Free Zoom Class, July 28th!

Have you been making time for hand-stitching this summer? 

We all know that the meditative stitches of English paper piecing is a great way to slow your thoughts. On Tuesday, July 28th, I'm offering a free hand sewing workshop via Zoom through the Uniondale Library. We will be making little placemats (see my progress pics in the last post), please click the link below to register and I hope to see you there!

Register Here!

* just keeping it real.  #honestkitchentable

Mid Pandemic

We will spend the rest of our lives contemplating this time. 

And I wonder if my children will learn anything about the time pre-pandemic when they're in school. Of course they will learn American history by whoever ends up writing it, but how far into the recent past will they go? I am sure they will cover the birth of the internet and the rise of change brought on by technology, they will cover 9/11 unless of course whoever writes the history books of the future sees that differently. What will they know of the first 20 years of this century? What will my children learn about the times their parents lived in when they were born? I know my children in particular will hear about when Greece abandoned the drachma in favor of the euro, and the 2004 Summer Olympics, and then the crisis and then the refugees and then the pandemic.

....

Like I said, we will be pondering this time for the rest of our lives.

I was at Target today, first time in four months. The school supply aisles just didn't feel right, no one had rifled through the bins, there was no rush to put out the stock. But I turned the corner and saw a familiar box on the shelf.

I got one because this past week I started a new English Paper Piecing project and I think it needs its own box. 

I would also like to make a new pin cushion, because they're very useful and awfully cute, but we will see if those thoughts get cut out and put together.

Stay safe everyone and please Journal throughout the pandemic.

60 Degree Diamond QAL Revival

Mischief

2017, while surreal and dystopian for a lot of other reasons, has been great for me and my quilting..

My most recent project is Karen Tripp's Mischief Quilt.  It seems in the time I have spent focusing on writing a second book (2014-15) getting divorced (2015-16) and rebuilding my life (2016~), EPP has gotten hella intricate and complex.  I feel.. a little antiquated with my one patch diamonds and hexies.. but anyway.  Karen approached me to see if I'd be interested in trying out her new pattern and helping get the word out about the tutorials and community she has going over at https://thediyaddict.com/.  Of course I wanted to help.  

She sent a full kit with acrylic templates, paper EPP shapes, and pattern planning pages.  I'll admit, for the first few days I was overwhelmed.  Didn't help that both kids came down with some mysterious cold/fever/crankiness thing that resulted in total disruption of the calm routine I rely so heavily on for survival.  

Anyway, yesterday it was just me and Jack (he's got pneumonia) and I decided to pull some fabric and play around a bit. 

Of course, I have more fabrics than I could ever use (unless I decided to make a king sized one, but... not making that commitment this week), but I settled on a few that were making me feel good and got to piecing.

It's fun, the pattern has lots of possibilities, and after way too long not knowing where my quilting creativity was hiding, it felt really good to feel the motivation and inspiration flow.  I'm looking forward to a quiet time piecing the next units this evening.

If you're curious, please check out Karen's pattern pages and more samples for the Mischief Quilt here.

My birthday weekend

So.  I turned 37 on Monday.

And the last week has been full of reflective thoughts, perhaps more so than other years.
I was very careful to plan out how to spend my time this weekend-- I have always been one to want/crave/and ask for alone time on my birthday.  I just need it.  It's my treat to myself-- that time to really reconnect, to sift through my thoughts, take stock of where I'm at, and ground myself in my reality.

With two years of midlife crisis behind me, I think I'm doing ok.

I spent most of the weekend with the guy I've been seeing (who needs to make an appearance here on the blog soon.. he's tall.  I need him to hold up some quilts for me) but I did take a jaunt into Manhattan on Saturday to get to the NYC Metro Mod Guild meeting.  It was my first time going in .. maybe 18 months?  Felt so good to be around quilty friends and beautiful making.

 I stitched on the train ride in, of course.  This blue and yellow block has fabrics from the quilt I made with George this year.  This hex-diamond is almost done.

