finger thumb

sesame street quilt

Finished the Sesame Street quilt I've been working on for the last week or so today. It's made from a vintage bedsheet, natch, and one that I'd cut to smithereens already for bibs and such. It finally had no more good places to cut the aforementioned bibs out of, since they require a big-ish weird shape, with a good image in the middle, that often cuts into adjacent imagery. Its hard to explain. But there were lots of good little bits and pieces left that though not big enough for bibs, would make a lovely quilt if I cut it cleverly enough. 

It was very much a fussy-cutting project, which is, as you know, how I like them. Appeals to all my obsessive and crazy-hoarder tendencies in just the right way. Anyhow, here it is: I cut all these cute 'windows' out and then repieced them to look like windows within a wall. I found this awesome background fabric at my local sewing shop, and then just used some grey Kona for the sills.  As you can see in this photo, a good third of the cut outs were in need of some creative patching in order to fit in the 'window' area that I was sewing. Look along the left hand side there, and you can see where I've Frankensteined the image together along the black balcony railing. Its not perfect, but I had very limited fabric, so I just made the best of it. It was kind of fun too. Lots of puzzle piecing and hand sewing. 

Here's a shot of the backing fabric. Another old bedsheet. Though it looks like it was made to match practically. 

Here it is all folded in a pile. 

And here's a shot to show you the way I finished the edges. Its my quick and dirty sew, turn and topstitch. I'm growing quite fond of this method. 

Oh, and here's a lovely baby, showing us what little quilts are for. I'm sorry, but the rest of this post is just going to be a zillion pictures of my baby on the quilt. He was such a good and patient little model. He has this great trick, where he likes to lay his head down to cuddle soft things (pillows, teddy bears, blankets, etc.) So all I had to do was say "awww, saaaawft..." in a sing songy voice and he'd gamely lay his little head down and cuddle against the quilt. 

Seriously. I can't get enough of those big eyes of his. 

And that toothy little grin.

I was mostly taking these shots so that I could post this quilt on etsy. I always love a good 'product in use' shot, especially with baby stuff. 

These ones would work better for etsy, because they are less about a specific baby, and more about 'whatever baby you would like to imagine, using this quilt'.

Baby toes are always good too.

But I put it to a vote on facebook and this was the photo that most agreed would best sell the quilt. Along with four other straight up product shots on white backgrounds. And then after all that, one of my facebook friends went and spoke for it before it even went up on etsy. So it turns out that its good that my little product shoot turned into a 'document the Baby at this age' shoot. Totally worth it. 

oh, and my big-boy-baby got in on the act a bit too. Such a big kid by comparison, but you know what they say, you always still see your baby. 

ouch

You know how you hear about these weird accidents and then you think, really, how could that happen. How could someone get their hair caught in a car power window? or something like that. It just seems too appocryphal and it always happened to your friends cousin in shop class or something like that. Well, urban legend no more people because now you know someone WHO SEWED THROUGH THEIR FINGER!!!!! Because IT WAS ME!

oh. my. gosh. I totally sewed through my finger tonight. I don't even know how it happened. Ok, first of all, let me assure my mom and mother in law and all the lovely people I'm related to who read this that its alright, I'm fine, I didn't have to go to the hospital or anything. But this is what you get when you sew whilst tired. Its like riding a bike when you're drunk. You think to yourself "eh, what's the worst that can happen?" And then you end up in sprawled in some bushes with a bloody nose and torn tights and you're like "oh, THAT." Not that I speak from personal experience or anything. But I have a friend who's cousin... oh, never mind. 

