Quilting

My kids are the best appreciators.  Both of them.  They have their
foibles, but they know how to appreciate a handmade present.  I like
this.  I’m not sure how we got there, but I like it a lot.

My mom made a sweet little blanket for Chloe, with help from Chloe’s
big sister, Haley (8 years old).  Isn’t it pretty?  Haley was so excited. 

So, as I was laying the blanket out to take a picture of it for
them, in trotted Charlotte with a sprig of jasmine.  Her freshly-picked
bouquet was quickly abandoned for the rapture of a soft new blanket.
She climbed right up onto the table to demonstrate, wiggling, giggling
& swooshing her hair about.

So adorable. 

When I sew, Charlotte hovers around eagerly waiting for the finish line
when she can hop away with whatever-it-is, to her imaginary world. 
Makes me crave sewing.  More sewing.  I could sew her a whole new world
if I had the time.  And she’d love it all, whatever-it-is.  I love that about her!

Earlier this week Charlotte packed up my new handbag (still had a
couple of pins in it) for the movie store.  She had been waiting &
circling till it was off the machine.  And she had a plan.  She quickly
filled it with all the necessities and we were off:  Ariel, Snow White,
a sash from one of my shirts, sunglasses.  She was looking pretty hip
too.  Comically hip.

Every teenager working there heard all about it, "This is the purse
that my mom made.  I like it."   "My mom made this.  Look, here’s my
Ariel." "Look what mama made."  "See my purse?"

Elijah’s the same way.  When I make him a new pair of pajamas, he
grins and saunters about.  Maybe sauntering isn’t exactly the right
word, but he definitely swaggers or something.  And big hugs.  Very big
hugs.  I’m thinking he could use some new pajamas here soon.

∆   ∆   ∆ 

So, Quilt Market is next week.  And it sounds like I might have some
sample yardage coming in.  It was accidentally shipped to Heather Ross,
but we’ve got it sorted out, I think.  If I can pull it off before
Market, I’ll put together a snappy preview for you.  Waiting for that
box though.

And I’m looking forward to meeting so many of you this weekend at
Blissful Living.  If you can’t stop by on Saturday, definitely come by
some other time.  And there’s a well-loved mexican cafe along the same
downtown corridor (Mangos) and a handful of fantastic antique shops.
Make a day of it.

Familiar, I know, but I thought Elijah’s doll blanket deserved its
own post.  He really sewed it by himself and saw it to completion,
asking me every day to show him how to do the binding.  We were swamped
with family in town there for a while and let’s just say, he was
impressively patient.  He really
wanted to know how to do that binding.  He even learned how to do
perfect little corners.  All of those pieces and details, and that long
wait for binding directions, then he handed it over to me with ten
minutes of hand-stitching to go (tacking the binding down) and said,
"Here mom, you can finish it." 

Ha!  I’m mightily impressed that he made it that far.  Elijah,
here’s to your stick-to-it-ed-ness!  It’s a rare ten-year- old boy who
will put so much tender thought into a handmade gift for his little
sister.  What a guy!

Oh, and I was looking back over the other doll blankets I made last
Spring and saw this mention of Shear Genius.  I forgot to tell you guys
that I had an elevator conversation with the winner of the show while I
was in Vegas last month.  He consequently missed his floor and had to take an
elevator back down.  Whoops. 

I have a lot of little asides like that that have backed up on me
lately.  I think a catch-up post is in order.  Bits and bobs of random
info — before it grows stale.  Hmmm.

Solved.  Out with the old blankie, in with the new! 

Last week was rough.  Long work days, big happenings.  Come Friday, it
was due time to fill up my patient little children with love and
attention — and have a major break from work.  Charlotte and I left
the house for the day and pretty much wandered around town, with
nothing on our agenda but togetherness.  We had a good time.  The
highlights — Charlotte found herself a rubber ducky that lights up in
water and I had a fascinating discussion about dreadlocks with the
produce guy, Ronnie. Isaac took Elijah camping that night and I handled
babysitting duty by myself — cookies, popcorn, movie, songs, etc.

On Saturday, I still needed a break, so Charlotte and I headed out
again.  This time we met up with my sister, Julia, at Goodwill and
wandered once more.  I left with three books and a plastic toy couch.
Random.

At
home, when Charlotte was napping, I crossed paths with her blanket and
"Perfect!" — it was high time to finish Charlotte’s Drag-Around Sue.  I completed
the machine-quilting at nap time, spent the evening with Elijah, then
attached the binding late at night.  Isaac and I took a chance on some
obscure movie and I sat on the couch for the first time in months
-quite literally- and stitched that binding down.  It was exactly the
weekend I needed.  A bit of domestic therapy, including several rounds
of reading, nestled up with my baby girl and her "fancy" new blanket.

I’m feeling a lot brighter today.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed sorting
through my photos of Charlotte with her new accessory.  What a happy
reminder to check my priorities and count my blessings. 

Look at how delighted she is, from head to wiggling toes!  My kids are the best appreciators.

I’m whipping up a drag-around blanket for Charlotte.  She’s getting
pretty attached to a thread-bare quilt I made in high school and I
can’t have that, can I?  Not with a bunch of Freshcut in my shelves.