I am grateful that the internet lets me make and keep friends, even when we only see each other sporadically.  I think that's one of the things I missed most about blogging.  Facebook is great for quick daily updates, feeling connected but not really being connected.  Instagram is better because you are seeing through your friends' eyes.  But blogging.. photos, words, feelings, all the thoughts and dreams put behind the post.  Some of my friends are simply amazing writers and I love getting to know them *that* way, through their writing. 

Bernadette has been working on her blue hexies quilt for a long time.. I'm so happy to see her determined to finish it.  I promised to help with the binding when she's ready

Nellie somehow managed to have a baby, finish this quilt, and get to the meeting to show it off.  I love the light colored crosses in the border.

This one is Lisa's and.. she's giving it away.  Who knows why we do the things we do?  But that kid sure is lucky..

Following Margaret on Instagram is such a treat, but seeing this quilt in real life and hearing her thoughts on making it (especially how she embroidered, rather than hand quilted) was really awesome.  Guild meetings, man.  Always something to learn.  

And Maureen from my library group was there too!  Working on impossibly small EPP, of course.  THAT is not my fault.

After the meeting, I went for coffee with my new friend, Kyle, then wandered across town to one of my favorite places in the city, Kinokuniya.  I could spend hours there, wandering like I used to do in Daimaru or Tokyu Hands, when I lived in Japan (at the turn of the century!).  So much to look at, take in, ponder and enjoy.  I did have a train to catch, so I made a beeline for stationary downstairs..

I was hoping to find a rooster stamp to add to my Zodiac rubber stamp collection, which I started in 2000.  Unfortunately I was told they were on order and I should check back in a few weeks.  I guess that's another excuse to make the trip then, huh?  I was able to replenish my collection of awesome pens, and now that I think if it, I should really write a post on pens because I do have strong feelings about them.. and oddly enough, my tastes have changed over the years.   (mental note: blog post about pens).

Monday I baked a cake and had Christa and her son over to help us celebrate.  The kids and I planned ahead this year and while at Party City before Halloween, we picked up these Dory candies for my cake.  Yup, 37 with a Finding Dory themed birthday cake.  I love being a mom, because you get to be a kid and make the rules at the same time.  Cake was tasty.  I plan on eating leftovers while writing Christmas cards later tonight.. 

Many thanks for the birthday wishes that came via FB and instagram (and for the dear friends who actually got me presents!!  I feel so loved).  If you want to comment below with what you were doing on your 37th birthday, or what you think your life might be like then, if you aren't as old as me.  I can honestly say, 5 years ago I had no idea that this is where I'd be.. but I'm happy I made it and I like where (and who) I am at 37.   Hope I will always be able to say that. 

Falling Stars

Christa is making the Falling Stars quilt from Quilting on the Go.

As she laid it out on the bed last night, I was struck by how much I love this pattern.  And all sorts of twinges of memories surfaced-- the initial idea, the design process, sitting with dear friends sewing the sample for the book.
My original thoughts were to do completely scrappy background with long chains and occasional stars in white.  Shifting the color palette to blues and chartreuse really changed the impact. I had so so many ideas for 60 degree diamond quilts and most of them are still trapped in my sketchbooks or scrawled on the back of book notes, stuck there in time.  But this, the Falling Stars quilt happened.  And I love what people are doing with it.
Christa's version is so beautiful, and so her.  Even though I gave her fabrics from the original (and let her root through my stash of blues), the overall tone looks like all of her other quilts.  Strong and natural.  My quilts can tend to be chaotic and punchy.  All of my wild energies, straining to get out.  But Christa's quilts always seem to give off a feeling of peace, restfulness.

 Somehow my selfies to capture background scenes always turn out with goofy expressions on my face.  I could have taken more shots to get it right, but this is us, as we were.  Talking and stitching on a weeknight, making progress as we can.

Monday Morning Star Count, November 23, 2015

Hey, how about a little EPP?
I've been meaning to make a MMSC picture that I can post even when life doesn't let me sew, and I finally got around to it.  What do you think?

Here's the linky.  Please share your EPP progress!
Everyone is welcome to join, even basting one hexie counts!
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Spooky All Points Patchwork Blog Hop!