Anyhow, tired. Sewing. Thinking about how I'm running out of flannel and why, for the love of Mike did I not pick some up when I was at the fabric store today and *BANG* I yank my hand away and snap my needle and think "what just happened? And why does my finger hurt?" So Iooking at my finger but its not bleeding or anything, but I think I must have sewn through it because its throbbing. And like a little kid, I need to go and confer with someone before I freak out, so I went to  where Hubs was in the garage and said "I think I just sewed through my finger." And then I look at it again and turn it over and there's a big blob of blood. And then I start to cry. Because I SEWED THROUGH MY FREAKIN' FINGER! The needle went it right beside my nail bed (which is so gross) which is why I did not see it at first. And nice Hubs hugs me an pats me and gets me a band-aid and some polysporin and I calm down and watch a bit of TV and eat a little medicinal chocolate. And then I'm fine again.

And then I get back to sewing. But much more carefully this time. Because I like my fingers. A lot. 

deadline

I'm working towards a small installation in a group show that's coming up, er, next week. Yeah. Why do I always leave things to the last minute? In this case I have a good honest excuse because I've been waiting for a component that I had to have manufactured for me that has taken awhile and blah, blah, blah. The point is that I'm crunching, and am using almost all of my meager 'free' aka: sleeping-children-time to make a whole pile of little tiny quilts for this project. So I don't have much time for blogging today, and instead of writing about the goings on of my aforementioned sleeping angels, I thought I'd just show you what I'm working on.

Most of the little quilts are very, very plain, really just a single piece of unpatterned fabric, which is kind of boring, but when they are all displayed together they'll be a lot more interesting (or 'insustring' as the Little Dude would say). But this morning I decided to make a more fun one, with multiple fabrics, just for my own entertainment. And it turned out to be kind of nice. See? I'm really into neutrals lately. On a big grey and beige kick. Really, there are so many greys out there its kind of crazy. You can't tell from this one little quilt in insolation, but this is a really greenish-grey that I quite love. 

The patterned stuff is just some old Amy Butler scrap that I had squirreled away in a box. I just free hand cut it with my rotary cutter and slapped it together any old way. Which is such a nice way to work. So relaxed and disappointment-free. I still need to add some hand quilting to it, but that'll have to wait till tomorrow. 

Right, so I better get back to work. Oh! And I had some really great thrifting today that I'll have to take pictures of tomorrow to show you for next time. See you then.

star wars blanket

Finished another little project this week. I was commissioned to do a Star Wars themed blanket as a baby gift. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Its the same idea and pattern as this other one that I posted about awhile back. Its basically a simplified quilt, more of a patchwork blanket than a quilt. 

My favourite part is always the fussy cutting. I know that a lot of people don't like the fussy cutting, but for me, as the quilting is often very materially inspired, getting the nicest bits out of the fabric is often my focus.

Of course, my photography assistant is always present. 

And full of questions. Such as "Why is that guy half nay-kid?" Good question. Maybe becuase he was hot? Tatooine seemed like it had a rather warm climate.

Here you can see the backing fabric. 

I have a lot of sewing to do these days. Quite a little to-do list posted up by my desk. I feel like I'm getting behind in the etsy shop to. Its just these little people in my life, they really want to spend most of their time outside, and to be fair, I like being out there too. And my machine really needs to be serviced, but in order for that to happen it has to be in the shop for two weeks. Two weeks! How am I supposed to go without my machine for two weeks! Seriously. And its not like taking the car into the shop where they give you a loaner... 

sewing break

Hey everyone, sorry I won't have time for my usual too wordy, too many photographs of the same thing post today. I've got a lot of sewing/making to do these days. I've had a lot of contacts lately, where people have randomly been e-mailing me, or phoning me, or convo-ing me to ask me to make things. Which is awesome, really, as making things is, you know, kind of my thing.
Anyhow, I'm working towards a big shop update on etsy, and have been sewing my butt off in between bouts of dealing with my not-very-happy but only slightly sick baby, and his not-very-forgiving-of-baby-interference older brother. Suffice it to say that my normally emotionally resiliant baby is disolving into tears every time his big brother shouts, "no! NO! DON'T let him TOUCH my TRAINS!". Normally it doesn't phase him in the least, but he's probably got a bit of a headache and is not so into being shouted at. Suffice it to say, its all taking longer than usual. But it'll get done. Tomorrow the Baby will probably be feeling better than today, and possibly the Little Dude will be feeling full of the milk of human kindness, or at the very least, willing to share his less favourite train.