I’m not doing anything elaborate.  Just a big piece of this fabric,
with a couple of borders around the edge.  The goal is soft.  Soft,
soft.  So, the fewer seams the better and it must be tied or loosely
quilted.  Otherwise, I’ll never get her to make the switch.  I’ll do a
trickier, pieced quilt next, but for now I’m all about replacing that
other blanket.  If I can happily toss this one in the washing machine
when needed, with no guilt, then it’s just right.  It does have a fun
bias ruffle for a border though.  You’ll see.  It keeps the blanket
from looking too much like the cheater quilt that it is.  Oops, did I
say that?  Cheater quilts are great.  And crazy-big prints make cheater
quilts easy.

So, then Elijah caught on and decided to make Charlotte a doll
blanket as his first attempt at the sewing machine.  His design.  His
stitching.  No quicky, drag-around blanket like mom’s either.  This one
would have a tricky, pieced border.  And, wow, he did a pretty amazing
job of it.  I only babysat that first row of stitching and all of the
cutting.  He kept his seam allowances in check and hung in there until
the top was pieced.  It looks like he’s ready to expand beyond
hand-stitching.  Lego skills come in handy.

Guess what today is — my blogiversary.  Yay!  And no standard cupcake photo will do.  Why not an apple?  That makes sense.  A party apple.  Sure. 

Now just watch me make sense of it with this next photo.  See that bitten apple? — one year down.  And those other apples ?– more years to come.  Now that sounds poetic.  Nevermind I took the party apple photo today and the quilt photo months ago.  I got the urge to carve a "1" in an apple and I went with it.

Do you remember when I sent this quilt top off to be quilted?  Here’s the result.  One tease fulfilled, how many more to go? 

I designed this quilt as my first go at the Freshcut free quilt pattern for Free Spirit’s site.  I love the large fields of fabric, with little pops of red mixed in.  I didn’t think a photo of this quilt would translate too well at low res on the internet, so I folded it up and designed a different one for Free Spirit.  Thank heaven too, because the flat photo of the quilt (below) doesn’t do it justice.  The colors are all wonky.  This apple photo is much more kind to the fabrics.

Oh, and look up.  Way up.  I’m watching you now.  Dare I be so bold as to put my own face in the banner?  How many ways can one say, "HELLO, my name is Heather," with a photo?  Well, that’s one sure way to say it.  Hello, it’s me.

Now for the requisite profundity that accompanies all blogiversaries… just a dash…

Wow, what fun!  The blog.  A conversation with the world.  A great escape.  A meeting place for destined friends.  A window in…

I have yet to hang curtains in the main living area of my home.  There are no blinds there either.  Almost every time my mother visits, she wonders at my ability to live with "the world watching."  I assure her that if my neighbors are bored enough to watch me make dinner, then I’m happy to be their entertainment.  I guess a blog can be similar.  I show up fully-dressed and respectably-behaved and if folks want to see what I’m up to, then I’m happy to share.

Far better, I’ve made some amazing friends and been granted some incredible opportunities.  It’s true, you never know who’s reading. 

To all of you, announced or lurking, thank you for stopping by.  Thank you for your encouragement and support.  Thank you for peeking in my little window while I make marshmallows, knot thread and blow bubbles.  Even the simplest things are more fun when shared with friends — this includes carved apples.

xo–Heather

Ay, ay, ay.  What a week!  What…a…week.  I just wrapped up a big ol’ beautiful photoshoot with an amazing magazine around 10pm tonight, not including time to unpack a-dozen-or-so tupperwares filled with goodies and supplies. 

Unpacking will have to wait though (sorry, honey), as it’s time for me to go pack my suitcase for Spring Market.  My flight leaves in a just a few hours.  What am I doing blogging at the expense of much-needed sleep?  Good question. I’ll think about that tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to sitting still on a plane.  And I’m sneaking off to the Theatre on Saturday.  Thoroughly Modern Millie.  Yep.  I’ll get to sit still for that too.

While I’m gone, have at this free quilt pattern (follow link, then click "Download" under the quilt photo).  I should have posted about it a while ago.  It’s the one I put together for Free Spirit.  I had fun laying out the instructions.  Heck, I had fun making the quilt. 

I’d like to make a big version too.  To keep.  Most of the quilts in my arsenal are ancient.  And not good-ancient.  More like high-school-ancient.  I have a bad habit of giving new quilts away.  Do they make a patch for that? 

One more doll blanket and then we’ll have ourselves a breather.  Mimi told me her favorite colors were red and yellow and green and white.   

I’m still sewing.  I stayed up way too late last night watching that new Shear Genius show while I did some hand- stitching on a fun little green and orange shirt. Now I’m too tired to decide what to do with myself.  I have four projects in the works that are each 90% finished.  I won’t let myself start a new one until one of those is done, but I’m not in the groove. 

I think I’ll go take a early evening shower and try to wake up.  Maybe I’ll do my hair and try to feel civilized.  That usually does the trick.

Blue bear isn’t very scary.  He dreams of blue-eyed butterflies. 

I’m finally fitting in some sew time with my fabric.  I’m prepping for a big magazine shoot in two weeks and am whipping up all sorts of fun:  dollies and kids’ clothes, purses and tablecloths. Jona and my mom are helping me out big time.  And, Isaac set up a flat-panel TV in my studio to keep me company.

So, back to Moulin Rouge and thread-covered jeans for me.  I’ll be back next post with one more doll quilt.