My friend, Robert Mahar, has invited me to teach at his creative retreat in Sonoma, California, next October. I’ve known Robert since the early days of blogging and he was tremendously encouraging when I was at a stage of my dollmaking, wondering if anyone would really be interested in my creations. He has been doing cool things for the last 20 years and I have no doubt that I will have a blast at his retreat! Check out Well Crafted Sonoma 2026 and maybe add it to your Christmas list :-)
In the meantime, Thanksgiving is over, dishes are washed, Christmas carols are playing and I am back in my studio. I am currently working on a pile of kitties and foxes. There is snow in the forecast so I will snuggle in and get some work done!
Some of the cups I brought from Boston, some I have found in thrift stores and yard sales around here. I have also occasionally been going to estate sales and that’s been fun too.
I thought the info on the bottom of this cup was interesting. Bicentennial! I was there!
The last month or so has been busy. I cut out and dyed more mermaids, made myself some new clothes, traveled to Connecticut for a family get-together, and made a baby blanket. Now that it has been received, I can post it!
Here is step one… well actually step 0 was finding the right bins in my disorganized studio…
Laying out the pieces of scrap cashmere sweaters. Step 2, sewing it all up.
The edging is sweater ribbing.
Step 3, mail it off, wait to make sure it gets there, then wrap up that sweet baby!
This was a project that was easy to work on in little spurts for the last few years. I just went back and the first in progress photos were from August 27, 2021.
August 30, 2021- testing out the block design.
September 2021 I was working on the border-
And then I got swept up in the prep for moving. No time for fun projects. At Christmas 2022, I packed up a bin full of things to send to Chicago because my kids were going to drive a truck. So, I didn’t see it again until the end of April 2023.
This is the backing that I made in our first AirBNB-
Putting all the layers together at the end of May.
And then I started quilting in June.
At the beginning of February, I found the binding that I knew I had somewhere, and so it was time to finish this quilt!
I wanted to get photos before we moved out of our rental- it had the perfect porch to take the photos!
Front-
Back-
The story behind this quilt is that it is full of nostalgic fabrics for me! The fabric eras start with the 1960’s, my mom’s dresses and caftans, my neighbor’s Marimekko curtains, 60’s and 70’s Indian print fabrics- skirts, a halter top, more curtains, Indonesian block printed fabrics that my Mom loved to sew with in the 70’s. There is fabric that I got in High School that I loved so much that I hung it up in my college dorm room. Marimekko scraps that I bought at a yard sale in the 70’s. There are also some 80’s and 90’s fabrics that I could never part with. I really can never get rid of beautiful fabrics! So many memories and so much history!
