Scrappy Log Cabin Blocks Repurposed

Did you ever wonder what happened to these blocks?

I decided I didn't love them. Maybe it was too large of a starting square, maybe it was too scrappy. Maybe I should have broken them up with white. I don't know. They just weren't working for me.

Meanwhile, my little Ronan decided to start chewing on his crib. So I hatched this idea to chop these unloved blocks up into quarters and remake them into crib rail guards for the twins. The results were oh so cute! (the pictures not so much)

Please excuse the blurriness and bad lighting. The twins are very mobile now!

These were a joint effort between my Mother-In-Law Ann and me. I made the blocks, but she did all the work to chop them up and make them into these adorable guards. The tie strings are one of my favorite details. They are each a unique print used in the quilt. It's very "scrappy" and fun!

Ann did a great job quilting these with straight lines that form rectangular mazes. Her inspiration came from Angela Walter's machine quilting book.

If I could make these again, I would probably design them to have shorter strings that just knot. Yes they are pretty when they are all in little bows, but of course my boys like to untie them.

Happy Quilting!

Modern Quilting Lecture Recap

Last night I gave a lecture on Modern Quilting for the Cabin Branch Quilt Guild at Lake Ridge Baptist Church in Woodbridge, VA. It was nerve-wracking, and intimidating, and also so much fun (I can say that now that it's over!).

I didn't do a head count, but it seemed like there must have been a hundred or more people there. I've been a member of the guild for a few years so I know many of them, but there were some new faces too. This was my first time speaking in front of such a large group since my college days and it was a bit intimidating, but seeing friendly faces helped!

Unfortunately I experienced some technical difficulties with displaying my PowerPoint presentation through the guild projector (I think because my pathetic laptop is a dinosaur), but thankfully the church also had a large flat screen monitor (more like the size of a tv) that I could connect to. The presentation went pretty well and I got a lot of positive feedback as well as interest in doing a workshop to learn Improv Piecing.

I won't go into details of the entire presentation but I will touch on some of the informative highlights for those of you who also want to know about Modern Quilting.

As some of you may know from reading my blog, my name is Natalie and I've been quilting since 2008. I used to have an etsy shop where I sold cover button jewelry and handmade items. In 2010 I founded the Northern Virginia Modern Quilt Guild which has grown to about 3000 members. I blog here at Threaded Mess about my quilting adventures and sometimes a little bit about my life. One of my mini quilt tutorials was published by TheFatQuarterly.com (with an accompanying Quilt-A-Long here on my blog) and I've shared several other tutorials and projects right here on Threaded Mess (paperback book cover is a favorite). I am currently the Host of the do. Good Stitches Charity Bee Hope group. I'm a wife, a mom of twins, and I work full time in IT Consulting. I may not be a Super Star in the Modern Quilting community like some of my acquaintances, but I certainly have my hand on the pulse that is driving this movement so I think I can do a good job of explaining what Modern Quilting is all about.

do. Good Stitches Hope Group October Quilt

Modern Quilting is a combination of traditional quilting and art quilting, but also something more than just the two combined. Technology and Pop-Culture heavily influence both the means of which Modern Quilters share and communicate as well as the aesthetic itself. While construction methods are more similar to Traditional quilting, there's also an element of inventiveness and rule-bending to Modern Quilting that we often see in Art quilting. You won't find many modern quilters referring to 'The Quilt Police'. Modern quilts are often deliberately asymmetrical and deliberately imperfect. That's not to say that we don't aim for perfection when points ARE supposed to meet. We do! 

My Orange Improv Quilt

There are certain characteristics of Modern Quilting that are true for most who identify with this movement:

• The quilts are functional. For the most part, they are meant to be used and loved, not just displayed. 
• There’s often deliberate asymmetry in the quilt design. 
• They improvise, reinvent, or create their own designs.
• They play with scale, hue, saturation, and composition. 
• They rely less on the repetition and interaction of quilt block motifs. 
• They are inspired by modern art, fashion, and architecture trends. 
• They often use solid fabrics, graphic prints, and use novelty fabrics for color value. 
• They often create edge to edge designs without borders or sashing 
• They often quilt in straight lines though free motion quilting and hand quilting with perle cotton is also popular

The following Modern Quilting terms are important to know:

• Wonky – intentional deviation from straight line cuts 
• Negative Space – heavy use of a neutral or solid background offsetting pieced elements of the quilt 
• Improv/Improvise – random arrangement of blocks on negative space –or- random placement of a fabric 
• Scrappy – the use of many prints with few repeats 
• Asymmetry – deliberate imbalance of a design; off center 
• Functional – to be used, not displayed

Modern Quilters use a range of technology including but not limited to: flickr, pinterest, instagram, bloglovin', craftsy, and facebook.