Oh, and in random news, there was a coyote in the valley awhile ago.     I took this not very good photo of him, and wanted to share it with you even though I forgot about it on the day that it happened. But I was reminded of it today because we've been seeing a lot of red-tailed hawks in the valley too. Its predator season I guess. We saw the hawk swoop down and catch something, and then he sat in a tree on the other side of the valley and ate it for, like, the whole morning. 

erm, on that note, Happy Valentines Day! 

fabric love

I bought some fabric the other day. Wait, that's not all that groundbreaking. I buy quite a bit of fabric. But the difference here is that I actually bought new fabric. Fabric that came off a bolt, ie: not a set of vintage sheets. You see, I belong to the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild, and we meet once a month at The Workroom in Toronto (if you live in TO, and have not yet checked out this sewing mecca, you must). Anyhow, it is one of the few places where I am exposed to really, really awesome new (non second-hand) fabric. And invariably, I am tempted into buying some. I usually try to be sensible, and just get a few fat quarters, but I still had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, so I got a bit more than I usually would. Take a look: This one had me from 'hello' as they say. Isn't that awesome? It makes me want to dig up all my lovely vintage mugs and teapots and sugar bowls just to have one mind blowing photo shoot with all of them. I just might have to try that. (fabric by Michael Miller, pattern name: put a lid on it)

This one was also to cute to resist. I love the colours. Though I think I photographed this upside down. (got a fat quarter with no selvedge edge, so sorry, can't tell you who made it) 

And I love this kind of sweet, simple, vaguely Japanmation-y kind of little floral. So sweet. (also fat quarter, so no info)

Then there's the simple, graphic, optical illusion type of fabric that I just have to have. Like this. Ah, zig-zags. I never get tired of zig-zags. (Free Spirit for Westminster, Boho House, pattern chevron)

And there's something so great and 60's Op Art about this one. (Hyperreal Garden by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics) It just makes your eyes swim, doesn't it? I have no idea what I'll use it for. I so seldom use my 'new'/store bought fabric. One of these days I'm just going to have to bust out a quilt made entirely from these delicious little treats. It just seems so decadent though, I don't know when I'll ever get around to it. I'll probably just wash it all, fold it up and put it in the box labeled "new fabric". Silly me. 

Oh, and speaking of washing, I'm totally going to have to now, because this afternoon, as I was in the office uploading these photos I heard a clunk and a sploosh from the living room, and the Baby had managed to get his hands on my mug of cold tea, pulling it off the edge of the credenza and onto the chair next to it where - you guessed it - the pile of new fabric was sitting. Thank goodness the tea was cold (for obvious reasons). Thank goodness it was herbal (didn't stain the fabric). But now I've got some more laundry to do. 

Oh, and I also got some scrap. The work room has a scrap box, where people can discard the little bits they don't want to take home after finishing a project. I had a dig through it to look for tiny pieces for that ticker tape quilt I plan to make some day. You know, with all that extra free time I have. Even though I was told it was really 'picked over' I still found some awesome bits. Though there was this one tiny, tiny wisp of a floral in grey and orange and yellow that I'm going to have to go back there and see if they have a whole bolt of it, because it was awesome. 

Right, I'm off to do a little late night sewing. 

Merry Christmas to me!

I did a little last minute, pre-Christmas thrift shopping that I have to show you, because I got a couple of really nice things. The V.V. was having a 50% off day for card members (yes, I have a Value Village Super Saver club card. Don't judge) but I told myself that I was only going to buy things that were awesome, not just fun, or cool. Things that I'd actually use, or were really special. Also, I was not even allowing myself to go into the book section. And I did three major edits of my cart, including leaving a few items behind at the cash, so I managed to reign myself in. I have to keep telling myself, we're going to have to move again someday, and put all this stuff into boxes and carry it downstairs and up stairs and put it all into a truck and then unpack it all, and it had better be worth it, right?

