Give It Away

A few years ago I was asked, "What do you do with all those quilts?" A valid question! My reply, in short, was, "I use, donate, show, share, and store them." Yes, all of those things. And I was reminded of how remarkable it can be to share them, when the other day, a card arrived from some friends. It was a Christmas card, but at its heart, it was also a 'thank you.' 

It mentioned a small quilt, Spiraled Jungle, that my friends chose a few years ago from a handful that I had made that needed a home. And in it they see a variety of scenarios - different scenes at different times. In a recent one, they saw the center 'map' background reflecting the mess that life can be, with the spirals representing a band of people sharing one another's load. There was much more that they wrote, but you get my drift, right? To them, this 'jungle' was so much more than fabric and thread, and that really touched me. In fact, I felt honored that somehow a piece of my work could evoke such thoughtfulness.

Now I know not everyone would respond like my friends and that's totally ok. I'm not even sure I would most of the time. Our work can be 'just' fabric and thread and still be beautiful and meaningful without overthinking it. But this is still a reminder - to you and to me - that in the midst of all the making, if you get a chance, give some of it away. Who knows? It just might have more stories to tell.

Worth a Mention

I was pleased and honored to see my completed Swoon quilt featured at Quilt Story this morning, along with some other amazing quilts! {see here}

It is gratifying beyond words to have others admire and affirm your work. Thanks!

Sister Pairs

A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to win a fat quarter stack of shades of grey from Jan DiCintio on her blog, Daisy Janie. What beautiful fabric! I had been coveting it from afar, so was especially pleased to now have some! After much deliberation of pattern and accent color, I decided to use Jan's own pattern, Sister Pairs, accenting the grays with some KONA Spearmint (thanks sis!).

Daisy Janie's fabrics are 100% certified organic by the GOTC (Global Organic Textile Standard), from seed to fiber, fabric, printing, and packaging. It was so nice to work with, and I'm not sure why, whether it was the organic fabric, the larger needle I used, the Superior King Tut thread, or the 505 spray basting, but this project was a dream to quilt. It was Toni from Hoosier Toni that suggested the random angled line quilting, and I love how it looks. I used a light grey thread for most of the quilting, and at my quilting buddy, Sharon's, suggestion, I occasionally quilted with a very dark grey thread. Unfortunately, it doesn't show up in the pictures, but it adds a nice accent that you can see in person.

It was fun to finish binding this quilt while visiting family in Eastern Washington this weekend, and having my niece help me photograph it in the lovely (sunny!) yard.

I had tried to imitate the block design for the back, using mostly KONA Ash, with Charcoal and more Spearmint. Obviously, the Sister Pairs block goes lengthwise on the back, but I still like its visual connection to the front. Having forgotten entirely to photograph the back earlier, we did it at a winery as we wound our way back home, which was a fun end to an enjoyable project.

Linking up with {Sew} Modern Monday today and Quilt Story tomorrow.

For the Love of Solids - Given

When the For the Love of Solids swap was announced two months ago, I was immediately intrigued. I had only ever done one solid project before, and the stakes in this swap seemed pretty high. I was doubtful whether I would even be accepted - it all seemed quite daunting, yet challenging. So when I got the notice that I was 'in', I thought to myself, "Oh dear. What have I done?"

I kept close tabs on the flickr group to try and discern my partner's likes and dislikes. And after looking at the amazing stuff on her website, I knew I needed to step it up a notch. Yikes. The hardest part, of course, was coming up with a plan. After seeing her comment that she liked circles, I decided that would be a good thing to incorporate, and not the norm. I finally settled on these two blocks as inspiration:

1. [3x6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee - 2nd Quarter 2. Taffy Go Round Pillow

Could I find a pattern for my idea? Of course not. So I set to drafting one. Other than taking one pattern design class in college, this was so not my strong area. But I tweaked and struggled until I had this:

What a mess! But I finally had a tentative plan, with 2 1/2 weeks to go to deadline! I did tweak one more time to increase the size of the arc, but then it all started coming together. Until finally, I came up with this:

For my small project, I decided to do a zip pouch, mostly because I'd been wanting to learn how, and that way, I could accomplish two goals at once. Multi-tasking is my forte! I must say, I looove how it turned out, though not without my trusty seam-ripper close at hand.

So! There you go - my first For the Love of Solids swap projects! Unbelievably, they got from Seattle to Rhode Island in two days! If you'd like to see what my partner, Tina, thought about the swap, check out her blog, Seaside Stitches.

Linking up with Celebrate Color . . .

. . . {Sew} Modern Monday, mini Quilt mondays, and Quilt Story. Enjoy!