Modern Quilters look for inspiration from bloggers, the Fashion runway (designers like Jay McCarroll who also have quilting fabric lines), Architecture magazines (like dwell.com), and Home Decor magazines (like elle decor). Even store displays can inspire! One of my favorite sites to go to is Spincushion where Leigh Ann blogs her "If a Quilt Lived Here" series. I like this series because it shows a fashionable room paired with modern quilting fabrics, and sometimes she even suggests a pattern!

my Marshmallow Brochette

There are a lot of great printed books and magazines available (check out my Amazon carousels on the left side of my page), but there are also a lot of great online resources for patterns and tutorials. Bloggers often share their own creations or host Quilt-A-Longs for popular patterns.  Then of course there's Quilty magazine's website, The Fat Quarterly, and Generation Q.

Not all modern quilters are a part of the national Modern Quilt Guild, but many are. This guild started in 2009 when a group of ladies got together in Los Angeles after having met and talked through online discussions. This small gathering ignited a wildfire of quilters across the nation who started their own Modern guilds. Today almost 200 guilds have formed across the world and new guilds continue to form. This year, the Modern Quilt Guild became an official non-profit entity with a small paid staff. Modern guilds now pay membership dues to the national Modern Quilt Guild and receive benefits like discounts, better insurance rates, a website, and the International Modern Quilt Conference, otherwise known as Quiltcon. The Modern Quilt Guild has also organized several retreats around the US that they call “Sew Downs”. The retreat includes several workshops and lectures from celebrity Modern Quilters. 

quilt modeled zombie style by my MIL Ann

I've observed three distinct groups of women and men who consider themselves Modern Quilters and I am calling them Modern Revivalists, Modern Minimalists, and Modern Mixers. 

Modern Revivalists take a traditional block and modify or reinterpret it to make it more accessible to the modern quilter. They might do so by using solids and graphic prints instead of calicos and florals. They might play with scale by enlarging the block or making the block the whole quilt. The modern revivalist might only change the color composition of the block and use an on trend color combination. The modern revivalist usually constructs a quilt using individual blocks, but I have seen modern quilts that have the essence of a traditional quilt without using a traditional block structure as well. 

Spiderweb Quilt mock-up in Chartreuse and Raspberry

Modern Minimalists tend to incorporate a lot of negative space, usually in white or grey. They frequently piece their quilts in an improvisational style while embracing simplicity and minimalism. They utilize alternative blocks structures or sometimes no blocks at all.

I personally consider myself a part of the Modern Mixer group. I combine elements of both Modern Revivalists and Modern Minimalists as I please. I have followed patterns but I have also made my own. I often mix multiple prints into my quilts in a scrappy/patchwork style, but I also use a lot of solids.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Modern Quilting that I touched on during the lecture. To sum some of them up:

• We do have a strong foundation and sense of appreciation for the art and tradition of quilting 
• We do care about precision when the design calls for it
• We don't all make 3 fabric, beginner level quilts though the designs may seem simplified
• We do try "fussy old lady patterns". For example, a few years ago it was popular to make a Farmer's Wife quilt. Sometimes we make them the way they were originally intended and sometimes we make them our own way.
• Yes, sometimes our quilts are made with bright rainbow prints, but we also have a sense of subtlety and minimalism.
• Yes sometimes even Modern Quilters just need to get something done quickly, but we do take time to enjoy the process and sometimes spend hours just working on an abstract layout.
• We do have rules but we bend them as needed
• We are not all young. There are men and women of all ages in the Northern Virginia Modern Quilt Guild and I am sure that's the case in other guilds. 

You can get involved in Modern Quilting by doing any or all of the following:

• Join a Modern Quilt Guild
• Take a Craftsy Class
• Join a Modern Bee or Swap
• Read some Modern Quilting blogs or e-Zines
• Do a Modern block of the month challenge
• Join a Quilt-Along (QAL)
• Buy a modern sampler book or magazine

As you participate in bees or swaps, be a student! Look at what other people are doing, the fabrics they are selecting, check out their flickr photostream and their blogs, and ask questions.

