Commonplace

2009 - 001

I've finished my first quilt of the new year. The pattern is Amy Butler's Belle Quilt done in a mix of fabrics, but I couldn't tell you what they are. I just pick the ones I like and go from there. I started making this as a holiday gift for my sister-in-law but quickly decided that it wouldn't be leaving my home. For one thing, it's pretty specific. You'd have to really like whimsy and bright to like this and I wasn't sure she would. For another, I just wanted it. Don't worry though, she got something lovely. (Of course, with all of the late-night-pre-holiday-crafting, there was never really a good photo op, so you'll have to take my word for it.)

I don't have much experience with appliqué but in keeping with my impulsive nature, I decided to jump right in. I really love the bold graphic effect of the giant circles on the pieced squares. All in all a fun pattern and I think a pretty successful quilt. It's a good feeling to finish something and be really pleased with it instead of highly critical.

I tested it out yesterday by curling beneath it with a cup of something hot (it's not as romantic as it sounds - mostly it was theraflu) watching the kids play. Jake was home from school because of icy roads and it was chilly in the commonplace house. But the new quilt served it's purpose. How could you be grouchy while wrapped in those colors?

Thanks for visiting.

Keeping On

Thanksgiving was a welcome day of celebration. As expected, the fire was warm, the family was extended and the food was plentiful.

The children were adorable. And loud.

By way of describing the spirit of my family I'd like to point you to this post from last Passover (in particular, the video about my cousin, Zach). The same feeling abounds at our Thanksgiving Feastavil. Zach's translator Abood, his wife and two of their daughters celebrated their second Thanksgiving in the United States with us. Really, there isn't more that needs saying other than: I'm proud to be a part of this family.

I would like to thank everyone who left a comment on my last post. It's a source of amazement for me that the words of encouragement from people I've never met can mean so much. To know that others before me have weathered rough seas is comforting. I think there is catharsis for me in the writing as well. There is no room for denial in journal-keeping. It's easy (although less so daily now) to avoid the tough stuff while keeping busy, but to sit down and put it into words sure makes you look it straight in the proverbial eye.

Anyhow, as I promised myself — I'm keeping on. And here are a few things that help me do it:

That first one was in the pile of unbound quilts that was sitting on my desk for, well, a very long time. Of course, once I set out to bind it — it was only a matter of hours. It's now officially the first item in a new etsy shop which I may reveal here eventually.

As for the cheerful zig-zag quilt — it was a commissioned piece. Nothing original here. You've seen multiple zigs and zags a la the purl bee, but it never gets old for me. I had grand ideas of heavily quilting the whitespace but time was of the essence. I think my next one of these may be all one color instead of the two.

Lastly, it's December. The race is on. How many of you have vowed to make this holiday season different? Less expensive and pressured? All handmade? About the traditions and not the mad rush? All worthy goals in my book. Traditions in my house may be different than in most of yours as I'm Jewish. But I live in America and I partake in the holiday gift-exchange madness. Teachers and postal workers, bus drivers and neighbors and all of the others who touch our daily lives. It's always a challenge to enjoy the giving instead of seeing it as work, but I'm once again bound and determined and I hope you'll join me in discussing it.

One Down...

For years I saved Jake's baby clothing. He turned three then four and well, you know how it goes. Somewhere around his sixth birthday I realized that it was nuts to keep boxes of baby clothing so I donated what I could and cut squares out of what I couldn't part with. My intention was to make a quilt for Jake but life got in the way of that. So, a mere four and a half years later, I have finally finished the quilt and, with Jake's blessing, it will belong to his baby brother.

I love this quilt. I love that every time I look at it I am reminded of a different memory about Jake's early childhood. I love it's simple design and it's sentimental value. I love that Jake wants Quinn to have it. I love that it was pieced during my pregnancy and when I run my fingers across the seams I'm transported back. And, yes, I did dress young Jake in quite a lot of plaid.

A Binding Situation

I've got a stack of unbound quilts on my desk.

The oldest one dates back four years.

Can anyone explain this phenomenon to me? Working so hard on something just to stop short of completing it. I've heard suggestions that once they are bound they would leave their creator's possession therefore making the last step akin to saying goodbye. The thing is, almost all of these are going to stay in my house.

Perhaps your encouragement will help. Here are a few sneak peeks to get you going:

Okay. That last one was more than a sneak peek but it's been languishing in a basket for so long I needed to hang it up before I could even measure it.

Here's the recipe I use for making binding:
(width of the quilt x 2) + (length of the quilt x 2) = A
A divided by 40" = the number of 2.5" strips to cut (rounding up of course).

Many of you asked what pattern I used for the entrelac scarf that's up for grabs. It's basically the Lady Eleanor Scarf from Scarf Style only scaled down quite a bit. But the pattern I used to learn entrelac was Danica from the Winter 2005 issue of Knitty I thought it was well-written and I recommend it for a first time entrelac project (although I do suggest skipping the color changes). The yarn was Noro Silk Garden in color 213. I'll post the winner tomorrow morning first thing. Thanks for playing!

My First Swap

Thanks for all of the comment love on my last post. My intention most certainly was not to guilt anyone who chooses to remain an anonymous reader into commenting. I support anyone who chooses to keep to him or herself. That is, after all, among the many beauties of the internet.

