Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Day by Day







I'm feeling better, and am getting back to normal! I've been busy and getting things done, including doing some cleaning out in my sewing room. I started to organize my UFO's (UnFinished Objects) and got to 9 before I gave up and started stashing them in drawers and bins! I do have a rather large basket of things I'd like to finish before year's end, so have my work cut out for me!






One bit of very good news is that I found all my small sewing scissors! I have been baffled by their disappearance, but had no clue as to where I had stashed them. I figured that they were in the bottom of my chair or something similar. I was looking for some red and green quilting thread to make yo-yos on Friday, and found them in my tin of quilting thread. I had done a demo at the quilt show in 2007 on hand quilting, and left them in the tin, and put the tin up on a decorative shelf a month later without looking inside. Was I ever happy to see them! Especially the one that goes around my neck - it's so handy to have to use when I'm hand quilting.






I suppose I don't have much else to add for now, but am excited to share my new projects as I finish them. Can I get 9 done before the end of the year? We shall see! Tomorrow I will post my list and I'll keep my progress updated.






Oh, I got a pattern written up for my journal covers and will have that listed in my Etsy shop soon! In the meantime, here are a couple that I did for my friend Patti:

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Holiday Ball

The ladies of the house have been recently invited to a holiday ball. The invitation says we are to arrive dressed in our best Jane Austen attire, so I have spent the last couple of days looking at dresses online. I will probably be inspired to read some of my books also before the event, but what caught my imagination today was the quilt made by Jane!
Isn't it lovely? I really like the simplicity of it, enhanced by the lovely array of beautiful fabrics. I wonder where she got all the fabrics? Leftovers from clothing, traded with friends, purchased with the intent of making a quilt? What did she think about while she sewed it all together, was it an enjoyable escape, or a project she wanted to get finished? I'm sure as a quilter I look at it much differently than a non quilter would. I can imagine her deciding on the placement of the diamonds, fussing over whether the reds are too close together, or if that dark patch looks right in that spot. Running her hands over the top, gathering the memories behind the fabrics and enjoying the feel of the quilting. Feeling accomplished that she has created this thing of beauty out of bits and pieces.

I will probably read her books with different eyes now!