Latitude

I got a half a day of "my life" back today. My kids are ALL in school on Fridays as of two weeks ago. But some of these I am a parent chaperone for field trips so they don't count. In fact, I consider it "negative" time because even when it's over you are still exhausted. And if we balance the equation it means even less gets done. But I thought my down time could be used up this morning sharing a quilt I finished a while ago. I don't even know when - probably a few months but if it's been longer, please don't mention it, haha. The fabric strips of Latitude were sent to me by the fabulous Kate Spain. And gosh they are luscious.

This one wound up at 52" x 52" and is in the shop (because, let's face it, I'm nearly drowning in my quilting at this point - don't tell the husband, ha). 

Coasted out.

Back in September I broke my ankle playing volleyball. I came down on someone's foot which was well under the net. Sometimes in life you get punished for someone else's mistake. But I assume I'll eventually be fine. Though almost 4 months later I'm still limping. (On a side note, do not break your ankle. It takes 6-12 months to heal. No one has time for that. haha!)

But a broken ankle makes for little sewing (or anything else for that matter). I couldn't even leave it down sitting in a chair. But I'm slowly getting back to my usual self. Very, very slowly.

I can't even tell you how frustrated, bored, etc. I was as an invalid with four children. Especially the 2.5 year old twin boys. But grandma swooped in to save them and me so we survived. :) 

And for a couple of projects while out of commission, I managed to make some coasters. It's funny how just finishing something, anything, makes me feel better. So I took some pictures today of my tiny accomplishments.

Have a happy stitching day!!

Daydream

The only goal for most people in doing anything is to find more time to spend doing things that make them happy. Quilters neeeeeeed more time to quilt. There will never be enough hours in the day or years in a life for most of us fabric addicts. Maybe some people have their addictions under control. 

I do not. 

I like diet coke. 

And fabric. 

And apparently books and gardening and volleyball and piano and kids. 

Oh and science. ANYTHING nerdy and genetics/physics/chemistry related totally gets me going. 

I fully admit it. I'm an addict of MANY things. 

But if I could combine enough of them together and multitask my enjoyment I could create the most productive and efficient enjoyment machine for my life. I could sit in a garden drawing molecular models in my quilt designs sipping diet coke watching volleyball on television (no volume) while the children frolic through the plants nibbling berries and licking popsicles to classical music. It'd be awesome. And then maybe I could find time for the mundane cleaning and laundry type activities that seem to fill up entirely too much of my life at present. Hello sippee cups. And trips to the potty (Potty-training twins is a blast... said no one ever.). And endless dishes full of food that wasn't even touched. (No wonder my parents just took us to McDonald's.)

But constantly trying to whittle a little time from each of the necessary activities of life to make a little time for a hobby has kind of turned into a game. For instance, if I can get these dishes done while making dinner, flipping a load of laundry, and helping a kid get their homework done, I can free up at least 30-60 min that night for something else. If I do them sequentially I won't even finish today. One day when the kids are all grown I will probably find myself multitasking my hobbies. And then I'll miss the sippee cups and everything else. :)

So I'm sure a few loads of laundry and dishes have had to sit a few extra hours so that I would even have quilts to share on my blog. 

How do you find time for quilting? 

This little baby quilt is in Kate Spain's Daydream fabric line for Moda. 

I quilted a different texture pattern in each of the continuous negative space sections. Quilting multiple designs in a single quilt is so much more entertaining. I highly recommend you try it. You could get a new addiction! 

It could really use a name. I was thinking something along the lines of "party streamers." Any thoughts?

It measures 32" x 36" and is in the shop. 

Horizon

Every year I try to go to Quilt Festival. 

Simply amazing.

Everywhere you look.

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Inspirational on every level.

And every time I think up something new I want to try.

And it's less than an hour's drive. 

This year I left dreaming of quilting fabulousness.

(Not a word, I know.)

"Horizon" (Kate Spain for Moda) was the next fabric on the cutting table.

I went with a very simple modern design with lots of negative space for the quilting to share the spotlight.

I highly recommend this sort of quilting. 

VERY fun.

I didn't want this project to end. 

At 36" x 37", I felt like this project ended too soon. 

I need to just start another one. 

It has a random assortment of free motion feathers, flowers, vines, paisleys, swirls, and any other design I could think of to quilt doodle. 

Granted it did take a lot of hours. 

But they were some happy hours! 

And more pics of the quilting. 

Christmas Treetopia

tree·to·pi·a

trē/ˈtōpēə/

noun

1. a state of things in which every tree is perfect. 

It finished at 62" x 62" of Christmas tree happiness. 

Available here and here. 

Partly Cloudy

...with Sunnyside by Kate Spain for Moda.

Sunnyside is set to hit stores next month. 
I can't wait to get more of it... 
Especially the yardage.

(I got this fabric for doing something that I still need to share about. It seems like there just aren't any spare minutes these days to get to what I want to do... meh. Twins will do that to you.)

Modern Patchwork Christmas Tree Quilt Pattern

Sometimes I get so lucky.

Like today when the babies slept synchronously all day and I actually had time to do something. 

Like this.

Now available here. and here. 

Merry Christmas!! 

It's a little bit warm outside

but Christmas comes early for quilters.

Really early. 

It's awesome. 

The non-quilter world just doesn't understand. 

Like the In from the Cold fabric line by Kate Spain that made an appearance recently.

I've had this idea swimming in my head for a while. 

My very loving husband held the twinners for me so I could sew a bit here and there until it finished. 

Which reminds me... 

Parker Eli and Preston Emery haven't made their debut on this blog... oh, the sweet babies.

So much sweeter when they're sleeping too. hehe.

Back to the quilt... 

It's wall-hanging size.

I do plan on writing up a pattern for it in the very near future... just tell those little boys to go back to sleep. :)

I had a bit of fun with the quilting.

It had me singing Christmas songs again. 

I'm sure everyone around here really appreciated that part.

One more... 

Blocks

So my cute little niece needed some blocks too. 

Some of Kate Spain's Central Park would make even a crying baby happy, right? :)

In Full Bloom Quilt Pattern

Now available for semi-instantaneous quilt happiness... 

find it here:

Craftsy, Etsy, Big Cartel 

Dresden Flowers

Remember this project ??

Ya know, the one I started and then entered the "mmm, what should I do now?" phase of my quilting process and then let it sit... 

My husband called it "bench curing" in dental school. 

You just leave your lab work alone on the bench and then "resubmit" it for a better grade a few days later.

Let's just say this one is fully "bench cured" and now 2 finished 42" x 42" quilts.

The biggest problem was deciding if and how to split them. 

They could easily have ended up as runners, a lap quilt, pillow...

Well, just about anything you can do with a dresden plate... 

Someone wanted to help this morning... :)

I actually didn't fully appreciate how pretty the backing fabrics were until I saw the bolts.

Jelly roll strips that have been chopped up into little pieces always lose something on the larger scale prints.

Which version do you like better? 

Tangerine or violet? 

For a girl obsessed with orange, it's amazing that I'm having a hard time deciding!