Here's another one:

I'm not much of a joiner. As a kid I sat out any game that involved competition (and what game doesn't). I don't enjoy winning because someone looses. And I don't enjoy losing because, well, who enjoys losing? Anyway, clubs, sisterhoods and the like required too much joining (and commitment - what if I couldn't live up to their expectations?) for my taste. So I usually pass. Until recently. John organized a quilt block swap and actually asked me to participate. It was a sort of vote of confidence. And I'm taking some personal risks lately, so—I joined. And earlier this week I received this great-looking stack of fabrics from Rita. Now I have to actually sew a quilt block... but I can do it. It feels kind of good to be part of a group of something.

Scenes From a Saturday

Today I decided to sort through my scrap bin. I had a little helper.

It wasn't so much sorting as it was rummaging around. But there were some hidden treasures within the bucket.

I don't remember buying these fabrics or sewing them for that matter. I have no idea what project they might have been for.

These are leftover from the first free-pieced quilt I ever made. The top is finished and the whole thing is sandwiched and basted but it is sitting in a basket under my desk waiting for quilting inspiration to strike.

I vaguely remember making these blocks with leftover fabric from a different project. I can't imagine what I was planning here.

And these. I went through a pretty serious batik phase some years back but I'm not sure what I had in store for these.

I think I may have gathered enough scraps during this digging expedition to finish a small quilt with these. By far the prize of the afternoon. I love them.

These are left over from one of my all time favorite quilts. It was among the first quilts I ever finished and it's in use daily around our house. It never fails to make me happy.

It was a less than productive attempt to purge the stash but fun nonetheless.   

Free(motion) At Last

Hello. My name is Amy and I'm a ditch-stitcher.

I am afraid of free-motion quilting. I like my feed-dogs up and I love my walking foot. I know some of you are thinking here: "and she calls herself a quilter". The truth is, I don't. I have an inferiority complex. My quilts seem incomplete and I'm a sham. I took a class once called "overcoming your fear of free motion quilting". It didn't work. But recently my ten year old son has faced multiple fears head-on and won so yesterday I decided to follow his lead.

It's not perfect. It's not even very good. But I did it. No walking foot involved, feed dogs down. I feel as if I could take on the world today. Or at least the cable company.

What are you afraid of?

Birthday Projects: Update

Here is a picture of Quinn's finished birthday quilt. The pattern was loads of fun and was inspired by this quilt. All of the fabric were scraps from my stash - except the backing and binding. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't bind it in the same fabric. I don't think it pulls the bright colors together as well as I had hoped. Other than that though, I love the playful pattern and primary colors.

And on the knitting front, I haven't lost my drive for the Tomten jacket yet (it's only been a day so I'm not reading too much into that). Maybe the blogging will turn out to be a motivator. What about you? Does blogging help you finish your projects?

Happy Birthday Titi :: and a Photo Quilt

Kelly and I have been friends since we were in diapers. Literally.

(That's me with the curly hair.)

This year Kel turned forty. (Yes, mine is coming.) I needed a special gift.

I'm not usually a fan of the photo quilt. I like my photos on paper and my quilts made of fabric. I find there to be something almost creepy about wrapping yourself up with photos of, well, anyone. But just this once... and maybe it would be a wall hanging?

The walls of Kelly's house are covered with family photographs. Beautiful, antique, colorful, faded, sentimental, silly photographs. All over. One day I sneeked into her house (thank you Frank) while she was at work and scanned lots and lots of them. And here's what I made for her:

It was completely a stash-quilt. (I'm extremely proud of that fact.) I framed each photo or group of photos with 2" strips of this lovely brown fabric:

From there, I framed each block with varying widths of other fabrics:

I added a label-panel to even out the number of blocks:

I squared the blocks to the smallest one (which was about 14"), sewed, quilted and bound!

I really enjoyed making it and Titi Kel says that she snuggles under it every night and that it's not creepy at all!

Birthday Preparations

Next week is Quinn's first birthday. I don't know what could possess me to start three projects that I expect to have finished in a week. Yes. Three. Granted they are not gigantic projects, but seeing as I haven't finished much of anything in a year, it seems silly to start, and plan to finish, three in a week.

When Quinn began crawling all sewing has been relegated to the bedroom. I haven't really set myself up with any productive arrangement so this is what it looks like when I'm working.

When I'm mid-project(s) I've given up on putting it all away each evening. The baby-naps are too short and unpredictable to pull it all out again and get anything else done.

The project on the bed is a fabric banner. I've seen this project done multiple times on some of my favorite blogs and filed it away in my "I'll-get-to-that-one-day" file. Apparently yesterday afternoon was that day. I'm combining the techniques described in this tutorial with those in this tutorial. It's a great stash-busting exercise and should be very festive for the party.

The other projects are a quilt and a (another) birthday bib for photos.

It's been great fun pulling out fabric from the beginning of time and remembering what they were originally purchased for.

I hope you like the new banner. It's about how I'm feeling these days — like my life is pieced together from multiple colorful scraps forming my whole. It's a continuing fascination with all things patchwork.