un square

I go back and forth about how to treat the edges of things. For things that will be put to use and need to be washed I want a finished edge - but when it's done I find it often seems too harsh. I experimented on this one with finished edges but I didn't square things up and I think it helped soften it a bit - and then even more with the fringe. There's lots of room to explore in the area of not so square edges and I am thinking on that.

It has made it through the first washing and the crinkle! I think the crinkle makes it a quilt.

Fringe

I made fringe with a scrap of osnaburg fabric and I am so pleased. I hope it will last through a washing. I thought this little cloth needed a softer edge. Now I need to make another strip of it for the other end. I am trying to finish a few small things before I start something new.

and I may be moving things around on the blog for a few days. It will all

settle out soon.

Lines, spring color and... a heart

a bit more stitching of lines and almost lines

surprise of some color outside

and my son's valentine drawing - a heart.

but also a leaf or a feather. I love it.

Line

I have been thinking a lot about line. Having a long look at the lines I have found in places I love to be.

I like a line that is only almost a line.

Stitching lines of different kinds. Exploring.

Layers

Stitched and Drawn

transition

Winter and Whatever

I am so glad the snow is back. Fifty degrees and sunny is nice too - but it is winter after all.

This quilt has been folded away for a few months short of one year.

One year can seem like no time at all - but January, February and March always seem to last forever. Last year I thought starting something big sounded like a great idea with those three wintery months stretched out in front of me. Spring hit and all things wintery were fast forgotten - but here I am again, at the start of the long haul indoors.

This stitched pattern is always in my head - a layer hovering above the pieced fabrics. The stitches unify what lies beneath them. 

Old and new, winter and whatever are all running into each other.

open :: part one

Into Spring...

We have found a wide open space we love to wander around in and that has kept us busy. We have followed winter into spring - staying outside whenever we can and as long as we can. My boys are suddenly wild and loving it - jumping, leaping and running again - getting dirty. Such a relief to get our hands in the dirt again, working and playing outside.

I was needing to get the colors noted here to remember for the quilt. The deepest brown wet soil, every shade of green and then yellows and purples. My favorite right now are the bluebell blossoms emerging as pinks and then transforming through lavenders to blue. The green mist of leaves unfolding in the tree tops and the sky so so blue days in a row. A little boy so excited about bright yellow dandelions and purple violets and so happy we have so many in his own yard!

Starting the spring panel for the Sleep Pattern quilt, thinking of adding in some nine patch squares. Maybe the colors are too shocking next to the winter panel - but that's what I feel - the color surprises, so different from winter. Spring has so much momentum, it just takes off from barely anything.


Thinking I will will just follow this quilt around through the seasons adding layers of detail as I go. Leaving winter behind now and adding spring and working on that until it's time to move on again. By the time I get back around to winter it will be one big square, but I am so ready to just think about spring now. Watch everything uncurl and open up. stitching as I go...

Sleep Pattern Pup

Winter Blocks

These all part of the imagery I am working towards on the winter panel of the sleep pattern quilt. Posting them here to remember. First photo - my husband called me out at dusk last weekend when he saw this - imprint in the snow of a bird's landing.

Season by Season

The sleep pattern is still bouncing around in my head. Thinking I can make a quilt panel by panel season by season and put them all together after a year or two or three and have something BIG. I started a "Sleep Pattern Quilt" category in the sidebar. Thanks for the comments on that first post on this. I liked Catherine's comment about a net/dream catcher and am thinking this all over stitch pattern would unite panels of the different seasons/colors/cloth in the end - hold it all together - like a net. I am taking Jude's contemporary woven boro workshop over the next few weeks and hope to create some panels for this utilizing her techniques. Really excited about that.

Today my oldest biggest boy will be 7. So today is all about a party. He is growing up and sweeter than ever. He is amazing. It's going to be a great year.