Just a few

newly made items::

A new Twinkle pillow:

A new color way for a camera strap.

My new threads

Well not exactly threads and not exactly new, but a new-to-me thread holder. Yes, I know I just got the hanging thread spool thing and it continues to be man's gift to thread organization, but this was a gift. A fabulous gift.


My sister-in-law found it at a Dallas junk store and she and my mother-in-law bought it for me. Wasn't that nice?


I currently don't have all the colors listed, so I can't fill it up as it once might have been. I also have no idea what color pongee is, though I suspect it's in the yellow family. For now I'll just put random spools in random places.


And try not to open and close the case too much. I almost can't help myself.
My in-laws didn't know much about when this kind of display case would have been in use, so if anyone has information to pass along, I'd be very interested to hear.

Also, if you're interested, I did a little interview for the Lark Books online newsletter. I've got two designs in an upcoming Lark title, Quilts, Baby, and one of the quilts is pictured alongside the interview. For the longest time I referred to this book as "the baby quilts book", so I'm especially happy that the title they selected is pretty darn close to what I called this book anyway.
If you have a minute, you can check it out here .

7 days a week

I've not been present in this space as much as I'd like to have been lately. So, I'm going to try something to remedy that...at least for one week. I'm going to commit( I hate that word) to post a picture a day for one week. Yes, I know. That is quite a commitment, but considering the pace of my life lately, that's the best I can do. The reason I picked a week, other than the obvious shortness of the time, is that, I have definite opinions about each weekday. I have favorites and reasons for why I prefer them.

Sunday:: Lately not my favorite day. I take Saturday off, so Sunday is the day I start to think(read panic) about all the things I have to do. I'm not great with transitions and moving from day off to work requires transition.
Monday:: I've mentioned before that I swim on an adult swim team.My swim team workout is at 5:30 in the morning. This always puts a bit of a damper on Monday. By Tuesday I'm used to it. Refer to the point about transitions to explain why.
Tuesday:: Strangely, I love Tuesday. It's still early in the week, so I have the feeling that I have loads of time stretched out ahead of me. But it's not Monday, so I'm done adjusting to the new week.
Wednesday:: I'm OK with Wednesday, but usually by Wednesday evening it starts to dawn on me that my plans for what could be tackled this week might have been a tad unrealistic.
Thursday:: This day is a combination of panic over deadlines needing to be met and relief that I only have one more 5:30 am wake-up left for the week.
Friday:: Friday's a mixed bag. Acceptance that I got as much accomplished as I could and happiness that Saturday morning I'll sleep in. Of course, after a week of waking up at 4:30, the best I can do is 6:30ish. No matter though, the extra two hours are so sweet.
Saturday:: Oooh, I love Saturday. I lay around, knit, read, nap...so lovely.

Here goes then, a picture a day for one week...favorite days and otherwise.


This is quintessentially Austin. This week is the bi-annual trash event known as bulky collection. The city allows residents to put out just about any item of trash and they will pick it up and haul it to the dump. The city announces bulky collection week through postcard mailings, but they don't tell residents exactly what day during bulky collection week they'll be coming through your particular neighborhood. They advise that you put out whatever undesirable you have by Monday of that week and rest easy knowing they'll be by within the next 7 days to pick it up. Needless to say, bulky collection week is like Christmas to the scavenger's amongst us.
I ran into this couch the other day as I walked around my neighborhood. Apparently, Barbie and Ken live in my hood.

Whirlwind

That's what the last week has been like.
About 10 days ago someone from Etsy contacted me and asked me if I wanted to be their featured seller starting Monday January 5. For those of you who don't know what that entails, it means having your picture on Etsy's front page along with a link to an interview with you and your shop. Based on what I've observed, it brings in a lot of attention and business. They gave me a few days to answer the interview questions and send a photo of myself and advised me to stock my shop well.
Naturally my first and primary concern was...the photo. This was also a big concern for my middle daughter, Rachel, especially my eyebrows. Rachel has an opinion about a lot of things including eyebrows and according to her, mine were too bushy. I grew up in the era of Brooke Shields and my eyebrows were nowhere near that dense. But, Rachel was insistent that eyebrow amendment was crucial to this photo. So I agreed to let her "work" on my eyebrows. She proceeded to pluck my brows and between the involuntary sneezing it provoked and my exclamations of pain I vowed that I'm never going through that again.


