Scrappy

I spotted some modern, geometric quilts on Pinterest last year and after pinning a handful, decided to make one. I just finished up the last of the binding this past week and managed a few photos in the 35 minutes of the day when there’s actually sunlight. Ah, January…

For fabric, I used a mix of my own designs and remnants from other sewing projects. A handful of the blocks are Spoonflower test swatches (my designs Russian Alphabet, Zakopane and Penhallow Street). I’ve also used prints from my 2018 fabric collection Eloise’s Garden. Because I had some on hand, I used polar fleece in lieu of batting. It doesn’t have the same satisfying squish factor as batting, but in a pinch, worked. And since the idea of making mountains of bias binding had me losing the will to live, I opted to do a self-binding (here’s a tutorial). I quilted everything by hand with basic squares all over, some following the outlines of the blocks and others overlapping. I love hand quilting. It’s a slow, slow process, but if you add a binge-able podcast and cocoa to the mix, it’s delightful.

And I am looking forward to curling up with this quilt and a book at the soonest possible opportunity.

A Wander in the Woods

A new year calls for a new pattern. And a mockup. To be fair, I actually did make sea salt chocolate chip cookies last weekend, but they didn’t last long enough for a photoshoot…

Taking the Long Cut

After much hemming, hawing, researching and brain-picking, I finally decided to make the leap to a Cintiq. I’m still trying to get the hang of things, but working on the above drawing this week was a blast.

A few weeks back, I was talking to a kid who told me about having to, “take the long cut,” as in, “the road was closed, so we had to take the long cut.” I love this expression; I wish it was an actual part of the English lexicon. And it’s been rattling around in my head ever since. I hate being late. I abhor wasted time. But I keep wondering if there’s something to be said for meandering, for taking “the long cut” now and then, as opposed to “the short cut.” It seems like it might be a good idea for the new year ahead. And I’m trying to remind myself of this while attempting to learn new ways of making art.

And one last bit of 2023 below: this highly accurate portrait of me drawn by my five-year-old niece over the holidays. She drew me while I was drawing her (whoa).

* Before I hit publish, I did a quick search of the interwebs only to realize that “The Long Cut” is an Uncle Tupelo song. And it ain’t half bad…