... finishing what i started

especially long-forgotten projects. like this quilt i started for my to-be-nephew last year and never finished. until a spurt of energy overcame me last week and i managed to make the quilt back, baste it, quilt it, and bind it in just a few days.

it makes me wonder why i put it off for so long, when it was so simple to finish.



actually, i couldn't decide on a backing for the longest time, until i finally saw this anna maria horner folksy flannel (diamond mine in grass) and decided it was perfect. i wanted something equally bright that would highlight the diagonal quilting. yay for yellow!



i bound it in a simple grey polka dot to restrain the brightness just a little. i like it very much.

the quilt is 48"x48" and is made of half-square triangles with a variety of fabrics from my stash. the white is robert kaufman essex linen/cotton blend. this little quilt will soon be zooming through the skies to my nephew in toronto who is, hopefully, not too big for it now.

... the little things

whew! at last, i'm coming out of a several-day funk. i think the combination of pregnancy hormones + the final episode of big love + bad news about a good friend + the most unrelentingly painful acid reflux = extreme weepiness for two days straight. but now that i think i've put my finger on the cause of the reflux (sugar is my worst enemy... good news/bad news, right?) and finally got a really good night's sleep, and seattle's beautiful spring weather showed its pretty face today... well, i woke up a changed woman. and it's the simple things that are delighting me.



like a posy of cheery ranunculus on the dining room table. i just can't get enough ranunculus.



or a flannel and cotton lawn receiving blanket i whipped up for my little snowdrop. (i still want to make more of these.)



or a stack of new fabrics delivered to my mailbox fresh from hawthorne threads. i probably don't need any more fabric, but a sad girl's gotta do whatever she can to cheer herself up, right?

yup, things are looking up.

... pieced party napkins

my party napkins quilt top is finally finished. whew!



thankfully, i am still in love with it. though i am stumped as to what to do with the back. my heart is telling me to stick with all solids, but my head wants to add in a print. or maybe it's vice versa. honestly, i can't tell which body part is talking anymore.



and monday brought an early spring trip up to swanson's to see what's going on in the plant world. this table of ranunculus was so lovely, with the most beautiful, electric, saturated colors. needless to say, we brought some home to brighten up our porch.

... my new sewing space

remember this train-wreck of a room:



yeah, that one. with the box spring and the willy nilly stacks of fabric and the sad strips of fleece that served as my "design wall"?

well, now it finally looks like this:



yay! double yay! ok, triple yay!



three things happened to make this all possible. the first is that i finally got rid of that box spring by posting it for free on craigslist. and some sucker wonderful person came to take it away. the second is that i managed to get some shelves up on the wall to hold my fabric and supplies. the third is that i made a mini design wall on the facing wall, which is actually quite functional and is really serving me well.

why don't you join me on a tour?

















it's not perfect, but it's pretty darn great. sewing in there this afternoon was such a pleasure. the light coming in from the window that is no longer blocked by a giant mattress is truly refreshing. and the fact that most everything has a place pleases me to no end.

and just getting something done and checking it off my list is a satisfying feeling.

... winning

hey, i'm only human. i like winning as much as the next gal. so i was pretty delighted to win rachel's february round of her blogger's pillow party. especially since there were so many amazing pillows this month. and also since rita of red pepper quilts chose my pillow as the winner! rita's was one of the first blogs i discovered when i first stumbled into the world of modern quilting, and i've always found her sense of color and way with pattern so inspiring. so thank you, rita! and thank you, rachel for hosting this little pillow party! there's still time for you to enter the march round... so what are you waiting for?



my prize was this super generous fat quarter bundle of tanya whelan's delilah range, donated by randi at fresh squeezed fabrics. wow, thanks randi! while these colors aren't my usual cup of tea, i'm still totally charmed by these fabrics. i think they're calling out to be made into an old-fashioned patchwork quilt for a little one, no? maybe even a tied quilt?

ooh, now i'm feeling inspired!