magical mouse studio

daphne's garden

2011-08-26T09:30:00.000-04:00

Baby Daphne's welcome to the world quilt is finally finished and delivered! The quilt was started before Daphne was born in April, and her mama and papa took the 'we want to be surprised' path when it came to if they wanted to know ahead of time the sex of the baby. This then led me down the path of selecting gender neutral fabrics which are bright and bold.

Once again I chose the adapted log cabin block and the main fabrics have garden themed prints.

It was a very bright sunny day when I hauled the quilt outside for the mandatory photos - so it may be difficult to see the detail of the fabrics.

The center fabric on the quilt back is a print which features leaves and ladybugs (to the left is Ms T holding her baby brother Bingo)

Thanks to Daphne's mama for the above photo of sweet, beautiful Daphne in her quilted garden.

flight of fancy

2011-08-04T17:30:00.002-04:00

This quilt is the adaptation of the log cabin block which is found in the book Quilt Inspirations from Africa by Kaye England and Mary Elizabeth Johnson. I love this block, over the years it has become one of my favorite blocks to use for baby and lap quilts. I just love its versatility.

This quilt was commissioned as a welcome to the world gift for a baby born into a family who loves to travel and loves all things Mexican! I named the quilt Folklorica Flight of Fancy - which is an homage to the parents interests and also plays on the baby's name - Phineas. When I learned the baby's name is Phineas, my mind immediately thought of Phineas Fogg, the main character in Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days - another person fond of travel!

Along with the baby's full name and birthdate, there is a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote stitched on the outermost border.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.

Since the front border is a busy print fabric, I stitched the words on the solid fabric on the back's border - this increases the reversible nature of the quilt. I can't believe this is the first quilt where I thought of doing this!

tom's quilt

2011-05-28T08:00:00.006-04:00

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted anything over here! My absence is misleading as I been quilting - but yes, I guess it has taken me a long time to finish anything.

A few weeks ago I finally finished a quilt that I had underway since last fall - it is a memory quilt in honor of a man named Tom. I have made a few memory quilts - which I think of as healing quilts - using the clothes of the person who has passed away.

I never had the honor or privilege of knowing Tom - but after corresponding with people who loved him, not to mention spending so much time with the clothes he wore, I feel as though I came to know him. He was a man I would have enjoyed knowing and a person I would have liked to have as a friend.

I am very proud of this quilt as it presented a couple new challenges which I think I was able to meet. When one takes on the task of making a quilt out of clothes, one never knows what type of clothes one will receive. Tom was a man who had many interests in life - one of his interests was motorcycles - but not just any motorcycles, but Harleys. The box of clothes I received consisted of many, many Harley-Davidson t-shirts and several other work and dress shirts in addition to work pants and jackets. The the latter, pants and jackets, I did not use - I asked my client if she or her sister wanted the clothes back - they didn't and so these clothes were donated to charity.

I filtered and sorted though the t-shirts and chose shirts that were in the best shape and had designs that weren't too redundant and would work well together - and represented the regions that Tom traveled to. I used all of the non t-shirt shirts and tied the patterns and blocks together with plain taupe cotton fabric. I asked which color/colors would go with Tom's widow's home - and the answer was neutral colors, specifically taupe.

The quilt is large enough to fit a double bed - and consists of a variety of traditional blocks - the most prevalent block is the flying geese pattern which symbolizes both Tom's love of traveling about on his bike and his recent flight to 'go home to God."

After I sent Tom's quilt to his widow - I heard back from his widow's sister, who commissioned the piece. The quilt was well received and in an email I received was the following, which really touched my heart:

We sat with it on my kitchen table tonight just admiring it. I know it must have been hard to work with the fabrics given but the patterns and fabric pieces you artfully chose for it actually fit Tom spot on. He would have loved it as well.

The statement that makes my heart sing is that the quilt fits Tom spot on and that he too would have loved it.... as his clothes once held his body, it is my hope that perhaps the quilt will holda bit of Tom's spirit and that the quilt will grace the life of those who loved him most and bring a bit of comfort as well....

Among the words stitched along parts of the quilt is the following stanza from a Robert Frost poem that Tom's widow selected as characteristic of the man she loved:

There never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate.

Like I said I would have enjoyed knowing Tom and to have had the honor of calling him my friend - in a way, I guess I do know him.......

owl's trip around the world

2011-01-27T12:33:00.006-05:00

Last week I finished another baby quilt - I call it Owl's Trip Around the World - named of course for the pattern is the ever-popular, quick piecing "Trip Around the World." Some of the fabrics will look familiar as some are similar/the same as fabrics I used in the last quilt that I posted.

This quilt is for a baby who is on his way into the world TODAY - I just received a text from his future auntie, saying his mom is in labor! Safe passage little boy!

The baby who will be receiving this quilt is the cousin of Laurence who was born in December and received the Treetop Lullaby quilt.

In my tradition of quilting songs or rhyme on the border, the rhyme of Owl's Trip is:

A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw, the less he spoke
The less he spoke, the more he saw
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird

The quilt measures 55 inches by 55 inches - a generous size for a baby quilt. As usual all of the materials are 100% cotton with the exception of the thread which is a cotton/poly blend.

Tsuki, one of the cats at casa mouse, really favored this quilt and was often found snuggled on the quilt during construction . The second photo shows this and gives a peek into the fabrics used on the back - the family has a dog so here's is a wee nod to the new baby's "canine sibling"!

If you are interested in commissioning a quilt to celebrate the birth of a child in your village, or perhaps a quilt for another occasion, contact the quiltmaker at the address found on the sidebar.

treetop lullaby

2010-12-29T12:00:00.002-05:00

Oh my, it has been over 3 months since I posted anything here on the studio blog. True, I've been off my game in terms of quilting this fall - the full circle of life seems to have slowed down my productivity when it comes to working in the studio.

But it is also the circle of life that has been guiding and directing the work in the studio this fall and winter.

At top is a quilt I recently finished to celebrate the birth of a most anticipated addition to my village - little Laurence came into the world just in time for Christmas. I finished Laurence's quilt the very day before he was born - I wonder if he was waiting for me to finish before coming into the world, we probably will never know.

I've named the quilt treetop lullaby reflecting the animals and trees of the main fabric. Around the outer border I stitched the following - a bit of a twist on the traditional stanzas of hush a bye baby:

Hush a bye baby
In the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock
If the bough breaks the cradle won't fall
As I'll catch cradle baby and all

The treetop lullaby is a variation of the traditional pinwheel quilt block, the quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted.

In October I finished and delivered a commissioned wedding quilt for a couple who were married in September.

Visitors to the magical mouse will recognize the quilt pattern - this is a standard for a small wedding gifts. The wallhanging is made up of log cabin blocksand the colors of the log cabin rings reflect the favorite colors of the bride and groom - in this case yellow and gray.

Continuing with the circle of life, the other project currently underway is a memorial quilt. Unfortunately my progress on this quilt is much slower than I had hoped - my new self-imposed deadline is to have the quilt finished and delivered by mid January and no later than the end of January!

a garden of hugs and kisses

2010-09-11T19:15:00.001-04:00

I set this photo up about a month ago but didn't get any farther - obviously a sign of just how crazy my summer has been.

As typical for the summer, work in the studio has been slow - I really don't get much quilting done when the summer is warm and when there's so much other stuff to do. That's not to say, I don't fantasize a great deal and make lots of plans - now summer time is great for that! Of course, whether my plans pan out is another thing, but you get the drift.

