March Madness

March really needs to simmer down! We've had more wintery weather this month than we've really had all winter and at this point in the year we are so looking forward to spring in Nova Scotia! But a good snow day makes for a good sew day regardless of what season the calendar proclaims we are in! So... while the weather outside was indeed frightful this week, inside the sewing room things were rather blissful!

The Robot was laying down some thread wizardry on a customers Labyrinth Quilt. I used a pantograph called Chinese Crescents by Keryn Emmerson for the first time on this one. It was elegant but not fussy, and it seemed to compliment the patchwork without overpowering the mazes. 

Keeping The Robot moving along requires me to be nearby to advance the quilt and since I had to hang out I figured I might as well get going on a quilt for a new kid on the block. My cousin and his girlfriend are expecting a baby girl this spring. They are going to name her Evangeline, and intend to call her Eva for short. I decided to make that sweet little Star Bright quilt from Swim Bike Quilt. I have made it several times and love it! It sews up so nicely and since I don't have a very big stack of pinks to pull from it would work well within the limits of my stash.

Eva! My grandmothers name. Evangeline will be a namesake of sorts for her great, great grandma so I felt compelled to put her name on the quilt! Not all 10 letters though, just 3 little free pieced letters showcased in the white space within the star.

Typically the star center is made up of four 6 inch squares. But in this case I made the letters, then put them together surrounded with plenty of the background fabric and then just cut the 11.5" square for the center square. The rest of the pattern was made as the directions suggest, though I did switch out some of the low volume prints in the background for pinks. Remember those groovy pigs? And those elephants from a long ago love affair I'd been having with the trunked beauties? 

Nan was a very talented seamstress. She was a wizard herself and I always figured she could have put a tail on a cat. She would have loved all the goings-on in my sewing room. Can you imagine her seeing The Robot work its magic? She did all her stitching on an old Jones treadle that she had converted to electric, it was a true work horse. Being lucky enough to grow up across the street from her meant that aside from learning to appreciate lilacs, molasses cookies and rocking chairs, I learned to sew on that machine with her hovering behind me.

I've got another customer quilt to complete this week before I get this one quilted up, but with a Baby Shower looming on the 8th of April, I had better get cracking! 

Well...Hello Again!

Betcha thought I forgot all about you guys?!

Truth is, I haven't forgotten at all...I've just been a neglectful blogger, and a busy one too.

So much has taken place over the last year! There's a new house, a new hair shoppe to work in, a new quilting room, a different head space...you get it, right? 

So. Much. Change.

The last time I chatted with you I talked about being "in the middle". I guess you could say I am approaching the other end of the spectrum now. Life has settled down somewhat and I am finding a new rhythm. It's not always easy to learn to dance to a new rhythm but it is definitely essential to try to master the steps and keep the beat no matter how overwhelming the drums sound at times. 

Here at the new house the renovations have finally ended (for now at least) and we can sit back and enjoy the space. If ever you wonder how solid your relationship might be with your significant other I suggest you purchase an old house and renovate it...together. If at the end of things you can still find love in your heart and patience in your soul for your partner, chances are you'll survive almost any holy hell that life can throw your way. 

We left the little safe haven we'd been renting and moved in here before things were even close to finished in July. With renos in full swing I had some surgery (ouch!) early in September and then moved the hair shoppe into the new studio I had built in the garage by the end of the same month. The move up the road toward the community center has proven to be a positive step and the business has grown steadily...location, location! Closer to the city and to all the amenities here in what I call "The High Tant" means life requires less time in the Jeep and provides more time to "just be". That's not to say that I don't miss seeing that ocean everyday...and I sure do miss the sunsets down the road...but holy cow, when things are right at your fingertips life gets simplified pretty damn quick.

On the quilty front, moving my hoard to yet another too small sewing space sure does challenge ones creative genius in the set-up department and it goes without saying that moving The Robot was a task all in itself. With all that dust settled and all the fabric & related bits squared away in their new hidey-holes I vowed that I'd get back on track in 2018 and get some fun stuff done!

Yes, Klenck Junk is FINALLY finished! More on that later...

Stay tuned for the details on this fresh madness... Fish Out Of Water

And while there may have been little on the blogging front,
rest assured that on the aquisition front things were always in full swing!

Getting back to my guild was first on the list...I really missed my quilty peeps! I've been doing some quilting with The Robot, building a bit of patchwork here & there and working a tonne of hours at the real job to fund all the things. Mr. Recipes (that's my love) has been muttering about my bloggy silence and encouraging me to get active in this space again. So here I am...getting back on track, finding that new rhythm.

Let the drums play on.

I've got some dancing to do.