I did it... I tried the Disappearing Hourglass...

...and I am addicted.

I confess I can be a quilt snob at times.  My friend Leslie showed me this block which she had taught to her mother-in-law.  At first I may, perhaps, have rolled my eyes a teensy bit.  Terrible to admit but I fall into this superiority trap from time to time. Since then I have had to admit I might have been wrong, it has been known to happen, let us not get into numbers on that.

So... one day while Leslie was on vacation, I went over for a sewing day.  Given that I am spending a lot of time on other people's quilts I decided to do something for me.  I had some white cotton and a few pretty floral fat quarters and I thought I'd give this Disappearing Hourglass a try.  Purely to see what all the fuss was about you understand :P

Well once I had done one, there was no stopping.  It is completely addictive.  (hmm I recall saying this about the Union Jack block... good thing my addiction is limited to fabric !)

These are the blocks I have so far.  They are my treat after a day of work on my fledgling business.  I listen to a podcast, from CBC or BBC, and sew and cut and sew and cut and sew again.  This block never fails to delight.

If you haven't already, give it a try.  I am certain you will not be disappointed :)  And let me know if it has the same effect on you !

You cannot help but smile...

This is a picture of the latest quilt made for a friend, well actually for her daughter, Lily.  We started with the colours pink and orange and this is what it grew into.  There is no way you can work on a quilt in these colours and not smile.  It was a delight to play with the fabric and see where it led.

My personal philosophy of quilting is that we do not have enough fun.  Why spend so much time torturing ourselves?  Do these colours match?  Oh no my points are cut off!  Why won't this lie flat?

Relax, breathe, have faith and create.  A quilt is love.  Pure and simple.

I am very pleased with how this quilt turned out, right down to the Laverne style L in the corner.  Hope Lily likes it too :)

"And I'll stitch the words into my heart with a needle and thread..."

This quilt top started life as a potential patchwork tablecloth.  I have a reasonable stash of fabric (don't we all) and I cut a stack of oranges, browns and creams a year ago.  They remained in their stack for sometime.  They were conferring as to what they wanted to be.

One day I took the stack and cut them all in half, based on a whim.  I was following not yet knowing where I was being led.  I arranged them realizing what they already knew, they were a brick wall.  Next the grout (is it called grout in a brick wall?) was needed.  Given that I am trying very hard to use what I have on hand, I had to make a choice from only a few blues, the one I chose having snowflakes... much to my daughter's dismay.  She found my selection intolerable but she is 16 so many things are intolerable to her.  Not to be deterred I told her it is my representation of a wall in the winter.  That was as far as it went.  It waited again.  I had no idea how I was going to quilt it.

Last night I went to see Passenger in Toronto at the Sound Academy.  It was, well, amazing only skims the surface.  His lyrics are poems and I am forever writing one or the other of them down, here and there and everywhere.  Today I had been thinking of how to record his lovely lyrics in a quilt.  That was when she called to me.  I brought her out, counted her rows and realized they matched the number of lines from the song I was thinking of...

Well I’m sick of this town, this blind man’s forage

They take your dreams down and stick them in storage

You can have them back son when you’ve paid off your mortgage and loans

Oh to hell with this place,  I’ll go it my own way

I’ll stick out my thumb and trudge down the highway

Someday someone must be going my way home

Till then I’ll make my bed from a disused car

With a mattress of leaves and a blanket of stars

And I’ll stitch the words into my heart with a needle and thread

Don’t you cry for the lost, smile for the living

Get what you need and give what you’re given

You know life’s for the living so live it

Or you're better off dead.

- Life's For The Living, Passenger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl2GwLtMX7s

If you ever have a chance to see him in concert, I implore you to go, you will not be disappointed.  I will post pictures once this is quilted... :)

Cream and Razors?

There are times when you realize wait one cotton picking second, where is my quilt?  I have two tops that I specifically made for me and for my bed.  My bed currently has a second hand, store bought coverlet on it.  Please do not judge.  I may need professional help for my habit of putting others ahead of myself.

To remedy this sad state, I carved out enough time to quilt my own quilt.  It is my experiment with neutrals.  I am not sure how truly neutral it is, but that is part of the fun.

One of the fabrics used in the quilt has the oddest sayings on it.  It is the Little Red Riding Hood fabric (used in cream in the squares and turquoise in the binding).  It says "Patent Tempered Razors... Set and Sharpened... Ready to Use" as well as "Receive into your Custody the Body of George Swann".  Odd.  Well more than odd, slightly disturbing, but I love it !  Consequently I have named this quilt Cream and Razors.

I used my new machine quilting pattern, which is also on Lou's Union Jack... Oysters on the Half Shell and a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.  You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

Given that is it my birthday on the 16th and I will be 45, I am determined to lead the life I want and I will be doing the thing I think I cannot do, daily, to that end.

How much of your life can you run from being who you are when who you are is what you were meant to be?

One idea after another...

I was fiddling around with fabric, as you do, and made a simple bunting in pink and blue (which since has found a home with my Aunt).  A quilt friend saw it (before it became the property of my Aunt) and said you should add letters, make it say happy birthday or something like that... and two days later I had both of these made.

Not satisfied with stopping at two (see previous Union Jack post --- not sure what this says about my self control) I made another with a simple saying:

I now have another in the works, I think this one will say celebrate !

Why is the Union Jack such a compelling design?

This is the Union Jack Quilt I made for my daughter... both she and I absolutely love it !  She asked me to make a block for the front sleeve of her school binder, which I did, and then found I could not stop.  Forget Lay's Potato Chips or whoever said once you pop you can't stop... they did not mean potato chips, they meant these Union Jack blocks.

While I would love to keep this for my own Lou has waited many years for a new quilt, not to mention the fact that Soapy Soap Lola of previous posts has two quilts with a third on the way and she is only 1.

Never one to be left out, I also had to try the Union Jack block in traditional colours, to make sure it worked out properly of course and this is mine :)

Now I have had two family requests for this quilt. One from my Aunt Jac, she likes the soft vintage Laura Ashley look and two, from my sister Jac (Mum of Lola), who wants hers in Kaffe Fassett.  Wouldn't that be delicious :)