I finished this quilt in early august. I made it as a 'welcome to the world' gift for friends who were blessed with a dughter in late June. This easy peasy pattern has become one of my faves for baby quilts, I find it lends itself to a great deal of color play! I like to add borders of small squares to some of the quilts I make; this time I had the idea to put "X" and "O" in each square so the main quilt is symbolically surrounded with a garden of hugs and kisses. I stitched the outside border with some of the lyrics from "the garden song" - I like to imagine that ella's mama and papa will sing the garden song to her while she's getting ready to go to bed!

my little eye

2010-07-08T22:00:00.000-04:00

Tuesday I mailed off the second kaleidoscope quilt I've ever made. I made the first one a couple years ago and I forgot how much fun this quilt is to both construct and to look at. There are so many different things going on with the triangles in this quilt and what is so delightful is how the foreground and background change depending on how one looks at the quilt.

The quilt was commissioned by some of my best "patrons" - I love being part of a giving tradition. Friends of my 'clients' are expecting their first child. The baby is expected any day now; despite the ability to know the sex of a child ahead of time, the expectant parents chose to be surprised. I believe the palette of colors is gender neutral.... all brights and no pastels.

The quilt measures approximately 48" x 54" and combines both tying and handquilting.

Around the border are the words:

I see with my little eye my mama and papa who love me. I see with my little eye a world filled with beauty and wonder.

babies, babies, babies!!

2010-06-30T13:00:00.003-04:00

The first completed of three baby quilts I have going on this month. I expect #2 will be finished by the end of the day today....at least I hope so and #3 soon after.

I just love this pattern - it's easy to piece and lends itself to all sorts of colorful play! I believe this quilt measures 48 x 48 - I mislaid the scrap of paper where I jotted down the exact dimensions.

The center is tied and the borders are hand quilted and of course made with 100% cotton fabric and cotton batting.

Liza making sure her new quilt is comfy!

In addition to celebrating babies this month, I've also been busy making wedding ring quilts to celebrate a couple couples' unions. I was literally on the road when I put the finishing touches on this quilt, so I didn't wasn't able to use my usual backyard backdrop for the photo of the finished quilt.

The couple's favorite colors are red and blue - I went with the smaller format for the wall-hanging which I think I favor.

By the way, I received a lovely thank you for the wedding quilt I posted last post - Kat and Jeremiah are very delighted with the quilt!

wedding rings

2010-06-05T11:22:00.003-04:00

I am such a creature of habit - when I hear of friends getting married, I immediately want to make them a wedding ring wallhanging. Yesterday our friends Jeremiah and Kat were married and I made a the quilt which has become my signature wedding gift. This time I tweaked the layout and made it slightly smaller (26 x 33 inches) than the wallhangings I've made in the past. Truth be told, I like this smaller size better, the quilt still includes my favorite saying about families and utilizes the bride and groom's favorite colors for the 'rings.'

I put the package with the quilt on the gift table last night at the wedding. I expect the couple won't get around to seeing what they received until next week when they get back from their honeymoon in Hawaii. I hope they like it and find a place for it in their new home.

star light, star bright

2010-05-17T08:43:00.005-04:00

It has been pretty quiet lately in terms of any posting here on the magical mouse studio blog. Truth be told since February it's been fairly quiet inside the studio too. However, that all is changing!

Thank goodness for babies and weddings - and thank goodness for the friendship star quilt block - it is a relatively quick quilt to piece and lends itself to a slew of options in terms of quilting the layers together - one can tie, hand-stitch, or, if one is skilled at machine quilting, machine quilt.

This weekend I finished a welcome to the world quilt for a new baby in my 'village' - when I asked his mom a couple months ago if she had any colors in mind for his room, she replied that she chose green, gold and burgundy. When she mentioned gold, the decision to go with a starry- themed quilt was a no brainer! The baby who received this quilt joined his family as a result of an adoption - he was a most wished for addition to the family. My friends who became his parents were wishing for a child for years and have been on an adoption list for a long time. But despite the waiting when the call came, there was no wait - when the baby that joined their family came he came with no long wait!

The quilt measures approximately 50" x 60" - typically the size for a lap quilt rather than a baby quilt; however I tend to prefer to make quilts that can grow with the child - which is also why I often bypass fabrics that are extremely juvenile. I am not skilled at machine quilting so this quilt is hand-stitched. Like most of my quilts this one includes words around the border - along with the child's name are the lines from a much loved nursery rhyme:

Star Light, Star bright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

black & white & re(a)d all over

2010-02-04T16:38:00.005-05:00

Two posts on the poor neglected studio blog in one day!! What's with that!! I actually gave a sneak preview of this quilt in January on mouse medicine.

I could have saved these snaps of the second baby quilt but I thought I'd take advantage of red being the theme for Theme Thursday. It's a bit late to register as a tt player, and it probably would be too tacky to register all three of my blogs, so I'll just put this up without fanfare and if any player wanders over here so be it.

I think I'll name this quilt 'black and white and re(a)d' - the re(a)d of course referring to both the color and some of the fabric which is to be read!

flying stars

2010-02-04T11:23:00.006-05:00

Yikes, I certainly have been neglecting this mousehole, I haven't posted anything since October! Didn't I make some sort of resolution last year to post something once a month?

My absence here does not completely reflect my absence in my physical studio - but it comes pretty close.

Since completing the huge delectable mountains project in October, I have only finished two baby quilts. Today I'll share a couple snaps of the star quilt which was picked up last weekend. My friend who ordered this quilt for her first grandchild wanted to pick up the quilt in time for the birth of the baby. Based on the predominance of pink fabrics in the quilt, it is true that everyone is expecting the baby to be a girl. Let's hope that ultrasound prediction is correct. I've been known to use pink in quilts for boys and girls - but not so much pink as this quilt has.

This is one of my favorite patterns to use for baby quilts, it lends itself to so much playfulness. This time I hand-quilted the entire top in order to secure the layers - the stitching isn't very dense but it's enough to prevent bunching and create some new shapes to follow. Around the border are stitched several stanzas from the nursery rhyme Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

The top of the quilt uses primarily batik fabrics - all 100% cotton, the back is composed of playful print of red ladybugs on a green leafy background - and bordered with black and white check fabric . The finished quilt measures 58"x50"

delectable mountains

2009-10-31T12:15:00.006-04:00

Yesterday I finished the quilt I've been working on for the last couple months. I can't recall exactly when I started the piecing of this quilt, but according to my last post I do know exactly when I started the quilting.
As you can see, the quilt is a big one - here it is displayed on a queen sized bed. A friend commissioned the quilt for her son who is getting married on November 7th. The wedding is taking place in Mexico where the couple is currently living.

The groom's family are all flying out to attend the wedding. I thought they were leaving today so I gave myself the deadline of having the quilt finished and ready for delivery for Friday morning and for all intents and purposes I had the quilt finished as of Wednesday night - a whole day early - woo hoo!!

The bottom border was already personalized with the bride and groom's names and the date of the wedding. On Thursday evening I learned my friends aren't leaving until a few days later - which was great news as it gave me the opportunity to add an excerpt from a prayer which was on the wedding invitation.
(the picture on the right shows Stella, the studio cat, I think she was endorsing the idea of adding the extra words as this was the first time she curled up on the quilt while I was working on it - perhaps she wanted to add some of her own special magic to the mix!)

So yesterday I added these words on the side borders:

To the heavens above. To the earth that we love
To that which we are, have been, and will be

.....a nice little prayer to sleep under.

The quilt is an adaptation of the traditional quilt pattern called delectable mountains. The quilt measures approximately 88" x 98" - it is machine pieced and hand quilted the fabrics and batting are cotton.

studio update

2009-09-27T10:27:00.004-04:00

Last week I finished the baby quilt that nfp ordered to give to one of their staff. The shower is coming up this week and the quilt was picked up last night. I look forward to hearing how how the expectant mom likes the quilt. This is the second child in the family, the first child was born just about two years ago and also received a magical mouse quilt. As I mentioned in the post for the "nesting village" quilt, the family is proud of their Ukrainian roots these roots are oncemore represented by squares of blue and yellow which symbolize the flag of the Ukraine.

