Quilting is the Best Medicine

Recently, I received some sad news.  While I was grieving, I decided to give myself a little time off.  I picked a pattern and decided that I wouldn't go back to work until my little quilting project was complete.

I decided to stitch up a little zippered bag by Lori Holt from A Bee in my Bonnet:

I hand appliqued this project using 100 weight InvisiFil thread.  It was so soothing!  I machine quilted it with Ocean Breeze thread from FabuLux.  That tropical pink/yellow/green thread was so bright and happy and brought me a bit of cheer.

Do you ever stitch your sorrows away?  What are your go-to projects?

Happy Graduation, Jacob!

I make a lot of quilts.  A Lot of quilts.  A LOT.  I give most of them away.  I decided to make a Nickel Quilts quilt for a young man named Jacob for his high school graduation.  I pulled out all of my cream and brown scrappy nickel squares and started piecing.  I was ready to add borders when I received the shocking news:  Jacob grew nearly a foot and my quilt wasn't tall enough for him!  I pieced a few more rows but got sidetracked and this quilt ended up on a shelf, unfinished.

I recently found this project, quickly finished it up, and delivered it to his mother with my apologies.  Apologies?  Yes, apologies.  You see, Jacob graduated from high school seven years ago.  Seven!

This finished quilt is now long enough to cover the tallest man I know in person:

I had fun quilting swirls all over this quilt and used Mudpies thread from FabuLux:

This thread is shades of brown and blended perfectly into this quilt!

So, congratulations Jacob... a few years late.  I hope you enjoy your quilt!

Welcome to the world, Emersyn!

My friend, mother of several daughters, was expecting another child.  I was absolutely positive that she would once again give birth to a daughter and made this quilt for her:

Well, she surprised me with a BOY and I made her a different quilt.  I held on to this sweet version of my Share and Share Alike pattern, waiting for a baby girl to arrive.  Well, one finally did!  I hope baby Emersyn loves it!

I quilted this quilt with Giggle, a pink/peach/yellow thread from FabuLux.  It looks solid when you look at the entire quilt, but up close you can see the color changes:

Officially, I love all of my FabuLux threads equally, but I have a bit of a quilt-crush on Giggle and can't wait to use it on more quilts!

Placemat of the Month Club -- April's offering

I had a few bits of fabric left from my St. Louis 16 Patch Quilt so I pieced up a pair of placemats for Mom.

I quilted them quickly with FabuLux Rocking Horse and am absolutely tickled with them:

I hope Mom enjoys the April selection from her Placemat of the Month club subscription!

Pieces of Friendship Mini Quilt -- Quilting Tutorial

Are you stitching along with The Splendid Sampler?  I am, and I am having tons of fun and learning a lot!

One of The Splendid Sampler designers, Lindsay Mayland, created a bonus pattern using her Pieces of Friendship block

I made the Pieces of Friendship Mini Quilt as a pillow sham for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day because I take hints well.  Very well, in fact.

At Thanksgiving, when she was visiting, she saw some David Walker Sweetheart fabric left from my Share + Share Alike pattern sample and kept saying "I like this fabric.  I really, really like this fabric."  So, I took the hint and used that fabric to make her Mother's Day gift:

Do you like it?  Do you want to see a video about how I quilted it?

Good, because I filmed while Hazel, my sweet Sweet Sixteen, and I worked together to quilt this pillow.  This isn't meant to be an instructional video; it's purpose is to answer the "How did she do that?" questions.  I had a special guest star in the video and I hope you enjoy meeting him.  (If you watch on a mobile device, you won't see the explanation on the video.  Blame YouTube for not supporting annotations on mobile devices.  Sorry!)



I used another of my FabuLux thread colors:  Hush.  It is a pastel lavender/pink/peach thread.  There is no purple in this quilt, but the lavender plays beautifully with the brown fabrics and looks great on the pillow!

So, the sources for this project:

Fabric HERE
Mini quilt pattern HERE
Pillow pattern HERE
Thread HERE
Handi Quilter Oval C template set HERE
Handi Grip HERE

Final note, the fabrics used were left over from this quilt:

Share + Share Alike, a pattern I designed using 16 fat eighths plus borders, binding, and backing.

I Am Loved

I got an amazing gift last week from a very special friend.  My friend made me a QUILT!

She designed it herself, so not only do I have a quilt but I have a one-of-a-kind quilt!

I am loved!

Expect to see a lot of photos of this quilt and me during the upcoming hammock season.