This is the Halloween leg of the All Points Patchwork book tour...
Diane has really made this super fun, pulling together English Paper Piecers for different themed challenges month after month.  All week people have been showing off their Halloween themed EPP projects and today it's my turn:

Halloween Pentagon Table Runner

A couple years back, when I met my friend Eri, she was working on a blue and white pentagon pattern, alternating two fabrics and piecing together rings of 10 shapes each.  I was deep in a hexie addiction at the time and couldn't quite understand what you would do with all these little rings of pentagons, but filed the idea away under "cool" in my mental library and decided to try it when I had a chance.

Rings of pentagons, it so happens, are AWESOME for fussy cutting cute novelty prints.  I even played with stripes, which I'm not that comfortable with.

I made a bunch of rings from 1.5" and 1" pentagons and started playing around with layouts.  The boys helped, of course.

Once I had them where I wanted them, I marked a ring with my white marking pencil (I love that thing), removed the templates, gave each ring a good press, and pinned it into place.

Then, staying very close to the edge of the pentagons, I top stitched them into place by machine.  I stitched around the inner ring and up and down the points on the outside, removing pins as I went.

Once they were all securely stitched on, I layered, pinbasted, and quilted in "organic" crosshatch circle-ish things.  I like the light thread on the dark background, and I like how the round shapes play with the pentagon rings, but.. I think I might want to add some perle cotton stitches in fun colors somewhere too.  I've got 2 weeks til Halloween, we'll see what I come up with.

So that's it!  My contribution to the All Points Patchwork Halloween Hop.  If you haven't checked out a copy of All Points Patchwork, please treat yourself and do so!  The book is absolutely beautiful and full of ideas for how to add even small bits of English Paper Piecing to every area of your life.  Make sure to visit the other Halloween Hop crafters.. there's tons to learn and see in the links below~

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Monday Morning Star Count, September 14, 2015

Happy Monday, All~

Have you been stitching?  My pentagons are increasing slowly, I've got 4 rings and I'm pondering layout..

I need some greens I think,  and more orange.  Do you like the lighter or more saturated rings?  My gut tells me to make more and then see how to balance them (but life seems to give me that sort of advice about a lot of things..) Which brings me to a nice transition--- Life has tossed me some rather large stepping stones in the past few months and even when I have nothing to do, I've got a lot to think about.  I try not to let these thoughts encroach on my quilting time (in fact, my super wonderful therapist suggests that I keep quilting to stay centered..) but they do get in the way of blogging.  It's so much easier to toss progress pics up on instagram than to sort through my feelings and ideas and pull something eloquent together to say in a blog post about a couple hours of sewing.  Sometimes there just are no words, you know?  Thank you, the few of you who have reached out to check up on me in the weeks I've missed Star Count.  It really means a lot to know I've got this nice community of close friends, acquaintances, and dedicated quilters who notice when I'm not there.  I am here, and I will be ok.  Well, actually I'm better than ok, most days, all considering.  But somehow it seems it's always Sunday into Monday that finds me weepy or struggling a bit, and that's making it hard for me to want to cloud the Internet with more tough feelings.  Especially my blog, which is supposed to be the highlight reel of life, no?  I swear, so much of what I struggle with is how honest I can be, what I ought to say, to feel I'm staying true to myself yet also maintaining a "public" persona of super mom/wonder quilter.  Guys, you know that's not true, right? 
I would like to write here from a place more authentic, especially since I'm making and sharing quilts,  which are basically soft scrapbooks,  a window to my soul and a colorful account of where I've been, all I've seen and done.  Even without words, a knowing eye will see where I'm at, and for those with less access to the backstories, my quilts certainly provide lots to ponder if you're curious.  
I want to tell the stories of my quilts on this blog, but right now I'm struggling with how much to say, what to reveal, and some days I just can't fake happiness when life isn't giving me much.  There are many small wonderful moments though,  and I'm still sorting out which of those I want to keep private and which I can share.  It's getting easier to see the difference and I appreciate those of you who stick around to read whatever shows up in this space.  You give me lots of encouragement to keep sewing, to keep thinking and make me wonder if maybe this can be a safe place to unload and work through my thoughts...  I really appreciate that.

