Seeing Stars

I started cutting out the pieces for this quilt right before my niece was born and just finished sewing the last seam this past summer. Said niece turns two next month. Oops. Better late than never?

I used prints from Eloise’s Garden for this, mostly pinks. The polka dot fabric I found years ago for free and had been holding onto for the right project. And the whole thing was hand quilted, because it’s a wonderfully slow process that allows me to binge boxsets without any accompanying guilt. Also, as a quilting neophyte, I can’t rave enough about the tutorials over on Suzy Quilts, especially her Reverse Sawtooth tips. I referenced her notes repeatedly and they’re terrific.

And said niece is enjoying the quilt, mostly because it lets her pretend to be the The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt.

"I'm glad of what keeps me afloat"

I listened to this song about 20 billion times this week, so figured I might as well illustrate it.

The Arboretum

I’ve moved about a half dozen houseplants indoors, after having them spend the summer out of doors. They always come back in infinitely healthier and larger after spending a few months in the elements. The extra greenery around here has me painting more botanical things as of late.

Three Things:

*This crochet blanket pattern by designer Lisa van Klaveren, inspired by the quilt I illustrated in Anne’s Arrives, is amazing.

*I’m about 2/3 of the way through Brooklyn: The Once and Future City, reading it for research. The story of the Globe Tower that never was deserves a movie, for sure.

*Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin is a 2021 Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year selection.

Things That Go Bump in the Night

Happy (almost) Halloween. It’s been a few years since I’ve done a seasonal comic, so here’s a story about October 31. Once you get to the page, click to advance through the panels.

Due North

I disappeared for a few days up North. Here’s some of what I saw and sketched. Drawing the birch tree, I realized it had been eons since I’d just sat and been still. It’s been a year. Sometimes it feels like twenty. It seems that way for everyone? But there’s nothing like complete silence all around you, to regain your bearings. Bacon and egg sandwiches from this place don’t hurt, either.

Also, I’m pretty sure I saw a UFO. But that’s a story for another day.

It's A Mystery...

October seems as good a month as any to celebrate mayhem and mystery. And to coincide, I’ve created a new collection of embroidery motifs, available as a PDF download in the shop. Inspired by classic mystery novels and whodunits, designing and stitching this was right up my alley. I spent my teen years reading Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle before becoming a Lord Peter Wimsey* fan as an adult. Even my dog is named after a literary detective.

The pattern includes two pages of designs, featuring 19 different motifs. And there’s also a page detailing transfer methods, for how to get your design from paper to fabric. You can add these designs to dish towels, clothing or create hoop artwork with them.

*Why Lord Peter Wimsey hasn’t seen a television reboot is beyond me. BBC or ITV, in the unlikelihood that you ever read these words, consider this a plea to bring Dorothy Sayer’s detective back to the small screen.

Pattern Making Memories

I painted the bits of this in my sketchbook last year and decided to turn it into a repeating pattern. I based the design on a visit I made to The Huntington with my sister, back when she was living in Los Angeles. It was a glorious Saturday in September and I could have stayed days instead of hours, poking through all the gardens and exhibits. We ate oodles of scones in the tea room. I remember being obsessed with the Bonsai. And when it was all done, we left happy and tired, blaring the radio as we barreled down the freeway. Whenever I hear T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer,” I still think of that day.