When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother "What will I be?"

Today was like stepping back in time for me.  I was honored to be invited by The Willows Academy (my Alma Mater AND the location of my first 'real' job) to speak at their career day.  I gave a presentation to two groups of students about what it's like to own a business designing quilts and work at home.  Both presentations were in room 206, where I taught both honors and AP US history to juniors for many years. Being in the classroom and talking to students felt so normal to me.  It was like I never left!  At any rate, in preparing this presentation, I really got to thinking about the path I took that landed me right in my basement, quilting my little heart out.  And I realized, that it is thanks to the Willows, and my dear parents, that I had the confidence and courage to leave my teaching career and take an entirely different path.  One that would open up opportunities that I could not even imagine when I started out.  So thank you, thank you to Mrs. Huntington, Mrs. Paulson, Miss Keenely, Mrs. Keenely, Mrs. Bradley, Mrs. Jacobucci, Miss Wilberg and all of the other teachers who believed in us and kept pushing us to be better!

Here are the highschool girls.  Many of them expressed an interest in sewing--one of them even plans to go into fashion design.

And here are the middle school girls.  Many of them have grandmothers who sew or quilt :-).

Maggie joined me at career day.  She is already practicing to be a member of The Willows Poms team...

Keepsake Exclusive!

A few months ago, I opened my front door to find a box of Timeless Treasures headers sitting on my porch.  Aside from getting actual fabric yardage, getting a box full of batik headers is the next best thing!  I knew before they came that we were going to pull together a couple of palettes for some exclusive patterns with Keepsake Quilting.  So, without wasting any time, I dumped them out on my living room floor and got to work.

The first palette was a no brainer for me.  I always enjoy working with a rainbow palette.  There is something really fun about working with all of the colors on the color wheel--it gives a lot of opportunity for contrast which allows the pattern design to really speak.  A batik rainbow palette is especially fun because of the availability of clear, saturated colors, which are my favorite.

The second palette started with an awesome grey/taupe batik and kind of took off from there.  I added the blacks and dark browns for contrast, and then the blues for interest.  The result was somewhat subtle and sophisticated.

Janine used both of these palettes to make her latest patterns:  Pandora's Box and the Plaza.  Both patterns/kits are available exclusively from Keepsake Quilting!

  

Pandora's Box

The Plaza

Our friend Ann Davidson of Providence quilting did the longarming on both of these quilts.  Thank you, Ann!

Want to make one of these quilts for yourself?  Here is the link to the keepsake site:

www.keepsakequilting.com

First Finished Quilt of 2011

Janine came over for a working lunch earlier this week and brought with her our first completed quilt for the year!  We had each worked on this In and Out top at the end of 2010 (I can't believe that year is over already) and had sent it to be quilted and bound.  We love the In and Out pattern...and we love these fabrics by Marcia Derse.  This quilt was a welcome sight for both of us.  Since the end of October, my quilting studio has been in a continuous state of flux.  It currently looks like this (YIKES!):

The above picture is my forlorn longarm cord.  My poor Millennium is in a box in our upstairs hallway.  I am looking forward to putting her all back together!

My dear husband is such a good sport about all of this...the noise (this past week they have been replacing water pipes...between the banging and sawing I was pretty sure we were all going to end up in the basement permanently!), the fact that I have now taken over the ENTIRE basement and there is no room for the neon Bears sign or framed picture of the White Sox World Series win or his modest collection of baseballs in small lucite boxes..., the fact that the entire rest of the house is now my sewing room now that Christmas is over (Maggie loves my pincushion--not exactly the toy of choice for a two year old), and let's not forget the various states of panic I may or may not be in depending on the level of stress I am feeling about being out of the studio for three months straight.

Until the completion of said studio, I am trying to make the best use of my time and still be creative.  Sometimes that means playing with Maggie and her newly acquired set of 'Bug's Life' toys from our friend Linnea.  Other times it means cutting out future quilts at the kitchen island or commandeering the dining room for a project in progress.  At any rate, I am excited as the noise from below continues to promise a finished studio in the not-so-distant future!

December Weekend, Chicago Style

I spend a fair amount of my life daydreaming about what I would do if I had a weekend to kick around Chicago.  This past weekend, my daydreams came true.  With nothing definite scheduled, we decided to actually do some of the things we have talked about all year.  On Friday, my sister Katherine, Sean and Mags and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Christmas trees from around the world.  I hadn't been there since I was a little girl.  I remember going there with my parents--it almost felt the same...The good news is, the exhibit is still going strong.  Some of the trees were downright decked to the gills, dressed to the nines and chock full of ornaments, flags, and in some cases, framed pictures of pasta (that was the Italian tree, by the way).  I am not sure if we're supposed to assume that Italians really do put framed pasta pictures on their tree. My Italian grandma certainly did not.   Anyway, we had a great time looking at the trees and an even better time being together.

And, now that I carry a camera EVERY where I go (it's a little embarrassing...) I could not resist taking some pictures of non-Christmas related things.  Some of these would make for interesting quilt inspiration...I know we're mostly square and rectangle girls at Blue Underground Studios but I have some imminent plans to try some other shapes.

The fun did not end on Friday!  We unexpectedly got tickets to the Straight No Chaser concert at the Chicago Theater on Saturday night.  Woo Hoo!  Sean randomly found this a cappella men's group in this video on youtube last year (along with about a million other people.) 

