Itty Bitty

“Go big or go home”, yeah but “great things come in tiny packages”. “It’s all in the details”, yeah but “look at the grand scheme of things’.

Lately I seem to be doing a lot of small sewing, and less big stuff.  The small projects have a much faster conception to completion, therefor more feelings of satisfaction, and pleasure.

There was Christmas potholders ,and a mug rug, and then name tags . Now I have gone smaller.

I have made a new friend, who carves amazing little wooden dolls (about 6″ tall). I will try to get a photo of one of her amazing creations. She showed me one last week and I was inspired to make a little lap quilt for this precious little girl. Kj dresses them in old fashioned print dresses, so I knew I wanted to go with traditional and muted colors.  Not my trademark palette, but I like to push my own boundaries to see what I can create from a new perspective. And clearly I needed to go tiny.

1″ squares make for fiddly, but fun work.  It came together nicely in a soft rainbow.

just under 4″ square, this was one quilt I was willing to hand bind.

Sometimes the pleasure comes from creating, sometimes from completing a challenge, and sometimes it is purely from the desire to give something to somebody else to hopefully give them pleasure.

When I showed this to a quilty friend, she asked if I had recently looked at a blog called Twiggy and Opal?  I have looked at the blog before, but not within the last month. Apparently she and I are on the same wave length, as she has made something very, very similar this week too.  Just something in the air waves, funny coincidence.

 

This little one now lives over at Quimper Hitty with Carrot Soup, her new owner.

Minecraft bedroom wall

Well, it’s not sewing patchwork, but it’s patchwork none the less.

I have a 9 1/2 year old son who Loves Minecraft. So when we had gotten to a point where I was going to give up my sewing room so that he and his  brother could each have their own, there was no question as to a theme in the new room.  I picked out all my green and brown craft paint.

And measured out and penciled a 6″ grid and started painting. My fabric cutting ruler worked great to draw out the lines.

Unfortunately, craft paint needs 2-3 coats, so it was very time consuming.

But I think it came out well, and B was thrilled.

To go with the theme, I made lava pillowcases, and put on the pixelated dragon quilt I made for B’s 8th birthday.

1600 2″ squares! I worked in 10×10 blocks. lots of planning and systematic pinning and pressing. The quilting is a swirls on the white and 2 different free-motion stitches to look like scales.

Although not technically Minecraft, I think the pixelated look of the dragon goes quite well with the theme, and most importantly, B is thrilled with his new room.

Happy Heart Day

well, it’s kind of a Heart.

An attempt at a woven Danish heart, pieced.

Have a great Valentines Day. Spread Love, share love, show love, feel love. And the big one…Love yourself too. If nobody else is treating you, do something kind for yourself.  a gift of time, space, indulgence.  Whatever you may need. I puttered alone in my sewing room, ate chocolate, pruned my hydrangeas and hardy hibiscus in the sunshine, and now will have take out pizza with my 3 favorite men. Early to bed in fresh washed sheets. perfect.

Nametags

My MQG guild  is having a name tag challenge this month.  We all wear quilted name tags to meetings, but it was time to do new ones with all the new members through the last year. Sometimes it is nice to work on a small manageable task!

I made one when I joined last year.

Now to go further.  My first plan came out WAY too big!  I realized halfway through, but decided to finish it and I am sure I will use it someday, somewhere.

But I loved the blend of blues, and the hint of sparkle in many of the fabrics called for some metallic thread. So…

I then used an old strap from last years dental convention and covered it in homemade bias tape.

And all done.

And now we have decided to go away the day of the February meeting, so I will miss the competition. shoot!