Category: Quilting and Sewing

We’re officially mid-way through January, and according to research, most New Year’s resolutions have been abandoned by now.  In fact, I learned recently that some call the second Friday in January “quitter’s day” because so many resolutions are broken by then.  Kind of sad.  But I’ve always maintained that there’s nothing special about January 1st. Every day is a good day to start living better.  And every day is a good day to show up for our commitments.  So it seems like a good day to share my Dainty Show Up Quilt, all finished.

This Dainty Show Up quilt is a small, 48″ star made with half rectangle triangles.  It’s a block I once feared, but now favor.  I learned a way to make half rectangle triangles without a special ruler, and never looked back!  The Show Up star is a smaller version of my Serve Quilt, and the pattern includes instructions for both sizes.

I quilted this little quilt far more densely than I typically would for a child.  The background is filled with “pebble quilting” – thousands of tiny circles.  My reason is simple.  I wanted the smaller stars to stand out.  With so little contrast in color or value, I turned to texture for help.  You can see how they puff up against the pebbles.

To help with all the dense quilting, I chose a floral flannel for the back, and needed a strip of cotton to make it large enough.  I like the soft colors AND the soft feel of flannel.

And sometimes it’s more fun to see the quilting on the back than on the front.

I opted for an orange peel design in the pink and green squares and rectangles.  They were fun to sew.  Plus, I needed an excuse to admire that darling green floral a little more.  So cute!

I bound this Dainty Show Up quilt with the same pink print found in the star.  Rather than hand sew through all that quilting, I attached the binding by machine.  Pink looks great with both front and back!

Soft, crinkly, and complete.  I love this little quilt.  I hope it will be much used!

After all, quilts are art we wrap around people we love.  It’s the best kind of art, if you ask me!

The lovely sunshine of last week has surrendered to scattered snow flurries.  While I love watching individual flakes float haphazardly to the ground, I do not care for the accumulation.  Gratefully, it has largely been limited to the mountains.  (I hate having my teenagers out driving in snow!)  While the snowflakes swirl outdoors, I have been playing with hearts.

Not the hearts of people, mind you, but fabric hearts.  I am decidedly a “star” girl.  It’s my favorite shape/motif by far, with hearts falling low on my list.  Over the years I’ve wondered why it is, with no good answer.  I simply prefer stars.  But this year I decided to dabble in hearts.  Years ago I made my Scrappy Heart Quilt (free tutorial here), followed later by an all-solids Sherbet Heart quilt using the same pattern.  But I’m not in a patchwork mood this time.  So I started sketching.

These diamond hearts are making me smile.  Still in the testing stage, I don’t now if I’ll adjust or leave the block as is.  Each block is better as I play with technique while sewing.  I see potential!  This is actually my third attempt in recent months at a heart quilt I like.  Perhaps I can stop sketching?  Whatever pattern I commit to, I need to make a LOT of hearts.  As in, more than 550 of them.

This week marks the anniversary of an event that sparked a life-changing journey.  Unwelcome as it was, it also sparked a creative journey I’m grateful to be on.  My Heart, Today is among the first creative evidence of that journey, and these blocks remind me a bit of that quilt.  It is good to be alive and learning!

I’m off to refill my bobbin so I can continue playing with hearts.  I hope you’re doing something colorful and happy today!

I am starting the new year with a finished quilt top.  While it’s only about 44″ square, it’s wholecloth and entirely hand stitched.  I last shared an update in early September, and I’m grateful that the darker evenings provided time to sit and stitch in the last quarter of the year.  Here she is, my Wildabon quilt top.

This project is from a pattern by Carolyn Friedlander, designed as a collaboration with Leah Duncan.  Both women are artists and designers I admire.  I followed the pattern closely in color and fabric choices, except for the addition of Liberty lawns.

I dearly love the classic Wiltshire print, so I used a few colors that include neon, in several places.  They delighted me so much that I added numerous extra flowers to the overall composition.

Betsy is another favorite print, and I added a few little pieces of it, as well.  Again, with neon!

Stepping back, I love the way the needle turn applique creates such bold and distinct lines between the seams.  It’s a little abstract, but so obviously flowers.  And who wouldn’t love a garden like this in the winter!?

The Liberty capel print also makes appearances in several colors.

But really, it’s all of the pieces together that makes me smile.  While it would make a gorgeous baby quilt, I think my Wildabon quilt top is destined to hang on a wall.  Part of me wants to hand quilt it, so it’s entirely by hand.  But that also means putting it in a long line of other projects requiring hand work.  I work on them regularly, but they are slow stitching projects, and I’m not sure how long I want to wait to enjoy this one daily.  What would you do?

For now, Wildabon hangs and awaits a decision.  I enjoy looking at it every day, pondering quilting.  And I’m thrilled to have one less applique project to work on.  Finishing this reminds me that I will eventually finish all the others, too!

In fact, it motivated me to return to what might be my oldest unfinished applique project.  I’m getting so close to finished with it!