Studio Tour

I’ve been missing my studio in town during our COVID-19 safe at home time. Those big windows give great light. I have been sewing the last few weeks but I’ve been sewing at home. I brought home my small BERNINA sewing machine, bins of scraps, and my most favorite fabrics to play with here at home.

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Here’s a short video of the current situation in my home sewing room. My daughter and I have been sharing this space the last couple of months. She does her homework in here and has completed a few sewing projects as well.

*** Studio tours ***

My good friends Terry Atkinson and Gudrun Erla invited me to show off my studio and keep it real!  I love this idea!! Plus a lot of friends are joining us.

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Tiny Things

Working with scraps seems to be a current theme here in my home sewing room. I’ve not been going to the studio in town to work the last couple of months. I brought a lot of fabric home to work with and have been wanting a bit more order to things before cutting into large pieces of fabric. So, here is some of what I’ve been doing with my Oakshott cotton scraps.

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A Beautiful Day

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It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

My husband sometimes writes emails to family detailing bits of his/our life. Most often, these emails tell stories of our travels and vacations. Here's an excerpt from an email he sent out last night that I read this morning.

"Wow. Today was really lovely, a day to justify and redeem the too-easy stereotype of spring from the picture books and bulletin boards of childhood. The flowers on the redbud outside the front door, on every bit of the plant, are fully open this evening, shockingly beautiful even in the glare of my headlamp when I went out to close the door to the chicken barn. I mowed for the first time this year today, a sure sign that the peak of spring has arrived and that summer-like conditions will descend on us in a few minutes - with heat, mosquitoes and an end to the day-to-day change that makes fall and spring interesting and hard to pigeon-hole fairly.

Mowing also meant spending too much of the day laying on the concrete under the mower, wearing hearing protectors and squinting at the sparks from the grinder in the basement, reloading the grease gun, looking for tools I haven't needed for months, etc.... But, the two hours actually spent on the tractor were sublime. So many things are blooming or preparing to bloom. The mower cut the grass and all the other plants, each succulent after so much rain, and spread the delicious complicated salad smell in the air so strongly that the tractor's own fumes were lost in it all. Even the smell of foliage burnt by the exhaust pipe, which slices along 4 ft directly in front of my nose, was much stronger than it's own emissions, and also lovely and dramatically revealing of what bush or tree had been singed as we passed. I hope it was beautiful where you were too, and that you enjoyed it."

Fun Time in the Studio

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After days and days of making masks for friends and family, I have made a large pile of new scraps. String piecing is my favorite way to tame the scrap pile. This rectangular ruler happened to be handy so it’s the one I’m using. I have no idea what these rectangle pieces will become but I’m having fun making them.

Prairie Fire

Sunday was a great day for our annual prairie fire. We planted our native grasses and native flower prairie areas almost 30 years ago.

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I love that now my son can share these days with HIS son. Here they are checking out an large ant hill that was hidden by the tall grass.

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We are glad the state lifted the fire ban so that we could do this chore. It is a fun day at not much work when we plan it right.

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Family Masks

I haven’t been anywhere since March 13 and have been struggling to focus on any creative work after finishing the Spring Fever Quilt. Now that we will be needing masks to go out in public when things open up again, my daughter and I worked to make some masks for our family. She did the cutting and I sewed them.

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Sewing together was just what I needed.

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I used the Craft Passion mask pattern. I like that it comes in different sizes so you can make for all of your family members.

I am now feeling like I can work on some more creative sewing.

Spring Fever

Spring Fever - 80’ x 80”

I’m happy to share this quilt, Spring Fever now that it’s in its new home in New Mexico.

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I designed the block for Summer Sampler Boot Camp 2019 . I liked the first block so much that I made another, and, another. I couldn’t stop until I made a queen size quilt!

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The block starts as a square of print scraps, and is then surrounded by triangles of bright color solids. I think it’s a happy quilt.

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It has wool batting and is only quilted in the ditch to make it light and fluffy. I love the geometric pattern it makes on the back.

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This was a good project for early in our safe at home time because the top was already complete and the quilting plan had already been made. My brain has been having a hard time concentrating and making decisions with all of the stress and news of Covid 19.

Special thanks to my photo helpers.

Fear - domestic abuse quilt # 17

Fear 16 x 16

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Fear plays a large part in the life of an abused person. There is fear in staying and fear in leaving.

There is fear of appearing to be weak/a victim/naïve/etc in addition to fear of what the abuser might say or do at any given time. There is a fear of what other people might say or think when they find out about the abuse.  A person can be unprepared to deal with the situation, but also fearful of losing face and being seen as having been duped or manipulated.  Pride may not let them admit the truth for a long time.  Someone can be a capable person in many areas of life all of his/her life, and when face to face with abuse, be fearful of being viewed as not capable, which is a vicious circle to be in.

An abused person can become paralyzed by their fear.

There is also fear of the unknown for folks who love someone experiencing abuse and aren't able to know what their reality is like.

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If you have a friend or family member who is experiencing abuse here are some things you can do to help. The most important thing to remember is that the choice to leave or not is theirs. You can't make them leave a bad situation but you can be supportive and helpful in their choice. They will need someone they can count on when/if they do decide to end or leave the abusive relationship.

Domestic Violence knows no boundaries when it comes to race/gender/sexuality/age/socioeconomic status/geographic location/culture.

Remember, domestic abuse affects ten million people in the US every year. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, please know that the folks at the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1 800 799 SAFE or thehotline.org) are ready to listen and support you, as well as refer you to a local program or organization. If you observe someone being abused, you can also call the hotline. A good samaritan call can save a life!

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All of the quilts in the Domestic Abuse series so far can be viewed here.

Instagram Photos

I hade a fun day sewing with a friend at the studio today. The featherweights were humming along together. Sew days with friends are the best! #whatsonyourdesignwall #sewsmall #scrapquiltsarethebest #vintagesewingmachine #singerfeatherweight #fabri
More blocks for the scrappy quilt. I’m thinking of using those fabrics in the back for (bottom to top) dashing, cornerstones, and binding. See previous post. #sewtiny #tinypiecing #slowsewing #fabricisfun #scrapsquiltsarethebest
six inch finished blocks made from four different size fabric squares. Serendipity. All the pieces I had precut years ago can be sewn together to creat 6” squares. (1”, 1.25”, 1.5”, 2”) #sewtiny #tinysewing #scrapquil
I was on a sewing retreat last week and among other things, I created five six inch blocks like this one from 1” cut squares. It’s a 144 patch block. They make me very happy. #tinypiecing #scraphappy #scrapquilysarethebest #everylastpiec