Snowy weekend! Still sewing...and dreaming...

Last week I made small quilts using natural linen lattice and background.....I love the zakka look!

 

I am hand quilting this lovely pink and taupe quilt with pink perle cotton, and sashiko needles. As much as I love pink, this is one of my favorite!

It is too cold in the sewing studio this morning, so I have set up one of my machines on the breakfast table. This is a 3/4 size Kenmore 1040 which is a little workhorse! And cute too!

 

 

Some natural light from the snowy world outside will add to the joy of working here! This is what I will be making, a crib quilt from a charm pack, plus more 5" squares from my stash.

Of course, I may add borders if I need to enlarge the quilt top!

I am really trying to get lots of my sewing and quilting projects well underway. It is discouraging to see the fabrics and patterns stacked in their bins. So much more fun to see them come into "being"!

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I have always made things! And I come by this trait from my mother. She is gone now, but she left this quilt top which she pieced from a Kansas City Star pattern in the 1940's. She was in college and probably pieced it in the summers at home. It is no small undertaking, lots of small pieces, using purchased lavender and gold cotton along with family scraps.

I have now taken it to be quilted. Then perhaps it can be a wedding gift for her namesake great granddaughter...when that day comes?

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For a while in the late 1970's, I was learning to weave. I took tapestry classes from a wonderful teacher...... we had a shop in Little Rock with many fibers and yarns to chose from.

I still have this wall hanging from those days, and am delighted that my daughter now wants it to hang in her newly painted dining room!

And to think, I almost donated it to a thrift store in my decluttering!

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A couple of knitting projects I would like to do....this sweater!....and this one...madelinetosh "Creature Comforts Cardi", pattern available on Ravelry.

A show I have enjoyed watching....it can be streamed onto the iPad ...

Of course it makes me want to bake instead of sew, paint, knit ......makes me very hungry indeed, LOL!

 

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A book I have on reserve at our library....so there is no end to what can make life enjoyable!

[not to mention a granddaughter's first track meet, and a grandson's first soccer practice!]

 

 

Now to post this and get back to making things!

 

Projects for cold winter days!

 

An ice storm just south of us hit the area where my brother farms. This photo of an old iron bridge near his home was on the local news. It is so beautiful, but not too much fun! The ice breaks the power lines, and homes are then hard to heat! Fortunately, they have a cast iron wood burning stove!

I stay "in" a lot when the temperature is below freezing outside. I turn on the heat in the sewing room and spend time working on piecing blocks!

Here is one which I am working on now...called "Dutch Breeze". Very scrappy and easy!

It is from a McCall's Scrappy Quilts magazine.

More Dutch Breeze blocks today! This magazine has the pattern for the "Haiku Charm" quilt which I made last week, with my Japanese indigos!

And it has a pattern using Japanese taupes which I also plan to make!

This will be another easy, fun small quilt!

When I make the Dutch Breeze blocks, I end up with even smaller little scraps, pieced in threes! So I make some irregular little 9 patches....these will be in a quilt with lots of natural linen...a little Zakka* quilt, or maybe 2! For the small quilt auction which will be at the quilt show!

* Zakka, the art of finding savvy in the mundane.

As the quilt show approaches, ( in April) I have been sewing hanging sleeves and labels on the ones which I will hang in the show. Here they are!

 

 

 

 

 

Almost Valentines Day

A lovely rosy red plant in the breakfast table is waiting to be used in a painting...watercolor, or acrylic?

I am sewing on a red and pink quilt....9 patch, easy with a white on white dot in the center each time...love these ideas which I get from Pinterest!

 

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The kitchen cabinet project is finally completed! Yeah! I love the new color, Cotton Grey, from Behr.

 

Old green cabinets with dark interior, now painted glossy white inside! As I went through each cupboard, I was able to re-organize a bit. One success is inspired from the Christmas visit to my daughter's home; I used glass and plastic storage containers a great deal! Storing the storage containers has always been so irksome! They never stay stacked and tidy, sliding every which way and the lids on the other side of the turntable, hiding of course!

At Laura's I saw that she had moved all the lids into a separate drawer nearby! No more jumble of plastic and glass pieces! So now I have moved into a new improved era! The lazy Susan shelves just hold the containers ...

 

The lids are in the drawer next door! So much easier!

 

 

Here are some more photos of the finished kitchen.....

 

I love the new hardware! I got it from D Lawless Hardware in Indiana...(online, they have great customer service!)

 

You may notice a small quilt on the counter top....that is one of my dish drainer quilts. So useful!

When not in use, they are folded and hang on the side of the cabinets.

 

 

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I have made some progress on the sweater which I love knitting now!

 

And the Haiku Charm quilt top is finished. It uses some of my indigo fabrics in a simple pattern from a recent "Scrappy Quilts" magazine. I am very happy with this!

 

 

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Now down to work on my quilt space, I need to give away a lot! I can see I am over-loaded!