The View

It's a hot mess in my sewing room right now. That's okay, because I'm not there. This lady is dipping her toes in the Caribbean sand this week, with only my husband by my side. Vacation! Second Honeymoon!

Needless to say, I won't be here this week. And frankly, probably next week as I play catch-up and meet my first big deadline on the new book. Then I have to travel to Inuvik, in the far North. I'm all over the place and I love it.

Rest assured, that when I come back in two weeks I will have some spectacular things to share. Of course, I'm not sure how much of it will be quilt related. The design wall will probably look the same as it does right there.

Take care all.

Friday Favourites - Swobe

It isn't quite the end of February and people across North America are deep in the whine of winter. That is, there is a lot of whining about winter being so, so long. Now, if you live somewhere that doesn't normally get snow and there is still a storm or two on the way then I will concede to your whining. But if you live somewhere that does get snow, does get below freezing, then I have zero sympathy for you.

It was snowing the day I landed from Quilt Market - before Halloween. And the snow will not be off the ground until probably April here. If we're lucky. Now I realize that folks who grow up on the Canadian Prairies (or the North) are simply just used to this long, cold weather. It doesn't stop many from here whining either though.

Enough is enough. It's still winter. Embrace it. Cook a stew. Spend a day baking so that the oven warms the house. (Upgrade your furnace and insulation next summer). Put on a sweater and pour a cup of tea. In my case, I will cozy up in my Swobe.

Swobe is a completely made up word, much like swacket. Outside of my house they are likely never used.

Sweater + Robe = Swobe
Sweater + jacket = Swacket

And I love my Swobe. I picked up in November from Anthro (and it isn't available unless on sale in the stores). It is half sweatshirt (it has a jersey for a lining), half sweater, half robe. I don't think I would wear it outside of the house, but here at home it is the perfect thing to make a winter's day just a little bit warmer.

Giant Hexagons Update

In need of some mindless sewing and a real break from work - yes, even I go to quilting when I need a break from the work of quilting - I pulled out these old blocks. With a million (or 40) WIPs sitting in my sewing room it only made sense to grab one of those projects instead of starting something new. I'd always had it in my head to add a coral block to these giant hexagons so I went ahead and did it. Then I added that low volume grey, and a yellow one. 

You can see more of these in my interview with Alex Anderson.

When it came time to playing with layouts I tried something new. There is a lot of bias in these blocks and I didn't want to handle them that much. Plus, as you can see, there is also some other work on my design wall that a certain five year old is not ready to remove. Needless to say, I was quite excited to find some hexagon graph paper!

The internet is a wonderful thing. Sure you can make it yourself, but the chances are someone has probably already done it for you. That was the case when I typed in a few choice words into the search engine the other night. And up pops a PDF of graph paper that is exactly what I need. A little more digging and there are sites where you can create and print your own graph paper in many shapes and sizes. It is a quilter with a penchant for colouring's dream!

http://www.freeprintableonline.com/categories/graphs
http://www.printablepaper.net

Have fun!

Now, I'm only waiting for the rest of my perfect background fabric for these to arrive. Then I can add this to the pile of quilt tops ready for attention.

Good Times with Alex Anderson

Last week I had the pleasure of chatting with Alex Anderson about my books, quilts, non-obligation sewing and finding the pleasure in quilting and the craziness of life. This first bit includes a lot about how I like to slow down and sew, and how you can too. Not to mention some gorgeousness and advice from the book.

Check it out here! And stay tuned for the second part.