Dear Baby, You are Loved.

Dear Gwendolyn,

I had a hard time starting this letter; there are just so many things I want to say to you. I know you are just a little one and it will be years before you can understand these words that I type.

Let me start with the easiest thing, you are so special little one, so loved, and so precious.

Your parents are pretty great. I mean, you are a pretty lucky little one. I know they will be there for you forever. I know this because I know them. I have known your mom many years before the beginning of your time. She is the best. I have known your dad for some smaller number of years before your time, but he has proven to be a pretty awesome guy too.

I know your parents probably have many hopes and dreams for you little one, but let me add a few. I hope that you have a happy childhood, full of tire swings, time machines, daydreams, and fairy tales. I hope you experience sledding down hills at top speeds, climbing mountains, waking up to clear bird calls in sun filled tents, and hearing echoes. I hope there are flowers, mud, and bugs. Eating warm wild strawberries, dandelion necklaces, mosquito bites, bicycles, macaroni and cheese.  Mud puddles and rainbows, tree houses, story telling, legos, and cold mountain lakes.

I dream that you will grow up confident and happy. I dream that you will have convictions and beliefs and that you will keep them and change them as you find you need to. I dream that you will be a girl who knows she is strong and woman who knows she is stronger. I dream that the world you live in accepts you for who you are and treats you as an equal.

Most of all, little one, I dream and hope you turn out a lot like another little girl and woman I admire a great deal, your mom.

Sending warm love and kind regards. May the force be with you.

Sarah

PS - I am sorry if this is a little cheesy, but real like can be like that.

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: A combination of paper pieced pattern set at random. Strawberry by Sew-ichgo, paper crane by Kitten’s Mittens, mushroom and gnomes by Artisania, and paper airplaine by Quiet Play.

Fabric: Assorted stash fabrics, Heather Ross, Alison Glass, Carolyn Friedlander, Joel Dewberry, Bonnie and Camille, among others…

Quilting: Shell pattern with white Aurifil

Size: approximately 40” x 40”

Finished: March 2015

Cover the World in Quilts. Quilt Lemonade.

Good afternoon my dear friends! Today I am blogging at you from Buffalo, New York. My family had a little reunion in Niagara Falls this weekend and Derek and I are spending the night in Buffalo before we head back to North Carolina.

Yesterday, we rode a boat underneath Niagara Falls (EPIC! AMAZING!).

Today, we bought my husband hockey skates and ate Buffalo wings (when in Buffalo...).

Tomorrow, we journey home and do laundry.

Tuesday, I am heading to Alabama for work.

Life is funny sometimes.

To the point... I made this quilt.

In the world of quilting there are many very deserving charitable organizations that ask for your talents. It can be sort of hard to determine which organizations to support with your limited time and resources. I read my friend (and guild mate) Val's passionate request for quilts for the kids living in a safe house in La Limonada, a community in Guatemala, and I knew I had to make her a quilt. According to Val, many of these kids have nothing to call their own. Can you imagine having nothing? Can you imagine not feeling safe as a kid? Or your kid not being or feeling safe?

This scrappy coin quilt was made with a little boy in mind. The colors were inspired by a terribly destroyed quilt my father's grandmother had made for him. My dad loves this quilt!

I have been informed that this quilt has journeyed down to Guatemala and is in possession of a little boy who is very pleased with it. Actually, I was sent a little picture and thank you from Val herself, but I can't share it because this little boy's anonymity needs to be protected. I can share that the photo made me happy cry.

If you are interested in making a quilt for Quilt Lemonade, the details are here. The organization working in La Limonada is Lemonade International and there are many other ways you can help this community.

Quilt Stats:
Name: Cover the World in Quilts
Size: Approximately 50" x 55"
Fabric: Scraps
Quilting: Infinity Loops with Aurifil Thread
Finished: June 2014

If you like this quilt, see this quilt, which is very similar.

Plus One. Green.