If you want to learn more about what is going on in the world of Modern Quilting, I highly suggest checking out the web-lectures available on Craftsy.com from QuiltCon and of course search the web and see what people are talking about from the Fall 2013 Quilt Market. If you are a quilt shop vendor I highly suggest watching these videos of Lizzy House from Spring Market 2010 (part 1 and part 2).

Thanks for stopping by today and checking out my blog, and thanks once again to those who attended the lecture in person. I hope you learned learned something new and that you've been inspired to give Modern Quilting a try if you haven't already.

Happy Quilting! 


PS - If you are stopping by my blog because you attended the lecture, thank you! Please know that some of the links in previous posts might not work because my domain name changed. In the URL Field, just add .blogspot before the .com (so threadedmess.com becomes threadedmess.blogspot.com), don't change or remove any other text, and click enter or go. The link should then work.

April, how you get here?

My niece is quite precocious. She asks a million questions, often again and again when some perceived change has taken place and the possibility of a different answer warrants further investigation. Some may find this incessant need for repeated information annoying, but I find it adorable. When she was three, one of her favorite questions was "How you get here?" Often I would reply by telling her what kind of car I drove to her house, or sometimes the roads I took to get there and the states I traveled in. Her reply was almost always "Ohhh," as if what I said answered exactly what she wanted to know.

So, April, 'how you get here'?

Seriously?! Wasn't it just January? Didn't I just post? But no, months have passed and time has galloped on. It's easy to lose track of time for me these days. My life revolves around my twins' schedule which is some version of eat, play, sleep, repeat. Occasionally I get to go grocery shopping or run an errand. I relish the chance to get out of the house for a little bit and have some me time. I love my babies, but I'm thankful my husband gives me time away from them when I need it.

Like today! Today I get to take a few hours away from the boys and spend time in my sewing room doing whatever I want. What have I done? Zoned out to Harry Potter 1. Sad but true. I almost don't know what to do with my free hands. So I decided to write a quick post, share some long neglected photos, and hopefully get inspired or motivated to work on something.

This swoon top is done now and the back is pieced from remaining scraps. It's actually a 3x3 with 9 blocks and sashing in between. I still need to add the outside edge sashing which is a top contender for today. It was created with help from members of NOVA Modern Quilt Guild and destined for a special little boy with cancer.

These blocks made their way to one of our Do. Good Stitches bee members for completion. I had fun exclusively using scrap strips for these projects.

I made these blocks for the Roanoke Modern Quilt Guild where I am an honorary member. This quilt is being made to benefit ALS.

Speaking of scraps, I am getting pretty full! I will have to come up with a project to use some of these pretties up.

I did use some of them for this quilt that I am making for my boys. I'm having trouble moving forward on this one because I'm not sure I love the gray. I don't know if I should add more (grey sashing), or if the gray is fine but  to make the colors pop and calm the quilt a bit (add white sashing), take it out completely (replace the gray blocks). Maybe you could leave me a comment on what you think I should do?

I also can't decide if I should make two smaller quilts (make 4 more blocks) or if I should leave this one as is and make a second coordinating quilt with my remaining strips.

Or I could just organize my sewing room with my time, which would be good because I've made quite a few piles. I haven't bought much since the babies were born but I made a few impulse buys before they got here that haven't been put away and I've gotten fabrics out to play with but didn't put them away.

Despite my lack of direction, this is where you'll find me today. I hope you are all having fun creating or organizing your own messes, working on UFOs, or maybe starting a new project? This pile is destined for a friend's new baby girl...

Happy Quilting!


p.s. the boys are doing great! Mason is crawling, sitting himself up on his own, and pulling himself up to stand. Ronan is very close to crawling but he's more in to talking (ah-goo, dah dah, mah mah, bah). They are such joys and I am so blessed!

This was September '12

This is April '13

I love those quick change trousers!

Do. Good Stitches Again

Hey everyone! I'm still here! The babies are doing great and growing every day. They have learned how to say 'Ah Goo', roll from tummy to back and back to tummy, and sit for a few seconds on their own. They love eating solid foods and when I get on the floor and roll around with them.

Mason (top) is a serious little boy anytime technology is in front of him (like a camera) so I rarely catch him smiling, but when he's not distracted by gadgets he's a very happy guy. Ronan (bottom) is a ham and likes to entertain us with his chattering and giggles. He's almost always smiling except when he is hungry (he thinks he's starving).

