wearing my art on my sleeve

I made this cuff a couple of years ago at a fun sewing weekend with 2 dear friends.  We each taught a technique.  Portraits & weaving will come here sometime.

This begins with a heavy Pellon foundation covered with velvet, then interesting scraps, ribbons & braids machined down with programmed and free stitches. Cut to shape, decorate the edges, button/beads, loops to close and it's ready to wear.

It's the only piece of my work I wear - and it comes to work sometimes as a Wonderwoman deflector bracelet.  Definitely worked today!

as promised, a photograph

... of Boxing the Moon, layered and pinned, ready for quilting. Also a sneaky self-portrait thanks to the sunshine.

The Quilts of Abundance

Late in 2010, my friend Veronicah was the recipient of 17 - count 'em 17 - banana boxes of mixed fabrics from a deceased estate. After much sorting and appropriate donation, she made up a box each for some quilting buddies. Sharing the love!

I'm a lucky possessor of one of these Boxes of Abundance. It holds a fairly random mixture of approximately shirt-weight cottonish fabrics from (I think) the middle 1980's. Not exactly what I would normally choose to work with.

My - self-imposed - challenge is using it to make quilts for my big patchwork group's community quilt donation programme. This has been far more enjoyable than expected.

1. Free fabric is much easier to cut!
2. Funny combinations work when they have to
3. I'm not doing it alone - all the other people who have passed this fabric along are sharing in the eventual gift

I'll document these quilts on their own page.  What is your challenge?

Could be the Last Baby Quilt

Max arrived recently. His big sister has one of my quilts, so he gets one too. I make them fairly quickly out of whatever is at hand, and take particular pleasure in giving them a complementary pieced backing made from my stash of flannel samples. Max's is a triumph of the scrap ethic, made completely from the left-overs from another quilter's project.

I've said it before: this is my last baby quilt.

Why? there are bound to be more babies, some with a family precedent of a quilt from Auntie Sarah, and all needing quilts. I have more than enough fabric, and get a lot of pleasure out of being able to bring a special gift.

I have to stop, because snuggling in behind that fuzzy feel-good factor they are thieves.

The baby quilts steal my most precious, scarce resources: time, willpower, focus. I do good work on them, but not my best work. I offer that work up to the least critical audience imaginable. I romanticise the beauty of the motherhood I don't participate in. I choose to make a pretty baby quilt rather than struggle with the challenge of creating the weird wonderful unique images that rarely get past the sketchbook.

I make the baby quilts as cuddle rugs to comfort my own fear of inadequacy, of failure, of success. Knowing this, how can I make another?

1st blog of Christmas

This Christmas is a scrap quilt. 


The background changed several times, and each part of the day brought together partial family groups. 

All unified by the common threads of courtesy, generosity and love. 

Scrap quilts are always the warmest.