Happy New Year

Happy New Year.  We bid good-bye to 2013 and are on the second day of 2014.  The year stretches in front of us like a blank canvas, full of possibilities.  I hope everyone’s 2014 is a good one, with lots of inspiration, creative endeavours and happy moments.

I was quite busy over the holidays; the kids were home for a few days, and the house had once again that “lived-in” feeling: stuff everywhere, noise, laughter.  But now things are back to normal; the kids are gone, the house is once again in order :) and I am back at work.

I had a good first day of the year yesterday … I went into my studio and reorganized:  got rid of an extra table that I had set up for a friend to sew on a looong while back.  I never got rid of it, and of course, it gave me a good excuse to pile stuff on it.  So now I have more “light”, more space and less clutter.  The fabric on top of the counter is in bins, the tools put away, and the sewing table cleared.  We’ll see how long it lasts!

But I did get some sewing in.  Sabrina worked on a quilt and finished the top and backing before she left on the 30th, so now I need to take it to get it quilted.

And I worked on some of my challenge pieces.  This is one that I had wanted to try for a while, now it is finished – at least the top, and has the batting and backing on it – ready for the quilting (which I haven’t yet decided on).  It is going to be 24″ x 72″, so quite long and skinny.

 

The photo is not the best, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.  This is one of the photos I took just outside Halifax, early in the morning and it was printed in the UK by Fingerprints, Laura Kemshall’s company.  The fabric handles beautifully as it is printed with dyes so it is very soft.  The rest of the fabric in the quilt is hand-dyed by me.  Yards and yards of fabric in different tones of greys.

Yesterday I also finished a smaller 12″ x 12″ piece, still unnamed.  I will post photos of it later on in the week so you can see it.

I decided to start work on the 36″ x 36″ piece, it is goind to be all in greays, with some of the pebble photos in it.  And finally, I continued work on the 24″ x 24″ piece that I had started a while ago and got stuck without quite knowing what direction it needed to take. Yesterday, I decided to leap and did something!  :) I will post a photo once it is finished and mounted.

In the afternoon I went to get the boards from the garage to paint them, so as to have them ready when I need them to mount the pieces.  And of course I couldn’t resist painting a skinny 12″ x 48″ board.  Last night on a whim I started working on this new piece; it is going to be a vertical 12″ x 48″, quite long and skinny.  Here’s a photo I took of one section, with the threads I will be using for quilting it.  It pleases me when things fall into place.  You know what I mean?  This year in Houston I looked for threads I did not have, and ended up buying a couple of spools by Superior in golds, not knowing exactly what I was going to use them for.  Yesterday afternoon I took the bag of threads I purchased (it was still exactly the way it was when I unpacked it), and looked at it and felt very pleased, as the threads were perfect!  It was as if I had known I was going to need them.  I even had the right needles!  What do you think?

 

And here’s a photo of the fabric I am using.  I had ordered 100 yards of fabric for dyeing, and at a certain point when I unrolled it, I found this joint.  I thought it would look interesting so I dyed it at the same time as the rest of the fabric, and figured I would use it some day.  Well, the day has come.  I love the way it looks.

 

I did some quilting last night, while listening to some music.  I am hoping to finish the quilting today.  It is quilted every 1/8″ in straight lines, and I am actually using a regular foot, instead of the free motion quilting foot.  Quite interesting.  As the piece is not too wide – about 15″ – it works well.  It will eventually get all trimmed to 12″ x 48″ and will befinished with a non-mitered facing; this works just fine as it gets glued to the wooden board.  I felt quite productive … .New Year … new energy …

Well, this is all for me for this installment.  I wish everyone a successful year. And above all, keep quilting!

Ana