Teaser

More birthday sewing planned.....

Frames

Despite the lag time on the post, I did meet my goal of finishing all of the blocks last week.

I really love the gray window frames against the Heather Ross fabric. I probably should have spent a little more time laying out the blocks before sewing them together as some of the blocks have repeat window fabric within the block, but I think that when you look at the quilt as a whole you won't really notice.

Now to make rows, and add boarders.

In like a lion

Spring has sprung around here. We got a false start in March with a balmy week but it cooled back off and is slowly ping ponging it's way back to spring temperatures. Tuesday it was 90, Wednesday it was 60 and today was a pleasant 75. N and I explored the backyard a little and found some nice green (and pink!) items.

All piled up

Knowing that I have a limited number of FQ for N's quilt made finding a pattern a lot easier. Since I'm pretty new to quilting I'm starting out small and have loved using Elizabeth Hartman's basic book - The Practical Guide to Patchwork for information up to this point. 

I love her pattern for the Kitchen Window quilt. The squares are big enough that you can still see a good amount of the fabric and I like how they are framed to really show it off. It's modern but still looks a little traditional with having square blocks.

Kitchen Window details and what the back should look like

She recommends separating all of the fabric for each block on a card so that it is easy to see and it's all together.  I can't imaging how time consuming cutting is for a larger quilt. This is only going to be a throw size, maybe big enough to go over a twin sized bed (but not actually the size of a twin size sheet). I like the idea of making cards for each block. They will be easier to work now that everything has been separated out so that they can be sewn together without having to look for the needed pieces.

Twelve blocks total - three blocks a day, four rows, should be done by the end of the week. Well that's the goal at least; I am home with N by myself this week so free time is a bit sparse.

Seahorses

N is turning one in a little less than two months. It's crazy and surreal for C and I; but for her, honestly, it's just another day. One year old's don't really get birthday's. I've made her a few summer dresses, but I wanted to try something big for her birthday, something that she will have when she's eleven, or twenty-one, or thirty-one.

I managed to eek together six fat quarters of Heather Ross's discontinued Mendocino fabric while I was still pregnant. I knew that if I didn't have a girl I would find some other wonderful use for them but when N was born I knew that some day she would have a lovely quilt. It seems like her first birthday is a good reason.

I love this fabric in so many ways. How it's girly without bright pink but uses orange, blush and brown. I adore that there are seahorses; seahorses are such a peculiar and intricate creature. But one of the biggest things about Heather Ross's fabric's is that in a lot of ways it's timeless. Norah will love it as a little girl, there are mermaids, most little girls I've met like mermaids. I love it as an adult because it's cute without having cartoons or primary colors.

Two months to go, looks like I need to start cutting.

Throwing it out there

The first entry in the blog world is kind of like starting a new journal, feels very permanent, defining and important. Of course in reality it isn't, it will eventually get passed over, or in this case scrolled down.

I've been inspired in the last year by so many wonderful blogs. Mostly women, but men as well, who are creating lovely, thoughtful, items while at the same time writing about the intersections of their lives with the handmade. It's lofty of me to think that sending my own little writing out into the big internet cosmos will have the same impact on someone else that other blogs have on me - but that's the whole point isn't it?

Throw your 

dreams into space

like a kite,

and you do not

know what it

will bring back,

a new life,

a new friend,

a new love,

a new country.

-Anais Nin

So here I am, throwing. Throwing out what inspires me, moves me. Throwing out what I make and do. Hoping that it might inspire and move you.