Awesome fabric score!

I found a whole bunch of this terrific Jane Sassaman fabric (on clearance, of course). I think what I love about it is the vibrancy of the colors, and the full spectrum except for blue, which is left out entirely. Now, what to do with it...???

"The use of the hands is vital for a human being."

So many people ask me how I have the patience to make things. Here's a simply beautiful, elegant video that sums it up exactly.

Renate Hiller: "On Handwork"

A new Quilting Friend!

I spent an absolutely terrific day working with Tina B, who chose this cute beach applique quilt for her very first (!) quilting project. Some of the blocks she made:

...and a few of mine:

A little catch-up work

I've been following along with the block-of-the-month quilt from Planet Patchwork; I really like this gridless sampler style. I got hung up with other things after month 5, so I spent the last two days catching up with the month 6 and 8 blocks:

Tea cups

Last night, after a positively lightspeed drive home from western PA, my journal quilt art group met to reveal the "whisper challenges" that we've been working on for about a year and a half. We started with one member taking a photograph and making an 18 x 24" quilt based on something in that photo. It didn't have to be completely representational, just inspired by the photo. Then the second member looked ONLY at the quilt and made her own quilt inspired by the first one; then the third saw only the second quilt, etc. I was third in line for my group. I'm only going to post a photo of the one I made because I didn't ask for permission to put the others online. (They will all be on display at the GHQG quilt show this summer, though.)

I am particularly pleased with the center panel; I used PowerPoint to make a sort of wordle, then hand embroidered the whole thing:

Building a Mystery

Every year our quilt chapter does a mystery quilt, in which we get one step of the directions every month. This year's came out great; I think I counted 13 finished at our meeting tonight, and none of them looked the same. I used the adorable sea otter fabric that I bought last year in Monterey as my focus fabric; the seashell quilting in the sand-colored blocks really pops in person.

Warm Welcome

I made this little quilt as a baby shower gift for a lovely friend from our homeschooling community. I was originally planning to randomly arrange all the fabrics, but as the completed (unassembled) blocks from one color bin at a time went onto the wall, I started to think it might be nice to arrange them in a more systematic fashion. I really love how the hue/value matrix came out. Very simple pattern, with simple "apple core" quilting lines in the background strips, but very striking I think. I'll definitely make this again.

Title: Warm Welcome (42.5" x 42.5")

You're Welcome

I'm fairly certain that the world has been waiting with bated breath for me to start a blog. Here it is. It shall be filled with photos of my many fiber-related obsessions, limited commentary on my family life, occasional philosophical and sociological ponderings, and other fascinating details that historians will undoubtedly be salivating over for centuries to come. Also, I am hoping that these digital bits of information will be intercepted by aliens of various galactic origins. Happy reading, universe.