sewing in Chicago

Chicago?  I like it.

Baby and I have been Ubering our way around and staying in a charming city condo, hosted by Stephanie of YesPositively.  It's been a nicely productive week of therapy and diagnosis, which I'll be talking more directly about on Wednesday.  Today is our last day in Chicago.  I hope to get in a bit more sewing now that we've returned from our final appointment!

sewing with Stephanie

I brought along a bunch of prepped fabrics for my plus, plus quilt...

sewing with Stephanie

Getting to and from therapy and caring for baby take most all our time.  But, with my mom along to help, I was able to squeeze in some sewing one evening.  Stephanie set me up to sew on her extra machine.

sewing with Stephanie

Take a look at her cozy sewing nook!  Every time I venture over there to press I get totally distracted by that wall of fabric.  This girl has an amazing stash!  In fact, she's inspired some shopping. There's nothing like seeing fabric in person (or in action) to convince one it's a must-have!

sewing with Stephanie

Here's what I've completed so far.  Did you notice that these blocks are heavy on the neutrals?

My Plus, Plus quilt's colors are based on Kona's 2014 color release, since I had a stack of 1/4 yard cuts from that release just sitting around.  I'm limiting myself to those Kona colors and my scraps.  Sometimes limitations are a springboard for creativity.  I'm hoping that's the case here...

My first set of blocks for this quilt really worked for me; but, as I kept adding more, things started to look muddled.  I'm hoping that an infusion of neutrals will bring back the fresh look that I started with.  We'll see.

sewing with Stephanie

One thing's for sure - staying with Stephanie has been tres inspiring!  I'm all jazzed up to do some shopping and cut out a few new quilts.  Ok, world, can I have some time, please?  Pretty please?

Thanks a million, Stephanie and Dan, for hosting us in Chicago!  This trip was a big step for Baby Eleni in a few different ways.  We're so grateful for your generosity.   And thanks to Megan for making sure we got connected.  It's no exaggeration to say that this quilty community has been there for us in many, many important ways over the past four challenging months.  Looking forward to sharing more about the ways you've helped on Wednesday!