This quilt I've called "the ladybug garden" - along the border of the quilt I've handstitched part of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem I used in the kitty cat garden:

kind hearts are the gardens
kind thoughts are the roots
kind words are the flowers
kind deeds are the fruit

I love the sentiment of the poem and I think it is a wonderful verse to be shared with children - and good thoughts to take to heart. I am pleased with the quilt it is sweet, bright and ever so cheerful! I almost forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt, there was barely enough light left in the sky last night to get a snap in - fortunately yesterday's rain paused long enough for the shot.

And YEAH I finished the top to the big project I'm working on. Yesterday I layered the quilt and last night I began the quilting. Now I am hopeful that the quilt will be finished in time, until I started the quilting I was a bit worried (let's hope I didn't jinx myself!). This is the largest quilt I have ever undertaken - right now the quilt measures 88"x 98" - which will comfortably fit a queen sized bed.

rings

2009-08-31T12:16:00.004-04:00

I recently finished another wedding wall-hanging. this one I gave to friends who were married on saturday - what a coincidence that the favorite colors for this couple is the same as the colors of the previous two sets of couples who received mouse studio wedding wall-hangings. what is it with red and blue?

this wall-hanging I retained the traditional log cabin block style of having a center square of a different color. added a bit of gold to this quilt to symbolize the gold matrimonial bands.

spring projects

2009-07-04T10:05:00.004-04:00

I have dropped the ball terribly in terms of maintaining this blog! so much for my new year's resolution to post something every month - I did say that, didn't I? oh well, I'm nothing if not consistent - this resolution, went the way most of my new year resolutions go - which is why I make a point of not making new year resolutions!

my lack of posting doesn't mean I haven't been completely unproductive. here are some snaps of three projects I completed since the last time I posted.

a baby quilt - an uncomplicated pattern, your basic many trips around the world. I like to make baby quilts that will be used -- which is why I tend prefer quilt designs that don't intimidate. I envision that a magical mouse baby quilt will be used (and abused) for years. all of the baby quilts I make are made with 100% cotton materials and completely machine washable. I love it when I see one of my baby quilts years later and it is ragged and threadbare - then I know it gave love and was loved.

the colors and material chosen for this quilt were chosen to represent the four classical elements - earth, water, air, and fire. encircling the blue border is an adaptation of a native american prayer. the words I have stitched on the border are:

Through the returning seasons may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.
In beauty may I walk.

last month our friends randeep and adam were married - to celebrate their union I made one of my tried and true wedding wall-hangings. the symbolism of the wall-hanging is obvious - the colors I choose for the rings represent the couples favorite colors. it is a coincidence that the last two wedding wall-hangings I have done have been for couples which favor red and blue - in fact, this quilt looks very much like the last one - the border fabrics are the same I used in this are the same as I used in that. I had just enough of both the multicolor border fabric for one more wall-hanging - which I think is great as I really like the fabrics.

also this spring I had an interesting project. it actually turned out much better than I anticipated for I had never attempted such a thing before. a friend asked me if I could make "a ham with legs" for him so he could give it to his girlfriend as a gift for mother's day. the back story is the girlfriend has a bulldog which they affectionately refer to as "a ham with legs" - he wanted to surprise his girlfriend with token of his affection for her and her dog.

unfortunately, there is a sad end to this story. the gift was a great sucess - my friend was pleased with how it turned out and his girlfriend, when presented with the gift was tickled and touched. but alas, the relationship did not last - a bit more than a month after he presented the ham to his girl, they broke up. I don't know what has or will happen to the stuffed ham....maybe the canine version of "the ham with legs" will get hold of it the stuffed one.

tick-tock

2009-02-28T17:46:00.012-05:00

last month I had the audacity to put forward a resolution that I would post at least once a month on this blog. at the time this seemed like a realistic goal; it's not like a month goes by without me working on something in the studio.

february hasn't been all that productive in terms of quilting projects despite piecing a large bed quilt (86x90) (at least this is large by my standards, I generally make wall-hangings, baby quilts, or lap-quilts) . I didn't have any pressing projects on the board, so I got it into my head to make a bed quilt for my daughter em. I made her a bed quilt in 1997 when she graduated from high school and it was very loved and very used and right now it is ....well in tatters...

the plan was to use the day of the dead fabrics that em bought a while ago. early on in the project I told her I was finally going to use the day of the dead fabric. told her my idea was to pull out the various colors that were in the main fabrics and just use stuff from my stash and have the quilt be somewhat scrappy. she was enthusiastic. early on, I asked if she would come up to the studio so she could see what the 'plan' was and how it was looking so far ....she replied, "no, I want to be surprised, I always like what you do"

famous last words.... both the accompanying fabrics and the pattern I selected for the quilt didn't pass muster! I learned em doesn't care for yellow/golds/brown..... or at least not to the extent I incorporated the colors into the piece and she also wasn't very keen on the pattern and thought the whole thing was just way too masculine looking....

investing a lot of time into a quilt that doesn't please the intended recipient kind of takes the wind out of one's sails.... but that's cool, this isn't the first time I made something that didn't work out...but the other times it was me that didn't like the product... and I know it won't be the last....unless I suddenly quit quilting and that's not gonna happen!

the quilt is so large I couldn't set it up in my normal spots....didn't quite fit on the studio felt wall and no way it could hang on the line outside. only thing I could think of was to put the top on a bed; well I learned that's a problem when there are animals around!

well, it does seem that all the animals really seem to like the quilt.... I do too....but as of now, the quilt will be set aside the back and the quilting will have to wait until I figure out its fate.... for now I think I'm going to play with a palette of bright batiks and start something nice and small....

catch up II

2009-01-26T16:32:00.007-05:00

well it hasn't been as long between posts as the last time I gave a studio update, but it's still been a while. on my list of resolutions for 2009 is to be a little bit more attentive to the magical mouse blog. one of the secrets for meeting goals is to set realistic goals -with respect to the magical mouse blog, my intention is to post once each month - if I post more frequently great, but again set realistic goals. I can feel good about meeting my resolution this month - hey I even have days to spare!

the first quilt I finished in the new year is a baby quilt which I am calling the kitty cat garden. I selected a broad assortment of both bright and softly colored fabrics. many of the fabrics feature veggies or whimsically themed prints.

lately I have gotten into stitching words on the borders of quilts. this quilt features several lines from a longfellow poem:

kind hearts are the gardens
kind thoughts are the roots
kind words are the flowers
kind deeds are the fruit

outside of this baby quilt most of the projects undertaken the last couple months have been little useful items which I made to give as holiday quilts - some of these projects include using tee shirts from last year's peace show to make a tote bags such as this one. unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the next peace show tote - it featured several improvements over this one as I learned much
the words on the back of the tee-shirt I used as a center panel in a pillow for a friend who just happened to win this quilt last year and has it hanging in his bedroom.
I also made a lot of these handy little cloth wallets:
a few placemat and napkin sets for various friends. nothing fancy, just useful items with fabric which reminded me of them.

one friend is a collector of day of the dead objects, so I thought this would go well

another friend has a fondness for the provence and the colors yellow and blue

catch up....not catsup!