The past few months have flown by what with the holidays and the schedule I have to keep with the twins. I have managed to get into my sewing room all of two times, but those two times were lovely. I decided to join Do. Good Stitches again to force myself to take time to sew. It's hard as a new mom to peel myself away from the babies but D.GS is worth it and I love that I'm sewing with my buddy Hollie again!

This time around I'm a sewer instead of a quilter which means that each month I make 2 blocks for the quilter of the month. What did I make you might ask? Well...I don't have much to show for my efforts in December. For some reason I never took pictures of the finished blocks.

These blocks were made using this tutorial by Little Miss Shabby. The grey, white, and black prints and solids were trimmed in pink or orange.

January's blocks were made using this tutorial by Modify Tradition. We were asked to make the quatrefoils using bright solids with a white background. I ended up making both of my blocks with the same color scheme to minimize the amount of time needed for cutting.

I'm hoping my yellow doesn't stand out too much in the quilt because it sure photographed a bit louder than the other colors I used in my blocks.

I really appreciate Hollie getting me back into the sewing room! Thank you all for reading and hanging with me even though I don't get to check in very often!

Happy Quilting!

Long Time no Bloggy

Howdy ya'll

I've been pretty busy lately and this is what I made...

No not the quilt.

The babies!

Introducing Mason and Ronan!
Born August 6th 2012 at 12:44 and 12:45 pm via c-section weighing 4lbs 11oz 17.5" and 5lbs 18.5".


Long story, sort of short: I had some pregnancy complications and in my convalescence I accidentally allowed my domain ThreadedMess.com to expire. It was too complicated for me to try and renew the domain while in the hospital so I didn't but I am working on it now. You can still find me at threadedmess.blogspot.com and if you are reading this post you probably already know that.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers while I was gone. I have two beautiful baby boys to love on and couldn't be happier. I was on bed rest for 155 days from weeks 13-34 when I gave birth. I have never done anything more physically or emotionally difficult in my life. I am still recuperating from being in bed for so long but I am pretty much healed from the c-section. 

Not a lot of sewing (or sleep) happens in my house these days but I did manage to make some burp cloths:

They get used a lot!

I'm still not sure how much I'll be able to blog or what I'll be blogging about. The babies require a lot of attention and there's just not enough time in the day yet to squeeze much sewing in. I'm back though, and you can reach me here or at threadedmess@gmail.com anytime :-)

Happy Quilting!

Things Don't Always Go As Expected

Some of you have already heard about this through the grapevine, but for everyone else... After a routine ultrasound on Wednesday May 9th, I was admitted to the hospital for preterm labor. I'm not a candidate for a cerclage because I'm too far along with the twins, so the only treatment the doctors can offer is hospital bed rest, daily doses of progesterone, and monitoring. So far I've been pretty stable, but if my symptoms escalate to labor contractions there is medicine they can give me to stop them. Next week they will give me steroids to help the boys' lungs grow. We are praying every day that the boys continue to stay safe inside me. Every day I can give them is a fighting chance for their survival. They are still too young to survive on their own. We are pretty scared but our faith is with God. Send a thought our way or say a prayer for us if you can. We need them! For now I'm going to take a blogging break but if there are any major updates I will make a post. Happy quilting and thanks in advance!

More Pants for my Boys

My wonderful mother in law finished up another couple of pairs for the boys last night. This set is my husband's favorite so far! I love how one side is a bit more playful and one side is a bit more subtle.

I'm in my sewing room today whipping up some quilt blocks for the boys. More pics to come but these are from yesterday:

Please excuse the poor quality phone photo...

Happy Quilting!

Quick Change Trousers for the Twins

I couldn't resist getting down to my sewing room tonight for a bit of fabric fun. I have a few projects in mind but my space is such a mess that it was difficult to get started on anything major. I spent an hour or so 'straightening up', and by that I mean that I moved piles of stuff from one place to another. I will definitely need to spend more time down there getting things sewing ready!

I have been really stuck on making Quick Change Trousers (pattern by Anna Maria Horner in her book Handmade Beginnings) for my little boys. My mother in law was so very kind to make a few for me while I was on bed rest including this adorable pair:

I LOVE how these are reversible! The other side looks like this:

My little boys are going to look so cute in these little pants! I plan on pairing them with onsies or tees which will possibly be appliqued with the prints used in the pants, or might just be paired with coordinating solids.

I spent the rest of the evening watching the Capitals beat the Rangers with my hubby and pulling out some of my favorite fabrics from my stash for a few more pairs in different sizes. I'm finally making use of my Heather Ross Mendecino and Amy Butler Lotus dots. I've been hanging on to these for so long, but I'm glad I did because these pants will be the perfect project for these coveted prints!

