Indigo Blues

I received a lovely gift in the mail today...

A pack of beautifully, hand-dyed indigo blues from my friend Candy, of Candied Fabrics.

The package contained 5 delicious fat quarters,

and one gorgeous scarf!

Indigo-dyed blues are my favorite of all fabrics, and I have a tendency to horde them instead of cut into them... but I am itching to get my scissors out and start!

Check out Candy's website where you can commission her to make fabric just for you, or where you can sign up for her on-line classes and learn how to dye your own fabric! The classes are all self-paced, with no end date to the availability to the information... so you can go back time and again to refresh and learn. I can tell you first hand that Candy is a whiz-bang of a teacher, (she's actually a biology teacher at the University of Redlands) and her on-line classes are extremely thorough, packed-to-the-gills with info and videos, as well as a question and answer forum. And her wonderful enthusiasm is ever present and a true delight. Truthfully, I think she's superwoman, because I don't know where she finds the time to do everything she does, and I am pretty much in awe of her!

A Stitch a Day Keeps the Blues at Bay

Pink Flower, Blue Butterfly

I have continued taking all of that low energy and soon-to-be empty nest blues...

Blue Butterfly

and placed every bit of it into stitching...

Butterfly No. 2

and with every stitch I have taken, my energy has increased... 

SunFlower

and my mood has lifted...

Home Sweet Home

and everything's good!

PS. You may wonder why I am not spending every single minute with youngest daughter... soaking her in until she leaves for college next week. I would if I could, but she's hardly ever here! Work and friends keep her busy, and when she is home, chances are she is in her room playing guitar or painting... and now packing. Apparently, all summer long she's been thoughtfully breaking me in and preparing me for when she leaves for college so it doesn't hit me too hard... but I am still going to miss her!

Happy Little Pieces

Happy Weeds

Many thanks to each of you who took the time to leave such great comments on my last post. From reading everyone's words, I see that these feelings are something that a lot of us are going through, have gone through, or know that we will be going through in the not too distant future. It was both uplifting and comforting to know that I am not alone!

Flower With A Green Leaf

I decided that the best medicine for me was just to allow myself some time to get out of my own head and simply have fun creating some little, happy pieces.

With that thought in my mind, I took a drink of inspiration from Janet Bolton, (a long time favorite of mine) and decided to stitch up these tiny textile pictures.

There is something very relaxing and meditative about working on a small scale... Tiny bits of fabric get to shine, and each little stitch gets to be placed thoughtfully and just so. Because the work is small, nothing gets lost or crowded out... every element gets to have its day in the sun.

For these two pieces, I used a facing technique, (as opposed to a traditional binding) to finish the edges, and then stitched on small square panel to cover up the stitches on the backside. This keeps everything nice and neat, along with adding a little bit of extra stability. I also like how the color of the facing fabric slightly peaks out a bit on some of the edges, adding just a wisp of extra color and line. I hand stitched a small and sturdy decorative loop for instant hanging... but kept it thin so that it wouldn't add any bulk should someone wish to mat and frame the work. 

I think for now, I will stitch up a few more of these, as they truly are good medicine... 

As are all of you... again, thanks for everything. xo

Crossroads

I pieced together another 9 patch cross quilt, this time in shades of green, and just like the previous red one shown in my last post, it seems to be asking for lots of that hand-quilting... 

But I am really feeling out of it this past week... fatigued and just general blah-ness. Whenever my energy is low, I prefer working on a very small scale. So, for now I am putting this top aside until I am in a better mood, energy wise, to give it what it wants. Here it is hanging from the curtain in my studio window... what a great pojagi piece it would have made had the seams been stitched differently. (File that thought away for another time!) 

Not exactly sure why the energy is so low, but I have my suspicions... We have been getting youngest ready to head off to college in just a few short weeks, and I am just truly coming to grips that my children really aren't children anymore, and I am about to enter a whole new phase of my life, (not to mention that the next birthday will be #50!) I feel like in the time it takes to turn around and blink, two whole decades flew by. Could it be that I am entering some sort of mid-life crisis?! That sounds so cliche, but me thinks I am! And what really knocks me for a loop is that I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up!

Hope you all are having a good week... and for anyone whose kids are still little, and each day fees like a hundred hours... hug them tight and whatever you do, don't turn around and blink!

Oversized Nine Patch

10, 680 hand-quilted stitches later, (approximately!) and the quilt that I gave a sneak peak of in my last post is now finished. (Such a good feeling!)

The quilt is titled '9Patch Quilt in Red and White' and is loosely aimed at exploring the design possibilities in constructing and using an exaggerated and oversized nine-patch. 

The idea for this started when I looked out my back door at an old quilt that I had made years ago, which I had washed and hung out to dry. The quilt in reference is nothing to write home about let alone show, (thus no photo). Simply made from nine 12 inch squares in rather boring fabrics it was one of several that I made to be used for purely utilitarian purposes... to cover one of my girls when they were very little, to put one in good old Mo's dog bed, to sling another one over the coffee table to hide the scratch marks... And now, all those years later, here I was looking at this plain jane quilt, and for the first time I saw the really bold potential held in those nine 12" blocks. 

I knew right away that I wanted to make a red cross quilt. The graphic image of the Red Cross, used over the years as a symbol of humanity, mercy and aid has always been one of my favorite symbols. I plan on exploring the red cross theme again, as well as with other colors. 

Each of the nine squares used to create the quilt were made up of various sized strips of fabric in varying shades of neutrals and reds. I used cottons, shot cottons and linen-cotton fabrics.

With the combination of both hand and machine quilting, this piece is very similar to one of my Work Quilts. The only difference is I didn't sew any appliqué patches onto the quilt top. However, some of the piecing, such as these two small beige squares, kind of give a patched visual, which I like.

I also like the way that the colors of the variegated threads, (used for the hand-quilting) dance across the surface, visually popping here and there. (And for the record, as I get asked this question A LOT... I am using 12 weight cotton thread, doubled over and knotted at the ends, so two strands are used while sewing. And, I use a small quilter's 'between' needle...whatever size I have on hand.

If I do another one of these, I may or may not hand quilt it... it's truly all up to the quilt, (but I am hoping that the next one just wants to be machined quilted, as my fingers and hands do get sore!)

Okay, that's all I have to say about this quilt... other then, I throughly enjoyed the whole process and am really happy with the final results. When all of those elements come happily together, the journey and the destination, you just can't help but to be grateful that you get to be a quilter. 

For more information on '9Patch Quilt in Red and White' please visit my shop here.