So, here are a few things that are worth it.

Adorable little girls vintage dress. Tags still on. Awesome. 

Probably from the 70's, so not that old, but still, it will look nice on my wall with all the other vintage little girls dresses. You know, when I get around to putting them up on the wall of my studio some day. 

A couple of men's shirts for cutting up and sewing with. The Baby needs a couple more droolers. Also, you should have seen how many shirts I had in my cart, but I narrowed it down to just these two because they are really iconic plaids, the epitome of men's plaid shirt-y-ness. In fact, I tried to talk Hubs into wearing them, but the black one was the wrong size and he was having none of the red one. "maybe as a costume" he says to me. Meh.

This is another little vintage kids item, though not as old as the dress probably. I just love the simple stripes, and the slimness of the cut. I have a similar little t-shirt that a friend got for me at a thrift shop when I was expecting the Little Dude. He wore it all the time, and the Baby wears it now, (he's wearing it in this post) and its one of my favourite clothing items for him. I just really like the fit on these slightly older things. They have to be from the 70's though, because kids clothes from the 80's (especially toddler and baby clothes) are really horrid and boxy in their fit, which I don't like the look of at all. I haven't tried this on L.D. yet, but when I do I'll be sure to take a picture and post it. 

But the best score of the day is what I'm calling my Christmas present to myself. Feast your eyes on this.  LOOK at that; a good sized quilt for our bed, at last! I've got such big plans for a quilt that, one day, I will make myself for our bed. But you know how it is, I've got several sketches, lots of swatches, and no foreseeable chunk of time in the near future when I will actually get around to making it. It'll probably be something I finally get around to for our twentieth anniversary or some such thing. But in the mean time, we really, really needed a proper quilt for our bed (we used to have a sweet little twin quilt laid sideways across the bed that did not fit it at all, but we were making do with just the same) and so, the universe sent me a quilt for Christmas.

I have to tell you, I almost left it behind on the rack because at first glance, all folded up, I wasn't that impressed. The colours were not unusual or inspiring and it did not look particularly vintage. But upon reflection, I decided to unfold it and look at the full item, and the simplicity of the traditional pattern, done up in simple solids it makes such a great visual impact that I decided it was coming home with me. 

What really got me of course is that it is hand stitched. A hand-quilted quilt (do you have any idea how time consuming that is?) and its on the rack at the V.V. for $12.99! Which made me sad for the person who made it, but then again, happy for me, because it was half price day, so I got a hand made quilt for $6.49. Ridiculous!

Although, I have to say that its not the most well made quilt I've ever seen. The binding is really weird and wonky, with no batting in it and seems to have been added as an afterthought, just kind of haphazardly whip-stitched in place. Very strange. But on the other hand, this means that since its not someone's masterpiece, I can just use it, and not be too precious about it; not worrying if the baby spits up all over it or if it gets worn a bit. Also, it withstood washing and drying very well (my Mom kindly took it home and washed it in her large capacity washer and dryer, so it did not get a wrung about as it would in my tiny little apartment sized washing machine. Thanks Mom!) Though I really should not be too critical of this quilt. The patchwork is an eight pointed star pattern made of diamonds, which is something I have yet to attempt. Working with diamonds is much harder than squares or triangles, as the sides of the diamonds, since cut on the bias, tend to stretch making piecing very difficult. Also, it was set on the diagonal in a Union Square set pattern, with an unpieced block alternating which is what gives it such a great negative/positive flow.

And look what else the unknown maker of this quilt did. There is no signature or date, but there is this one tiny little bit of embroidery. Which is find is very interesting in an otherwise very plain quilt. I imagine that this was her signature, which is really a very lovely idea. Perhaps there are other butterfly embellished quilts floating around out there, being rescued from thrift stores by other handwork loving sentimentalists.

