Update!

Sorry I've abandoned this blog lately - I just spent the last month and a half moving and getting settled into a new job and life in Washington, DC. I have not had internet in my apartment, which greatly hinders posting! I also haven't got a space set up to quilt in, though I hope to do so soon.

I'm in the market for a quilt guild in the area, since I find joining clubs and guilds helps when you're new in town. You can make friends, and instantly find a place where you may not know anyone, but know you've got something in common to bond over. It's always good for me to find the local quilters and birders when I'm in a new place.

Here's to hoping I'll be fully settled in and back to sewing soon!

~L

Rain Rain, Go Away...

I desperately want to make a raincoat after seeing a fellow blogger's post about the adorable raincoat they made. Here's a great resource for sewing with coated fabrics. Maybe someday I'll be able to make a project like this...

Breaking the Dry Spell

I've been on quite a quilting dry spell. I broke it today procrastinating for finals. I worked a bit on the tree quilt. It's at an ugly stage, but I have faith that as it progresses it will get better again.

Christmas Quilt

The original quilt was made for me by a family friend when I was a baby. Over the years of use, it acquired a large blue ink stain on it. My cousin took out the portion that was stained, and put in it's place, the star block that you see, and added new borders to replace the ruffles that had been there before.

Now I'm re-quilting the top with a fresh backing and new cotton batting to replace the old puffy polyester filling. I did stitch in the ditch for the majority of it, but I may add in some free motion quilting in the star, and a bit more quilting along the squares.

Skirt-Making

I have somehow gotten a wild hair and am dying to make a skirt. Sew Mama Sew has a great listing of skirt tutorials to pick from... how to choose??

Eco-Plates

Check out this amazing disposable dinnerware - made from fallen leaves! Very eco-friendly!

Cookies and Some New Fabric

A few days ago, I stopped in to my local quilt shop since I was picking up my meds next door. I found a few fabrics that seemed promising as borders for my quilts, but I'll have to bring in the tops I've got finished so I can get going on them.

Since my cousin taught me to always buy a little something to support your local shop, I picked up two fat quarters of a fabric that really caught my eye. It's a black fabric with maple leaf shaped silhouettes on it, in orange, golden yellow, and shiny gold. I'm such a sucker for gold on black patterns. Can't wait to figure out what to do with them.

I played with a recipe from KAF, called the Mother Cookie. It's a bare-bones plain drop cookie recipe, meant to be used as a starting point for customizing your own drop cookie recipe. I subed in a bit of hazelnut flour and added in chocolate chips into mine. I'm going to have to tinker with the recipe a bit, but they were pretty yummy.

Also, I've been thinking a lot about trying hand-dyeing fabric. I'd especially like to try the snow dyeing technique that so many people are blogging about right now, maybe I'll order a kit...