more production

The first snow carving quilt is finished and I have enough blocks like this one for two, maybe three more depending on how I lay them out and how large I make them. It's hours in the day that I don't have enough of.

The market presented itself unexpectedly and I have to take advantage of it. Still having fun balancing utility and fun design. I wish there was a safe and reliable way to incorporate my own hand dyed cloth in these but kids quilts have to be made to take a lot of wash, wear and tear and I know from personal experience that the hand dyed vintage cloth would be sad shreds before too long.

There will be time enough after the holiday for full-on art making. By then it will feel like pure luxury.

snow carving finished

I've put the last visible stitches in "snow carving". There will be some more construction stitching on the back to secure the damask to the batting - damask has a tendency to relax, stretch and get baggy if you let it. I'm thinking the next venture in bedworx will be on a field of white and natural muslin to relax the look a bit.
I did it with Summer Garden and this one and loved the outcome.

Can you see the patch I added to cover up the tiny pink stain? I'm going to wash and dry it again with a color catcher and  hope it's finished bleeding.

Saturday basket

This greeted me first thing this morning when I came into the studio for the laptop. I've had a vision for a much larger utility quilt based on this design.

I was not feeling too precise this morning so, instead of the very straight and exact hand quilting that I want inside the color fields, I picked up the frolic below that's been languishing in the hoops waiting for my mood to improve. It did.




Both sides of my brain appear to be in working order despite the ongoing caloric overindulgence. Come Monday I am checking into food prison somewhere after a lengthy purge.

more snow carving

This one just out of the dryer and I am so delighted with the results. Overall it's 39"x42" .  I'm going back over the squares of color and doing some hand quilting in white to anchor the backing damask. More pictures when it's done.

The blocks of color are eight to ten inches wide and I have another 20 of them ready to be set in white.

One tiny corner of one piece of hand dyed fabric bled a small pink shadow less than one by one half inch. I've paved it over with an inset of white and gone back over the patch retracing the machine stitching that was there. If there's a better way of dealing with bleeding color, let me know.

Thanksgiving day

For the first time in adult memory I did not cook and serve a turkey for my crew at home. Instead we drove up into the north Georgia mountains to meet my future daughter-in-law's family for the first time.

It was almost balmy out so we ate outside on the deck and later gathered around a campfire out front.

The food was terrific, the company and setting even better. It felt great to be welcomed into this happy tribe.

The extent of my duties for the day? Open a bottle of wine!