Bits and Pieces

Well, that was fun!  

I made up a few blocks for our Bento Box swap with the MQG in Baltimore.

Here's how it works. Make a block...

and cut it into pieces.

I will keep these three and add the nine pieces that I get from the swap to complete a whole quilt.  If you look too-closely you will see that the seams don't all match up perfectly.  I hope those folks in Baltimore don't employ the quilt police!  

Some of my favorite words on the Walker Art Center

Bento Beginnings

I work in a fantastic new space.  I work for myself.  I am my own boss AND my own assistant.  I don't have to answer to anyone!  I am so grateful to be in this position, but one of the few things I miss about my teaching job is being part of a community.  So, one of my goals has been to create my own community. 

 One of the ways I have done that is to be an active member of the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild.

We are doing a bento box swap with the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild.  It is an example of why I love being part of a Guild (especially the Modern Quilt Guild).  I would never have been motivated to give this a try, or even known what a bento block was otherwise.  Three cheers for being pushed out of my comfort zone!!!

I am going to attempt three blocks using this tutorial, and we'll see which ones turn out well enough to head to the swap.

If life gives you lemons...

 ...make a skirt.  I have had a "helper" in the studio for the last couple of days.  My Birthday Girl was feeling a little under the weather and didn't make the trip to Grandma's house with her sister.  The trip was a gesture from my Mom in order to help me get caught up on some work.  So... we have been getting some quality time together.  She has been a very good sport and was even really helpful in packing up orders!   But, none the less, I wasn't getting caught up on anything.  Then the walking foot on my machine broke in the middle of trying to finish up a custom quilt that needs to be done for a soon departing college freshman!  After a few curse words, I decided to throw in the towel and have some fun.  After discovering her love of a beautiful corduroy fabric we worked together to make a VERY simple skirt.

I never knew how happy a simple elastic skirt could make a-now-eight-year-old.

 We used some Amy Butler corduroy with a little ribbon accent from Ana Maria Horner.

Then the UPS guy dropped off a box with some pretty Orla Kiely soaps.  Things are looking up and maybe I will get some work done tomorrow.  In the meantime, I have a happy girl and clean hands!  

10 Years Later

I started quilting in 1999.  At the time the only other quilters I knew were my Mom and a few of her friends.  I had no idea what I was doing, so I did as I was told (except for my "overuse" of solids).  In 2002, I was told to enter a quilt in the MN State Fair.  "It's what quilters do".  So I did it.

 I entered this little wall hanging that I made with broadcloth remnants and some sheer embroidered ribbon. 

As a first time entrant and novice quilter, I didn't expect to win a thing.  I was just along for the ride.

 Imagine my surprise to find it hanging in the display.  I hadn't won a prize or a ribbon, but it was hung up for everyone to see!  

After noticing the absence of  Modern Quilts at last years fair, I decided to enter again this year.  Again, I don't hope to win a prize for my less than perfect quilting skills, but I do have a goal.

I contributed something in a non-traditional style (A.K.A Modern) in hopes of letting the "powers that be" know that WE ARE HERE and we love to quilt too.

Time is a jet plane...

 Summer is flying by like it ALWAYS does!  I'm not sure why every August I am suddenly surprised that summer is more than half over and I haven't gotten to nearly half of the things on my to-do-this-summer list.  

One thing that I didn't plan to do this summer was become addicted to Instagram! It is so fun to look back at the summer so far and realize that although there aren't a lot of checks on my to-do list, I have been spending my time wisely so far!

 

I've been hanging out with these two lovelies...

Spending some time here...

Spending more time than I wanted to here...

Selling my wares at the farmer's markets...

Packing up these lovelies for the move... 

...and doing not quite enough sewing.

Moving into my new space has given me some much needed new perspective and I have lots of thoughts and ideas about the direction(s) that I should go with my business, my craft and my career.  I am looking forward to whittling all of those ideas down into some manageable goals and having a PixieSpit "reboot" this fall.  In the meantime, I will suck every last bit of fun and sunshine out of the next few weeks as I can. You can follow along with me on Instagram or better yet...get on there yourself if you aren't already!

Settling in... FINALLY!

 My move into the new studio has been a lot longer than I expected.  After starting to move in and then realizing that there were some minor (but messy) fixes to be done, I halted my move in and headed out on a fantastic road trip to visit family in Ohio.  

 We had a great time and even picked up a stow-away cousin.

 Then there was another delay while waiting for the A/C to be installed during the sweltering heat.

I was all ready (and excited!) but then came another road bump.  Jury Duty... and of course I was chosen to be on a trial.  Not quite the short detour that I thought it would be.

But today is my birthday and I got a wonderful gift.  The judge had some personal matters to attend to, so we got the day off!  The first thing that I did after I ate my birthday donut was to sew something.  I whipped up some simple curtains for my daughters bedroom.  It felt so good to SEW for the first time in my new space!!  More of that to come once this trial wraps up...

Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

 I have a floor!  There are still some details to finish up before I move in, but I couldn't resist plopping down in the middle of my new floor and stitching up the binding on my latest quilt.  

 I also couldn't resist hanging some curtains last week.

 How fitting that the pattern that I used for the quilt was Yellow Brick Road, because I feel like I have arrived in OZ! 

Some threads on my studio floor...Now it's official!