The World Surrounding Me

…flowers too! Yes, I know I’ve mostly been blogging here about quilts lately, but I have other interests as well. I’m not exactly an avid gardener, but I have managed to keep my front flower beds AND hanging baskets alive – and it is July in Texas! And, even a bigger accomplishment: my balloon flowers [...]

7 or 8 years. 3 different sewing machines. At least 6 different colors of thread. Countless hours spent cutting, sewing, pressing, ripping, re-sewing, squaring-up, and the rest. And, the top might be done. Or maybe not. Most of this fabric came to me as a matched set (as a gift). The set came with a [...]

Here’s yet another completed appliqué block waiting to be made into something! This one is loosely inspired by the Bird of Paradise flower. I designed this block myself, inspired by flowers we saw on our first trip to Maui (though apparently these plants are native to South Africa). If you look at the blueish-purple shapes in each [...]

Inspired by a few photos on flickr (which I bookmarked to consider making later), I thought it would be fun to try a simple color-block quilt. I started this yesterday and finished today before a bike ride to Rudy’s for breakfast tacos! It looks a little wonky in the photo (due to perspective), but is [...]

I finally bound this quilt. It’s been waiting for me to finish it for at least a year. *sigh* I even cheated and sewed the binding down by machine. But, it’s done! I’m sad I waited so long to finish it – I really like how it turned out! The design is custom, started probably [...]

I started these blocks around September of 2008, from fabric purchased in New Mexico, and finally finished them last week at Cornerstone Festival. I haven’t worked very hard on these – they were just my take-along project for far too long! They are all custom-designed, by me, and are entirely hand-stitched with needle-turn appliqué. They are simple, of [...]

I completed my most complicated Hawaiian appliqué to date during a set at Cornerstone Festival. Yes, if you happen to attend Cornerstone and see somebody sewing, it’s probably me. I enjoy watching bands I don’t know as well from my comfy chair, with my appliqué bag at the ready. It is a torch ginger motif, which I [...]