapped a gear in my sewing machine and everything went south. Fortunately, all I had left was the binding, so I ended up doing that all by hand. Originally, I had three houses and three trees, but it was far too long, so I lopped off a tree, which made it look more balanced and also shorter. I hand quilted around the trees and houses with perle cotton, using red, green, and aqua. I then machine quilted the linen in concentric half rectangles.

This is what it looks like in full:

I can't believe I finally finished it! Just in time to send it out way across the ocean to my secret swap partner! I'm sorry to see it go! But, look what I got from my fabulously talented secret swap partner Emily!


Isn't this so gorgeous!! The packages and tree are all pieced, and there are ribbons on the packages that use actual ribbon applique. I totally and completely love it! It is done perfectly and will cover my table every Christmas forever! Thanks so much Emily!

This has been my first swap ever, and it has been such a fabulous experience. It was a bit daunting, with such a talented group of women participating, but they provided great inspiration, encouragement, and humor. I can't believe how much I've learned over the span of the past few months! Rumor has it that Susan is spear-heading another swap post-Christmas; count me in!

Sew Grateful!

Yes, this puppy (a.k.a., blob of fabric) is finally actually beginning to look a little bit like a tablerunner! And that's a mighty, mighty good thing as its due date for shipping is in a few days and the anxiety is starting to build up!

Two days of totally amazing inspiration, community, delicious food, hilarity, and humming machines around me at Pamela's sewing retreat kept me going and gave me the encouragement and much needed advice to turn the corner! What a phenomenal community of women! I didn't know a soul going into the weekend and I feel as if I have a new bunch of dear friends after two long, exhausting, but recharging days of sewing, laughing, and companionship! Many thanks to Pam for working so hard on such an extraordinary event! She arranged for two trunk shows: Amy Ellis shared her gorgeous quilts on Friday and talked a bit about her Modern Basics book, and Emily Herrick talked about her fabric collections and shared her stunning quilts (much as I tried, I was unsuccessful in sneaking off with her handiwork!). We were lucky enough to get some of her patterns in adorable little envelope bags that Pamela made for us and filled with all sorts of goodies (she promises to have a tutorial for these on her blog)! I was lucky enough to have Miss Emily as my table partner, so I was both entertained by her wit and also blessed by her wisdom. Thanks Emily for helping me pull the tablerunner top together!

It's a funny kind of thing, the blogging world. You feel as if you know people from reading about them on a daily basis, so when you meet them you kind of recognize them, you know about them, but they (quite reasonably) know nothing about you. So it was great to actually officially meet Amy (of diary of a quilter) officially, and to add some new blogs (and friends) to the list: April, Ella, Maria, and Holly. And to the blogging holdouts: don't worry Sue, I'm still keeping you on the "friends" list!

We also had a simply fabulous hand appliqué class from Jeannette Hartvigsen. Jeannette first showed her amazing, stunning work, then taught us the techniques. We then practiced on a heart. A long, slow learning curve, but so so helpful! And just in time for my top secret Christmas project!

Truly, without the wisdom, humor, encouragement, and time together this weekend with all these women, I would still be sitting in my sewing room with all the separate pieces of my various wonky houses and trees, in tears, with little idea of how to pull it all together -- and without having had the great fun that I did! Thanks to all!

Houses Under Construction!

Thanks so much to all the great visitors and the wonderful feedback! And many thanks to Lee's anniversary WIP Wednesday, which livened up the Shortcookiehouse!

I went back to the drawing board today with the houses for my tablerunner swap. I had originally done one house, which I really liked, but thanks to great feedback on my blog last night (thanks to all the links from Lee's great WIP Wednesday link-up!), I've decided to frame all the houses and trees just in white and then use colored perle cotton thread to hand quilt around each of the trees and houses. So, having trees I already really like (and which are already happily framed in their Kona snow), I went back to my pile of extra designs for pieced houses (I had many more designed than I needed), and then got crack-a-lackin' today on piecing it. Here's what I've come up with:

I had just gotten the pez fabric in the mail this week and was so psyched to be able to incorporate it into this. I'm also pretty happy with my fussy cut of the heron/stork on the roof which I'll now applique on. I think this house is in much better keeping with my trees (pictured poorly in yesterday's post!). I've gotten started on my second house, which is in red tones, but incorporates the blue tufted tweets chairs for windows (with a bird peeking out of one), and the pez fabric as a door. Who knew?! I think I've actually fallen in love with paper piecing!