2008-11-26T23:31:00.004-05:00

oh my! can it really be that the last time I put something up on the magical mouse was august?!

it's a bit of a rhetorical question. yes, it has been since august. I haven't been completely inactive in my world of 'playing with fabric' but for all sorts of reasons I've been a tad neglectful of maintaining the studio blog.

let me try and make right.

starting with my most recent, here are photos of the last three projects I completed with wee descriptions:

the quilt above I entitled 'may the circle be unbroken' - it is a wallhanging and was made to celebrate the upcoming union of two individuals. the center panel uses traditional log cabin blocks arranged to form two interlocking circles. the text around the center panel includes the following:

Our family is a circle of love and strength. Every joy shared adds joy. Every crisis faced makes us stronger. (note: I discovered I misspelled crisis prior to turning the quilt over to anne, who will be giving the quilt as a gift, I fixed the spelling after this photo was taken- however, I could have left the misspelling alone as fitting of the culture of imperfection consciously found amongst many tribes of quilters!)

the quilt measures 36" x 46" - it is machine pieced and hand quilted. the colors of the 'circles' represent the two favorite colors of the two individuals who are being wed.

another fishy quilt!! this was made especially for lil b's sister. this quilt measures approximately 48" x 58" - it is machine pieced and hand quilted. in addition to information about the baby, around the center on three sides of the border I stitched a fragment from the nursery rhyme 'I saw a ship a sailing'

this quilt was made for a friend to give to a friend of hers to celebrate the birth of a child. the child's mother is a podiatrist - hence the flip-flop fabric. I made this quilt while my 'good camera' was in the shop and while I was 'on the road' so the photo is not staged as is the norm. unfortunately I didn't write down the measurements of the quilt - it's my typical size for a baby quilt (which means it's similar in size to the fishy quilt above). time was of the essence to complete this quilt as my friend asked me to make the quilt after the baby had been born. the center of the quilt is hand-tied and only the borders are handquilted.

theme day: wing

2008-08-21T12:19:00.003-04:00

I made this quilt a few years ago for my friend j's daughter who was starting college far from home. a few years before this I made a wall hanging for j to celebrate her 50th birthday. j thought it would be nice if her daughter had a quilted wall hanging also to commemorate this rite of passage - leaving home and starting college. my friend is a wonderful parent and when she asked me to make a quilt for her daughter the first thing that came to mind is that saying about good parents give their children both roots and wings....

I thought wings and birds in flight was fittingly symbolic. I designed a quilt with 4 birds flying off in what I thought were the cardinal directions and the triangle border is the tradition flying geese pattern. the center is bordered with a fabric of more winged creatures - butterflies!

rainbow fish II

2008-08-11T13:02:00.004-04:00

the rainbow fish quilt is completed and ready for delivery! it's was quite fun to create. the quilt is machine pieced and hand-stitched. the center fish panel has stitching that resembles seaweed and along the border is a little fishy song (words below).

the overall quilt measure approximately 39" by 49" - there are three different size fishes in the quilt. for this quilt the squares were 3" 2 1/2 inches and 2" and half squares cut in a manner to have a finished square that corresponds.

the size of the fish can be customized depending on your overall plan. each fish is made of one square of fabric plus 3 squares of half triangles.

detail of quilt showing a peek at the back. the baby this quilt is for will be born in the chinese year of the rat (or mouse) so the middle starry panel is surrounded by two borders - one of small happy mice and a border of black and white check fabric.

the song - which can be sung to baby to the tune of "I'm a little teapot"

I'm a little fishy
watch me swim
Here is my tail
Here is my fin
When I want to have fun with my friends
I wiggle my tail an dive right in

rainbow fish

2008-07-31T09:36:00.004-04:00

during the summer life is so busy I don't have time to do much quilting. however I do have one fun project underway for a friend who has a friend who is expecting a baby this fall. during the interview with my friend where I try and learn a bit about the interests of the family who will be given the quilt, I found out that they were really into fish.

instead of using fabric with fish, I thought I'd make fish out of fabric. I'm calling this quilt "rainbow fish." right now I'm in the quilting stage of the project - I am currently handstitching an overlay of what I hope will appear to be seaweed over the center panel.

since this quilt will be presented to the expecting mother before the birth of her son, I won't have the particulars of name, date of birth, etc. to stitch on the quilt. instead I hope to find a nice children's rhyme or poem to stitch along the border instead. any suggestions?

right now I'm calling this quilt 'rainbow fish' - there is a very popular children's book by marc pfister entitled 'the rainbow fish' - in fact there seems to be a whole series of rainbow fish books!

the ladybug's garden

2008-07-05T09:12:00.002-04:00

it was fun to get back into the groove of playing with fabric by making this sweet little baby quilt. although I generally choose a more gender neutral palate I had a delightful time playing with all the pinks in this quilt - which is obviously for a little girl.

this quilt is much more consistent with the typical size for a baby quilt than the baby quilts I generally make (which tend to be larger so they can 'grow' with the child). this quilt measures approximately 37 inches by 47 inches. machine pieced, the center is hand tied and the border is hand stitched. stitching on the border includes the child's name and birthday, and a fragment of a nursery rhyme is stitched along the border.

lovely little ladybug, please watch over my garden and fill it up with love.

theme day: shoes!

2008-07-03T12:33:00.003-04:00

I've been terribly neglectful of the studio blog. of course in part it's because I really haven't been very busy in terms of quilting. however I am happy to report today I am finishing up my current project. I promise I will post pictures over the weekend. the project being finished is a baby quilt which I'm calling either "in the pink" or "ladybug's garden" and it has nothing to do with shoes so the pictures of the work and it's story will have to wait until another day.

reading portable hair dryer girl's post for theme day stimulated me to think about slippers. I am currently "between slippers" I think I will make my next pair of slippers.

I found a couple promising leads and thought I'd share theme in case anyone else is interested.

there's a review of this pattern book here along with a link on how to order the softie book - the review is positive and the pattern book seems reasonably priced. the book is published by timber lane press which has two other pattern books for making slippers.

then there's mention making of vintage scuffs on little grey bungalow's blog. I've never been to lgb before. given that I'm a self declared peacenik and 'shay' (the author of lgb) is a retired marine who expresses a love for military history, I don't know if we'd necessarily hit it off. but who knows? not all military or retired military people are aggressive and pro-war - in fact, I have some very, very close friends (not to mention family members) who are vets or currently active in the service and are anti-war and even if people are mislead and feel war or aggression is the answer I do love them anyway (who was that wise guy suggesting that we love everyone - even enemies?). anyhow, shay has some very neato stuff on her blog - most of it is retro stuff and I know I'll be going back for nibbles.

by the way shay also have links to the pattern to make these vintage scuffs. how cool is that.

orange you glad....

2008-06-05T11:13:00.005-04:00

aside from the laughter of children and the squeak of notch's wheel* the studio has been quite for the last several weeks. however, this weekend that's all about to change. more on that later.

in the meantime the magical mouse studio would like to join in the cyberhood's celebration of the most cheerful of colors for theme thursday - I'm sure I have some more orange bits buried in my scrap boxes, but who wants to go there! not I, not I.

*notch recently joined stella as one of the animal guardians of the studio.

where the wild things live

2008-04-20T14:44:00.005-04:00

the wild thing quilt was completed this week and ready to be picked up. yeah!! I hope the palette of colors isn't too wild...I'm finding it quite scrumptious!

I saved the celebration of dogs for the back of the quilt:

where the wild things are

2008-03-27T08:58:00.003-04:00

right after I finished the peace village quilt, I began another project this one also needed a quick turn around time. this quilt is being made for a baby that is due in late april. once again I choose a pattern based on the log cabin block.

in interviewing the woman who has commissioned the quilt I learned that the couple who will be receiving the quilt are nature and animal lovers, their home is decorated in warm, earth colors - oh, and they are mega dog lovers. they know the baby is a boy. I used this information as the building blocks for the quilt. for the top I choose a palate of colors that I consider earth colors, although I don't know if one would consider them warm as there's quite a bit of spark at play.

the blocks are scrappy (I think I might have used eight or ten different fabrics), however, the center of each block uses the same fabric - this fabric features images of woodland creatures. a fussy square showcasing an animal face is the center square for each block. repeating bands of color act as sashing strips combining the blocks.

on monday I layered the quilt and now am in the process of hand-stitching the layers. the blocks which measure 6 1/2 inches are a bit too big for tying, which I consider the quickest method of layer attachment. by the way, the fabrics I chose for the back address the love for dogs that the couple has - photos to come. when complete the quilt will measure approximately 52 inches square. I tend to make 'baby quilts' large enough to accompany the child as he or she grows and I prefer fabrics that aren't too babyish.

and the winner is!

