The Spin

The pink is a quilted pillow cover for my mom. I couldn't resist quilting the whirl in the center.

Spin, turn, twirl, twist and whirl. It is the image and idea I have lately for everything I want to make and quilt. I like the way it can be something flowing inward or outward depending how you look at it - or depending how you think of it. It is everywhere outside now - leaves unfurling and untwisting. Petals opening and reaching for the sky. The season changing, turning and spinning. I am thinking a lot about traditional quilt blocks - simple and graphic.

Watching

Spring Break is upon us - it begins tomorrow and we are very excited. The weather has been up and down, but the good days are great and I am enjoying watching my sons with the sidewalk chalk, bubbles and trips to the park during the day and then watching them drift off to sleep completely exhausted at night. Being outside again is wonderful and not much sewing has gone on here. I have been walking the yard constantly checking for plants emerging. There has been a bit of fabric sorting with projects in mind. We will see what the next week brings. I am looking forward to some creative time with my Spring Break boy and next week's warm weather while we have him at home.

Time Spent Inside and Outside

Hand Me Downs

I have been thinking about quilts so much since I returned from the quilt show. My mom and I were newly excited to look through all of the already pieced blocks that came from my grandma's collection. I found out from my mother that a few of my grandmother's relatives and possibly even her friends had given her quilt blocks and fabric at various times - not actually sure which of the blocks are from where. This makes it all kind of funny - the attachments that can form with things just because of who they may have belonged to - then it turns out maybe they didn't. That it is anyone's guess what life these fabrics have had - but the mystery is just as exciting I think. I pulled out this slightly stained circular star - I love the subtle spin the pattern suggests and the slight staining.


My mom chose this pink pieced star from the stash - I have finished appliqueing it to a larger piece and will quilt it to make a pillow for her.

I was given a table this weekend. I put it in my sewing room and it takes up the last bit of space in the center of the room. We will see how it works out - but I am already excited to have a space to leave my cutting mat out and room to spare for boys, dinosaurs and legos. I put all things in progress out on the new table - oh my.

Indiana Heritage Quilt Show

On Saturday I went to the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show. It was the first quilt show I have ever been to and I was very pleasantly surprised at the mix of both machine quilted, hand quilted and hand appliqued quilts. I took photos of just a few of my favorites and unfortunately I haven't had much luck finding websites to link for the makers of these quilts - which is how I had hoped to post them. My boys and my mom went with me to the show. My oldest son, Henry (6 years old) did pretty well - he had comments and good observations on a lot of the quilts. He even recognized one that looked like his baby quilt that my mother-in-law made for him - a dresden plate. I took a photo of him standing near the small quilts for scale. : ) My mom kindly strolled my youngest around a bit while we looked.


"Parcheesi" - by Amy Bright

"Thirteen Feathered Stars" - by Susan E. Ziel

"Fan-Tastic Foliage" - by Elizabeth Polenz Haase

"Sanity Color Wheel" - by Cassandra L.M. Toth

Update

I am making enjoyable progress on this - whatever it may become - learning a bit about how to proceed on the next try. Really enjoying the hand stitching and choosing the thread colors. Round and round and round.

I have decided to post to this blog once a week for awhile and see how that goes. Let's say Wednesdays to start off. I may only check in on other blogs once a week as well - although I will be surprised if I can stay away that long. : )

The spring chatter in my home and in my head is too much. I put pressure on myself to post more often and make progress on projects and I think it can get me a little off track of what I really want to make. I need to slow it down just a touch. This blog helps me so much to keep things moving forward creatively - I just need to work on the balance of it all.

AND Spring is here! Well, almost - the sun was shining today and I love the way 40˙ in March can feel like 60˙. It was lovely.

Happy Spring - I am skipping tomorrow - I'll be back next Wednesday, March 10th. Thanks to all who are checking in on me.

Wandering

I am SO restless right now - flopping back and forth between projects - blaming it all on spring fever - my thoughts are jumping all over the place. So I decided to try and tidy up my sewing room just a little this afternoon and found these neutral blocks I had pieced awhile back. I had used them here and there and then the rest became lost in my sewing room - and then I found them today. So I started another little project - to test an idea for a yet to be started larger idea. It is not supposed to look like a target - so I have some work to do. Some sunshine would really be nice. Blah.