You might be able to tell from the above sneak peak that I've picked groups of 4 coordinating prints and that the prints all 'go' with each other. Two of the prints will be the butt of the pants, and two of the prints will be the legs of the pants or the cuff on the opposite side. I've tied off each grouping with a bit of spare fabric so I can keep myself organized when I go to cut.

I plan on making two pairs from each set of 4 so I can dress them alike if I want to, but I'm not necessarily dressing them alike all of the time. These combinations will give me lots of options to coordinate without being too matchy. I like having options! My MIL has my book/pattern at the moment, but as soon as I get it back these stacks will be chopped up pronto!

It's so nice to be moving around and spending some time being creative! Bed rest has been so restrictive. Thanks for staying subscribed to Threaded Mess while I was gone! Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more from me in the next few weeks...

Happy Quilting

Off Bedrest!

All my hard work on bed rest has finally paid off! The doctor released me to go back to work and resume activities with basically no restrictions! Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and prayers!

Hopefully this will also mean some sewing projects and blogging are in my future!!

Happy Quilting

Twins Update

I just wanted to check in and say hi!!

The twins and I continue to do well on bed rest. My subchorionic hemorrhage has resolved and so has the placenta previa. My next appointment is on May 2nd and hopefully they are going to tell me I don't have to be on strict bed rest any longer!!!

By the way, in case you haven't already heard, the twins are both BOYS! My husband is so excited to have two future hockey buddies on the way and I am super excited to have two mama's boys! Hopefully the doctors will agree that I can start sewing for them soon.

Happy Quilting!!

Grateful!

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers you've been sending our way! So far the babies are doing great and my condition is starting to improve which is a huge relief.

I still won't be blogging much because I am still on strict bed rest but I wanted to check in.

Happy Quilting!!

Thoughts and Prayers needed

I just wanted to check in really quickly and let you all know that all is not well unfortunately.

I hate to have bad news, but I've been diagnosed with Placenta Previa and a Subchorionic Hemorrhage. I have to be off my feet laying down as much as possible.

So far, the babies don't seem to be in distress but it is a possibility that I could miscarry one or both of the babies if things get worse or don't get better.

Sewing is impossible at the moment so there's not much to blog about.

I will try and keep you posted as things develop but I probably won't be checking in much until things resolve.

Any thoughts or prayers you can send my way would be much appreciated!

Exciting News!

Some news I've been longing to share with you....

(so you see, there were a few reasons for all my laziness!)

Happy Quilting,

Stuck In a Rut

...so I'll be honest...

I haven't sewn since December 8th. That's 2.5 MONTHS!

I have misplaced my sewing mojo somewhere under the piles in my sewing room and it hasn't creeped out to find me. I suppose I'll have to dig for it eventually.

I want to want to sew, but the actual desire eludes me. I want to blog, but I have nothing to share.

How have I been spending my time? Laying on the couch reading or watching tv. Not even hand sewing! So lazy.

I did manage to work on a project with my MIL Ann and some help from Aunt Ginny. I can't share yet, but to be completely honest Ann did all of the sewing. I just helped with picking out the pattern, colors, fabrics, ironing, and cutting out Heat-And-Bond.Ginny was a huge help with ironing, cutting, keeping all the parts and pieces organized, and helped us evenly distribute all the colors. The project turned out great but I can take only a fraction of credit for it.

I do have a good reason for all this laziness which I also can't share yet. All will be revealed in March.

I've thought about buying some new fabric to get my mojo back, but I've been cutting back on expenses to save money. The fabric would have to be really special and stash-worthy to get me to splurge. I would love to pick up some Flea Market Fancy grey and green seeds but it's not available until march. I'd love to pick up some Pezzy but I can't justify paying shipping when I could wait just a little longer, buy both of these lines at the same time, and get free shipping.

I've thought about cleaning up my sewing room and looking at what I already have with fresh eyes. However, I left it in such a mess in December, then I just piled the new stuff in after Christmas, that this task is daunting to say the least.

I've thought about just working on a small project; a quick finish. A Paperback Book Cover perhaps. The desire slips through my fingers like sand, and I'm once again back on the couch resting. I have my hexagon supplies right by the couch just in case I get some energy, but so far they have remained exactly where I originally put them.Untouched.