2008-03-17T11:15:00.009-04:00

methinks p is deliriously happy to be the winner of the peace village quilt!! what say you?

detail of quilt - showing back of quilt

(don't forget you can click on pic to enlarge)

quite a show!

2008-03-17T11:11:00.002-04:00

a few of the highlights from sunday's visit to the 2008 quilt show at the metrolakes farmpark. very inspirational!!

peace village

2008-03-06T16:06:00.005-05:00

the current project underway is another village quilt- the basic block is done with strip piecing and turns out to be a simple and fast quilt to construct. seeing that I'm making this quilt to donate as the raffle prize for the FEDOPO fundraiser, that is going to be held on saturday march 15th, a quilt that is simple and fast is definitely in order!

yesterday I started hand-stitching the middle of the quilt. again the plan is for a simple and fast stitching pattern. along the black on the border will be words of peace.... such as 'give peace a chance' 'let there be peace on earth" "let peace begin with me" - whatever I can fit in.

if you click on photos you can enlarge the pictures and see the different fabrics a bit better. I found the peace crane fabric when I was down visiting my mom and dad - unfortunately I only bought one yard! my fabric purchase was determined literally by the amount of cash I had in my pocket at the time. maybe in may when I return they will still have some left. the fabric is by alexander henry; the date along the selvage is 2006 so I expect it's not around much. unfortunately, last month was the first time I ran across this fabric....ah so many fabrics so little money (and time to make use of all of them!) the fabric with people is the last of my 'save the children fabric' - I did buy many yards of this fabric when it came out a couple years ago and it has been incorporated in quite a few quilts.

speaking of fabrics, I had the most wonderful surprise in the mail a couple weeks ago. some friends of ours are currently living in new zealand (for a year - they better come back, although it does sound pretty wonderful down there, so one never knows). any way, they sent some fabric images inspired by maoir art (and sheep)..... can't wait to play with the fabric. perhaps there is a village in new zealand that will need to be constructed - with a few other fabrics, this group does seem like it would be good as the core fabrics for another cozy village quilt!

all around the world

2008-02-28T10:53:00.005-05:00

before I headed to d.c. last week I whipped together a baby quilt for a friend of mine to give to a friend of hers. the baby is expected to arrive any day now. I didn't have much time to make the quilt and my friend said a simple quilt was fine. she didn't want to go down empty handed and she thought it would be lovely to bring a magical mouse quilt along for the baby.

my friend's friend and her husband are world travelers so I thought an 'around the world' quilt would be perfect. I'm keen on having the quilts I make symbolically represent something about the people who will be cuddling or hanging the quilt - sometimes the symbols are in the design I settle on or the fabrics I choose for the project. most often theres a bit of symbolic 'thinking' in both the design and the fabrics.

we don't know whether the baby is a boy or girl - not that it matters, I'm always fond of bright, bold colors. however, if I know a baby is a girl I sometimes will incorporate a bit more feminine touches (ironic that I the queen of androgyny feels this way! but perhaps I'm being sensitive to prevailing notions and the dominant cultural paradigm) there are 16 fabrics used in this quilt. strip piecing makes this quilt a snap to construct. for this quilt each strip was 2 1/2 inches by 13 inches. finished block was 2 inch square. I had the top and the bottom both done in a day. it did take a couple more days to do all the finishing work.

stars heal

2008-02-15T09:52:00.005-05:00

yesterday the starry surprise quilt was mailed - I'm crossing my fingers that it arrives to its destination by saturday and finds the final recipient home from the hospital. if not it will be a most cuddly welcome home gift!

front: two traditional designs - friendship star and flying geese, each star block measures 6" square. top is composed of all batik fabrics

back: center fabric reproduction of fabric from the 1800s (pennsylvania)

detail: hand stitched and hand tied

helpers on a snow day

2008-02-12T09:16:00.002-05:00

yesterday ms t and dixie came over to hang out on ave c.

while sitting on the floor working a bit on starry surprise, first dixie then ms t were drawn to the project. funny, sitting there I felt like a quilting equivalent of a hopi storyteller figurine.

in a few years, I expect ms t will be able to handle the needle!

starry surprise

2008-02-07T13:51:00.000-05:00

I've returned to one of my favorite quilt patterns - the friendship star. this quilt I'm calling starry surprise as it will be given as a gift from one friend to another. the recipient will be very surprised. for now that is all I can tell regarding the story for this quilt. I don't know the person who will receive the quilt, at least not directly, I do know (s)he is fond of green and has seen my work and has wished for a mouse quilt to cuddle into.

the person who will be receiving the quilt has been ill for a while and fortunately word is will make a full recovery - but there still is a way to go. (s)he is currently in the hospital. my hope is to have the quilt finished in time for the trip home. there will still be a bit of healing and strength building to complete apres hospital. the friend of mine who is having me make this quilt for his/her friend says hopefully it won't be long. so I'm stitching away and sewing love and healing energy into each stitch and knot.

quilt top composed of all quilts. friendship star and flying geese. quilt measures approximately 50"x58" - all cotton materials.

I see with my little eye II

2008-01-26T18:34:00.000-05:00

yesterday I finished up the kaleidescope quilt which I'm calling I see with my little eye and as of this afternoon it has been signed, sealed and delivered. I think I made record time with this quilt and completed the project in ten days - of course I had terrific motivation with the fact that the child it is for decided to come 3 weeks early!

the finished quilt measures approximately 46 x 52 inches, center is hand-tied with floss, border stitched with the full name of the child the quilt welcomes along with the following verse: I spy with my little eye my mama and papa, and a world of love and wonder.

top batik fabrics, back 'juvenile jungle print, 100% cotton materials.

I see with my little eye

2008-01-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

the newest project currently underway is another 'welcome to the world' quilt. I finally broke away from the faithful friendship star pattern and am giving the kaleidescope a whirl!

like with most of my quilts, there's a story behind why I go off on a particular direction for a project - whether it's the pattern, the palette of colors, or the type of fabrics. for this quilt I chose the kaleidescope pattern because the mama of this particular baby is an ophthalmologist. I thought it would be fun to play around with a pattern that is actually based on an optical instrument! I chose bright batiks with colors spanning the rainbow. the baby that this quilt will be given to arrived last week - three weeks ahead of schedule! impatient to enter the world thus putting a little 'production' stress on the quiltmaker - that would be me. well, truth be told, I'm really not feeling stressed. the quilt is coming along nicely - next tasks in line - the borders and choosing fabrics for the back. things get done when they get done and not a second sooner.

blocks in progress.

detail of center of top. 6-inch block (finished)

twinkle, twinkle little star II

2008-01-08T16:47:00.000-05:00

here's a picture of another twinkle, twinkle little star quilt which I completed yesterday. I played around with the sizing of the blocks (increased each star by a third from the last star quilt I made) so I would have a quilt that was a larger. border hand stitched with the lyrics to twinkle, twinkle little star along 3 borders and the baby's name and date of birth along the fourth border.

each star block is a 9-inch block. overall size is approximately 52 x 52. top composed of batik fabrics. all materials 100%. center of quilt hand-tied.

above detail of quilt showing a bit of the back- back is blank & white and a red frame. there is a border past the red of black and white checkerboard fabric (not shown) .

although the pattern is the same, the color, scrappy-ness, and size of the blocks convey a totally different feel for me. I think I prefer the scrappier and smaller stars. what do you think?

twinkle, twinkle

2007-12-21T22:03:00.000-05:00

I've returned to one of my favorite patterns the friendship star. this adaptation I'm calling 'twinkle, twinkle little star" the words to this much loved children's song are hand stitched in the border encircling the center (which is hand tied). quilt measures approximately 40 x 50 - all cotton materials, cotton batting.

lullaby village

2007-12-05T18:30:00.001-05:00

generally I like to take pictures of finished quilts outside in the backyard, however winter has arrived and conditions aren't very conducive for my typical clothesline shots.

