Two Baby Quilts Done....

I LOVE how these two little baby quilts/toddler quilts came out. I think I made about a zillion of these squares so I had enough for two baby quilts and one queen size quilt. I just finished quilting both baby quilts
for my Etsy shop.










I quilted this first one in a wavy pattern and pulled the backing around for self binding. It really came out nice. Once it was washed the fabric just snuggled right up to those little stitches for a beautiful heirloom look.

The second little quilt (they both measure about 36x36) I simpled ditch quilted and then hand tied each white square with turqoise grosgrain ribbon. This one has a navy blue and white polkadot calico binding and is backed with a teddy bear soft fleece. Because of the fleece backing it has a wonderful drape and is oh so fluffy.

Both of these are going to be offered on my Etsy shop in a few days. I've got several others going up that I will be posting about in a few days.

P.S. Any of my blog followers or Facebook followers who are intested in either of these quilts - you can e-mail me privately.

Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.

"People tend to focus on the here and now.....

.......The problem is that, once global warming is something that most people can feel in the course of their daily lives, it will be too late to prevent much larger, potentially catastrophic changes."

Quote on Global Warming by

-- Elizabeth Kolbert

Look at this spectacular piece I received from my dearest friend Carolyn (Love Stitching Red). (Be sure to click on all pictures to see beautiful details.)

We decided at the beginning of the summer to do a little art exchange. This gorgeous piece is from her Global Warming series which I absolutely fell in love with the first time I saw her working on a piece for it - quite a long time ago.

I so wish you could see this in person - some of you just might the next time you come over - because words cannot describe its ethereal spirit. It is so bold a full of color and texture, yet so delicate and sheer - it makes for an absolutely delicious feast for the eyes that can only be fully appreciated in person.

Carolyn sent me a description of this piece and I am going to share it with you because I know you are going to want to know more about it.....

"My piece for you is part of my “Global Warming” series of work. It iis a subject close to my heart and a theme I like to come back to every now again, to raise awareness in an approachable way.

The background piece is very delicate hand made felt, made with Cornish fleece with fine wool tops and metallic fibres. The holes are intentional. They represent the holes in our ozone layer which is the main cause of global warming

The central stitched piece was made on a calico backing with layers and layers of fabrics such as silk, felt, cotton, metallic fabrics and heat distressed chiffons. I distressed the chiffons before stitching them to the base. I like the idea that the distressed fabrics symbolize the distressed state of our planet

I added some hand stitches - French knots, fly stitches and beads in groups here and there - really just where I felt like working in little groups .

The colours are my representation of global warming.

The red denotes solar energy, the sun, heat, the hot element of global warming that is melting the ice caps and causing distress to our planet
The white represents ice, the polar ice caps, melting ice, slush turning to water.

The blue represents water, the consequence of melting ice , rising sea levels and the possible threat to all aspects of our planet....."

It is so special to me and I will treasure it. Like Carolyn, Global Warming is a subject close to my heart, as well - and her depiction of it in her work is really so touching and inspiring to me. She articulates so well what I aspire to do. I have spent hours examining this piece and it's symbolism - every stitch, every fiber, every placement - and will assuredly spend more.

In addition to this magnificent piece of art, Carolyn also gifted me with some absolutely beautiful fibers in "our" favorite shades of blue. My heart stopped when I saw them. She also tucked inside some sparkly beads she made from what looks to be Angelina Fibers - something I've never thought of when making beads. They are so pretty.

Thank you so much dear friend for such a wonderful gift of yourself. I am now taking upon myself -- the task to find the perfect mounting for it. I do believe, as we discussed - white is the only option for this. So - I have put this on my list of priorities and will share a picture with you once I have found the perfect companion.

In the meantime, it sits so gingerly atop the drawing table in my studio so I can admire it - and so it will be safe - until it is securely placed within a frame. If you don't know already, Carolyn has two of the most amazing blogs LOVE STITCHING RED & CAROLYN SAXBY MIXED MEDIA AND ART that I visit each and every day for fear of missing something. Her art is beautiful and inspiring - but more so is her spirit - which clearly shines through in every piece she creates, every photograph she takes and every word she writes.