I'd love some ideas on how to get my sewing mojo back. What do you do when you're stuck in a rut?

Happy Quilting (to those of you who are!)

Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics

Warning: this post is about books not quilting. Reading is actually a big part of my life so you might be seeing more posts here about it. Barnes & Noble has in no way endorsed or sponsored this post. The following is my own unbiased opinion. Images from barnesandnoble.com

Barnes & Nobel Leatherbound Classic

Has anyone seen the newish Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics? I rarely go into book stores these days since Amazon.com prime shipping gets me books in two days with no parking/shopping hassles. However, when I went down to see Liz for her shower, I stopped at her Barnes and Noble to pick up a gift bag and card. On a whim, I walked around a bit and happened to see these awesome books! I couldn't resist picking up a couple to give to the twins...

Now I'm addicted. The bonded leather covers feel soft and sturdy, the edges either embossed in foil or stained, and the stories contain beautiful, classic illustrations. Even the endpapers are decorative! They look and feel like something that should be treasured. I decided I had to have some for our home library.

The first books I picked up were all the 'children stories' like Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, Black Beauty, Swiss Family Robinson, etc.

Barnes & Nobel Leatherbound Classics

I'm slowly but surely collecting all my favorite classic children and adult literature to live in our home library, and adding them to my to-be-read pile. You can see some of my recent additions on my Reading Lists page.

One odd addition to our library was the Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classic edition of Gray's Anatomy. Truth be told, I love science. Especially biological science. Knowing full well this book was not the basis for the show 'Gray's Anatomy', I purchased it because the description said the illustrations and text descriptions were incredible.

For it's time (originally published more that 100 years ago), the illustrations are very detailed, even at a cellular level. It's not really a book you 'read' (which is why I didn't claim it in my 2011 Finished list) but I did skim through most of it, and I flipped to sections I was interested in to read in more depth. I am sure I will refer to it for anatomy questions many times in the future. Hopefully it will come in handy for our kiddos' science projects one day.


The first book I plan on actually reading in full is The Iliad and the Odyssey. Isn't the cover beautiful?!

I am just about to finish listening to the Starcrossed (audiobook) which is heavily based on Greek mythology, so I've decided to read the Iliad and the Odyssey in order to understand all the book references to it better. I haven't read a mythology book since the 8th grade when I read Edith Hamilton's Mythology for school. I remember loving that book even though my peers moaned and groaned about it. I am not sure what happened to my original Mythology copy so I've purchased it again.

By the way, I didn't love the narrator of Starcrossed at first, but, as the story picked up, the narration got a lot better. It's probably not fair that I've been listening to the Game of Thrones audiobooks narrated by Roy Dotrice. His narration makes anything sound amateur.

So what's on your reading list these days?

2011

Just thought I would jump on the bandwagon and share a few projects from 2011....

2011 Quilt finishes

2011 Swaps and Gifts

2011 Charity Blocks

It was a pretty productive year because I don't even have pictures of everything I completed. Looking back though, I realize that none of these things, except for a handful of quilted book covers, were for me. I love making things for other people and I love being able to use my quilting skills for charity, but I am running into an issue where one of my quilt guilds is having a quilt show in a couple of months and I have nothing to enter. Nothing.

In 2012 I am looking to change that up a bit. In 2011, I started a paper piecing project which, as you know, is one of the projects on my quilting bucket list:

I've been making flowers from greens and blues with a Kona White border around each flower and a Kona Pond border connecting all of the flowers. This my friends is going to be my main focus of 2012. The hope is that maybe if I dedicate more time than the odd hockey game or road trip, I'll actually finish this queen sized quilt in less than 20 years. Maybe.

Other than this hand sewing project, I am going to continue making blocks for do. Good Stitches, and finish works in progress. I'm going to try to resist flikr swaps and I am not going to join any new charity bees. I was way over committed for 2011 and I'm burnt out. Speaking of being burnt out, I obviously took an unexpected break over the holidays. I needed it but I am sorry for not warning you.

Things might be slowing down for a bit around here. I will still be sharing works in progress (especially the Rainbow I Spy preemie quilts) as they are completed, do. Good Stitches blocks, and if the muses inspire I'll share some new projects. But you might see long pauses between posts. You might also see 5 posts in one week.I can't guarantee one or the other. I hope you'll stick with me and keep me in your reader, even if I am a bit inconsistent with posting.

I hope this new year brings wonderful adventures for all of you, in quilting and in life!

Happy Quilting, and Happy New Year!