And no matter what I put on top of the bed, look who takes every opportunity he can to crawl under it. Its so funny, whenever I put him down on the ground in the bedroom, he heads straight under the bed. And it is filthy under there; herds of dust rhinos gathering between the boxes of summer clothes and winter blankets. He always comes out looking like a baby swiffer. But he is always so pleased to be under there playing peek-a-boo that I don't have the heart to haul him out too soon. Plus, he pretty much does the dusting for me, so I can't complain. 

poor baby

Sorry that I did not have the energy and/or time to post last night. We're back on the cold train here. Or should I say, under the wheels of the cold bus. This time its the poor baby. I don't think he's had a 'real' cold yet. He had a little congestion awhile back, but this is a full on can't-breathe-when-you-lay-down cold. Which of course, means that he only sleeps for about 30-40 minutes at a stretch. SO BRUTAL. Last night I put him to bed at seven and then he was up on and off until 12:30. One of those really, really difficult parenting nights. Though I feel very blessed that the Little Dude had a great night and did not wake up at all, even though the Baby was wailing in the room next to him and up and down the hallway for large portions of it. Thank goodness for white noise machines. Anyhow, the Baby finally went down past midnight, and Hubs and I colapsed into bed. And then the Baby only woke up once between then and 6:20 am. So that could have been worse. And of course, my mom is AN ANGEL, who called me the next morning and asked if she'd like me to take the Little Dude for the morning. Um, is a frog's ass watertight? That'd be a yes. That way I could get some stuff done while the Baby was napping. Like cleaning up my computer so that I could actually download some photos. Argh. My computer is so full. And yes, I know you can just do some computer magic, like buy new ram or memory or whatever, but really, that doesn't solve the problem of there being, like, three years worth of photos on my computer. And ya'll, I take A LOT of photos. You may have noticed. Anyhow, did some clean up and posted new stuff on Etsy. Check it out.  Posted one of the Test Pattern Totes. Thanks to Hubs for taking the awesome pictures for me.

Of course, the Baby did not know about my plans to get some work done, and he mostly had plans for being congested and tired and sad, so it took me about a half and hour to get him down for his nap. 

A short digression on parenting: I have ideals for how I parent. This is not always the best thing. I have a plan that I like to follow. I have a way that I'd like for things to go. And I have rules for how I'm going to do things. (All the other parents who are reading this are smirking right now. To make a plan is folly, I know that, but still I try) And I'm not saying that my rules are The Right Way To Do Things with capital letters and all, but they are the way that I want to do things. Lets be clear. You should do things your way, and that way is whatever works best for you. Right? And my way is just my choice, and no reflection on your choices. There is waaaaaaay too much judgement in parenting as it is. I don't want to add to it. 

That being said, there are a couple of things that I do, when I parent that make sense for our family. Our kids take regular naps, at regular times. We follow a schedule that has some leeway and room for extenuating circumstances, but generally speaking nap time and bed time follow a predictable routine. It works for us. And our baby sleeps in a crib. I am pro- co-sleeping, but have found that it does not work for us. We stay up much later than our kids, and also, they don't ever seem to want to sleep in our beds. Any time they've come into bed with us, they seem to think its time for a party and no one sleeps. So we don't co-sleep, even though I think its a fine idea. Also, I always put my kids to bed awake. Meaning, I don't rock them to sleep and then put them in bed and then leave the room. The theory is that they need to learn to put themselves to sleep, so I help to create the conditions for sleep (comfort, calmness, quiet, dark, etc) and then leave them to put themselves to sleep. Also, I think it'd be jarring to go to sleep in mom's arms but then wake up in another room entirely. That'd freak the baby out. Better that they know where they are falling asleep. But before you think I'm some sort of regimented hard-ass "let 'em cry it out" 50's style mom, let me tell you that I don't believe in leaving a baby to cry by himself. I'll sit in the baby's room with my hand on his back, and sing or shush for as long as it takes for him to be calm. But I don't run in and pick him up because he's crying, or nurse him either. Nursing isn't always the answer, and I don't want to become the human pacifier. (That being said, I'm a long term nurser, and breast fed the Little Dude until he weaned himself at 18 months. I'm very pro-breast feeding. I just don't like to use it as a catch all solution any time my baby cries)

