A Colorful Thread: May 2023
Weaving together my life as a maker and other spheres of life.
Best of Stitched in Color {May}
On My Mind
Experimenting:: with web style chain-piecing. I’ve seen this around the internet, and I’m curious to give it a go. Web piecing a kind of piecing that is especially ideal when sewing a lot of small squares, as with my current rainbow quilt. It keeps everything in order so that you can relax into the process. My friend Steffi @Quiltwerke has a highlight reel called Tilda Quilt that shows how it works. After learning from her process, I am eager to give it a try!
p.s. Steffi talks in German, but she has English captions which contain the important info. You’ll do fine!
image @Quiltwerke
Reading:: honestly, I haven’t been reading much this month. There has been sooooo much going on in my brain and my heart that I’ve used any spare moments to sit quietly and make slow stitches, rather than picking up a book. I haven’t even been watching TV. Instead, I’ve been processing, processing. That said, I do have a book about Dutch grammar that I’ve cracked open now and then: “Maar zo heb ik het geleerd!” by Wouter van Wingerden. Dat is leuk.
Celebrating:: Check out this beautiful quilt by Linda Iannuccilli @Chillyhockeymom! She began the quilt last fall when I hosted the Wild Oranges sew-along. 22,500 stitches later, the hand quilting and binding is finished. Wow!
image @chillyhockeymom
It’s such a pleasure to see my Wild Oranges pattern blooming in other people’s lives. For more photos, including close-ups of the quilting, click over to her account. Enjoy!
Anticipating:: this afternoon Elora and I will be meeting friends at our favorite ice cream salon to celebrate our Best Day Ever. That is the name we gave our personal family holiday, May 31st - the day that we arrived in The Netherlands. It’s been four years since our big move, and for me that is certainly still something to celebrate. I am so very grateful that my life was shaped in this way. After one more year as a resident, I can even apply to become Dutch! I feel already ready.
Featured Freebie
Hand Quilting Tutorial
Stitched in Color includes a library of free tutorials, more than 10 years in the making. Each month I’ll feature one to spread the good news.
Have you ever tried big-stitch quilting? The Hand Quilting tutorial walks you through the basics for hand quilting with pearl cotton thread. You’ll also find links to my free quilt pattern called Loulouthi Tiles, which is ideal for showing off large-scale prints like these by Anna Maria Horner. With such a minimal amount hand quilting involved, this project is a comfortable way to get your feet wet with the technique.
In the story of my life, May 2023 will go down as a landmark month. Not only did I finally put a period after my languishing marriage, but my ex moved out, forcing us all to rapidly adjust to a new way of life. Of course there have been tears all around. Change is hard, clumsy even. But change is also soothing, freeing and downright exhilarating. I feel like I have been reborn. I feel more like myself than ever before, perhaps because I am more myself than ever before as a person. I am defining my life independently as a grown up for the first time (I was married at age 18). I feel fantastic!
Ahem. I have to rein that in sometimes, because it is not all about me of course. But, just being honest.
Thank you again for your kind words, both of sympathy and celebration. Your faith in me as a person and as a mother is so touching. I look forward to exploring this next chapter in my life. Come along?
xoxo,
Rachel
