Friday, May 30, 2014

Yellow Bears Paw

We are back from Chicago now, and I can say it was a nice visit.  My kids were good during 4 days of driving and everyone was happy to see us when we arrived and sad to see us leave.  We were lucky to have beautiful weather while we were there and we got to spend a lot of time outdoors, smelling the suburban spring air that immediately brings me back to my childhood.  I'm glad my boys could experience that too.
The main purpose of the trip was to see my family, especially my mother, whose long-term illness took a bad turn earlier this month after a lengthy plateau.  Many of you contributed both quilts and funds to the benefit held for her in 2012 (past posts are here and here), and I wanted to give a sort of update, as well as show off the quilt I made for her.


Earlier this month my mother went into the hospital for several days.  I was told that low sodium was causing her to become confused and disoriented.  Several times she would wake up in the morning and not know why she was in a wheelchair.  She began having problems with memory and though she has good days and bad, it was a shock to have her ask me what my children's names were, or where we lived.  I was happy I could see her, but now that I'm home again, I'm silently aching for the loss of the mother I knew.  I'm not writing this for anyone's sympathy, just to tell the story of the quilt I made, that I clung to, pouring my love, regret, and grief into each stitch.  That binding took forever!  And I was sad to leave the quilt, knowing that it gave me comfort these past few weeks.  I hope it also brightens her days, helps her remember me, and at the very least keeps her warm in the too-cold air-conditioned house.

 The top of the quilt is made from a yellow woven fabric that I got at my LQS.  The centers of each bear paw came from the 11 women in the 15 Minutes Play Scrap bee from 2011.  I pieced them into bears paw blocks, starting in 2011 and finishing the last 3 earlier this month.  I used wide sashing of the yellow and put the extra Scrap bee blocks as corner stones.  I thought I'd leave it there and back the quilt in the black/off-white dot, but it made a really nice border instead.  The backing is an organic cotton from Jo-Anns.  It's bound in light turquoise, one of the same fabrics I used in samples for Quilting on the Go.  Final size-- I didn't measure, but it's a bit less than twin.  Fits on mom's hospital bed just fine though.
Mom, I don't know if you get on your laptop much anymore, but if you do, I hope you can read this, and if not, I hope someone reads it to you.  I love you so much.  Thank you for believing in me and for letting me follow my dreams.  I hope we can come see you again soon.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/21

It's still Monday, but it's far from morning..
we're almost done with our road trip and I've got a few hex-diamonds to show for it..

I don't have an exact count today... all of the units are stuffed into a plastic bag under the front seat of the car.  I want to start joining them so I'll have to lay them out soon.  Pics to follow shortly on Instagram..

I crammed an awful lot of quilty goodness into this trip and each day deserves its own blog post, but let's see when and if I've got the time to jot them all down.  Give me a few days to sort my photos and we'll see what I come up with.
I would have posted this on time, but our internet connection (and free time) has been sporatic on this trip.  I'd like to say things will be back to normal next week, but we're entering our Summer-mode where routines get tossed out the window and we hit the road (or air, or beach) running.  I crave routine though, so I'll do my best to keep MMStarCounts on track.  A little encouragement from the crowd never hurts..

Who wants to show us what you've got?


Monday, May 19, 2014

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/20

As I type this (late Sunday night, NY time), the 7 Sisters hexagon piece is almost done.
It probably needs about 30-45 more minutes of stitching, but I don't think I'll stay up and do it tonight.  Tomorrow maybe?

Still haven't made any decisions on what exactly will become of it, so once the last seams are sewn I think I'll let it sit for a while and work on something else.  We've got one heck of a road trip coming up later this week and it should be quite productive on the quilt-front.  Follow me on Instagram for up to the minute EPP progress, hehe.

Have you counted your stars this week?  New players are always welcome, there really aren't many rules to join our weekly linky party-- just stitch some EPP, take pictures, and show us what you've got!


Friday, May 16, 2014

Hey Ohio!

Are you in northern Ohio (or willing to drive there to see me?) and curious about EPP?
I'll be giving a short lecture and hands-on English Paper Piecing demo at M&E Quilt Shoppe in Sandusky on Thursday next week (5/22). 
All the information is here on the shop's website.


I'll be showing off a few of my quilts and projects, signing books, and converting everyone to EPP.  It would be great to see some of you there~

EPP Demo and Book Signing Thursday, May 22, 2014    12-2p.m. Mabel & Ethel's Quilt Shoppe 279 E. Market Street, Sandusky, OH 44870
419-502-9123
ME@mequiltshoppe.com
Space is limited.  Advanced registration required.  For more info, click here.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

The moment when..

you know that the super simple baby quilt you're making just isn't going to cut it..
I pieced these big HSTs and was just going to be done with it, but no.  Not for this baby.  She's too cute, I love her family too much (and her mom's a quilter).  So she got her name on the back too.
Of course, when you decide to piece the kid's name into a quilt, it's probably a good idea to check how the parents spell it first (I learned this the hard way)..