Anyhow, all that is to say that today, all bets were off. The poor baby. He was SO unhappy and SO tired, and so unable to put himself to sleep. So I figured that I'd hold him until he was asleep. Well, that didn't work. He'd fall asleep soon enough, but as soon as I laid him down he was awake and crying the saddest cry in the world. (That baby really has the most heartbreaking cry I've ever heard. It totally sounds as though someone just told him that his dog died. Its the kind of cry you feel in your solar plexus, I'm telling you) I tried it three times, holding him for longer and longer intervals. Finally, my back (and my sanity) could not take it any longer. So I figured I'd feed him to sleep. Not what I usually do, but surely that'd work. And yes, he fell asleep, but again, as soon as I set him down he was wailing. So at last, after a half an hour and no sleep I made a last ditch effort. I got into the crib with him, lay down next to him, and breast fed him. He fell asleep and then I had to very, very carefully and quietly get back out of the crib. Not so easily done. But I managed it. They should totally train ninjas by giving them light-sleeping infants to care for. You get some mad ninja skills as a parent. I'm telling you no one can close a door as quietly as a mom. 

So all that is to say that I'm tired. And have broken all my my (admittedly self-imposed) rules (that don't have to apply to you, because you can parent however you want. There's no 'right way') and just want a little time to myself that does not involve doing dishes. 

But that Baby is still so darned cute. Even when he's sick. He was so lovely today when he was awake. Still just a happy little guy. Hubs was doing the cutest thing with him.  What's that in the bag?

Seriously, how could that NOT make you smile.

He was loving this so much. Lots of laughing, and big toothy grins. (When those teeth were not busy chewing of course)

The Little Dude also thought this was HYSTERICAL. And of course wanted to help. 

Though that 'helping' was just a thinly veiled excuse for getting the Baby out of the bag so that he could get himself in, and do some swinging too. 

That's my baby, poor little guy had runny nose and he was still up for being swung around in a bag. 

garage sale

Though I love thrifting and all things second hand, I didn't go to many garage sales this past summer. There's something about the demographic in the mid-sized bedroom town that I live in that just makes for not very exciting garage sales. The houses aren't old enough I think. Too many new-ish subdivisions, not enough I've-lived-here-my-whole-life-as-did-my-parents-before-me homes. Its usually just a lot of VHS tapes, CD racks, uninspiring dishware and recently used baby items. Nothing stellar. But I was on my way home from an appointment on the other side of the highway the other day, and I have to drive through a bit of farm country to get here from there. And I noticed a garage sale sign. It was a grey Saturday, quite cold, not snowing yet, but on the cusp. "Who has a garage sale at the beginning of December?" I thought to myself. People who are moving out of a small country home that they've lived in since the early 60's. Jackpot. 

Now, I'll freely admit that these are not great pictures. And also, you probably won't be that excited about this stuff unless you are a sewer. Did I mention that they lady who was having this garage sale was a sewer? And she was de-stashing big time. 

Ok, so those roles are all 100% wool. Melton wool, like the kind you use to make winter coats. One of them is kind of moth eaten, but I don't care. The potential is amazing. I washed up some swatches (because it was quite dusty) and there was hardly any shrinkage in the cold cycle. The potential is very exciting. Maybe I'll make some really nice blankets. Maybe patchwork, maybe not, who knows. And that yellow bolt - 100% linnen! So great. And then another little bolt of grey men's suiting wool (yum) and a bolt of beige cotton. I know, most people may find it hard to get excited about beige cotton (I roll my eyes at myself a little from time to time) but its such a quilting staple for me, and good quality quilters cotton is usually, 7-9 dollars a meter. So this is such a great find. And then down on the floor in the top picture you can see another bolt of linnen, green this time, and some old school dish towel fabric, and a really nice chunk of some sort of loose open weave fabric that will be great for teaching the boys to embroider on. Its kind of like burlap, only nicer. 

