starry surprise

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!