And now they're making CD's and touring and all that good stuff.  And they are so great live!

We were having a serious flashback to our dating days when going out was a regular occurrence for us.  After the concert, we decided to really live on the edge and go for a drink at the Gale Street Inn.


On Sunday, we had company for dinner and decorated our tree.  It was a perfect way to end our perfect weekend.  Maggie hung most of the non-breakable ornaments at the bottom of the tree and we hung all of the breakable ornaments at the top.  

 I am getting a little tired of our tree skirt so I wrapped our Around the Block sample around the tree stand instead.  I actually think it looks kind of cute!

I love how the living room looks with the tree up.  And I love non-traditional uses for quilts.  Someday, I'll make a real tree skirt.  But in the meantime, I think this is a pretty good substitute.

Silk Revisited

I took a few minor diversions from my original '12 blocks a day' plan on these silk blocks.  However, I find that having a goal in mind really helps me stay somewhat on track.  If I hadn't given myself some sort of deadline, these blocks would still be in the contemplative stage.

As I finish them up, I am wanting to share some things we have found helpful when working with silks...


1.  Start your project with a fresh rotary blade.  Seriously, just change your blade! Your cutting will be easier and more accurate (which means your sewing will be more accurate).
2.  Change your needle before you start to sew.  A new needle will make for smooth sewing on dupioni silks.  I was sewing for several years before it even registered that I should be changing my needle on a very regular basis.  Once I started, I made sure I was never without extra needles.
3.  IGNORE THE FRAY!  This is hard, especially if you are at all persnickety about your personal space and its cleanliness.  The silks will fray...and you will find it all over your house.  Just this past week I found some stray silk in our egg carton, on our Christmas tree, and on my kitchen floor.  It's a by-product of working with these amazing fabrics.  Get a good lint roller and move on.
4.  Do not pre-wash your silks.  The resulting fray will leave you with not a lot of room for cutting your pieces.


We really have come to love working with silks and the richness they add to a quilt.  Since they can't really be laundered, they are great for small projects like throws, wall hangings and table runners.  


Happy Quilting!

Good Intentions, derailed

I started this week with every intention of starting a new quilt for market out of this lovely selection of fabrics:

But I got distracted by the print on the left....the clamshell print from the Parisville collection by Tula Pink (it's actually called 'fans' on the selvedge).  This happens to me all the time!  I wanted to start cutting all of the fabrics but I could not stop thinking about that clamshell print and how great those colors would look in a solid palette.  After wandering around the kitchen weighing the pros and cons of deviating from my schedule, I finally decided to give in.  (I rarely ignore an urge about color....my studio, when it is functional....is full of random piles of fabrics that are evidence of this.)  So, I trucked upstairs to Maggie's room to find my solid bin.  Of course it was at the bottom of a stack of bins.  I quietly moved the top bins out of the way and began to assemble a group of solids in the semi-darkness of the morning.  When I finally carried them back to the kitchen, I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

So now, I have a new stack of fabrics waiting to become a quilt.  This stack is on our piano, which is also currently the home of my bowl of scissors (yes, I have a bowl of scissors), a bottle of best press, a cow pitcher for my sister , two strings of LED Christmas lights and a book of Broadway Show tunes (the only thing that actually belongs there).  I will stare at it for a while as I am sewing and hopefully I will make something with it.  However, I will not give in to unnecessary pressure.  I think half the fun of sewing is about dreams....the dreams of unmade quilts.  

Thanksgiving Review

Well, Thanksgiving dinner is over, the leftovers have been dispersed, the extra chairs have all been returned to their rightful places and the last dishes, and serving pieces have been washed and put away.  All in all, we were quite satisfied with everything this year!  We made all of our usual recipes for turkey, stuffing, etc with a couple of new twists.  We always make cinnamon rolls, a tradition started by my grandmother's sister Alice.  She was one of the best cooks in our family, and we still sit around and talk about some of the meals we had at her table.  Up until this year, we have been experimenting with different cinnamon roll recipes, but I think we can finally stop looking.  We made the recipe from the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/)--they were heavenly!

We also made a departure from our traditional cranberry sauce and made Cranberry Chutney from the Orangette blog (http://orangette.blogspot.com/).  It was fabulous!  But the food was not the only highlight of Thanksgiving day.  Almost our entire family was together with the exception of my youngest little berry of a sister, Margaret.  With the other seven of us and the nieces and nephews, we make a pretty good party! 


Today, instead of giving in to the temptation of going to the mall for some black-Friday blowouts, we took a ride to Monches Farm in Colgate, Wisconsin.  For someone who could pass a pie out her dining room window into the neighbors extra bedroom, going to a place like Colgate is a real treat.  Once you get off the highway, the drive is beautiful.  There are quaint farm houses, fields and even horses!  You just don't see things like that near our house.  (Not that I would trade in my short ride to the loop, close proximity to Super Dog, or lawn I can mow in two minutes flat...)

And, Monches farm....well, it is a place to get ground-hardy perennials, dried wreaths and swags, beautiful Christmas ornaments, and so many other fun 'needful' things for your house and garden.

It has been such a wonderful week--it's going to be hard to get back in the swing of things and back to work on Monday!