And there was also some actual burlap. Also good for little kid embroidery, craft projects, etc. 

The garage sale lady was not only a sewer, but also did a ton of crafting. There was every kind of craft supply under the sun. Bins of styrofoam shapes, santa doll heads, fake flowers and dyed feathers. You name it, she had it. But it tended to be of the cheap and tatty variety (I'm not a big styrofoam or Christmas craft fan) so I passed on most of it. But I did get that giant pile of embroidery hoops (I'm always misplacing embroidery hoops) And that nice teak-ish tray. And the ravioli maker (don't know when I'll use that, but whatever). But one of the best purchases I made was a big plastic bag full of birds. You know, the little fake bird that people use in flower arrangements and wreaths occasionally. Anyhow, the Little Dude LOVES them. HOURS of fun. Literally. I just gave him the bag and let him pull them all out and we talk about them, and play with them and they ride around in tractors and diggers. Oh the fun is endless. He piles them all up on the table and says "look at all my lovely birds!"

We also used them to decorate a bit. Here's our Christmas-y mantelpiece.

I got hubs to cut me some nice pieces of the birch that got felled last year, and we collected some pinecones and then used all the red birds out of the bird bag to give it a bit of colour. 

All in all it was a very successful garage sale trip. Oh, and I also got a lot of old books, a bunch of old Martha Stewart mags, a fun casserole dish that I forgot to take a picture of and some random ribbon and such. And all that for twenty bucks! Best garage sale ever. 

And speaking of Christmas, L.D. has discovered the Grinch. Or has he originally mistakenly called him, "The Gronch" He saw a guy dressed up as him in a Christmas parade the other day, and could not stop asking about 'dat green guy' so I went to the library and got out the Grinch who Stole Christmas for him, and we've read it every day so far. 

lil quilt

I made this little guy awhile ago, and just never got around to posting about it. 

Every now and then I like to get off the treadmill of my 'gotta get it done' making, and do a little something just because I feel like it. No 'big idea', no deadline, just reach for the first thing that grabs my interest and let me hands do whatever they like.

In this instance I took a bit of one of my favourite fabrics (an old Ikea sheet, not vintage really, probably just from 5-8 years ago) and cut out a small rectangle. Then I layered it up with some batting and backed it with lovely grey linnen and then I just hand-quilted the hell out of it. I just followed the stripe that was already printed on the fabric, in a matching colour of embroidery thread. 

And this is what I ended up with on the back.  So simple, and yet so satisfying. This project was really just about enjoying the process and the material.

I really can't decide which side I like better. I was going to put a couple of hanging loops on the back, but I couldn't really decide which the back was.

The texture of this thing is just ridiculously nice. Its lovely just to run your fingertips over. 

I like objects that fall into this sort of funny in between place as for a definitions or uses. Its not really a use item. Its too small for a place mat, to big for a coaster, not long enough for a table runner. So since it has not useful purpose, it can't fall under the rubric of 'craft', so it must be art. But then again, I didn't really conceive of it as 'art' when I made it, and it doesn't have any greater concept or meaning, other than being nice to look at and good to the touch. So I have a hard time calling it art either. I hate that whole definition argument anyways, and have kind of been avoiding it since I left Art School. I don't like how 'art' is a term of privilege and 'craft' is almost a minimizing put down. As a friend of mine used to say "I refuse to function within that dichotomy." However, that's easier said than done, since the whole world acknowledges and functions within it, and ascribes monetary rewards accordingly.

Anyhow, its too late and I'm too tired for much more debate and pontification over the state of the Art/Craft divide. What I meant to say was: Isn't this pretty?

And I sure did enjoy making it.