Admiring the Finish

I mended my friend Cheryl's little black dress for a special occasion. And I finished it two weeks in advance, not the day of the event, so I was very pleased with myself. I texted Cheryl to say I would be brining the dress back to her that evening. Done and done. 

But wait, there is more.....

When I got to Cheryl's home, neighbors were waiting there to see the dress. There was pizza.  People patted me on the back and offered to get me drinks. The dress was handed around for each person to admire the new zipper I had just finished. Then a guy I didn't even know played Pomp and Circumstance on his phone while a tiny parade returned the dress to a place of honor in Cheryl's closet. I know, I couldn't believe it either. It was like being in a Beatrix Potter story. It was an actual mending party!

So I'm relaying this strange but beautiful circumstance to ask; how do you celebrate your craft?

Are you like me?  The minute I finish a quilt, I start another quilt. 

It has never occurred to me to be like Cheryl's neighborhood and truly recognize the finish. Even after reviewing Visible Mending here on the blog, and believing i had a new found attitude of celebrating stitches, and thereby fearlessly creating more art pieces , wow - it still never dawned on me to just honor a finish. 

Next time... I'll wear my tiara. What will you do?

Show and Tell

Here are a few of my faves from the neighborhood.
Hope you have time for a cuppa and a little show and tell.

Big stitches, beads, feature buttons, applique, and some stitchery.

It all comes together in Lynette's tiny pictorial.

Here is Barbara's tiny quilt - sew cute!!!

Diane worries about the scale of the cats:flowers & birds

 Here is one of Diane's gourds.

The beaded edging is pine needles!

This one is HUGE, I never saw such a giant gourd.
The edging/handle is burned lasso.

 Everyone contributes Rows for Valor.

Then Carolee builds the Valor quilts.

The GFG on the wall really is from Carolee's grandmother.

 I love this one-patch, Super clever design.

Especially the border.

Not to mention, Karen's great workmanship.

I guess this also counts as R/W/B, and as pinwheel?

Foundation pieced pillow case. Also a one patch.

Spinning the biggy/smalls makes it look like a Spool.

Sculptured T-Shirt Quilt.

LOL I should have got a picture of the whole thing. Of course this block was center top ;)

This one is from the museum, and traveling AQSG exhibit.

There were more pictures but my phone ate them. AARG!

Check out the sculptured edge!!!

I would have flipped the sawtooth rows so they appear to come from the sashing instead of from the block....but that might have made the green too overpowering? What do you think?

For sure that is the tiniest dresdens I have ever seen. Paper Pieced?

Pearl says I should get to work now.

Happy Monday!

Hexagon Box and holiday thoughts

Made this hexagon box for my niece’s birthday:

Usualy I create something with poinsettias for her December birthday. But Baby Megan recently painted her room, so this time I made something to mat

This is Geta’s Flower  Box Free pattern.

I love working in mouldable interfacings, now that we’ve tried a few projects. However, I think the stuffs I had on hand were too heavy for Geta’s box. I couldn't get the last step of stitching sides to work, so I just tacked them up at the Petal joints. Actually works fine, and was super fast finish!

Wish I could make one for everyone of you who were so nice to chat with me in the hospital. It's been a month since then, but I don't want the year to end without saying how much you helped. Seems you guys that live in my phone are always awake, no matter when I need a talk:) Much appreciated! Hoping we all have a healthy New Year.

Me and Alex- she is not taller than me;)

I am sew looking forward to #BDSI

Boxing Day Sew In is my favorite SI of the year.

Maybe it's because we don't have Boxing Day here in the States, and I want in- it's such a unique holiday.

Maybe it's because it’s an extra long Sew Day, with the two holidays coming back-to-back.

Or maybe it's because it is the last holiday of the year. (You count New Year’s Eve as first holiday of next year, don't you?)

But mostly, I think it's my favorite Sew In because it is truly free time:

• all the chores were finished for Santa’s visit
• there are plenty of leftovers
• everyone is occupied with their new toys
• the holiday gifting projects are over (wheh!)
• calendar has reset on the UFOs

See, whatever you do for BDSI is just because you want to! Guilt free of any “should bees” doing something else. Enjoy!

Tiara Time

Mom found this new book and LOLed when she read this paragraph. It's about making more time. So if you need more time to sew, I think you should read this article. As you can see the book is called Life's Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets by Lisa Quinn.


"When my daughter started first grade, we attended parents' night. It was time to get the scoop on what was expected of our little girl and to meet her new teacher, Ms.Larson. It was an interesting experience, as Ms.Larson was quite a character. She had an artsy, ethereal way..... About midway through the evening, she surprised us all by placing a large rhinestone crown on top of her head. She said we should all know about of day that was all her practice of tiara time. I was all ears. Tiara time, she said, was the time of day that was all her own, a time when the children were required to participate in silent, independent study and not allowed to bother her at all. She needed to get certain things done, so when the crown went on, the mouths shut. She kept it on for the rest of the meeting, and I gotta tell you, I sat up straighter at my little desk. There were some stunned stares and a few grumblings among some of the parents. I, however, got on board immediately. I raced home, jumped on eBay, and bid on the shiniest rhinestone tiara I could find. It arrived 10 day later, and I have never looked back."