serenewhimsy

The Alaska quilt has been ironed, washed and tumbled dry. It will be on it’s way tomorrow. I thought I’d share some of my favorite parts. Thank you everyone, for your encouragement and kindness along the way. I have had a lot of fun with this piece and realize that in the process of sharing, my creativity was boosted. 

made a tote to sell in a local shop. I have had some great advice from co-workers and a friend I met through etsy.   www.sewsewsuckurtoe.etsy.com      Erin has some great things for sale in her shop and she is just plain nice.

this has been a fun piece to work on. It reminds me of Gee’s Bend quilts…can you tell I like those quilts? Beautiful works of art made from necessity and thrift.

One baby quilt done, one to go…….If my sister’s kids keep having babies so quickly….I’m gonna have to hire a team of quilters…..just kidding…these are fun to make…..just trying to get them done before the munchkins get too big….

Thank you to everyone who has been stopping by. Even if you don’t leave comments it’s nice to see that I’ve had visits…….and a thank you too to all those who have left comments, it’s ALWAYS nice to get feedback. Hope all of your weekends are good ones.

After seeing Mimi Kirchner’s Tattooed Men….I was inspired to try making a doll……..she(the doll) has REALLY big lips….got a little carried away….maybe I’ll try again, and practice mouths a little more.

If you haven’t seen Mimi’s dolls. they are great! She is very talented.

http://mimikirchner.com/blog/

http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=7112543

The batik is new, it seems I can’t go to a quilt store with out getting at least a little fabric. All the other is thrifted. The flower/star is a little over 10 inches wide. it will be part of a messenger bag for my niece Chelsie. I don’t think she reads this blog…so hopefully it’ll remain a secret…

It needs to be quilted. I was winging it while making the templates….my diamonds are too wide. I’ll keep experimenting with sizes and shapes. Piecing by hand is peaceful, though slow. I rediscovered a thrifted quilt book that I had misplaced under fabric. It has  instructions on English paper piecing, I might just figure out what I’m doing if I read the book instead of just looking at the photos. I am such a visual learner, but words are really useful sometimes.

Hope your weekends were creative and relaxing.

wouldn’t it be nice if we were all born with a little compass to carry around and tell us where we needed to go? I can hear my mom in my head saying..”we do!” and if I were meditating on a regular basis, mine would be in perfect working order! but I want it easy..I want a shiny little one I can hold in my hand, with a pretty silver chain to where/wear around my neck!  Psssh!

I need to meditate!

Here is the compass for the Alaska quilt.  I finally settled on an idea I liked.

it is growing…..I am still working on the Alaska quilt, just got a wee bit side tracked.  Have a lovely day and stay warm out there!

 Experimenting with scraps from the other day…from the wonky wool post..this may be my wonky wool series. It looks like a fancy potholder..I tried unsuccessfully to add a zipper to make a little pouch….I DO NOT like zippers! and zippers do not like me!

 I tried again with this little thing, scraps from the scraps from above project. scraps from scraps from scraps…I think that might be a snippet? there is another term rughookers use, for an even smaller piece of wool??…that is about how much energy I have, a snippet of a snippet. Hope all of you are well, and staying warm. snow, snow, snow.

found a little side project to work on.  Don’t know what this will end up as…It was inpired by this-

 a wool utility quilt found in the book below. I checked this book out from the library so often and have late fees to prove it…just so that I could look at this quilt. I REALLY like it. I was reading another quilting blog that mentioned a tutorial on ibbybee’s quilt blog and realized I might be able to try my hand at this…I need more practice but it is a start…I don’t know if I have enough patience to make an entire quilt this way…but I REALLY like that one! I finally got the book used on Amazon for like $3.99 plus shipping….oy vey the late fees I have paid on this book…...

Here is the latest. I have been piecing by hand and find it very soothing. I feel like I have a little more control than with the sewing machine, with all these curves.

Jude asked in her comment to the last post, if i was using wool fabric. Normally I would like to use all natural fibers, cotton, silk, or wool. Sometimes though, you have to go with what you have. The bear is wool and polyester and made from a recycled jacket, it doesn’t have a label, but didn’t shrink when washed. The fabric the bears are standing on is cotton and polyester, i think? it also didn’t have a label, made from recycled mens slacks. I thought the speckled beige worked so well for river sand. I think it will wear well and will work well as a whole with the finished piece.

This has been fun, and I’m glad Jude           http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/ 

encouraged me to get busy making this. I really have enjoyed everyone’s comments and feel as though my creativity has gotten a jump start. Thank you for visiting and for commenting.