quilt update

Oooof... Feels like a long time since I updated! Partly because it's been awhile since I worked on my quilt, but I'm here with a but of a progress report:

I cut and prepped the center square and finished two more triangles. Seeing this photos helped me decided to be sure and include some pinks, yellows, and orange in the final triangle. I like the fun randomness, but can see a lot of blue and green in the top and right triangle. Hoping to bring a bit of balance with the last one.

Early last week I finished hand stitching the center block. It was so fun and really quite manageable. This gives me hope for the next set of hand stitching - all the squares that make up an inner border. I purchased some grey fat quarters in different shapes and patterns to use for the background. It's also been lovely to have a sewing buddy who has a fantastic stash of scraps to choose from! My supplies are currently housed at Juliann's house since she has a dedicated sewing space. My home is a music studio during the week with students/families coming and going so this allows me to have a bit of freedom in my sewing schedule without having to pack up each evening.

Speaking of quilts, I started quilting my tree quilt! It was a Christmas gift last year so my goal is to have it up on the wall by this December! I hemmed an hawed over the many possibilities for quilting and finally decided to go with hand quilting some wonky stars. I'm doing them in the grey background between branches and they are each a little different.

I'm using grey thread on top and white on the bottom so that the stitches are pretty subtle. I like how the stars pop up without distracting from the fun color blocked tree.

I used chalk to draw the stars free-hand and then mostly followed the shapes on the machine, though in some places I went outside the lines. It's been a fun process and is faster than I'd expected! 

So there are my quilt updates. I'm glad to have a few sewing projects to work on and while it's fun to have a goal, I like that the Jen Kingswell quilt is going to be a longer process. Sewing is a hard hobby for me to fit in weekly, probably due to the lack of space. It is great to have some hand stitching to keep by the couch for evenings. I will admit though, it's about time for a new glasses prescription so my hand stitching has to happen in the morning when the light is good :)

fiber friday

Wow, I've been knitting a lot this week! I worked furiously on the Glebe Shawl for my mother-in-law. I LOVE this shawl and hope she loves it just as much. Check out the slideshow below or my Ravelry project page.

Before putting it in the mail I took these shots in our yard, which seemed like a lovely, autumnal backdrop for this back-to-school gift.

I also worked one morning on one point of the center star of my Midnight at the Oasis for the QAL. I sewed all 16 triangles together one morning before work. I have most of the triangles cut for the other 3 points, just working on how to organize my supplies. I want them to be handy and easy to grab so that when I'm inspired I can dive in! I saw a brief post on twitter about this idea of daily crafting and how to make it part of the routine. After reading the comments here are my ideas that I will try and implement for achieving my crafting goal this fall!


Craft Night! Choose one night a week where crafting is the goal. I'm leaning toward Thursday but without our fall schedule completely blocked out, it might change.


Break it DownBreaking projects into small tasks helps me feel accomplished. I aim to complete one task each setting. I recently did this with the baby quilt I made.

1. cut all the triangles 
2. arrange the triangles into rows then pin pairs to prep for sewing
3. sew all rows 
4. sew the rows into a top and add border 
5. make small fox for the back and baste the quilt together (quilting prep)
6. machine quilt the top and sew the binding to the front
7. Hand stitch the binding

That was the plan and I actually ended up finishing the whole thing in 5 days. When I completed something quilting I could assess the next step on the list and determine if I had enough time to complete another step.

Find a System
I like to create an assembly line and system to make things go smoothly. When I am sewing half-square triangles or something repetitive I set up the ironing board and sewing table as an L shape at the same height, I can plow through a bunch by chain stitching and eliminating the need to go across the room to iron.

Making a pattern you know is another way to help the process. Of course, I've not been sewing enough lately to want to remake items. Instead I keep trying new patterns. Perhaps this is a good one for me to try out this fall.