so here you go - ta da - a studio shot - literally!

although I haven't posted anything in over a month, it's not because I haven't been sewing and stitching away. well, maybe I haven't been too far away, but I am working on a few projects. there are babies happening out there and I'm doing my part to make sure that babies get a handmade quilt to help promote sweet dreams. and then there are some other life passage projects ongoing....

this quilt I'm calling the lullaby village. for the last quilt I hand stitched quotes about reading around the border. I kind of liked doing that and decided it would be fun to add words to my bag of tricks - this quilt has some lines from the well known lullaby hush little baby, don't say a word. this quilt was commissioned for a little boy who entered the world during november (we thought he was coming in december - whoops!) . well, he joined a very loving family and I'm sure he doesn't really care that his welcome to the world quilt was a bit late. the quilt is being given to him by his mother's cousin and her mother (don't ask me how to represent those kinship relationships in words!). I'm very happy to say that all three siblings in this family have magical mouse quilts to cuddle up with. at times tradition is a good thing.

this quilt is measured 52 x 52 and constructed of 100% natural materials

black & white & read all under update

2007-11-03T13:24:00.000-04:00

the quilt for 'the daily dose of reading' fete was handed off this morning. not a day too soon nor too late given that the event is happening this evening. hey, it would have been done earlier but I had one of those 'life gets in the way' last couple weeks.

I really liked the way the quilt turned out, however, I wish I had used black fabric for the borders as the quotes I wrote and stitched in red thread really looked dramatic on a black background. they got lost in the print.

but for the discerning eye there are two quotes to read, encircling the center.
"The pleasure of all reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books." (katherine mansfield quote)

"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry." (emily dickinson)

on the board next are a slew of baby quilts seems that there were quite a few romantic folks february through april of 2007! have another block for the safe motherhood project and some memory quilt work. it's going to be a busy fall and winter in the studio!

black & white & read all under

2007-10-13T08:52:00.000-04:00

a couple weeks ago I started work on a new quilt which will I'm giving to 'the daily dose of reading,' a local literacy organization. this quilt will be added to their stockpile of goodies that will be raffled or auctioned off during their annual benefit in november.

a couple months ago I had bought quite a few pieces of that new retro 'dick and jane' line. I thought I would do something fun with those fabrics. unfortunately despite being quite cute and whimsical the fabrics just didn't inspire my muse. I think it was the colors. they weren't what I was needing, I needed some type of spark.

funny that what I settled on creating is a quilt that primarily uses just black and white fabrics. but somehow this summer, when my friend susy asked if would make something for their fund raiser, the children's joke "what's black and white and read all over?" came into my head and wouldn't leave. I think that joke was my muse.

this is a pretty simple quilt to construct and put together. it's another variation of the log cabin block which seems to be the block that's been inspiring me for the last six months! I do tend to latch on a block or pattern and make a a bunch of quilts using that block or pattern until it exhausts my imagination.

so here is my quilter's take on that classic joke, but this time it is: what's black and white and read all under. the back of the quilt has a large center panel of red fabric and I bordered the back with some of the dick and jane fabric. so I did get it in after all! of course I do have about 6 fat quarters of other fabrics in the series - but I'm certain they will not go to waste! after all one of the rules of this quilter is waste not want not!

because speed is of the essence I'm simply tying the middle of the quilt and then will handquilt the border. I'm still debating the binding - I keep alternating between just plain red or black and white check or mixing black, white and red. knowing me and how I work, I won't settle on that decision until the attachment process is all done, the excess batting is trimmed and I can play around and see what looks best. the finished quilt will measure approximately 50" x 64"

I apologize for the top picture it was a very, very gray day when I took it and well it's just not as sparkly as I'd like. hopefully when the final picture is to be taken it will be a sunny day!

nesting village

2007-09-28T08:35:00.000-04:00

last weekend I finally finished the quilt entitled "nesting village" - I include a card when I deliver the quilt.

This quilt is an adaptation of the traditional “log cabin” design. This handmade quilt was created to welcome and celebrate the birth of Natalia’s and John’s child. The quilt was commissioned by friends & co-workers from Neighborhood Family Practice.

The quiltmaker, aware of Natalia and John’s connection to their Ukrainian roots, has incorporated fabrics and colors which evoke this rich cultural heritage.

Made with “mouse magic” and 100% natural materials, this quilt is guaranteed to stimulate sweet dreams and provide comfort and protection to all sentient beings that cuddle underneath.

To care for the quilt: machine wash in cold or warm water on gentle cycle and tumble dry on low heat.

a nesting village

2007-08-31T13:00:00.000-04:00

I've just finished up the top for another baby quilt and am now happily at work quilting the layers together. I returned to my 'new favorite' pattern - the adaptation of the good old log cabin or 'the village' pattern. I first used this adaptation in april for the 'it takes a village' quilt and then again in june for 'tweet, tweet, meow, meow." however, for this quilt I've moved away from the pastels I used in tweet meow and have returned to the stronger, brighter color palette that I enjoy.

when I make a quilt for someone I like to gather information about what the person or the family is like and what their interests are. this baby quilt will be given as a shower gift from some colleagues at the future mother's workplace. I interviewed the person who is closest to the new mama to tell me a bit about the family - what I learned was that the new mama and papa do not want to know the sex of the baby they want to be surprised; they are very proud and connected to their ukrainian roots and they like bright colors. that was all....but with a little magic (I hope) enough.

I did a bit of research about the urkraine and also relied on my own understanding of the traditions of the region. I hope that my interpretations are good, the 'symbols' fun and there is nothing amiss! of course I had to add a bit of my new mouse fabric....which I now realize I'm running out of - best go stock up on it before it becomes out of print! eek!
insert flag of the ukraine

remembering mothers

2007-08-30T16:47:00.000-04:00

last week I finally finished my block for the project to help raise awareness on maternal mortality which I discussed a while back on my main blog- mouse medicine. I received an email earlier today from ina may, the midwife who started the project I'm happy to report that she is very pleased with the block and asked if I'd be interested in doing another. answer: enthusiastic YES! unfortunately, I'm not as pleased as ina may with this block, in my dash to get the block done, I didn't read the instructions carefully - what was in my mind was a block 16"x12" and I didn't see I was supposed to have a 1" margin all around! so there I was all done and I had to go back and tweak my design - and the block shown here is the result of the tweaking. ah, much wisdom in the sampler adage 'haste makes waste'....

I used gold metallic threat to stitch the name, date and place of the woman for whom this block is commemorating, unfortunately it doesn't show up very well in the photograph. the woman who died first name was rose (hence the rose fabrics in the shoofly blocks) and her last name was church. I did not have much biographical information on the woman and the only thing I learned was she died a week or so after giving birth to her daughter from a childbirth-related complication that her husband believed was avoidable. so sad and tragic.

it was an honor to participate in this very important project and I urge others to join the effort. please visit ina may's safe motherhood quilt project site for more information. I look forward to continuing to contribute towards this important educational activity.

raindrops and whiskers...