A bit dispirited by all my dark photos, I actually braved the outdoors today (I know, it was, in fact a beautiful, sunny crisp day today in Utah!) and took some photos of my works in progress that don't make them look quite so milktoasty. What a difference! I know, I'm not quite an Ansel Adams yet (can you picture him dragging quilt blocks around the great American southwest??!).



I know I showed these yesterday, but the pictures were so awful, I had to show them again in proper light so that they actually look like trees! I guess natural sunlight actually makes a difference!

So, tomorrow, I'm back to finish my red house, and then I have just one house left to piece before I can pull the top together . . . which is a good thing, because I have still have quilting and binding ahead of me before I need to send it off in two weeks to ______ (my secret partner's secret destination in a perhaps far-off land!)!

Updates and a Public Service Announcement

Linking in to Lee's anniversary edition of WIP Wednesday. Lots more things in progress than in any other state. . . . def my state of life these days it seems!

Made some headway on the tablerunner yesterday . . . Got two trees pieced, and I'm happy with how they're looking. I have two houses to go, and then I can piece the top together. I'm hoping to get the top pieced together by Friday so that I can get quilting before the weekend. Here's what I have so far:



Yes, my pictures sooooo clearly rot! I have to find a way to actually take pictures during the day so I can take them up close and actually capture the fabric! Everyone else's blogs look like commercials, with people running through fields with quilts flapping in the sunny breeze, children laughing, puppies frolicking, you get the general idea . . . .

The next step is to frame the trees in a bright fabric to set them against the natural linen I'll be using for the top fabric. I've been ambivalent about whether to frame the trees and houses in color (like I have with the house), but I think they can use the extra color. Still not sure though . . . whaddya think?? I guess it would help to see the design? Sigh. I'll get back to that.

On other projects, have just gotten the Ugly Duckling Lizzy House fabric I've been itching for for ages (gotta love Etsy!), and am going to make a Keyka Lou "easy" envelope clutch. I'm trusting that "easy" means "easy." It doesn't have zippers, so for now I can avoid my phobia, although Susan took the jump today and did an amazing job on her pouches, so I guess I'm going to have to pull up the big girl panties and give it a go one of these days!

Okay, now for the public service announcement: just about three years ago I began having problems with my gas furnace in my rented home in PA. The pilot light kept going out. My lovely landlord (and I really mean that!) kept coming over to relight the pilot light, but it kept going out. Strangely, my migraine headaches (which I've always had) kept getting worse, and I kept getting sleepier and harder to wake up (but I've honestly always been hard to wake up as everyone in my life will tell you!). But then, my carbon monoxide detector went off. The fire department came to my house and discovered that the carbon monoxide in my home was at life threatening levels (because I had bought the cheapest type of CO detector, and it only went off after a week or more of CO exposure). All this to say, if you have gas or oil heat, go to your nearest hardware store and purchase a well-made, top-of-the-line carbon monoxide detector with a digital display (that shows all CO levels above zero). I could have died from CO poisoning, and I still live with serious consequences from exposure to this invisible, odorless gas.

Alright, you may now resume your previously scheduled quilting and crafty blog reading!

Oops! I totally forgot!! Guess what I found at the front door today!


I ordered this on Etsy from Daniel Ahn. It's from Korea, and I couldn't find it anywhere else. Yup, dogs dogs dogs! I may have to devote an entire post to the fabric on the right, because when you open it up it's just riotously wild and huge. It has secret Christmas gifts written all over it!

Tuesday Update

Finally! Finished my very first stocking! Clearly have to work on my photo techniques, but I didn't want to risk an outdoor shot given the post-snow mud and leaf debris (not to mention the inescapable muddy puppy paws that always follow when I come back inside!). All in all, I'm pretty excited with this! My very first machine quilting, which I shockingly managed to keep on the (fairly) straight and narrow (much easier on the front thanks to the diamonds than it was on the back which is just the red print fabric, but I used a ruler and the fading fabric pen to guide me).
I love this Kate Spain 12 days fabric, so I was happy to be able to use it for this project. I wanted to make a stocking for an older child, hopefully something a foster child can bring with him or her (I'm picturing a girl child with this fabric) as she makes her way in the world). This is for Purple Panda's Stockings for Kids drive for foster children in Central Virginia. When I lived in Southern California, I was overwhelmed at how many homeless young adults I met who had been in the foster system. Once they turn 18, they "age out," and it broke my heart that they didn't have a family support system to help them beyond age 18. I know it's just a Christmas stocking, but I like feeling like I can help a little bit.

