Pressing Matters

I've always been inspired by Laura Wasilowski.  She's so creative and colorful.  She let's the design take her wherever it will go.......and she is a FUSER.  Her latest work with all the stitch embellishment is really cool.  So.......there she was, in person, in Paducah at a cute little booth with her patterns, threads, and fabric.  And some of it was kitted.  Before I even thought about it, I bought a kit.  I even started working on it before I left Paducah.  

.....and there it sat, waiting for inspiration and completion.

So this weekend, time was mine and inspiration and motivation hit me big time.  So I began to work on it again.  I quickly found out that I had cut some of the fabrics from the kit wrong so I fudged a bit in creating the borders.  My mantra?  What would Laura do?????  I'm sure she wouldn't give up. 

A few fused down details begin to give it a little pizazz.

But what it really needed was the stitch embellishments.  So I pulled out my newly purchased Laura W. hand-dyed #8 perle cotton, put in a movie and began.  It's a little hard on the fingers going through all that material and batting. 

Yep.  I'm liking it. 

A little fused binding and it's done.  

I think I'll be ordering the other two patterns for this series called "Tools of The Trade".  Thanks Laura W. for your creative inspiration.  It's been really really fun.

Birthday Love

It's good to be celebrated.  It's a reminder that you make a difference in people's lives.  We all need to know that sometimes.  Birthdays help validate how important love is.  I love the people in my life.  Yesterday was a simple day, not a particularly significant birthday number.  But I went to sleep basking in memories of Kindergartners and First Graders singing Happy Birthday, a delicious meal out with my family, yummy chocolate dipped strawberries, lots of cards and internet good wishes, a few presents and lots of hugs.  The whole day said to me "I love you".  Thank you Lord for this gift. 

I heard from dear friends from all over.

Note cards, a darling travel alarm, FABRIC!, book card.....perfect!

Best Present EVER!  Handmade bookmards from my girls.  Love you M & V.

A Little Dot A Little Dash

A few months back I won some jelly rolls from two different blogs.  It turned out they were by the same designer, Aneela Hoey,  but different fabric lines.  The best part is that they blended together nicely.  They sat on my shelf for quite a while.  I was struggling because they were the newer more modern color ways of today's fabrics.  I tend towards clear and bright colors and not so much graphic design.  That's not to say I don't like graphic designs.  I just tend not to work with them.  So coming up with an idea for these jelly rolls was a challenge.  Everything I saw using this type of fabric seemed to include a lot of white sashing or accents.  So I pulled out the white and this is what I started with. 

Basically boring.  This sat on the wall for quite a while.

So I went back to the blogs and searched some more.  Moda Bake Shop was especially inspiring.  It also helped that these were Moda fabrics. Next up I made another block with white to intersperse with the above blocks.

Definitely more interest but something's missing.

After sewing the blocks together, I decided that it needed another row of dashes on the bottom in order to contain the design better.  Back to sewing and color decisions. 

That's better.  Whoa......what's that block in the lower right????

For the life of me, I couldn't find any more green strips which I really needed.  I either misplaced or threw out the scraps.  The only solution I could come up with was to do something completely different just for the fun of it.  I found a white strip from the collection that had some of the green colorway in it.  I'm kind of liking it.  Now it needs a border. 

How about red?

The strips of fabric above are hanging beside the top to inspire me.  I always love red so I'll probably go with red.  And when it's done..........it will be donated to community quilts.  Always fun to try something new.

I Am A Mother

Much of my life is defined by mothering.  I think my initial mothering began as the oldest child of four children in my family. 

Family Reunion 2006 - Bill, Cindy, Charlie, Leslie

And then there is me as the mother of two handsome, talented wonderful boys.

Jon and Stephen 2003

Then along came Lissa and I became a Mother-In-Law. 

Jon and Lissa (Green) 2003

And now I extend my motherhood as a grand-mother. 

Violet and Makayla  - 2011

.......and there it is........my life as a mother.  How richly I am blessed.  I only wish that my own mother, Ruth Mattern Callaway had lived long enough to enjoy the adult years of my boys.

Back From Paducah

Oh How I Am Blessed!  I just got back yesterday from a week (yes! a week) of girlfriend fun and quilt show overload.  I traveled all the way to Paducah, KY to enjoy catching up, sipping wine, laughing, and shopping with quilty friends from Maryland.  A great time was had by all. 

Of course there was great food.  I brought real farm-fresh Gouda cheese from the Netherlands. 

There were 14 of us demonstrating our loyalty to everything quilty.

This poster is the essence of where we were.  The entire city spruces up and celebrates Quilt Week.  It is also the home of the National Quilt Museum.  There were more vendors than I have ever seen but then I've never been to the Houston Show.

Me and just a couple of the friends that were there. We all did our best to help support the economy through active shopping for fabric and everything quilty.

And then it was back home and off for a much needed haircut.  YIKES!  It sure is short.  Oh well.  It will grow.