2007-08-09T15:21:00.000-04:00

the finished quilt top.

one of my quilt projects has been working with a wonderful group of people from an area nursing home. a friend of mine is a physician at the facility and during a visit to a facility out of state he learned about a ceremony of closure and affirmation that this facility conducts after one of it's residents passes on. he came back to cleveland filled with a desire to start something similar at the facility where he works. up until then this nursing facility was not doing anything special in the event of a resident's death. my friend p is part of a committee at the nursing home to help enhance the sense of community at the facility. he thought this committee was a natural place to introduce this idea of his and see if he could generate some interest among his colleagues. needless to say everyone thought it was a terrific idea.

early this year p asked if I was interested in helping out on a project to develop a ceremony or 'rite of passage' in the event of someone's death. p knew I was very familiar with the nursing home since before I said adios to 'working for the man' I worked at the hospital that the nursing home is part of. one aspect of my job entailed coordinating and supervising the resident physicians educational experiences at the facility (I was also was quite fond of joining in during the holiday caroling. in fact for years I've felt that I was part of the nursing home family). p thought my background with the place and the fact that I'm a quilter and an applied sociologist would make me a good resource for the group. when he asked if I would be interested in helping out, I leaped at invitation.

in january I began to meet with the committee. over the course of a couple months we met. I discussed some fundamentals about quilting and also shared what the overall goal was for the quilt. we developed a basic plan. the group decided that since no one had any sewing experience we would choose a very simple quilt design. the group wanted to make a quilt that had some meaning for the people who lived and worked at the facility. one aspect of our plan was that the staff would survey the residents regarding 'their favorite things,' after the results were tabulated and analyzed the staff would scour fabric shops for remnants which captured and represented these things or concepts.

once the design was decided on and the fabrics gathered the committee met one saturday morning in march and had a sew-a-thon. we set up the main activity room as a work room. several sewing machines were brought in along with an ironing board, and cutting tools. I gave instructions on using the rotary cutter and the importance of making sure everything was cut uniformly and seams were consistent and even when it came time to start constructing the blocks. after the blocks were made, I volunteered to bring the blocks home. the plan was that I would sew all the blocks together with simple sashing strips. unfortunately things don't always go according to plans! oh well, that is life! as my friends and family can attest one of my favorite sayings has long been "adapt or die" - simple as I thought the blocks would be to construct they were not uniform. while the goal was to have a simple square inside four triangles of equal size, I found I was faced with having blocks that neither had uniform squares inside nor were these squares (or rectangles) surrounded by equal triangles. out went the idea of sewing the blocks together with sashing strips!

however things were far from lost. the goal of course was the same - I just had to come up with a plan to have the final blocks be of uniform size and sew them all together. having just finished a few quilts that were informed by the very traditional log cabin design I decided that sewing together two 'frames' around the slightly askew blocks would work. in addition to the 'favorite thing' fabrics the committee had settled on three colors to be used in the quilt, the colors are the colors of the larger institution that the nursing home is part of. unfortunately each block had to be customized and hence the putting together the top took me a great deal longer than I had initially anticipated.

with traveling, my work, and summer all 'getting in the way' I must say it was late july before I had the quilt top finished. and because of summer I haven't been back to meet with the committee to tell them what I had to do. I did get word to my friend p and told him I had to modify the initial plan in other words I had to adapt or the quilt would die.

the group after our saturday sew-a-thon!

one member of the group providing a little sewing instruction.

detail of blocks - one friend remarked it's evocative of the gee's bend quilts. wow that's pretty far out!

eek a mouse!

2007-07-19T16:12:00.001-04:00

between our travels and the usual summer craziness it has taken me a looong time to finish the simplest of projects. a while back I posted a bit about a simple 9-patch quilt I whipped up using scraps - here it is 2 months later and it's finally ready to give to baby soren!

you can't get more simple than this quilt, but its riot of colors will make it a great quilt for playing finding games. although I give my husband a lot of grief about being a pack-rat, I admit when it comes to fabric scraps I am an incorrigible hoarder (my mouse nature?). however, this baby quilt shows that holding on to small scraps can pay off down the road!

I had to highlight the delightful fabrics I used on the back. like the front, the back is also very simple - a large center piece of cat paw fabric, bordered by the sweetest mouse fabric --both prints are rjr fabrics from it's line called 'cat's meow'. seeing how much I just love this mice fabric I probably stock up on it as it could be a signature fabric to be used in baby quilts!
speaking of signatures..... thought I'd share how I 'sign' my quilts - I sew on a little magical mouse - near the mouse I stitch my initials and the year the quilt was made.
ms. t enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with soren's quilt while it was hanging for its photos.

tweet, tweet, meow, meow

2007-06-22T15:21:00.000-04:00

in spite the abundance of pinks and pastels I'm quite fond of the latest.
overall dimensions 42" x 42" all cotton materials; machine stitched, hand quilted

detail
back of quilt - birds and veggies border the back

healing quilt cycle

2007-06-14T16:58:00.000-04:00

this week I finally finished the fourth quilt in the 'cycle' of healing quilts I am making for some of the loved ones richard left behind. artistically speaking I can't say the quilt will rock anyone's world. but the fact that it is composed of the knit- shirts that richard lived in and favored and many of the squares showcase emblems, places and activities in which richard was involved I know that the quilt is one which will evoke fond memories. if in these memories the family finds a little comfort then the quilt - simple as it is artistically and design-wise - will be a family heirloom and therefore a masterpiece.

I'm anxious to start cutting up fabrics for a new project (always my favorite part of making a quilt) but I still have the two baby quilts that are waiting to be completed. my motto these days is 'I should be stitching' but unfortunately there is a conspiracy against me in both the travel and weather departments this month. so far I wandered off to new england for nearly a week and in less than two weeks I will be heading out again - this time to the land of longhorns, longnecks, and lousy-politicians ('home' of that is). weather-wise it's been glorious - geez, I hope I haven't jinxed things by saying that - but blue skies and beaconing garden beds are often hard to resist!

pretty in pink

2007-05-23T11:45:00.000-04:00

last night I finished piecing the top for my next baby quilt project - I was so excited about seeing how all the fabrics would work together and talk to one another I think I set a piecing record. although this not my 'typical' palette of colors (for baby quilts I lean toward using bright bold colors not pastels) I just love the way it turned out. when I interviewed my friend who 'commissioned' the quilt to give to her cousin living in the midwest with her family, she said the baby was a girl and they had a pink 'theme' going. the family I learned are into 'cats' 'farming' and flowers. I thought cool - let's see where I can go with this info - my first thought was that I'd go with the farm/veggie theme and probably downplay the pink bit not to be one to encourage gender typing.....

unfortunately when I went out on saturday to find interesting fabrics with vegetables and farm animals on them I struck out. I can't believe how just a few years ago cute veggie fabrics seemed to be quite the rage and I used quite a bit of bright, bold veggie fabric in various baby quilts over a period of time. unfortunately I only have a few scraps of those bright vegetable themed fabrics left in my stash. okay, I'm adaptable, since the baby is actually scheduled to come into the world this week, I didn't want to wait and wage an internet hunt for fabrics with veggies on it. and as far as farm animals I didn't find anything that 'floated my boat' but luckily I have some cute fabric with chicks on it so at least I could put in a token farm animal into the quilt.

I really liked the quilt I recently made which I called 'it takes a village' and decided to adapt that basic block for this project as it was a rather easy and quick to construct since time is of the essence. for the back I'm planning on going bold. more to come on the back when I get it together....

quilt details: 6-inch blocks; 2-inch wide sashing; overall 42 x 42 without binding.

