It takes a village

I am so so pleased to show this quilt.  Mommy Neighborhood is my first ever bee quilt finish.  It is also the first that I have mixed hand and machine quilting. 

The texture of the hand quilting portion is pretty amazing.  I only wish I was a better photographer to capture the white on white.

But this Mommy Neighborhood quilt is so much more than the fabric choices and the quilting.  I am grateful to my friends that made some blocks for me:  Rachel, Sarah, Jessica, Anna, Keri, Karen, Vanessa, and Veronique.  These and other online knitting friends (Katie, Laura, Suvi, Jennifer, Sindu, Charity, and Sheryl) were there for me during my pregnancy and ever since Henry was born.  They all have children Henry's age and we've become friends through sharing our trials and joys in raising our kids.  They were there for me through insomnia, severe infection, postpartum depression, anxiety attacks and Henry's diagnosis of autism.  Their commiseration, humor, acceptance and encouragement have helped make me into the mom I am today.

Hillary Clinton said that it takes a village to raise a child.   
This quilt will hang on my wall and remind me of the village that it takes to raise a mom.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my friends.


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Notes about this quilt:

• the green strips of lawn were inspired by this quilt,
•  I have two tutorials posted for making tiny house blocks if you are interested:  one and two.

Catching up to the curve

I was sick most of last week and then I was just behind the curve of life for a few days after that.  But I'm finally feeling better and ready to share a few photos here.

This is a block I made over a week ago for Cynthia in the Pastiche Bee.  She asked for old school graphic design art supplies.  I fear there isn't enough contrast between the prints for the background and the arms of the compass, but I think some targeted quilting could take care of that.  

I made this Farmer's Wife block over a week ago, too.  It is a remake of this block.  Just four more blocks to go!

I've been working on the quilting for my Mommy Neighborhood quilt for a few weeks now.  It will take a l-o-n-g time to put all of the quilting in that I want.

And, lastly, when I was feeling too crummy to sit at the machine or to wrestle with perle cotton, I've been working on expanding my green hexies.  I cut out another 100 hexies for this project.  I think I may have too many green fabrics....

So what's new with you? It has been too long since we chatted.  :)

I should learn my lesson

I basted my Mommy Neighborhood quilt yesterday.

I ran out of basting spray.  I couldn't use pins because I am hand quilting it with my frame.  And I have no flippin' idea why I stretched it out on the floor.  It took me the whole. darned. day. to complete.  My plan is to densely quilt this with perle cotton, so I thought I had better densely baste it.  Well, crawling around on the floor all day has done a number to my back and my hips.  So, please don't follow my lead.  If you decide to thread baste something and you have any option at all to put it on a table, please do.  This has been a public service announcement.

Other notes I want to add about this quilt:

• the houses in this quilt are only about 4",
• the green strips of lawn were inspired by this quilt,
• I made four of the blocks, but the other thirteen were made by the ladies in this bee,
•  I have two tutorials posted for making tiny house blocks if you are interested:  one and two.

Something is in the air...

I don't know how else to describe the sewing productivity over here.  Maybe there is something about Maryland, or the lack of local friends to visit or the fact that my sewing studio is no longer in a damp basement....  Either way, I'm grabbing this energy and running with it. 

This one is called Mommy Neighborhood.  The blocks were made by myself and my mom friends from ravelry.  I twisted their arms to form a quilting bee and then asked them to piece some wonky house blocks so I could make a quilt where we all lived in the same neighborhood.  Since the group is spread throughout the states plus two in Finland and one in Australia, this is the only way that we could all live in one place.  

I also have a finish from this week.  I made this Baby Bliss quilt from some prints of the Domestic Bliss line and a few strips of solid aqua.  I adapted my Four Corners tutorial to make this smaller version.  This whole quilt is made with fabric, batting and thread that needed a good home.  I think this summer quilt will get donated when I find the right charity. 

I skipped taking a picture of all of the blocks laying on my floor for another new quilt.  Those will have to wait for another day.  I did cut the fabric, mark, sew and trim them enough HST's for a throw-sized quilt all in one day.  But I don't think I'm completely crazy.  Do you?  Go ahead and be honest.  :)

Happy Little Finish

My friends in the May Moms Bee made me tiny house blocks ages and ages ago.  I have another 17 of these blocks that I'm working into a quilt top, but it was getting unwieldy.  So these 4 houses get their own special place on this mini quilt. 

I used this mini as an opportunity to try a colored border and try quilting with 12 wt thread.  I know many people choose to use very thin thread so it disappears into the quilt but this one definitely doesn't.  You may also notice that the texture of the quilt is different.  I used a fleece interfacing because I originally was going to make this into a pillow.  Once I changed my mind to a mini quilt, I couldn't use my usual 100% cotton batting any more.  The combination of the fleece and the 12 wt thread gives this a different texture than I would normally choose.  I'll admit I didn't like it at first.  It took a day to get used to it, but now I'm very happy with this finish.  I'm so pleased, in fact, that I'm sending it out to a very special friend.  I think it will bring a smile to her face.