I've realized that I haven't shown off my finished mug-ugly rug, so, without further ado, here it is!
Not quite as ugly as originally feared, but most definitely a learning experience! Again, first and foremost a lesson in taking on manageable projects and starting with easier patterns! I'm glad I started with a mug rug, however, as it was a fun size, allowed me to finish fairly quickly, and let me master all the things I need to figure out for my table runner.

Speaking of, the fire is really under the feet now for me to get cooking! I'm falling behind on the rest of the group, I fear! I'm participating in Susan's Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap, and while I have a house and a tree pieced together, I still have two trees and two houses to go yet, as well as the construction and quilting. Yikes! Time to get the fingers moving! That's number one priority on today's to do list! I hope the secret partner likes it! I spent quite a time tracking down her preferences, and I think I've got her pegged, but it's as it's my first swap I'm a bit nervous. Okay, now back to the sewing machine!

And yes, there is a life beyond the sewing machine, but sometimes it's best to ignore it, and this is one of those weeks!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Ta dah! And yes, clearly still more to do! What a battle I had all day with my tension! I think I must have ripped out twice as many stitches as I ended up quilting, but I think it's finally coming together. I was originally going to get all complicated (I know, shocking, for anyone who knows me), and do a fancy double hourglass design from Cluck Cluck Sew, but I quickly realized that my ambitions overreached my capacity. I was able to get a couple of the hourglasses done to my satisfaction, but I messed up on the cutting, so I could only get a few done. I therefore decided to just stick with the fabric I liked, but to keep with a simpler pattern that I could complete more successfully. I'm doing this for a foster child for Purple Panda's Stockings for Kids, so I definitely want the finished product to be something special! Now back to the salt mines to tackle all those thread ends, the binding top, and then sew the two quilted halves together! Hopefully I can eke out a little more time to make a few more stockings!

And now back to the sewing machine to get cranking on the tablerunner! I was out of the gates early on the tablerunner, but fell behind while trying to track down the natural linen. With most of the swappers now nearing the finish line with their tablerunners, I'm feeling the fire at my feet, especially given the quilting that lies ahead! I wanted to get the stocking taken care of so that I could get back to the tablerunner, so that's what I'm turning back to tomorrow!

back from the void

October 31--Happy Halloween!

My apologies to my faithful throng of followers. I know that the thousands of you out there have just been waiting with baited breath for my next dispatch from the Wasatch Front! It's been a rough ten days or so out here, so thanks for holding on (er, that is presuming you are still out there? Anyone? . . . the sound of crickets chirping . . . . ).

So, lots on the crafty front. First, given the holiday, here is our household's proudest collective accomplishment: Miss Zoey and Miss Sophie's superhero superpup costumes! It required me to get another toy, er, bit of sewing technology: the handy-dandy walking foot so that I could wrassle less painfully with my fake satin material. As an aside, can I say how much I love that my sewing machine has parts called "feed dogs?" All I can say to that is "woof." Not surprisingly, the girls seem to kind of love their costumes. I think they've had their superhero dog-selves waiting to come out all along. Don't you agree? Zoey is the brown border collie/choc. lab mix in the cape and Sophie is the black lab/blue tick hound mix in the girlie girl wonder woman skirt. They had superhero wrist bands to match, but those were not apparently dog approved, as they were ripped off within seconds (although you can still see them in the photos which were one of the first shots taken). Next year I might do bloomers for Sophie, as I don't think a girl should be running around with her skirt flying up around her ears!




Next, I finally finished my mug-ugly rug. Ta dah! After three goes of it, I finally mastered the binding. I was so ready just to have the $%&#@ project finished (please excuse the potty mouth!) when my dear sweetie intervened, seam ripper at the ready. I wasn't sure whether I was appreciative or not at the time! But now that I redid it for the fourth and final time, it looks just dandy, and I have FINALLY figured out how to do a binding (which is a good thing since I'll have to do that for the tablerunner which is rushing up fast and furious!)! Not the most beauteous thing in the world, but for my very first machine quilted anything, let alone my first mug rug, I feel pretty good about it. Now to figure out what do to with it! Debating between a mouse pad for my ever wily too-fast Mac mouse or for my sewing machine pedal which keeps skedaddling away from me on the slippery hard plastic mat I put on top of my carpet in my office (kind of weird option, I know).

