Round up

Our lives have been readjusted lately...my husband has a new & intense work gig, that has been taking him out of town for the whole work week at least twice a month. Luckily for us, my parents live about 3 houses away, so Susannah can go there after school.  But I definitely miss having my laundry folded for me.  I have managed to complete a few small projects and a quilt over the past month.  Once again,  I neglected to take photographs as I finished things, so some of the following were taken by other people, using iphones and the like.  A couple of these are pretty blurry, but it's all I have.  I suggest squinting.

I made a throw pillow cover for my Mom, who loves flowers and bright, clear colors.  The minute I saw this fat quarter of Jane Sassaman fabric, I had a plan.  Like the other pillows I've made recently, it's a simple envelope closure.  I really do know how to sew in a zipper, and the next pillow I make will be zippered.  The back fabric is more Jane Sassaman from an earlier collection, that I had in my stash.  The quilting is just a machine serpentine stitch, but I think it gives a bit more interest.

Next up, another banner, this time using stars.  I made this for Tausha, who admired the heart banner.  Tausha does so much volunteer work, and I thought it would be nice for her to get something for no reason at all (start squinting):

I made another pillow, this one with applique and inexpert embroidery.  This was for someone I greatly admire, and who LOVES her dogs. You probably can't see it, but I embroidered the word 'devotion' on the back. 

 Okay, one more pillow to show (better pictures, I promise).  It's another version of the dog pillow.  I like the concept so much that it was fun to play around with different fabrics.  I found My friend Erin picked the PERFECT print to use for the golden retriever silhouette.  With every fabric line they design, Basic Grey includes new shades of grunge, and I love the stuff.  It's one of those not-quite-solid prints that I just want more of, like "Painter's Canvas" prints by Laura Gunn, Moda cross-weave, and the teeny stripe in Momo's "Just Wing It!"  "Origins" by Basic Grey is a current favorite fabric collection, and I have some pre-cuts and yardage waiting patiently to be put into a quilt.

In the meantime, I cut into some of it for this:

This pillow actually went to a friend of a friend, who recently lost her beloved dog.  If you don't have pets, then you may not understand the emotional bond.  And if you do have animals in your life, then you know that some are just really, really special.  This dog was incredibly important to this woman and her son, and I felt the pain of her loss even without knowing the dog.

I finished a quilt for the little girl next door, who is not only super-cute, but deep in the throes of the dress-up, shoe loving, princess-y, pink-purple-sparkly stage of little girlhood. Far, Far Away (I & II) to the rescue:

Hey, I think that's the Wood Cutter holding up that quilt (you can't see the wood shed in this photo).












Here are the four blocks, each about 26 inches square:

 The back, along with an appliqued & embroidered shoe that someone happened to lose in the garden:

And finally, a week ago, a sign of spring after this long, long Vermont winter:

Uh huh.  It's about time.

Snow Day

This is what our crabapple tree looks like in spring:

Here is what it looks like today:

That's right, Susannah is stepping into the tree. Not climbing, stepping.

Sunday afternoon with my daughter

The weather here was just vile yesterday afternoon. After helping our neighbors with their flooded garage, and a calorific lunch at the Wayside, we ditched any notion of venturing further and hunkered down at home. Susannah made a very cool throw pillow cover with some fabrics she bought a while ago. Those cute Michael Miller deer! I wanted to keep the project super simple, but she INSISTED on the pieced front. The back is a simple envelope closure. I love how it turned out - so mod. Anyone out there sewing with kids: opinions on using rotary cutters? My daughter is 10, and I'm pretty hesitant about putting a rotary cutter into her hands. Input would be appreciated. Anyway, this topped off a relaxed weekend, but one with THREE finishes: my linen cargo skirt, a quilted throw pillow cover for my mom, and Sus's project. I'll add more pictures as I get them. I'm just terrible at photographing projects before I send them off into the world.

Love

Valentine's Day - forget the overpriced flowers and chocolate, and the overly hyped romantic dinners. Let's just say it's a good thing to celebrate love. Maybe it feels extra special in my little town, because for years now the Valentine Phantom has been plastering hearts all over town. Whoever the mastermind is, I admire the sheer persistence and dedication. Being out and about at 3 a.m. on February 14 is canNOT be fun. But every year, the Valentine Phantom makes the whole town smile for the day. That's LOVE.

 Here's who I love:

Who do YOU love? 

Cake Rock Beach

Skip this if repeat projects bore you...more wristlets! This is really about the tenth set I've made, and I loooooove them. It's true, there are a lot of pieces to this. Cutting takes for-EVAH, so I had a couple of hours of production line cutting. I have a stack of flannel lining and fusible interfacing pre-cut, plus several sets of fabric.   So I can sit down and get right to the fun part when it's time to make a new set. My friend Jen H recently had a big, fat birthday. As is our habit, a group of girlfriends in my neighborhood got together for a small celebration. These occasions are especially notable when Heidi bakes. I skipped dinner, and went straight to the perfect cheesecake with lemon curd OR (more honestly, AND) caramel sauce, washed down with a glass of prosecco. Swoon. Back to the wristlets: I wanted this set to be something Jen was sure to like and use, and to that end, I invited her to go "shopping" in my fabric stash to see what she liked. This confirmed what I already knew: Jen has amazing taste. She chose 3 fabrics from Joelle Hoverson's "Cake Rock Beach" line. Why, oh why, hasn't Joelle continued with fabric design? Anyway, this was not anything I'd looked at for this project, and it has turned out to be my favorite set so far.

Conversation Hearts

So my friend Tia told me about home made conversation hearts. More trouble than they're worth? Oh yeah, but so cute. Here's a link to a recipe. My tips: make sure the sugar dough doesn't try out before you roll it out for cutting. Some of mine are pretty grainy for this reason. This is a messy project. Powdered sugar was flying everywhere, and I'm kind of surprised I'm not still stuck to the floor. I also managed to kill my hand mixer (Black and Decker WITH TURBO BOOST) at the end there. If you attempt this, have an extra bag of powdered sugar on hand for the hand kneading. I added in a lot more during this step than I expected.  For flavors, I used peppermint and vanilla extracts, and a super secret ingredient (shhhh...lemon and cherry Jell-O). I would have used Kool-Aid packets, but couldn't find any. Kool Aid flavors would have been excellent.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Hey, I learned to make tassels! This scarf  is voile and velveteen - Anna Maria Horner's "Innocent Crush" fabric line. The voile was obnoxiously slippy to sew to the velveteen. It's been much easier sewing voile to voile. I don't have a walking foot for my favorite machine; maybe that would help. The scarf is worth it though, it feels totally luxurious. I went with the 'luxury' theme, and taught myself how to make tassels (much cheaper than adding yachts or polo ponies, but now that I think about it, should luxury be 'cheaper'? I'm going all out on the next luxury scarf...). I used three colors of grey and lavender for the tassels, and I really like the subtle variegated look. This scarf was my first commission, and I hope the birthday girl likes it! Here's a picture I love, because it looks like a rolled up magic carpet:

I had experimented with a first scarf for myself, with a beaded fringe, but I think I'll ditch the beads in favor of: TASSELS!