This summer Elora gets to be the flower girl in her big sister’s wedding! Today I have gathered up options from Violette Field Threads, a pattern company with quite an impressive collection of delightful girls’ dresses.
Read MoreBut after my second or third batch of blocks, I felt a nagging worry. Perhaps this spring palette was sprung too soon, given that it’s still winter here in The Netherlands and given the bumpy shape of my days? Maybe these fabrics don’t fit me after all.
Read MoreIt is time to send Plum Pudding out into the world. She has never been used. She’s just been waiting, waiting. And perhaps now is her time. If you take her home, be sure to appreciate all her very special prints. I didn’t skimp on this one! And remember that life goes full circle from dark to light, from dark to light. So long as we are alive, there is always possibility for joy if we keep our hearts open.
Read MoreNow that my Positivities quilt is up on my design wall, I have a feeling I will be adding to it each week. It’s just so satisfying to fill in the empty spaces with another group of positive patchwork!
Read MoreWelcome back to my quilting studio! In January I was busy, busy catching up and somehow it is already mid-February? Time moves on like a train. Let’s catch up on a few of the projects I have been quilting for my customers.
Read MoreYou know what I love? When “start a new quilt” is at the top of my mental “to do” list. That is a good way to start the week! I had in mind to sew a more challenging quilt next, but wasn’t feeling it this morning. Instead, I gave myself the gift of freedom and have embarked on a feel-good, easy sew.
Read MoreToday I have been sewing new blocks for my Positivities quilt. Club members just received the second pattern booklet earlier this week, so it is early days yet in our 12-month club. But naturally, I am working ahead. Would you like to see?
Read MoreHow to write about this quilt? I do absolutely love how it came out. LOVE! This was one of those enchanted maker journeys. Designing the quilt and choosing the colors/fabrics was more a process of recognizing the inevitable than planning the ideal. Everything about it feels absolutely meant to be. And yet.
Read MoreIt is my turn to lead the charity quilt again, and I’m asking for rainbows and sunshine. Ta da! My first batch of happy scrappy Drummer Boy Dresdens! I love their bright, positive energy so much that I think I will leave them on my wardrobe doors for the day. Yay!
Read MoreWeaving together my life as a maker and other spheres of life: Best of January, reading a very helpful relationship book, sharing a beginner’s quilting tutorial, celebrating a Circus Cabin quilt and looking forward to starting a new improv journey.
Read MoreToday before I sewed the last long seam of the quilt top, I paused and stood just staring at it. I came to realize that this quilt is one of my favorites that I have made in the last years. It’s very much my own inspiration, unrelated to other types of patchwork that I have seen, plus the palette is exactly me right now.
Read MoreEach month in Positivities BOM we will reflect together on a positive theme. With Kaleidoscope it is about being brave enough to look at your life and your choices with a fresh perspective. Perhaps through a book, the advice of a friend or by trusting your small quiet voice, you can experience a paradigm shift that suddenly reveals so many new possibilities.
Read MoreChoosing for color, choosing for beauty, choosing for me. My heart like bright pink confetti, feminine and strong.
Read MoreHow exciting, how exciting! Many of you have embarked on a intentional year-long journey in my Positivities block-of-the-month club. Our January block is Expansion. It’s been a small, but strong beginning with gorgeous and unique blocks popping up all over Instagram! Today I share a smattering of Expansion blocks that caught my eye in celebration!!
Read MoreThis week I really took my time with choosing the fabrics for my Inhibition quilt, especially the elements of the fan block. I will be using few fabrics, as I sense that repetition will be an important design element for this quilt. That makes each fabric choice weighty. What a contrast to relaxed scrappy sewing, where everything goes.
Read MoreI was feeling uneasy and stifled on January first when I sat down to sketch a new quilt. Art is a safe and peaceful way to free yourself; so, I could have sketched something wildly expressive. What actually came out on my paper was the very picture of inhibition - pretty, symmetrical, contained.
Read MoreYou know what I love? A sweet patchwork assignment to kick off a new year of charity sewing. Since 2010 I have been organizing an international quilting charity bee called do. Good Stitches. The idea is simple: use your creative patchwork energy to bless others.
Read MoreThe finished block is just half a sun. You might be tempted to make more and a whole sun too, which you can. That’s the thing about a sampler quilt such as Positivities: all of the block directions are there for you should you want to make a whole quilt full!
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