In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

27 January 2018; two patches already applied by machine. Yet the interior remains untouched, albeit compromised. Amid reading aloud Straight to the Heart: The Hawk Book Three , I did a little photographic research to discuss my latest quilt finish. To my surprise, I found I've had this quilt, pictured above in January of 2018, since the previous summer. That's eight years, my goodness! Where has the time gone? The quilt was already in need of repair when I received it. Yet to cloak the gorgeous stitching took time for me to admit. (Future Me was probably rolling her eyes, fully aware of what awaited this quilt, lol!) Yet this post isn't about time's fickleness, lol. It's about a beautiful English paper-pieced quilt made by a woman named Dorothy, her last name starting with S, inked on the back of the quilt in two places. She deserved such recognition because this diamond star pattern is GORGEOUS. Well, it was gorgeous. Now it remains as one snippet of what has beco...

A heart quilt. Just finished Part One of On Being Brave. And other incidents of bravery, lol. Welp, as my eldest daughter sometimes exclaims, I finished the first part of my current noveling WIP. Should probably update my WIP page, I do believe. But first I wanted to write this entry, posting pics of the beautiful Mr. Carter hearts English paper piecing quilt. This pattern , from Tales of Cloth , was an easy and uplifting project I began late last year after my nation elected a president I do not find at all appealing. Cutting, basting, then stitching heart blocks was SO NECESSARY. There aren't enough exclamation points in existence to exemplify how imperative it was to construct those blocks, then begin to place them accordingly. So many gorgeous prints in heaps of beautiful colours! So, scattered within this post more to do with writing are shots of a quilt I am still missing in my evening repertoire. Not sure when I'll make another, but dang, one day I hope to! Yet, as today...

Some of this year's fave quilts! I've been pondering this post for a few days. Possibly in that I published novels this year, woot woot! The quilting felt luke-warm until I scrolled through photos, which revealed I'd made ten quilts, all simple patchwork save an English paper pieced finish. Another woot for that, as well as only three of them remaining at my house, lol. 2024 was a year of.... Change. No kidding! I had covid for the first time, which sidelined half of summer. My sewing machine has never been under cover for as many WEEKS as it was, and still is. The defeat of Kamala Harris was, and still is, gut-wrenching, yet the passing of Jimmy Carter could mitigate the agenda of the incoming administration if people choose to honor selflessness and service to others over narcissism and greed. We'll see what happens. Yet this post is not about the future. This entry regales what doesn't go in our Christmas/Hanukkah letter sent to family and friends. To them I ment...

Not to box myself into anything permanent, but.... What you see above is MOST LIKELY the last completed sewing project for 2024. Currently it's in the dryer, but since it hasn't rained today, I decided to hang it on the line, snapping one picture, then hustling myself and said quilt back in the house. It's chilly out today and I have a small cold and 'nuff said about being outside in those conditions. I hesitate to write this, but perhaps ( PERHAPS ) this is the last quilt I'll display on the ancient laundry line. We're hoping for some home improvements in 2025, and if that occurs, the laundry line will be removed, oh my! Kind of funny to even consider that because the home improvement plan has been in the works for a couple of years without anything occurring. Because sometimes life is like that. Anyways.... Who knows really? Maybe I'll get inspired and quickly machine-sew some kind of impetuous comforter. Maybe a Christmas quilt. Maybe something else entir...

  Bright but...a mess. Tilda and Anna Maria fabrics feature prominently. My husband was away for a few days, visiting our son. I took the opportunity to do a fair amount of reading on The Hawk Book 1, going to two sessions of PT for my right hip and knee, raking leaves, designing a quilt, then redesigning a quilt. Because sometimes fast isn't best. Fast is what I wanted this quilt to be; eight-inch squares would sew up VERY SPEEDILY, yet they looked a mess, but this is for me, for winter, and for much of that season it wouldn't even be wholly visible on the bed, covered by a slender but necessary blanket I crocheted eons ago. So basically this quilt doesn't need to be spectacular, merely WARM. I'll double the batting, back it with flannel, and be super happy on cold nights, lol. Yet.... When I went to bed after the initial design, I wasn't happy. I wasn't mad either, not at myself for the haphazard manner of putting together a new quilt top, but I sighed as I g...

  Loads of Art Gallery fabrics, some linens, a few French fabrics, and one Ruby Star Society print make for a new quilt. Oh wow. This quilt, for my husband, has been completed today. It began.... Ages ago, May 2023. I had to scroll through my pictures folder to find exactly when I began laying 4.5" wide strips on the design wall. Never has one of my machine-pieced quilts languished SO LONG, sigh. And that it's for my hubby adds more guilt to my heart, but now it's done, la la la la la la! A little bit of a close-up. Quilted at the top and bottom of every row, then each strip was hand-quilted, which I enjoyed, but wow, that's a lot of hand-sewing. Ahem. I'm rolling my eyes at myself, but yeah, it's done. Once washed it's not quite as wide (or long) as I had hoped. But it's pretty (and it's FINISHED) and he's happy and no longer does it take up space on the sofa making me cringe for how much time it has taken to complete it. Another kinda close-up...