2014 (Phew!)

2014 has gone by in an utter blur. I've worked too hard - not spent enough time (in my little mind at least) with my adorable children and I've had some big break throughs (in my little mind at least.)

So here is a little recap.

Charity Quilt for Quilt Con

This was a challenge set by the Modern Quilt Guild. There was a particular color palette set & a style of quilt set - to play with grid work. (I found the post on Grid work pretty interesting on its own.)

I always enjoy reading the information that comes through from the Modern Quilt Guild. So when this challenge was announced I pretty much expressed interest in quilting a quilt for the charity challenge immediately (I do wonder that I perhaps mentioned too many times that it was only the quilting I was interested in!)

Memory Quilt: Toddler Dresses

Just to recap these toddler dresses were given to me to make a pillow. I couldn't bear to just cut chunks out of the dresses without using up all the material given to me - so I suggested a quilt as well.

I have had this idea of having an actual dress sewn to the middle of a quilt - as if in a picture frame for a while now. This quilt is for a 4 year old girl - the youngest of all the sisters who have worn these dresses.

The back of the blue dress was so pretty with its buttons and wide bow -  I knew that was the dress to use.

Moroccan Tile Quilt

I love the texture on this quilt for many reasons.

Moroccan Tile Quilt

This is a quilt that I am making for a very dear friend of mine who has broken my itty bitty heart by moving away from New York to Indiana. As we get older I find it gets harder to make friends whom you identify with fully, whom you can cry on or tell off - an unconditional sort of friendship - warts and all.

I used in this quilt a pashmina that this friend had unceremoniously thrown at me saying "perhaps you can recycle this into something." So when she said she had to move away I thought maybe I could recycle into something just for her. I forgot to take a picture of the whole pashmina before I began cutting -  but here is a glimpse of what it used to look like. It is full of pretty pinks and aqua blues.

I can't recycle that!

When I'm talking with the families who come to me to turn clothes into quilts we often have long conversations about what sorts of fabrics can be used for the project. My plain answer is that there is no limit to types of fabric or sorts of clothing - no maximum no minimum - send it to me and I will put every effort into turning into a beautiful quilt. I do however ask them to think about whether they want to hold on to any pieces that are more than special to them - because sometimes something can be so special that they should just be quietly kept.

I had this moment recently and it took me by surprise.

I am preparing the back to my first portrait quilt. I mentioned already in that post that I am using all Bunny #1's old pajamas - here is a sneak at the stack.

Tutorial: Santa Sack

I wanted to revisit a tutorial that I made back in November 2011 for home made Santa Sacks.

I don't know what your Christmas was like as a child - but one of my highlights was the stocking. The arrival of Santa (Father Christmas) and the stocking was huge. The stocking was one of my father's thread bare socks (it was not at all attractive.) So when we had children I knew that the stocking was going to be one of my little Christmas obsessions.