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During the mandatory California order to shelter in place, all shipments are on hold until further notice.
During the mandatory California order to shelter in place, all shipments are on hold until further notice.
How I'm feeling:
Better...again. Last update I was recovering from a terrible cold and this month I’m recovering from weeks with vertigo. Have any of you ever experienced vertigo? What started with a feeling of dizziness and nausea led to a trip to ER for numerous tests and prescriptions, physical therapy, eye exercises and chiropractic adjustments. I’m still not 100%, but functioning almost normally.
What I'm up to:
One of the benefits of vertigo, at least the type I was experiencing, was that I was stuck at home since I couldn’t drive. This meant a LOT of time for sewing. I continue to be part of the Color Collective group hosted by Sewtopia with patterns and lessons by Tara Faughnan. This month’s pattern was a lone star block. Inspired by a quilt I saw in Oh, Scrap I made a test block in shades of pink, hopefully leading to a new quilt for my daughter’s big girl bed. This is such a technical block, I have a lot to work on when it comes to the ‘y’ seams in particular, but I was quite happy with how the points matched up.
I’ve also been sewing several of the Tall Tales paper pieced blocks. This is a free pattern by Kate Basti and it is a super quick and fun block. I think I’ve said it before, but I really enjoy paper piecing, especially when it also allows you the opportunity to play with different color combinations as well as novelty fabrics. How perfect are those Alice in Wonderland fabrics and the "oink oink" prints?!
Barn Block latest:
We’re settling in to our new warehouse and getting things all set up. Last year I asked you in my Instagram stories if you’d be interested in purchasing slightly blemished blocks at a discounted price and you responding with a clear “yes”! Now that our warehouse and shipping is local to me, I hope to put that idea in motion soon.
Have you ever seen of our block designs and thought “I’d like to sew that block in a REAL quilt?” I most certainly have (and I did make a sampler style quilt last year for Quiltcon). This month I made an entire quilt top using of our newest designs, “Cruz”. Determined to get this quilt top completed while our daffodils were in bloom, I powered through and got it done. It wasn’t until I photographed the quilt next to my barn block that I realized it wasn’t an exact match (palm, forehead), but I still think it’s a fun companion to the block. If you look for a moment you'll see that the Barn Block does not include gray (perhaps that was an earlier test version I was looking at) and it has the darker teal green in each side. Nooo!!! Let's just call it a "design choice" and move on, shall we?
My idea was to put this top together and share with you the pattern and techniques so that you could make a matching block as well. There are several skill building components in this design that I think make great practice. Flying geese, nesting seams, and half-square triangles all come together in this block. I’m also a fan of the secondary patterns that stand out once the blocks all come together.
(More) Under the needle:
Last week I attended my local Sew and Quilt fair. It wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but my daughter fell in love with a minky unicorn quilt kit that she talked grandma in to buying for her. The sewing part fell to me, and I grudgingly - lovingly - sewed it together. Anyone else have a love/hate relationship with minky? Such a mess, but for littles, it’s what every quilt should feel like. Here's a link to the Sew and Flip method that I used for the first time. If you're going to sew with minky, I'd recommend it for ease and it takes care of the piecing and quilting in one quick step.
After reigniting my love for paper piecing with the Tall Tales blocks, I designed a sampler quilt on Electric Quilt using blocks and symbols that evoke feelings and memories of the preschool that my children have attended for the past 5 years. This is our last year at the school and I realized I never made a quilt for the school! So far I’ve made an apple block, a hammer, colored pencils and a tricycle with many more fun blocks to follow. Do you have a favorite school related block?
I’ve started to keep a calendar out on top of my sewing table to help me set goals and keep track of my WIPs. It helped me complete my Cruz top and my lone star practice block. Now I need to finish adding the borders to my Tall Tales blocks to put that top together. Do you have a method for keeping yourself on task and on schedule?
Other Stuff I love:
The Selection by Kiera Cass (as well as the Elite and The One, books 2 and 3 of the trilogy). I LOVED these books (recommended by Young House Love) and couldn’t put them down. It’s the Bachelor meets Hunger Games and I was hooked from the start.
Baking. My almost 5 year old daughter has fallen deep in love with Kids Baking Championship on Food Network (with past seasons also on Hulu). Nearly everyday we're attempting a new baking challenge. Everything from puzzle sugar cookies, to red velvet cupcakes to rainbow sliced sugar cookies and mint brownies. They're delicious, but what do I do with all of them so we don't turn into giant mounds of flour, butter and sugar ourselves?!
My current Netflix show is Working Moms. At first I wrote off this series as the previews came across as cliche, but now that I’m a few episodes in, I’m totally rooting for the moms and want to see them all find happiness. Any recommendations for what Netflix show to watch next?
I hope that you are enjoying a nice start to the Spring season. Thanks for following along with our blog.
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