Third, I made a work basket for all my mobile crafty tasks. I inevitably end up taking my various knitting, embroidery, and other sundry crafty things for when I'm watching TV or for car rides and such. Rather than just letting it explode and propagate as it's been doing, I thought I'd create a craft bag in a basket to try to contain my chaos. I found a clearance basket at Smith's Marketplace for $1.50 and took some fabric, and shazam!

Also, lest my Christmas tablerunner swap folks think I'm falling down on the job (which I may be, given that some are already finished--yikes!), I finally think I've figured out the paper piecing technique and redid my first tree, which now looks like something made in elementary school. I've now done two of my three trees, and one of my three trees. I also finally conquered the pre-Halloween lines at the various fabric stores and finally got my linen fabric for the centerpiece of my tablerunner. My partner does not, I don't think, like a lot of white, for various reasons, on her tablerunner, so I'm hoping a natural linen will do the job. So hard to guess someone's preferences when she is so far away and someone I've never met!

So, hoping to make lots of headway on this runner this week now that I have this fabric. I also spent what seemed like FOREVER and laundered ALL of the fabric I was going to potentially use for the tablerunner. There are a lot of dark reds and greens and I was terrified they were going to run. I have a bunch of individual mesh laundry bags, but it still took a long time to sort the laundry by color, send it all through the washer and dryer, cut all the fribbly edges off (my new word for that thread debris), and then iron the big pile. So now, back to the start and ready to dig back in!

And currently on the work pile--other than keeping on with the tablerunner? I've finally broken the seal on the stocking for Purple Panda's great stocking drive for kids, and am hoping to finish it up by tomorrow. If I can get in the groove, I'm hoping to do a few. In my family, every one had his or her own special stocking (not handmade, but special nonetheless), and it feels important to me to make these foster children something special for them to have all for themselves. There are some great giveaways associated with this stocking drive, which you can check out on Purple Panda's site, but for me the best gift is doing something for a child without a permanent home or family.

Also on the list, I've signed up for Pamela at French Knot's two-day sewing retreat in November in Utah. I was totally bummed I couldn't do the Sewing Summit (count me in next year!), so I just had to take advantage of this opportunity to get together with some crafty folk and whittle down my Christmas list (it doesn't help that in my household my significant other is also a sewer, so secret projects may sometimes be jeopardized by innocent walkbys and offers of help!).




And so, for anyone still actually reading any of this, on non-crafty news, I actually broke free from the bubble that is my neighborhood last week. My sweetie and I drove what is known as the Alpine Loop. It's only open another few weeks (until it snows). It goes up to about 8,000 feet or so and winds through the mountains. It was totally beautiful: changing leaves, amazing stone outcroppings, beautiful aspen groves. It was one of those very clearly needed mental health days! Amazing to think this is only a 45 minute drive away!

Okay, so now ending the world's longest blog entry!

Is Halloween Coming??

October 21

So apparently Halloween is like a national holiday or something among crafty folk. I guess I should have realized this, really. I follow a couple of blogs, and all the ones I categorize as "crafty" (as opposed to "quilty" or "DIY" or "general interest," etc.) have been obsessed with Halloween since July. I didn't know it was possible to make so many Halloween-related objets (spiders made out of chocolate dipped oreos, mummies made out toilet paper, and god-knows-what else made out of ric rac, always ric rac!). Now, I have nothing against Halloween, mind you. I have, in fact, quite fond memories of dressing up as quite a dashing asparagus for Halloween years ago. I just can't quite imagine blogging day after day with boundless excitement about ghosties made of cottonballs.

All this to say, don't go to Joann's Fabric on Friday evening two weeks before Halloween! Not if you want to buy fabric, that is! I just wanted to buy a few yards of fabric for my tablerunner, but apparently it was the evening to buy tulle, butterfly wings, satin, faux fur, etc. Definitely not the time to stand in line at the fabric table with a looming migraine!

I think I've got it!

October 20



Phew! I complete ripped out every last stitch from the house I finished last night, and redid it today. I think I finally figured out paper piecing. I still want to go back and finish up some details on my house, like putting on a window and wreath on my door, and some detail (maybe a window box or shutters?) on the window, but it is so so much better this time around! I'm still a bit amazed, and a bit proud that I actually designed my own paper piecing house and figured out how to do the darned thing all in a few days! Heck of a steep learning curve, to be sure! Now hopefully my partner for the tablerunner swap will like it! Only three more houses and several trees left to go!