I know I am not supposed to apologize for absences in this space. I would like to apologize anyway. I am sorry. I feel like my lack of posts is symptomatic of my general inability to stay on top of things lately. And don't feel sorry for me... we all get in the hole sometimes. Being an adult is hard.

Enough whining.

I finished another quilt.

This one was for a very special little boy who is  expected any day now. In fact, I had dinner with his mother tonight and I am pretty sure she would love for him to make an appearance.

I really wanted to make a scrappy plus quilt. Then I did and it was adorable.

These fabrics are mostly scraps, although I had to cut into some of the "low volume" yardage to give it a little variety.

I tried to get some fun surprises in there too. Like the animals and the "G" because the baby's last name starts with the letter G (a first name has not been decided as of yet). The one green plus is significant too. I accidentally fussy cut some inappropriate fabric in there... nothing profane, just not baby appropriate. Ten points to Gryffindor if you find it.

Then I did some organic straight line quilting, but not too much (so it would still be snuggly, a huge concern for my husband). I had some problems with the feeds being unequal during quilting, even with the walking foot, maybe it has something to do with my presser foot pressure? I am not sure anyone would notice after washing. I can tell, but can't we always find our own mistakes? I am 100% the little buddy is not going to notice when he finally decides to come and meet us all.

Despite my extended absence you should all come back on Monday for an announcement.

PS - I am not pregnant

PPS - So many people in my life are pregnant I feel like I need to say that.

Quilt Stats:
Name: Plus one
Size: Approximately 36" x 42"
Fabric: Scraps! Lots of Kona Cotton for the solids
Quilting: Organic lines with Aurifil thread
Finished: June 2014

Crazy Good, Crazy Quilt

I would like to start this blog post with some congratulations to myself. I writing a blog post, which is a win. I only found one tick on myself at work today and we saw no snakes.  I am awake and alive.

Life is awesome.

Today in this awesome successful blog post I am going to discuss a quilt I finished several weeks ago.  

It is a bigger, badder version of this quilt.

My friend Lauren asked me to make her a quilt. Normally, I do not make other people quilts on request. My fellow quilters may or may not agree with me, but quilts are a lot of work and gifting them is not something I do lightly. But something about Lauren's  quilt stuck with me and she allowed me complete creative control and no deadline. Plus she is awesome.

Her only request was green. I think I nailed it.

It only took me a year.

But she loves it.

What do you need to congratulate yourself for today?

Quilt Stats: 
Name: Crazy Good
Size: Approximately 60" x 60"
Fabrics: Scraps! with Ikea fabric on the back
Pattern: Roughly based on Crazy Star (from Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration)
Quilting: Figure eight loops with Aurifil thread
Finished: May 2014

Sewing People are the Best People. Creeper and Rainbow Dash Pillows.

I sat down to recap my past couple of weeks and then I started to feel a bit overwhelmed trying to remember everything and commit everything that has happened to pixels. What if I forget something important?

Then I realized, you won't know if I forget something. In fact, you may secretly be hoping I forget something so I just get on with this post already. I am not Tolstoy, we can keep this down to a quick read.

So here you go, I went to Austin, Texas.

I went to Austin to attend the Society for American Archaeology's annual meeting. At this meeting, my coworker and I were co-chairing a session (!!!!!). Writing about this I realize I have residual butterflies in my stomach. This is a sewing blog, so you all don't care that people came to my session or that it was well received. You may care to note that I did not vomit in the conference.

This post is not about a boring archaeology conference, it is about how sewing people are the best people. Before my conference, I spent two nights and approximately two days hanging with one of my bestest internet/real life sewing friends Amy. Amy and her two little boys picked me up from the airport, we ate lots of queso, drank some tequila drinks, I got to read a bedtime story (omg, the cuteness), we drank some beer, we ate some queso, went fabric shopping, did some sewing, did some hanging out, and ate some more.