And,don't tell Rachel, but I don't think they look any different.
My feature ran from noon, Eastern time, on January 5 to noon, Eastern time, on January 7 and it was amazing. Yes,I had a lot of orders, but they were dwarfed by the number of inter-Etsy emails or convos I received. So many lovely comments and congratulations. It was really quite stunning.
Thank you, Etsy.

A Little Coaxing

That's usually what I need to get myself to try something new, even if the something new was my idea. About a month ago I bought a light box kit. Basically this entailed a portable light box, a pair of lights and a tripod. The plan was to start using this set-up to take product pictures for my store. I brought the box into my studio with the intention to start using it right away. And that's pretty much as far as it went. Until today. I'm going to be taking some of the pictures for my book and it dawned on me that maybe I should learn how to use the light box. All I can say is, "What took me so long?"


This thing is amazing. The colors are so true and I didn't even set up in an especially dark room.


I've been making some new items for a shop update next week and I'm so glad that I finally decided that the time had come to try out the light box.

They're Off!

Today was a big day for me and the pony express. I mailed not one, but two significant packages. One box contained all the projects for my book. They're off to California to be photographed. The other had the Twinkle quilt. I'm glad I mailed these items on the same day because for me they're connected.
When I was first commissioned to make Twinkle, a big part of me wondered what the hell I was doing. I'd made a few big quilts before, but not in this pattern. Could I really dye all those circles? Did I have the discipline to stay with such a huge project? And I asked the same questions when I first took on this book project. Now, the book project is not quite done and I'm way too superstitious to say otherwise, but I have met my deadlines so far and I'm feeling pretty good about the process.
As for Twinkle...well here it is... all done.


Both these projects have taught me that it's important to pursue every opportunity because you never know what it might lead to or how it might push you out of your comfort zone.


Several of you have asked me if I'll be sad to see this quilt go, but I'm really not. I can honestly say that this has been so much more about the process than the product.
That's true for the book project as well. I've discovered new interests and abilities and even a few new limitations. But, that too, is the point of pushing your personal boundaries. It just makes you feel like you're really living and growing, no matter your age. Which, in my case, is not that old.

Binding is the New Yoga

I hope that's not an especially polarizing statement. I mention this because I don't think I've ever met a quilter who expressed a positive opinion of binding a quilt. As recently as a couple of days ago, a friend grimaced as she mentioned that, though she was very pleased with her latest quilt, she still had to bind it and what a drudgery that was. I'm not going to even pretend that I understand this perspective on binding. I've got sympathy, but no real empathy.
I really like binding quilts. And, who knows, maybe I really like doing a lot of things that most folks would find tedious. Because I prefer to think of myself as a relatively normal person, I don't delve too deeply into this issue. But, I stand by what I said, I like binding quilts.


Actually I find it pretty darn relaxing. There's something about gathering a quilt on your lap and slowly, patiently hand stitching the binding. I sometimes think of it as reconnecting with the quilt. Think about it. Everything else about making a quilt has been done, at least in my case, by machine. This is the one job associated with this process that doesn't require electricity.


It also never fails to make me feel connected to the way quilts have been made for generations. I think that's pretty powerful and really quite comforting. And maybe that's why I always feel calm when I'm binding a quilt. I'm slowing down to work at a pace that for better or worse belonged to a bygone era. I'm reconnecting by taking the stitches one at a time the way they used to.


It's a vacation from my usual pace and that's why I like binding quilts.