Quilt Testimonial: Royal Retreat

Here is the first commissioned quilt I completed. Unfortunately, the photo does not do it justice, but the combination of the burgundys and golds is stunning, and the floral on black print just tied it all together. The ladies whom this quilt was for were quite happy with the results!

From Cattails Quilts

"The quilt Elaine made for us was exactly what we were
looking for. She took our very vague directions and
turned them into a beautiful addition to our home.
Every step of the way she wanted to be sure we were
pleased with her direction, gave us the option to
change our minds infinite times and was always very
forthcoming about her progress. We felt very much
involved in the creation of our quilt and as a result
are extremely pleased with the final work. Elaine's
intuitive sense of color and matching patterns is very
much evident in her work. When she showed us the
first sample square, we were so pleased at both her
instincts about what we wanted and her creative
impulses on the color matching and such. She is a
very skilled seamstress and a lovely artist to work
with."

Jodi Clark & Jenny Karstad, Marlboro, VT

Unnamed Baby Quilt #1

Progress has been made!

From this:

To this:
Only 11 more to go. Still not quite sure how I managed to draft such a complicated pattern for myself. Only 336 pieces in the quilt top (counting each Half-Square Triangle as a single unit, since I strip-pieced them.) Did I mention I'm insane? And I hate HST's. With a passion. And there are 192 of them in the quilt.

Oh, and as far as I can tell (or remember), I drafted this mess on my own. Maybe I had inspiration from another quilt, but I think this block mess is my own making. When it's done, there will be alternating diamonds, black with lavender centers and white with purple centers, and the criss-crossing grey stripes should have a woven look to them.

I don't know why I do this to myself, but I know they'll love it.

We have a foyer!

The boxes have been relocated: some that are items I don't need right away into the new workroom, others that have projects that need to be done have been moved to the baby's room. We figure it's at least 10 months before there will be any occupant for said room, so I can use it for a temporary workspace until my workroom is finished.

Three baby quilts to get made in the next 2 months, as well as 6 quilts for my Etsy shop. Another baby quilt for February, and a bridal party for next fall, I've got quite a bit on my plate!

All this and a full time job too! Life is good. :)

Sorry I've been so quiet...

But packing is a bitch! Ok, so I've been mostly offline for the last month because the hubby & I were finally able to buy a house. So it's been a month full of packing, more packing, stress, more stress, and a few injuries to boot. I sprained my ankle by rolling it on the stairs in the new house, about 78 hours after we closed on it, about 60 hours before the movers were to arrive. And we weren't done packing yet. Fun, huh?

All of my myriad sewing supplies are in those boxes you see up there. All sitting in the hallway, outside my glorious new workroom, waiting for the new flooring to be installed. Some of it will be moved upstairs to the baby's room (s/he won't need it for at least 9 months yet!), so that I can work until I do have my workspace set up, but it is very frustrating having it all so close, yet not really usable yet.

So hopefully tonight we can move a few things upstairs so I can work, and get a few more boxes unpacked.

TGIMBOSP?

So, my family is comprised of geeks & nerds. My brother forwarded me this link for TGIMBOEJ (aka The Great Internet Migratory Box of Electronic Junk), and it got me thinking- What if us quilters/costumers/general sewers got together and started The Great Internet Migratory Box of Sewing Paraphernalia?

The premise is whatever fits in the USPS large Priority Mail flat-rate shipping box ships. You sign up on a site to be a recipient, and when the box reaches you, you take out a few items that appeal to you, and add in some new ones from your stash. Then you log the travels of the box, and ship it off to the next recipient, ideally within a 2-3 week timeframe.

The contents could be anything, from embroidery floss you bought for one cross-stitch, trim leftover from your latest costume, scraps from that baby quilt that you couldn't bear to just throw away, to that spool of lime green thread that you needed for one repair project and will never use again.

I'm not entirely sure how I would go about getting this off the ground, but it is certainly a fun-sounding idea!