So, here's the link up.   What have you been stitching?  And if you want to share, what have those stitches helped you get through this week?  Xoxoxox

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Monday Morning Star Count, August 24, 2015

This weekend I spent time cutting patches for a new project-- Pentagons.
I'm working on something for the All Points Patchwork Halloween blog hop.  It's turning out super cute so far, I'm really excited.

 

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Monday Morning Star Count, August 3, 2015

Ooh, I didn't schedule this post ahead of time and now it's Monday afternoon.  No worries though, I have done MORE than enough piecing this week to make up for it.
Just look at these...

These are all the hexies I have freed by joining more units and more sashing strips.  BTW, next time I say, "Oh, I'll just add sashing to my EPP project" someone shake some sense into me.  The progress here is sooo deceiving.  The units get done, but the assembly just takes forever.  I am absolutely loving the look though.

In other news, today is the last day of my summer break and tomorrow I'll head back to work and my sanity saving routine of 10 minutes of EPP per day (not the 2+ hours I must have put in every day the last week).  Small progress, big smiles.
What have you accomplished since last post?

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Monday Morning Star Count, July 27, 2015

Travel Quilt #5 got a lot of attention this week..
I've been home with the kids for the last bit of my summer break so I stitched at the library, in the yard as Jack played play-doh, on the couch with George as he played games on my tablet... (my phone was never around to take action shots though)
And by the weekend, I was ready to stitch two large sections together.

I made enough sashing strips to go along a diagonal row of hex-diamonds so I attached that to the smaller section first before joining the row to the bottom segment of the quilt top.  I didn't want the weight of the sections to pull too much as I was stitching so I lined up my hexies and joined the segments from the middle, working my way to either end.

I have laid out the remainder of the top row a hundred times but never get around to piecing it to the strip.. I decided this weekend just to join what I had so I could free up templates and not worry so much about color placement decisions (what comes after the brown hex-diamond has changed several times.. most recently I want to use a purple unit which isn't actually pieced yet...)

 I like how it looks so far.  I have a stack of completed hex-diamond units (sorry, didn't count them before the post) but they all seem to have a very similarly toned outer ring.. I think this bottom corner is so colorful, and then the rest are going to be low volume/white prints?  Yes, I'm getting frustrated with this a little.  I want to make progress but it's slow.  The units are easy enough to get done, but the sashing and assembly keeps tripping me up.  Didn't trip Jack though, he had a great time spinning around on it during my photo shoot.

I'm sure there will be much more time for EPP this week.  What were you able to get done since last time?  Show us!!

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Monday Morning Star Count, July 20, 2015

I had such and amazing time at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show last weekend...  It was super cool to finally be there and to see my quilts on display all over town.

Travel Quilts #2 and #3 were hanging and they looked so... intricate from across the street or down the block.  I guess I forget that I stitched them from 1.5" diamonds?  

I had 3 other quilts in the show too, maybe I'll post about them later, I want to keep the focus on EPP today.  Of course I found some time to work on Travel Quilt #6 that weekend:

and got in a bit of stitching on TQ#5 during the car ride too:

I'm back home in NY now, but omg, I am SO in love with Oregon.  The quilt shops, people!  The quilt shops alone are reason enough to buy plane tix and rearrange your schedules to get out there.  And I didn't even make it to that many (4 maybe?).  It was enough, though.  I came home with an extra suitcase (I had to carry the 5 quilts...) and probably around 20 yards of fabric.  Quilting heaven, I'm telling ya...

I have cut up a bunch of new fabric for hex-diamonds and I hope to get some stitching done throughout the rest of the summer.  I'm also working on some big machine pieced projects though, so I've got to balance my time.  Yesterday it was just plain too hot to quilt.. maybe this week I can convince the kids to hang out at the public library for a while (or anywhere else with free air conditioning?).

Now it's your turn.  Who has been making progress on their EPP this week?
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