Amy and her family really know how to show a girl a good time.

Before I left for Austin, I asked Amy what her boys liked. She told me they and just gotten bunk beds and we decided they could use new pillows. I had so much fun tailoring these pillows to each boy's taste.

Gus is five. He loves Rainbow Dash, sparkly things, and rainbows. I decided to make him a Rainbow Dash cutie mark pillow. I also fount this rainbow dash ribbon on Etsy. The rainbow lightning bolt is unfortunately something I sketched out and did not save my original. But, paper piecing for the win!

Bowie is eight. He love science, Minecraft, and paracord knot tying (????). I went with the creeper design I found through Amy's help and some google searches. I love this so much! Those patchwork pixels make me so happy.

I put their first initials on the back. Each pillow measures approximately 19" to fit in a 20" pillow form. They are all quilted with Aurifil thread and mostly pieced with Kona solids.

If anyone here has kids (or is around kids) you know presents are hit and miss. Let's be real and say at five or eight I might have thought a pillow was a totally lame present. As Amy put it, you just never know when they will forget their manners. But that was totally not the case with Bowie and Gus! They loved the pillows! They were bringing them all over the house with them while I was there and they slept with them at night! Bowie even played a game of Minecraft on his Minecraft pillow, just because he loved it. It made me happy (As a side note, they were also super polite and well-mannered).

This post is long enough. I will stop here, happy boys, happy Sarah. Amy is a rock star. Sewing people are the best people.

Love you all.

Hugs and kisses.

Hey Baby, You are a Star

I wanted to subtitle this blog post, "Whoa, just calm down life"

I have literally spent a week at home in the last month (and yes, I am using the term literally correctly).  I actually dreamed about my sewing machine. Cat litter commercials made me sad, because I missed my little fuzz.

I was in Georgia (twice), Florida, Tennessee, and Western North Carolina. Some for fun, some for super fun work. I am spent.

You see, when I get tired and stressed out I feel the need to make something new. This is totally counterintuitive. It actually adds to my pile of things to do, but I find zen in the creative process. The excitement of sketching, choosing fabrics, testing blocks... Just writing this is making me want to go create something new! 

Fortunately, during my trips to Georgia I visited with some very dear friends who are expecting a little girl this summer. I had alway been planning on making this little girl a quilt, but spending time around my friends inspired me. When I got home and the stress creativity kicked in, I channeled that creativity into this little baby quilt. 

This quilt is loud. 

It is for a little baby girl, but I made something that I would love as a grown-up. I think linen is timeless and ageless. 

These blocks are super traditional, they are a variation on a block called the millennium (although I am sure there are ton of other names out there) that I resized and modified. 

I just want this quilt to say, "hey baby, welcome to this world, we are happy to have you." 

Don't all babies deserve that?

Thanks for stopping by, this has been nice!

Quilt Stats:

Name: Hey Baby, You are a Star

Size: 40" x 40"

Pattern: Millenium Star Blocks

Fabric: Assorted Pink and Purple Scraps and Essex Natural Linen/Cotton Blend, backed with a Liberty Lifestyle print and Heather Ross Briar Rose Strawberries

Quilting: Swirly free motion flowers with Aurifil thread, done on my home machine

Finished: April 2014

Star Finisher

I finished this quilt. Then I gave it away.

It was always for Meredith and Eric. A present to celebrate the love story of two dear friends.

Want to hear about their love story? Of course you do (PS - Meredith reads this blog from time to time, so, hey friend!).

Meredith became my friend when we were introduced at a party couple of years ago. It was basically friendship at first sight for me. I had to do some work to convince her. Well, as in I had maybe one too many cocktails and told her I thought we should be friends while we were talking. She thought I was loony. But, we were right for each other. Fast forward a couple of years and we are still friends (heart you, girl).

Meredith is the one who made me the quilty egg (and inspired me to make an egg-y quilt, see story here).

