I had dozens and dozens of quilt magazines in my studio. This week I decided to look through them, remove the pages I wanted to keep, and throw the magazines away. In the evenings, when I had no energy left for anything else, I would put my feet up and look through each magazine. I kept favorite patterns, pages with tips and tutorials, inspirational pictures, and nothing else. Yesterday I purchased two binders and plastic sheet protectors. In one binder I placed tabs for quilts, gift and small … [Read more...] about Spring Cleaning
Hawaiian wall hanging – Tutorial
I designed this quilt and tutorial for Sew, Mama, Sew!, and they have just posted it on their site. It measures 20.5" x 20.5", with Anthuriums in the center, surrounded by embroidered turtles - the two things I remember often from my trips to Hawaii. The tutorial includes a PDF file with the design. The spadix on the flowers is embroidered using long and short stitches, and the turtles are done with back stitches. Head over to Sew, Mama, Sew!. I love their blog as they have lots of cool … [Read more...] about Hawaiian wall hanging – Tutorial
I am in love all over again!
After three days with migraine (yikes!), I am finally up to blogging... and it is about time, as I want to introduce you to my first grandchild, Nicholas Rafael Stier! Nicholas was born on Sunday, April 14. He weighed 7.7 lb and was 20 in. long. I spent the day at the hospital on Sunday, and then went back on Monday, when I held him for 1.5 hours, finally giving him to my daughter-in-law so he could nurse. It was heaven... How blessed I am for the opportunity to have had children. How blessed … [Read more...] about I am in love all over again!
Love of reading
Reading is one of my favorite things to do. I always have a pile of books and magazines on my nightstand, and am forever trying to tidy up the inevitable mess. Sapphire, the cat, is responsible for the mess on the floor next to the nightstand, as she insists on finding a spot for her paws on that much-too-small piece of furniture. Lord of Publishing is the latest book I finished (read quick comment about it here). How wonderful it is to get lost in another world... I sometimes take a little … [Read more...] about Love of reading
Dive Trip
Welcome to Dive Trip, the name of my latest batik quilt. The hexagons, my coral reef, were originally made for another project. However, I decided I did not like the way the project was turning out. So, I undid all the stitches and came up with this design. All batiks came from my stash (lucky me!). I added extra batting under each fish. The quilting is very simple - wavy lines reminiscent of the ocean water. It would look so nice hanging on the wall of an ocean front property... Maybe … [Read more...] about Dive Trip
Another reason to paper-piece
True to the saying “Before Prozac there was quilting”, I often patch my sorrows in my quilt room. When I need respite but cannot get away from home, the answer to my frayed nerves is almost always a paper-piecing project (applique’ is my next choice), in the form of a small wall hanging or simply finding a way to add it to a current project. It is precisely the repetition and attention required at each step which takes my mind away from worries, relaxes stressed muscles, and heals wounds as it … [Read more...] about Another reason to paper-piece