(remember you can click on the pictures to enlarge)

studio update

2007-05-20T17:01:00.000-04:00

most of my quilting activity of late as been directed towards working to finish up the quilt for richard's mother. I've spent most of my 'quilting time' the last couple weeks with the hoop stitching between the blocks and outlining the colorful squares on the border. the thickness of the quilt directs a somewhat minimal approach. I put the binding on the quilt this morning and started marking the border's open areas with biographical and memorial words - dates, names of family members, birthplace, etc. I've been accompanied during much of this handwork by the critters in the family - why is it when I have a quilt on my lap, they always want to get into the action? the kitties like to burrow between the hoop and my lap. even dixie, em's dog, wants to get into the act when she comes over - thank goodness she's content with just inspecting my progress and doesn't try to burrow under the hoop like the cats do. knowing dixie she just wants to make sure I'm not hiding food under the quilt. alas, I'm such a slow quilter I'm behind in making my 'self-imposed' deadline of 15 may - maybe it will be finished by 31 may - but as I'm fond of saying it will be done when it's done and not a moment sooner!

there are a couple babies on the way so this last week I had to start cranking up the activity on two baby quilts which are on 'the board.' one quilt will be given to a friend of emma, m and her family have become part of our 'fictive family' over the last few years; the other quilt is a commissioned project. both of these babies will be the second child in their respective families, and both will have big sisters who were welcomed with my quilts when they were born! I raided my scrap stash whipped up a very easy quilt for little soren (the name of emma's friends' son - great name!) the quilt is a riot of color and features fabrics from lots of previous baby quilts. a sneak preview of soren's quilt. I expect soren's big sister will have fun finding and identifying all the critters and objects in the quilt until soren is old enough to do it himself.
earlier this week I learned that the baby for the commissioned project will be entering the world much earlier than the date on the board. in fact, the induction is scheduled for may 25th - which is a month sooner than the 'due date' I had down. oh well - it will get done, when it's done and not a moment sooner! but the new knowledge did kick me into action and this weekend I've devoted some time towards working on it. yesterday I hit abigayles for a few new fabrics (who am I kidding? it's been a while since I replenished my fabric stash and I confess I got a few more than a few new fabrics - there's so many new cute fabrics out there!). with a new group of fabrics to inspire me, I started working on a basic plan and this afternoon I started cutting up fabric and sewing together some blocks. although I have a basic plan, I expect there will be significant going with the flow as I see how the fabrics work with each other.

black batting

2007-05-03T08:46:00.000-04:00

I started quilting richard's mother's quilt yesterday. yeah for black batting - no migration! I'm quite disappointed that joann fabrics (which is walking distance) no longer carries black batting! on monday, I let my fingers do the 'shopping' first called abigayle's (my favorite quilt shop in the area) and yes, they had black batting in stock. since feagin works just one town over from abigayle's my next call was to him to see if he would drop by the shop one day this week on his way home! fortunately he dropped by that very evening! most fortuitous as there was someone there - feagin got there a few minutes before 6, contrary to an old business card which listed 6 o'clock they actually close at 5 everyday but thursday! (okay, you might wonder why I'm excited about this mundane event - other than it's probably my nature to be happy over little things, I love when things work out better than expected. I always need to find creative approaches to errands as I live without a car. backstory: when my ol' car [literally it was 14 and a few miles shy of 200,000] died over a year ago and I decided the best thing I could do for the planet was to not replace it! I get by quite well by walking, using public transportation, or if I really need one borrowing a car. one of these days I'll add to my transportation options when I get it together and to tune-up my ol' bike!)

the way things are going I'm hopeful I will make my self imposed deadline of having this quilt done by mid-may. tuesday I pieced and added the border, and before little tasha arrived for the afternoon, I was able to layer the quilt and get started on the quilting. I forgot how heavy these knit shirt quilts are; the knit fabric is heavier than regular cotton fabric and the woven interfacing adds another layer. since my general quilting technique is to use a lap hoop (making me & my projects portable) it's good that it's not summer!

thursdays are generally a 'kid day'(when tasha comes over) but poor little thing was feeling punky (or should I say pukey!) yesterday. suspicious that she might have an ear infection t's mama took her to get her ears checked this morning; and yes they were (given that t's mama is a doctor I was pretty confident that she was calling it correctly!) although I'm disappointed that tasha & I are missing our thursday morning program at the library and I won't have excuse to spend the day at the park or strolling about the city, I now have a big block of time to stitch away. I'm three discs into a 12 disc audio book - now to move the cd player out to the porch and I'll be all set!

studio update

2007-04-28T09:08:00.000-04:00

the 'it takes a village quilt' was delivered this week! the only problem I encountered was with the migration of batting fibers during the quilting process. it really is only a problem when I use a lot of black fabrics in a quilt. I flaked as I should have anticipated the problem. unfortunately, I'm finding it more and more difficult to find black batting - last I needed it, I was able to get it at the local joann's but the last time I tried they were out and it didn't sound as if they were going to stock it anymore. time to call the fancy quilt shop and see if they carry it, if not thank goodness for internet shopping.

last friday I began work on the 'healing quilt' for richard's mother. preparing the fabric is quite a process as once again I am using the knit shirts that richard loved wearing. the first step with working with knit fabrics is to stabilize the fabric with a woven interfacing - that means lots of time at the ironing board! this extra layer makes for a sturdy and warm finished product. the quilt for richard's mom will be similar to the ones that I made for his daughters. the blocks will be sashed together with black fabric and if I have time today I will start sashing the blocks together. the finished blocks will be 5.5 inches square.

another project for the weekend is to find black batting - lesson learned from the last quilt completed!

similar to previous three 'healing quilts' I intend to border the pieced center with a mix of a pieced border and expanses of plain black fabric which will serve as a slate, so to speak. I will hand quilt various bits of information about richard and his life. since this quilt is for his mother I think I might include the names of various members of the family - parents, sisters, wife, daughters - a somewhat abbreviated family tree.

village blocks

2007-04-06T08:23:00.000-04:00

the 'it takes a village' quilt is coming along nicely. it is composed of quite a few different fabrics - three or four of the fabrics are from my 'africa stash' just waiting for the right project (ironically, the light fabric with the dancing figures is not from my africa stash but rather from the local joann fabrics!) - I'm currently at the 'attachment' stage - which includes handquilting in the middle of the black 'logs.'

after the middle is done I thought I'd stitch along the borders several proverbs from around the world including "the house of the heart is never full" and "it takes a village to raise a child." in researching the origin of the second oft-used proverb, I ran across the following, all some variation of 'it takes a village':

In Lunyoro (Banyoro) there is a proverb that says "Omwana takulila nju emoi," whose literal translation is "A child does not grow up only in a single home."

In Kihaya (Bahaya) there is a saying, "Omwana taba womoi," which translates as "A child belongs not to one parent or home."

In Kijita (Wajita) there is a proverb which says "Omwana ni wa bhone," meaning regardless of a child's biological parent(s) its upbringing belongs to the community.

back to work!

2007-04-04T07:59:00.000-04:00

working title: "it takes a village"
block is an adaptation of log cabin - the inspiration for this quilt came from the book Quilt Inspirations from Africa : A Caravan of Ideas, Patterns, Motifs, and Techniques by England and Johnson

after almost two weeks away I'm getting back to work in the studio. finished one of the two baby quilts I had on the 'front burners' and yesterday finished the top of the other. I finally broke away from my start rut!

starry dreams - baby quilt (47X57) completed 4.3.07

Caribbean Star - donated to FEDOPO on 3.3.07

current projects

2007-03-13T13:02:00.000-04:00

I'm directing my quilting energies primarily on two projects these days (3 if you count a project underway at one of the local nursing homes with a group on non-quilters - when I get back from my trip I will share the story behind this project - it's quite wonderful!)

some might say I'm in a star rut - my last completed quilt was the star wallhanging I donated to FEDOPO for our annual fundraiser. anyhow I just loved the way it turned out I thought I'd use the same basic design for a baby quilt I have to do. the stars are bigger than the one in the wallhanging so the overall measurements are also larger - I expect when finished it will be 48x57 inches. the other project underway is also a baby quilt - but right now I'm at the stage of piling up possible fabrics - unlike my last few quilts which have all been made from those glorious batik fabrics, this quilt will primarily be constructed using some of the fabrics in my african fabric stash! needless-to-say I'm very excited about this project!

a place to see my quilts

2007-03-13T12:07:00.000-04:00

I enjoy working with individuals who wish to celebrate, honor, or commemorate a special occassion with a custom crafted quilt or wall hanging. I specialize in contemporary interpretations of traditional quilts. I've created a new 'mouse hole' where I can post pictures and descriptions of my past current and future projects. I welcome feedback from my fellow quilters and also folks who might be interested in talking about a future project.

below some random pictures of past projects

lone star pattern - six constellations which are often found in our winter sky circle the primary pieced star of the quilt. machine pieced & hand quilted