263 circles

263 circles have been hand quilted on our queen sized quilt,,,, now I just have the binding! I started this snowball quilt made with Anna Maria Horner voile and linen accents last summer. In february I was finally finished with all the cutting and sewing together each of the 140 blocks... By the end of the month I hope it will be completely finished and ready for a photo shoot;)




I finished the hand quilting on our road trip home from the beach...



I think my little bitties love the beach as much as I do- hurray!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

a few things...

i made a few things for the auction at elisha's preschool---

this was a quick little scrappy skirt and a matching hair bow.
this is a simple drawstring back pack...
i let each child in his class draw with fabric markers on a square and then i sewed them together for the front of the bag. i let each child pick a flash card with a picture of an animal on it as inspiration (i think that helps them focus instead of just drawing scribbles... plus it is always easiest to draw something while you look at it instead of just imagining it...). the lining and the straps are made out of a cute green dot fabric that i got from ikea... i bought a queen sized duvet cover with the intention to cut it up- it was so cheap that it was worth just buying for the fabric.

hunting for eggs

no, we aren't hunting for fresh eggs in our hen house yet... still a couple more months before we can expect those. i was looking through pics on our computer and realized that i should get some things documented....

easter 2011

it was a very nostalgic easter for me... for the first time my children had an easter egg hunt at my grandmothers house-- just like we all did every year! it was really sweet to watch them and remember what fun i had when i was a child.
i made that cute pink bow tie on elisha... really not very hard to do with the help of some online tutorials.... andrew felt like he was really making a statement by wearing a pink tie... he was curious about what that statement was. i told him it was showing how he could have fun and match his kids(my necklace and shoes were pinkish, so matched a bit, too)... made me smile when we got to church and 4 of his friends also had on pink ties or shirts ;-)

a winter wedding quilt

for my dear cousin, who is considered the fifth sister in our family. she met and has now married, a man who shares so many of her loves... he is so right for her that multiple mutual friends told her he was the man she was going to marry before she had even really met him!they share many interests in common, but at first their basic design and color leanings didn't seem to have any similarity. this was quite a challenge for me.... but after mulling as long as their shortish engagement gave me leave to ;-) i decided on a design that merges each aesthetic... her loves of rich color and exquisite design is obviously present in the stained glass-esque (yes, that word is also one of my creation ;-) string pieced center. his simple modern aesthetic is nodded to with the more modern square shape of the throw and the gray framing blocks. i love how it is such a picture of the merging and complementing of their personalities.
i paper pieced the string blocks (my first ones to try-- loved making them!)... the gray is mostly linen.
the backing is a gray sateen sheet from ikea... and i hand quilted with gray dmc perle cotton and hand tied the centers of the squares with turquoise. i love to add a little home on wedding quilts ;-)

a poem i love

i have been thinking about this poem lately and just pulled it out to read again. it still just hits me like it did the first time.

Kindness

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he too was someone

who journeyed through the night with plans

and simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to mail letters and

purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

It is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.

Is it just me, or is that just right? I have been "catching the thread" lately and sometimes feel so overwhelmed by the "size of the cloth" the it is hard to breath... i am so grateful for the kindness that ties my shoes and sends me out into the day-- the kindness of my friends, my children, my husband, my God.