Making: Ansley's Playmat

Once upon a time, I met a lovely girl from Baton Rouge, LA named Ansley.  We became friends when we were both in school in a tiny university in N. Ireland.  At the time, the most creative things we did were based on trying to recreate American foods with UK groceries.  (Can you believe that at the time, they didn't have chocolate chips there??)  Fast forward a few years. I have a kid, she has a kid.  I started sewing, and she started painting.  When my son was born, she made a painting for him.  When her daughter was born, I sent a quilt.   When she requested one of my play-mats, I suggested she check out Spoonflower, and I would make a play-mat for her based on her own paintings.

Ansley's Playmat

Genius!  What a special blanket for her little girl!

I'm particularly fond of the girl with the red ponytails print (no surprise there!).

Completed: Red and White Linen Improvisational Quilt

I feel like I haven't finished a quilt in ages!  And really, I haven't.  I've finished lots of other sewing projects for my Etsy shop, but sadly been neglecting the things I find most fun. 

Red and White Linen Improvisational Quilt

You might recognize this quilt from my previous post about it, or for the 9 ladies that took my class in January, it was the one I was working on during class! 

Red and White Linen Quilt, Back

I have a couple other bits and pieces floating around my studio, just waiting to be whipped together into finished products.  Now to just pry myself away from my Google reader and start sewing!

Something colorful

My yellow flower baby play-mat was recently featured in this colorful treasury on Etsy.  It's just the thing for the gray day I'm having!

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Happy Valentine's Day

The best yarn bomb ever.  Found on the Wonton Power blog.  Unrivaled creativity and cuteness!

Lover's Lane Yarn Bomb by the Knitorious M.E.G.

Inspiration: Eleanor McCain

The work of Eleanor McCain = miracles achieved with squares...and some rectangles.

Eleanor McCain, Red 2

Eleanor McCain, Grey and Green Grid Study with Red

Eleanor McCain, 9 Patch Color Study 4

Fearless Blogging!

I'm so excited to be the guest blogger today over at Fat Quarterly.

 Pop over and check it out, then come back and let me know what you think!

* If you're interested in taking a class on improvisational (fearless!) quilting from me and live in the SF Bay Area, I'll be teaching at New Peices Quilt Shop in Berkeley on April 12th and 19th from 6:15-8:15.  Contact the store for more information!

Inspiration: Rugs

If you know me, then you know that in my "day job," I restore oriental carpets.  Every day that I go to work, I get to be surrounded, quite literally, by beautiful hand-dyed yarn and gorgeous (mostly!), antique rugs.  Many of the carpets that I get to work on are tribal in origin and offer so much design inspiration.  But, every once in a while, there's a carpet that seems worn beyond saving.  I love what Loom Rugs does with rugs like these!

Loom has a beautiful selection of very interesting rugs, both new and vintage.  Everything on their site is amazing - pop over and take a look!

Rugs available at Loom

I'm tempted to turn every one of these into a quilt...but especially the black and white one.  We'll see!

Happy 1st Birthday TAFA!

To celebrate the one year anniversary of the Textile and Fiber Art List, founder Rachel Biel made a video highlighting some of the wide variety of artists involved.  Guess who's quilt made the "cover!"  You can see more about the many members of TAFA (230 members and counting from over 23 countries!) on the TAFA website.

Inspiration: Wonky Pineapples from Japan

I love pineapple quilts. I've made a few (silk & star), I love them so much.

But I it never occurred to me to use the pattern in an improvisational way.  Once again, the Japanese quilters leave me speechless!

Picture by Moving Hands from Tokyo International

Detail

I can't wait to try to make my own "wonky pineapple" quilt.