This quilt has been on my to-do list for over a year.. thankfully the baby is still small (though her birthday is coming up soon) and her mom is one of my most patient and laid back friends so she didn't make me feel bad for not getting it to them sooner.  If the weather is too warm for a quilt now, I really hope it can become her toddler picnic blanket this summer.

I enjoyed working on this quilt a lot.  The top is made from almost all of the colors of Timeless Treasures' Rain collection.  They are so pretty, I can't pick a favorite.  I stretched my FMQ creativity by stitching leaves over the diagonal seams and I came up with a loopy flower pattern that filled the space in between pretty well.  Taking a tip from Shannon, I stitched my miters closed on the front and back of the binding-- before now I had only been doing the back miters.   Do you do this too?  Just curious.

Linking up this week with Finish it up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts and TGIFF!  Be sure to pop over and see everyone else's finishes.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/19

Here are my hexie stars.. pretty soon they'll all be together (I hope).

This week I worked on joining the units and chunks.  There's a nice shady spot right outside the sewing room door and I spent a few minutes on Mother's Day stitching outside while the boys got dirty in the yard (note the grubby hand touching my quilt, argh.  But it's washable, no worries).  It was awesome to free up so many templates (some which had only been used once!) and of course looking at a pile of paper templates makes me want to start a new quilt, but....

I've been thinking about doing a post about my many many UFOs to see if I can get any of them finished.  They keep staring at me, you know?  Does anyone have a secret for keeping track of UFOs?  I have a quilting to do list on my wall, but so many projects never even make it on there.  April's is still up by the door, I should re-write one for May I guess.

Well, now's the time.  Please link up and show off your work!

Friday, May 9, 2014

Happy Birthday Mom!

It's been a while, so I'm making my mom a new quilt.
 Big bear's paws in shades of white on a creamy yellow woven background.  The centers of each "paw" were bee blocks from my month in the 15 Minutes Play bee from 2011(!).  This quilt was started shortly after but shelved when I got tired of trimming the triangles, or maybe because bigger projects like finishing grad school, starting to teach again, and then writing a book just ate up all of my time. 
They say time flies once you have kids, and I didn't believe it at first, but now.. woah.  I'm glad I asked the bee participants to date their blocks, and I'm even more glad that they finally made it into a finished quilt top, albeit 3+ years later.

I wonder how my mom feels.  Today is her birthday and while today I can't imagine being her age, I'm  sure it will be here before I know it.  Mom, I'm sorry we're not together today, but we'll be there for a visit very very soon.  Fingers crossed that this is quilted and bound by then.  Happy Birthday!!!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/18

Is it just me, or do these weeks just fly by?  I'm organizing our family calendar for the month and then poof~  all the sudden we're going to Greece just a few weeks from now.  It's hard to believe that I'll be sitting at the beach in a sundress in 45 days when right now I'm typing this post in my fleece pajamas.  How many Hexi-diamonds did I say I'd have done before then again??
Well.. let's just keep recording progress as it happens and before you know it, we'll all have finished quilts to celebrate.

This week I managed to baste and piece 3 more background units for the 7 Sisters hexie thingy (not really a quilt yet because it isn't going to get much bigger than this..its future is still uncertain).  Not bad.

Stitching in the car in the rain..
 Honestly, I had some setbacks this week.  First, I've been having pain in my right wrist.. it's not from hand piecing, that pain is different, but sewing seems to bother it too.  It's more than likely from using my phone (damn Juice Cubes and 2048!), but I'm trying to cut down and rest it so it doesn't get worse.  Subsequently, I've been working on some machine pieced projects which I hope to be able to share soon.  Stay tuned for that.  The second set back is that Netflix has taken Mad Men off the streaming list, and now I have to request and wait for the individual DVDs.  (!!!!)  What are we, in the stone age?  This is a huge inconvenience and a first-world problem that I shouldn't whine about, but come on!  I need my Netflix when I'm piecing while Jack's napping or while I'm waiting for C to get home.  Once I get into a show, I look forward to having it on as part of my stitching routine.. if it isn't available I get stuck and don't turn anything on, just stitching in a silent house.  Hopefully I can get hooked on something else soon.  Suggestions welcome. 

Thursday, May 1, 2014

A breath of fresh air

Spring came, finally.  I took advantage of the good weather and let Jack play on the patio as I trimmed triangles just inside the back door.  All of the sudden my decision to move the sewing room to what used to be a screened-porch seems like pure genius.  Hope you are all getting a chance to enjoy the weather by you (if it's good) and if not, hope you at least will get to sew..


Free Zoom Quilt Class, October 20.

    Free Live Online Craft Class Learn to quilt with Jessica Wed., Sept. 9 Tues., Oct., 20, Nov. 9 7:00 – 8:00 pm Sign up now.   Take one or...