Make this a special day and steal away an hour, a half hour, a few minutes - whatever you can - just for you. Do something to make YOU happy.

Wake Me Up, When September Ends.....

Not a great month for us. We recently found out that our precious Gizmo is not well. At 3 years old - he has idiocratic epilepsy. Needless to say, we are devastated. After suffering a month with seizures (sometimes three a day) he has been put on medication that we are praying will eradicate them. Time will tell.

We love you so much Gizmo. Please, please get well. I can't imagine my life without you in it.

Dang! Where Does the Time Go?

Okay - where did the summer go? Where did August go? Where did last week go? Where did today go? I always thought that as my kids got older, things would "slow" down a bit around here - at least for me. I couldn't imagine when Sabrina was a baby and Sal was 6 that life could be any more hectic than having two kids, working a 40 -50 hour a week job at a law firm 25 miles away, going to school part time and being President of the PTA. Life was busy those days, but not "complicated." Now my life is busy AND complicated. HOW THE HECK DID THAT HAPPEN????

It was over a week ago that I started pinning that little baby quilt.

I finally got it under the needle yesterday and finished the quilting. I did a wavy pattern in all of the white blocks (big and small) and stitched in the ditch the nine patches and throughout the entire quilt.

I am so in love with the colors in this quilt and am glad I made enough blocks to do a queen size quilt. The binding's all pinned on and I plan on hand stitching it tonight while I'm watching the news. I had a little trouble with my tension last night :( I switched to Bottom Line bobbin thread by Superior and forgot to play around with the tension settings. Nasty little thread bundles on the back had to be ripped out. All is right with the world now - as I found the perfect setting and the little stitches are as neat and tidy as can be!

On another front - I bought two pair of awesome jeans a long time ago (well over a year ago) that I never got around to hemming because I bought them too tight and they um, remained too tight. I dug them out last week, tried them on, zipped them up and they are seriously tooo big! THANKS P90X.

So I got out my scissors and pins and with a little help from Gizmo (and Sabrina) I got them all pinned for hemming and taking in. Sabrina clearly has her eye on the skull pocket jeans. I buy petite jeans and STILL have to cut this much off the bottom. If I were only 2, no make that 4, no, no - make that 6 inches taller - I'd be normal size.
Oh well - my mom always told me, "Good things come in little packages." Oh and then there's the one my Grandma Wanda used to tell me (which is one I use on Sabrina), "Nice boys like short girls."

With Gizmo by my side I will finish up this little quilt, stitch the hem in these three pairs of pants, clean up the studio and get ready to finish Sabrina's TOTE from "you know where." Never in my life have I ever seen a tote bag with so many zippers, velcro, toggles, magnetic closures, little secret pockets - eeeeeeeeek. I've been sewing and ripping out, sewing and ripping out, sewing and ripping out the seams on this thing for what seems like forever. But when I'm done - it will be perfect (or as perfect as I am capable of at this point in my sewing career.)

It is now time for dinner. I've been cooking an amazing pot of sauce ALL DAY and intend on submerging some delicious little meat raviolis in it for dinner with a salad. I haven't eaten any solid food all day - just two protein shakes and I am famished. Enjoy the day.

P.S. I LOVE YOU GIZMO! You melt my heart.

Yay!!! Back to Doing What I Love......

Remember this one? I started this a long, long
time ago after I bought all of those delicious homespun fabrics in shades of blues and greens. I finally got this layered and pinned and when I turned it over to check out the back there was one giant pucker towards the center. You know what that means - had to take out all the pins and start over. It's now smooth as can be and ready to go.

I've been having a problem with "looping" on the back of some of my stuff and someone suggested I try "Bottom Line" thread by Superior. I did some sample stitching on a yellow layered scrap just to see how it performed and so far so good - no looping - which will be a dream come true if it continues like it did during my practice. I'd like to quilt some continuous line fishies in the white blocks and probably "ditch" quilt the nine patches for the 36" square quilt. I think I'm going to look for a "wave" pattern for the large quilt. (I made enough blocks for a queen size and a crib size quilt.)

Now we're off to the North Raleigh Christian Academy Varsity Football Game to watch the game, but more importantly, to watch our little flag twirler do her thing!

Laugh as much as you breathe...

and love as long as you live.