Some cook, I sew and write: creativity brings joy

One of the challenges I have struggled with in quilting is trusting myself to choose fabric that works together.  I suspect, given the number of blogs, videos, and classes, that many others struggle with it too.   As a result, I have chosen colors and fabric lines pretty much as directed by the pattern designer. And that's okay. But this time I can't.  This block of the month quilt was created back in 2012, and whatever fabric line was sold with it at the time is no longer available.  So I began exploring my stash possibilities.  Not being happy with that, I purchased a set of Rowan from the Kaffe Fassett Collective.  It opened up many possibilities for me but I still wanted to use other colors and designs I already had. The first thing I did was consider already-completed blocks. Then I started choosing colors and patterns I liked that I thought might play together well.  I really wanted to use the abstract fabric at the bott...

Have I ever mentioned that I love Amy Gibson from Stitchery, Dickery, Dock ?  She is so encouraging!  She's doing a Sugar Block of the Month this year, but I picked up Crafty's 2012 BOM by Amy to do earlier this year.  Can I just tell you how much fun it is?  I'm really excited because she leads the viewer through all kinds of blocks, including a few I've not had the courage to try on my own. Amy has also published a book, The Quilt Block Cookbook , that I'd love to have! Go to her site and follow her Quilt Block Cookbook Blog Hop to see why. That was a long preamble to say that I've finally made the third block in the Craftsy 2012 BOM.  I've been concerned because my first block was made from cool colors and my second from warm (hot) colors.  My third block, the Balkan Puzzle block, married both color schemes together. The first one, the Asterisk block, is in cool tones; the second, the Wonky Pound Sign, is rather hot; and the bottom one is the ...

So much has happened in the last month!  How about a quick update? Starting with non-quilting activities: I spent four days prepping our house in Missouri for more open houses.  In the process, I found a boxful of pencils to bring home for my husband.  There's probably a quilt in this somewhere! We took our visiting German student Laura to the Newport Aquarium the first day after she arrived. My daughter hosted her annual Young Women's Halloween party.  This is after the party with her and our German student.  Next year she's thinking she'll probably invite her whole early morning Bible-study class since it will be her last year home. On to the quilting-related activities although not actually quilting, I finally splurged for a sewing machine case.  I have a Janome Skyline S5 so it isn't a small (or light) machine, and I almost damaged it on a trip outside the house.  I finally found a Tutto case on Walmart.com for ...