Meredith met this boy (Eric) and they were sort of friends. Then they took an intensive French class together and sparks flew or something like that. They knew it was right.

Then Derek and I started hanging out with the two of them. They were adorable. As a friend, sometimes you have a gut feeling about a guy your friend is dating, sometimes this is bad…. sometimes it is warm and fuzzy (you ALL know what I mean). Derek and I both had fuzzy feelings about these two.

The thing is Meredith and Eric knew this thing they had was special. They decided that they were going to get married. That spring (2013). Approximately one year after they started dating.

I immediately knew I was going to make them a quilt.

So, I asked the ladies from my Make it Modern Bee to help me make blocks (you know, so it would go faster). I received all of their gorgeous blocks right on time last summer and promptly did not finish the quilt until November (2013). If you didn't want to do the math that is about 7-8 months after the wedding.

Something about a quilt made out of love to celebrate love makes this special.

xoxo.

Quilt Stats:
Size: Big (75"+ x 75"+)
Block: Lone Starburst (by Six White Horses)
Bee Mates/Block Makers: Me! and the ladies from the Make it Modern Bee (Kelie, Samantha, Renae, Kelleigh, Becky, Karen, Jennifer, Jen, Audrey, Licet, and Jamie)
Fabric: Boy I wish I could tell you… the funky print on the back is from Ikea, the solids are all Kona.
Quilted: By me on my home sewing machine in a classic infinity loop with Aurifil Thread.

The Migration Quilt [Planes, Trains, and Automobiles]

I decided to start tonight's blog post with a list.

Fun facts to catch you up with me:

1.) In the past three weeks I have been in eight states. I only slept in three of them.

2.) I am leaving again tomorrow.

3.) I have achieved diamond status with my hotel reward program. That means I have spent over 40 nights in Choice Hotels this year. This would be less sad if I only stayed in that brand of hotels, but that is not true. The actual number of nights in a hotel room is much higher.

4.) Some of my dearest sewing friends and I hung out this weekend. We drank milkshakes, ate pizza, and bought a lot of fabric.

5.) I learned about life mistakes and then I bought more Collage. This entire visit deserves its own blog post.

6.) Today I ate a chocolate croissant and took a pilates class. I think those two events neutralize each other.

There you go, caught up with me. Don't you just feel like we had a cup of coffee together? Except if we had coffee together, you could have added your things too. Then we could have talked about how good your hair looks and I could have asked you where you got those shoes.

I finished another quilt on the plane to in Denver. Then I gave it away the next day.

I improvised a photo shoot, 'cause I wanted to show this awesome finish with you.

I made this quilt for Derek's grandparents, we call them Gammie and Grandad. They are amazing people.

Gammie is a quilter and a former high school math teacher. Grandad is a retired engineer. So, I new this quilt had to have some math. I also knew it had to be good. So, I used some of my precious architextures and I worked super hard.

I think they really liked it. Little know fact, quilters are the best people to gift quilts. They appreciate them tons and they know how to use those quilts. They were both totally surprised and excited. This is technically a birthday present for them both. Gammie just turned 82 a few weeks ago and Grandad is turning 83 in January. I hope they don't mind me sharing this on the internet...

Gammie and Grandad assured me they would snuggle under this one all winter.

That sort of makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Thanks for tolerating me friends. Love you bundles.

Sarah

Quilt Stats:
Quilt Name: Migration
Quilt pattern: Mine, though, I know this block has a name. Shall we just call it *%&$%^ bias seams?
Fabric: Caroline Friedlander's Architextures, Simply Style by V and Co, and a great deal of Essex linen from Robert Kaufman.
Quilting: My lazy infinity quilting, quilted and pieced with Aurifil thread
Size: Ha! Like I remembered to measure before I gave this away.

PS - All photos on this page were taken with my iPhone. I apologize for this, I just did not have room to pack the dslr. We will be back to regularly scheduled photos next time I finish a quilt.