Growing and Changing, Hopefully For the Better

Last year around this time I renovated a haunted house quilt. This year, I’m remaking another quilt, Christmas in the Campground.  Here is the original quilt, designed in 2011:

A few weeks ago I decided to make a pattern of the quilt to sell in my shop. I thought it would be an easy project. The quilt was already made, writing the pattern should be a snap. I’ll just make another version of the first one, taking pictures and writing the pattern as I go.  But then, as I looked at the quilt, ideas came to me. I thought, what if I just did this, added this, changed this, moved this, took out this, and pretty soon I had a completely renovated Campground quilt. It is taking me weeks instead of a couple days to complete and I’m not done yet.

Here is the new 2015 version of Christmas at the Campground, in progress:

Here is a detail:

I hope to have the quilt and pattern done by next week.

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Stop and Smell the Flowers

Living here in Maryland the weather is often exasperating.  Like Goldilocks’ porridge, the weather is either too hot or too cold. If the temperature is okay, then it is windy or rainy or just cloudy. Then there are those few days that are amazing. Perfect humidity, clear skies, chirping birds. You want to tell nature, “You got it right, now don’t stop”.  Alas, nature has it’s own agenda.

So,  what  can a person do? I have decided to forget about the weather. I will instead enjoy the flowers. They are more predictably beautiful. In fact, if you create your own fabric flower garden it will bloom in perpetuity.  Here is a flower quilt to enjoy every day, regardless of the weather.

The quilt has been sold, but the pattern is available at Maryland Quilter.

Do You Know Where You’re Going Next?

Sometimes I look too closely at the individual stitches in a quilt and forget to consider the design I’m creating. A good quilter keeps her eye on the details but always considers the entire tapestry. That’s not bad advice for living life, either. I don’t want the consideration of small tasks to keep me from seeing the big world around me.

Do you want help remembering the big world?  Here is a quilt to remind you to look at the world from a bigger perspective:

The mini quilt will fit on a counter top or hang on a wall. The completed quilt is available here The pattern  is available here.

I am like a turtle overjoyed with the new spring weather!

Spring is breaking out here in Maryland. The leaves are unfurling so fast, I think I can almost hear them if I listen closely.  All of nature seems to have jumped out of winter’s sleepy bed and  into spring’s lively exercise. I am so inspired that I, too, will rush from my cozy sewing room where I quilt all winter. I will run (slowly) to my lovely rocking chair on the porch, where I will quilt all summer.  Hey, it may not sound exciting, but I am like a turtle overjoyed with the new spring weather.

Do you want to feel like a tree growing it’s spring leaves?  When you sew these, your own leaves can take form while the real ones around you open up. So you will feel even more a part of nature!

This pattern is called Elizabeth’s Tree. I named it for my daughter, who loves to sit under trees and read books. Here is the pattern available in my shop.  

So Many Snowmen

Every year in November I design a new Christmas ornament. One year it was redbirds, last year was Beta fighting fish. This year’s ornament was suggested by my daughter, Evelyn. She wanted a snowman. She was probably thinking of Olaf, but I was thinking traditional.

I love making the ornaments in batches. Making so many allows me to streamline the pattern, improve it, and experiment, too.

So here is the Maryland Quilter 2014 ornament:

If you want one, buy any item in the shop and mention “snowman ornament” in the comment section at checkout. I’ll include one in your order through December 20, 2014.

Fear Is a Liar

It’s bitter cold this morning in Maryland, wayyyy below average. I looked out my window and the birds are slow to come to the feeder because of the cold. For an instant I was afraid for them, that they would freeze on the branches. But then common sense took hold. They have been cold before and will be fine. God takes care of them.

What are you afraid of?  Whatever you fear, it probably won’t happen. Fear is a liar. I tell myself that and have a poster to remind me.

Here is a quilt and pattern I made awhile back. It features some of the chilly animals I care about:

The quilt and the pattern are available in the shop here .

There’s a Monster at the End of This Blog Post.

Last week I got serious about using up some of my huge inventory of flannel fabric. It had grown out of control. (Don’t you love how I made it sound like I had no responsibility for this. haha) I have one large wall of shelving devoted to flannel fabric and it was bursting at the seams. So last week most of the stash was measured and cut. This week and next will be sewing and listing. Hopefully the completed baby blankets will be swaddling  happy babies in the near future.

Here’s the fabric in nice cut stacks waiting to be made into the most useful, comfy baby blankets ever:

And here is the monster I promised, handmade for Ms.Duffy’s second grade science class by Evelyn Haney and Mom (me):