A Perfect Sewing day to cherish !!!!!!!!!

There are those days that we just need to cherish ... where life is just so sweet! After a quick walk this morning, listening to the birds and watching the geese fly over head (have you ever noticed how the shape of the formation is always changing...how do they not fly into each other?) I spent the day sewing away. I uncovered this project during my cleaning frenzy yesterday. Every Blue and Yellow quilt I've ever made I've given away. So, when I fell in love with these fabrics last spring, I decided to make the pattern just as the display quilt was made...which is very unusual for me. But it was a mindless kind of fun...no decisions to make...no trial and error...just a quick fresh spring project! The pattern is Saratoga Star by Touchwood designs (touchwoodquilts.com) and fabrics from the LakeHouse line. All of the three different blocks are completed and are now ready to be joined and borders added later this week.

As I watched two movies today, I enjoyed tea in my new cup! Last week at Guild, I won an incredible basket full of goodies, including this cup, a wonderful sugar tong and jasmine tea--my favorite!! I even made it through a movie that included someone losing their spouse, without it taking my emotions for a run. Having spent many years with him so ill, having a day to just sew and watch it rain made this day even more special. So often we take these simple pleasures for granted and miss out on the opportunity to fully cherish them. Now if I could only figure out how to rotate this picture...oh how I appreciate your patience with my lack of photography skills.

Asian Fabrics Magazine # 8

Wow...have you seen the latest Asian Fabric magazine, the one with the fish on the front cover!! I was so excited when it arrived. Thought it had the perfect layout for the birds. The table quilt with fish seemed to be just the thing, until I realized the picture on page 12 was not one quilt but two on top of each other. Oh well...at it least my brain is pondering how to make it work.

I took a few days off from work to go through boxes and organize the garage, as we moved two years ago and still have not unpacked everything. My wonderful son helped so much on the first day, that I spent the second day in my sewing room. I can't believe I sorted fabric and organized my space for three hours.

I'm feel a bit unmotivated...and uncreative, which is really unusual. I'm sure that is a result of the comparison disease...you know you go to guild, hear a wonderful speaker and come home and find yourself unconsciously comparing yourself. Elinor Peace Bailey was so funny and a wonderful last evening! Loved her and her dolls! Wonderful, funny and a laugh filled evening!

I'm off to the sewing room...to work on one of the many projects I've uncovered during my cleaning frenzy...

Crazy Birds

These birds are driving me crazy!! I've had this fabric since last August when I found them in a shop in Okinawa, Japan with my sister. They are from Kona Bay. I love the movement of the tail feathers, and want to keep as much of them as possible, so I've decided to try making some type of medallion quilt. I'd love any ideas or suggestions you might have!

I've been collecting the fabrics to add to the design. They were so heavy the design wall (a queen size batt tacked to the wall ) crashed to the floor! Guess it's time for a better one...am thinking about the foam insulation boards covered with batting.

My sewing room is a total disaster zone...have been avoiding it for several days after dumping supplies from my last class in it...am going to work on cleaning it up just a bit so I can decide on a project to work on today. Happy spring!

Valentine Log Cabin

Last weekend, I taught a class based on this quilt (pattern is in Alex Anderson's Start Quilting book) at my FAVORITE quilt store Thimbles and Threads in Junction City, Oregon. The class was a blast with four wonderful new quilting friends. I only teach basic beginner classes, as I love to see students gain skills, knowledge and techniques while having fun! Once you have the basic skills down, there is so much freedom to create anything you can dream up. The quilt police, your mom, your Home EC teacher or your 4H leaders are not allowed to be in class with you!! You must banish them from your thought process!

Of course I couldn't just follow a pattern...I added an extra set of light logs, as I wanted the quilt a bit bigger. There are lucious valentine themed fabrics...I love the light one with red sqiggles on the first border.

Sorry for the quality of photos...I'm still trying to figure out how to get the best photos for this blog. Click on the photos for a better look at the fabrics.

Purple Oriental 9 Patch Pizzazz

Here's a quilt I made to try out a new technique, I found in the 9-Patch Pizzazz book by Judy Sisneros. It is only 39 inches wide to fit on a wall in a very small bathroom. The first picture is the entire quilt with the second showing details of the four fabrics (Crane & Mum, Purple fan, gold print and purple Laural Burch waves). It is a very quick quilt to design and sew! At first all of the movement was from top left to bottom right. But I accidently flipped a row and sewed it going the wrong direction. I hate to un-sew (rip out stiches)! Since I actually liked the change in direction so much, I re-worked the layout for the bottom three rows.

Coral Oriental Quilt Dec 2006

I fell in love with this coral fabric last summer as I shopped in Okinawa with my sister..incredible fabrics at unbeliveable prices...about 3.30 (US) a meter. I had to find a suitcase just for the fabric I was bring back home!

As always my ideas come from random places, and very rarely do I follow a pattern as it is designed. So, the inspiration for this was a pattern from Sew Be It called the Main Feature. ( web site: sew-be-it.biz).

The coral color first captured my attention, then the large pattern. I especially love the wisteria like long flowers and the arching bamboo stalks. The fabric while a cotton has a somewhat polished finsih to it. It's hanging on the wall in my office, where I can live with it for awhile, until I can figure out how I want to quilt it.

Quilt or Work....what a question

This morning, as I walked on the treadmill in my sewing room, once again I had a terrible dilemma...go to work or stay in my sewing room. Such temptation!!!

So instead, I decided to take a few minutes and start this blog! For several months I've been enthralled with the various blogs...especially after finding several discussions about the Tokyo Quilt Festival, just before I went in January.
Now it's off to work...more to come soon!