In the bleak midwinter - correction

My mom died 9 years ago December 22.  It was actually 8 years ago, not 9.  I had to admit to all three sibs I was wrong.  Her death was welcomed and peaceful.  I remember spending the next few weeks adding stitches to the quilt I was working on - and at that point  I was still an emerging hand quilter.  And now at this time of year in these deeply dark and cold days, I find hand stitching so comforting.  A week ago I started adding stitches to this quilt.  Its owner says this quilt top is 90 years old.  Despite the age and fragility of the fabric, it is a quilt top that deserves to be finished.  In each block I am outlining the butterfly.  The sashing has been machine-quilted.  I'm not crazy about this quilt, but it is satisfying to give this shape and life. 

I love the Fika Tote pattern by Noodlehead.  It's so well-written and turns out nicely.  This is the second one I've made, and it went to Cristina.  I'm in the process of making another and possibly another.  For years I''ve been cutting from a roll of Soft and Stable that I bought years ago.  That roll is gone, and I actually had to purchase some by the yard from ByAnnie.   Bags cannot be made without it!  Imagine the bag below without the red clips!

 

These little butterfly purses are thanks to the scrap table at the last CMQG retreat.  There wasn't much of it, but I was able to make four flaps from it and think these purses very pretty.  So thanks, fellow CMQG guild member!

I figured out what stitching to add to my Left-handed Leftover Liberal Quilt.  And I like the effect.  I was all set to hang this in our dining room, but John asked me not to.  Hrumpppphhhhhh....

The people in our building are more than friendly.  Daily we open our door and find a little something there, like some chocolate or a little Christmas decoration.  So I've been making key fobs.  In addition to the hardware, you only need a 4" x 13" bit of fabric.  I may have to crank out a few more.

It's a peaceful cold gloomy day.  And I'm pretty content.  

International Left-Handers Day

August 13 was International Left-Handers Day.  Yes, I know it's August 18 today.  I'm only five days late acknowledging this date.  To right-handers this day may not seem significant.  But being left-handed has been a life-long adjustment to right-handers and their world.  I have to teach cutting and quilting techniques with someone across from me, not next to me, and use mirror-imaging.  Rather than continue to whine, I am celebrating with an entry in the  First Annual International LEFT-HANDED Quilters Anonymous Online Quilt Show with my best quilt.  This is Jinny Beyer's Around the World design and her fabrics.  The center and corners involved paper-piecing, a technique that baffles some left-handers.  What I love about this quilt is its luminescence.  It hangs in my studio.

I do have to enter a second piece in the category of Best Quilt. Out of Africa is an original design and it represents one of my first attempts to break out of the traditional quilting mold.  The center is woven, there's some interesting surface quilting, and the borders are read ethnic.  The piece hangs at the Salt Creek Wine Bar in Brookfield, Illinois, where John and I had our 60th-70th birthday party almost two years ago.




For more of this left-handed quilt festival, check it out here.