february 4: raspberry kisses

This quilt has been long in the making. The recipient is my wife's best friend who was the maid of honor in our wedding. I wanted to make her a quilt as both a thank you gift and a birthday present for that year. Well, it's been almost 3 years since we got married and 2 years almost exactly since that birthday, and I've finally started.

I'm using the Raspberry Kiss block tutorial from Wooden Spoon - I'm planning on making both sizes of blocks. I'm going to be making a queen size quilt, all out of blue batiks - the recipient wanted it to look like water. I would need approximately 200 of the large blocks or 400 of the small blocks to make the desired size quilt. Since I'm doing a mix, I'm still not actually sure how many I'll need. I'm planning on having there being an ombre-type effect to show the light and dark in the water. I'm hoping to do a mix of hand and machine quilting in concentric circles.

So far it's just these 3 big blocks, but it's a start!

january 26: long time, no see

That's always the way it is. But with the introduction of instagram into my life, I find myself less and less willing to dedicate time to this space, even though it is missed. The funny thing is, though, a friend stumbled upon this space the other day and then sent me an email about what she'd seen here. She is one of the most beautiful people I know, and the email moved me to tears. But it made me realize that this space was empty. For a portfolio of work it is woefully outdated. So, in an effort to make a half-assed effort, here are some of the things I've done (but only if there's a picture on my phone!).
 

Hello.. embroidery?

It's been oh so long. Longer than I even think. So much has changed. So much has stayed the same. So, while I know this isn't much of anything, here is what I took 40 minutes to work on today.

Hello.... embroidery?
...springtime?
...sunshine?
...?

June 4: social tote

It's been awhile.  I haven't been doing too much sewing in the last month.  Life has been crazy, but I was also in Portland, OR for a week for Quilt Market.  While I was there, I got all of my friend Carolyn's new patterns, including her new Social Tote and the applique pattern Alturas.  I also taught her how to do my big stitch quilting - we had so much fun!  We didn't get a lot done that night, here's my progress (which included time spent quilting on the plane).

It's hard to photograph because all of the fabrics are shot cottons.  It's really much prettier in person!  This will be a wall hanging for our hallway.

When I got home, I decided I wanted to make the Social Tote, which is perfect for all of my hand sewing.  I will say, this pattern is not for the faint of heart!  I decided to do more fabrics than the pattern called for, which definitely made it more difficult, but there are also a few things that I'd do differently next time.  I'm really glad that I did use a bunch of different fabrics.  I feel like it showcases some of my favorites that I've been hoarding, including that outside print with the skulls, which is actually a canvas-weight print from Kokka.  I didn't use the pincushion pattern she had, because I already have a gazillion pincushions that are the right size.  The one that's in there now is one of my own designs done with tucks. 

I'm beginning (like, just beginning) a quilt for our friend Kelsey.  This quilt is a graduation gift, birthday gift, and a thank you for being our maid of honor.  I couldn't wait to try out the Alturas pattern, and since I'm doing a sampler-style quilt for Kelsey anyway, I decided she needed at least one Alturas block in her quilt.  You can see it below in the bottom of the Social Tote.  The outer edges are almost done, I just have to do the middle parts.

We're leaving town again tomorrow...  I'm trying to get everything together, including some sewing projects.  I'm taking my Circle Game blocks - I have two cut out and ready to piece and one that just needs two seams to be finished.  I'm also thinking about taking some more fabric to do Alturas blocks.  If you look at the pictures of my tote, you can see that I have a template all ready to go!  I'll have more to share when we get back, including all the pictures I've been taking in the last three weeks!  We'll also be getting legally married while we're there, and hoping that by the time we get home, our marriage will be legal here, too.

May 6: what I want to be....

May 2: Bubble pouch

Last Friday, Michelle over at Michelle Patterns announced that she was discontinuing quite a few of her patterns and was offering a special deal if you bought all of them.  I liked a few of the designs, and I knew my wife would love some of the others, so I decided to just buy them all!  I printed off the patterns for the Bubble Pouch, the Pleated Pouches, and the Box Wallet.  I grabbed some scraps - some of Carolyn Friedlander's Architextures line (I'm getting near the end of this - my favorite print from her line in what my co-workers would call "Phoebe green") and a piece of Kaufman's Essex cotton/linen blend in Grey.  I experimented with the interfacings and used woven fusible interfacing (Shape Flex) and Dream Cotton's Select-weight batting (my favorite!) - next time I think I might just do the woven fusible interfacing.  The final result:

A darn stinkin' cute bag!  It's about 4" x 3" x 1.5" - a little on the small side for me, so I'm not sure what I'll use it for.  Oh well, I enjoyed sewing it, and the pattern was great, which at this point is all that really matters!

Sorry for the not-so-nice pictures.  It just wasn't going to happen any better today, and I so wanted to show it off!

April 29: self portrait #2

I'm finding photography to be a truly great thing for me.  Right now, if I'm doing anything at all remotely creative, chances are that it's photography.  One of my goals before my 26th birthday is to have taken at least 100 self-portraits.  I thought it would be scary, in a good way.  Plus, I have very few pictures of myself.  So you may be seeing more and more self-portraits here.  I've even created a set on flickr just for my self portraits.  I think this one might be #4, but only technically #2 in my year of self portraits.

I feel like this picture shows where I really am today - contemplating life, the universe, and everything as Douglass Adams would phrase it.  Trying to figure out the conundrums of what interfacings to use in my bags, what to do about meditation, what book to read next...  I have no make-up on (not that I usually have a lot on), just sitting in the little bit of natural light from this rainy day.

And here is what I see: