I finished a baby quilt this morning. Before breakfast.
Time and birth wait for no man, or so it would seem, and I had a very exciting phone message from an old friend on Wednesday last week to say that his wife had given birth to their first baby. Welcome to the world Rosanna May Brookes! Frantic sewing has ensued and I completed the binding today. I’ve just got a new digital camera, so as soon as I’ve found the cable to connect it to the computer, I’ll post a photo.
My favourite instructions for really neat binding come from Heather Bailey’s blog. No lumps and bumps guaranteed (as long as you follow the diagrams exactly). In fact, I love everything that Heather’s website offers, and I think her Freshcut fabric is delicious. Check out Pam and Nicky Lintott’s use of it in Jelly Roll Quilts, where they have made a beautiful double Irish chain quilt, called Daisy Chain.
Now that I’ve completed one project, doesn’t that mean I’m allowed to start buying fabric for another? Hope so…
Yeah, you know -- feedsacks, flour sacks and sugar sacks. I've loved them since I was a child and rummaged through my grandmothers fabric stash. The bright colors, intricate designs that now take on such a retro look, are just plain fun.
As some know, we recently moved the Krause Publications quilt and sew books from our Iola, Wisconsin facility down to Cincinnati. Yesterday, I was pulling books from boxes and ran across Darlene Zimmerman's Granny Quilts. I recently had the opportunity to get some of Darlene's reproduction fabric from Robert Kaufman, so it was great fun putting fabric to pattern. Darlene's new book, Quilts from Lavendar Hill Farm is on it's way, too. I want wait to do a little fabric pattern selection there, as well. The new book will be available in just a couple of weeks. Check it out at www.krausebooks.com
Spring is certainly springing where I live, and the birds are going crazy with nest building. They do a lot of low swooping out of hedgerows, generally right in front of my car as I beetle along the country lanes between where I work and where my horse lives. It's a bit heart-stopping, but I think they know exactly what they are doing because I've never hit one. Thank Goodness
For a bird-related project here’s a taster of a foundation-pieced tablemat and fabulous cockerel from Mandy Shaw’s upcoming book, Quilt Yourself Gorgeous. Not out til July, but you will soon be able to order it from either the UK or US MyCraftivity shops.
If you would like a closer look, see the photo gallery on our main page. Happy Springtime stitching!
Ugh! My 35-year-old, always faithful German Dressmaker sewing machine died. It is tragic. That old, white, solid-metal, friend has been with me a very long time. It has been totted from home to home -- from Colorado to New York, back to Colorado, to Kentucky, and now Cincinnati. I've sewn everything on this machine from denim to canvas, from sillk to rayon, to miles and miles and miles of quilting. It's stitches were always precise. It's throttle was even.
I was just sitting down to start piecing the Joel Dewberry fabrics I told you about a couple of weeks ago. I had actually decided on a pretty contemporary strippy pattern of Flying Geese. I put the fabric under the stitching foot, pressed the throttle-- NOTHING! I pushed again -- NOTHING! How could this be? I felt suddenly alone, completely rejected.
I packed it up and hauled it off to my sewing machine dealer. The motor was gone. He could replace it but it would take awhile to order a new one and the cost will be around $200. I said "order it up", went home feeling that I had left my one-and-only to fend for itself in the lonely repair shop.
But I got home, pulled out my trustly 101 Ways to Use Your First Sewing Machine, and got my Bernina set up to rock-n-roll. It has been awhile since me and the Bernina had bonded. We are well on our way to forming a new team. I started to wonder. Have I been a bad owner? Playing favorites with my very first machine, while six others sat and waited their turn? And what about my mother's old Singer that has just found it's way to my studio. Then I realized that everyone of these machines is capable of making great quilts, ones I can be proud of.
It was time to let the old Dressmaker go -- I just cancelled the order for the new motor.
I'm always on the lookout for new inspiration and the internet is such a wonderful place to look. More and more, people are sharing their work online and there are so many great places to look. One place I love to peruse is:
a website where people can upload photos. Use the seach feature to look for photos tagged as quilts, or for quilting photosets. Perfect for springtime inspiration, the Spring Quilts photoset is a great place to start.