Tablerunner progress

October 19

Short post today. Definitely using sewing therapeutically today. My mother used to (affectionately) call me Madame Defarge when I'd knit, referring to the woman in "A Tale of Two Cities" who was knitting the names and fates of men and women of the French Revolution into her knitting. Not sure my work is quite that intense, but I think all my frustrations with various people (they who shall not be named!) were going into my paper piecing on my house for my tablerunner swap. I love the colors and placements, but I'm still struggling with the stitching, so I have a lot of cleanup. But here's how it's looking so far:



Thought I'd like the border stitching, but it just looks messy, so I'm going to undo it and start again. I never do start simple!

Back in the Saddle Again

October 15

So I have been battling a stomach bug, my sewing room, and learning how to get the blog up and running all this past week, so excuse the radio silence!

I'm amazed and impressed by how prolific my fellow bloggers are--not only are all quilting and sewing and crafting your fingers away, but you are also capturing it all on your blogs! Certainly setting the bar high for me!

Anyway, I'm trying to dip my toes in the water here by at least throwing my hat into the ring! I first wanted to share a picture of my very first quilt. I've always love antique patchwork quilts. I've always loved the stories they carried through their worn fabrics. I loved the ideas that the quilts were made from someone's dress shirt, sunday best dress, favorite school skirt, and that by having a passed down quilt I possessed a part of someone's family's history. My family wasn't lucky enough to have any quilts passed down through our family, so the first quilt I owned was bought with money saved up from babysitting. She is a 1904 bowtie quilt from Ohio:

She has a gorgeous rosy patterned back:

With that first purchase, I was hooked! I've made a few quilts by hand, but only recently have I begun to quilt in earnest. Now that I've actually learned how to use the sewing machine my parents gave me for Christmas when I was 15 (more than a good decade or two ago!) I've discovered that sewing is shockingly easier with it! It's a steep learning curve, but I'm starting to get the hang of things.

So, before I lose whoever my 1 or 2 faithful readers so far may be, let me quickly wrap up! First, a big thank you to Susan who was my benefactor of my very first giveaway! I was the lucky recipient of yummy fat quarters! As I'm in the throes of just building up my stash (and, frankly, who isn't really always looking for just "one more" fat quarter to flesh out their stash??), I was thrilled to get these great fabrics in the post just this week! Many thanks, Susan!

And, finally, I have joined the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap, led by the aforementioned, fabulous Susan. After some hemming and hawing, I have settled in on a design with some wonky trees and houses (if you're wandering this way, secret partner, and do have a change of mind, do speak up!). I did a practice paper piecing tree today and wasn't half disappointed with myself. The bottom wobbly part needs to be cleaned up a bit, but I think the colors work okay, and I quite like the Tufted Tweets bird fussy cut up at the top of the tree. I think once I get it framed in the main color fabric, it should look sharper. Whaddya think?

Okay, off to tackle the hand quilting on my God awful mug rug. For another time, but apparently I try to bite off more than I can chew (shocker there!) and just had to try difficult inset seam piecing before I was ready. Not a pretty sight. I'm trying to let it just be a learning piece, but I may screw up my courage and let go of my pride and take a pic for the blog. Happy Saturday all!

Launch

October 8, 2011

So, this is my first entry on my first blog. Supposed to be profound, right? I'm supposed to expound on my worldview, establish my blog agenda for taking over the blog-iverse, etc. Sorry to disappoint. That I have a blog, and that I've managed to defeat the evil tech pixies who seemed to want to keep me from having an "about me" section seems accomplishment enough for today!

I also have a pesky tablerunner to design for this swap to do. And I do mean pesky in that loving, excited way, for all you swap-following folks! I am plenty excited! Just a bit daunted as well -- there are some way amazing folks in this swap whose work is what has inspired me in the first place! Yikes! Yes, that is "under pressure" by David Bowie you hear in the background!

. . . Okay, deep breath was taken, split pea was made and put on the stove to simmer, biscuits baked (nothing like a good carb to calm one's anxiety!), now I will head off to sew!

(and, may I say, that for all who know me, the fact that I'm heading off to sew will probably shock most folks. But we'll save my voyage into a crafty critter for another time!)