on the road
I'm so glad to be back from our weekend away! I do like getting away with my honey (very much), but I always, always enjoy the coming-home. Home to comfortable beds, restful routines, normal food... and also the sewing machine (shhh!).
This weekend we visited Savannah as well as near bye Wormsloe, a historic settlement site with this gorgeous avenue of live oaks. It was all a lovely time, but truly I was way, way low on energy. This weekend my body seemed to need a double portion of rest and to have sudden, urgent needs for nourishment. Thank goodness for those backup walnuts I keep in my purse!
Anyhoo, we did make it out to the salt marsh, a view I'm glad I didn't miss. Gotta love the low country.
Along the way (when I wasn't napping), I made some headway on a Puzzle Ball for Eleni. I had cut a selection of rainbow fabrics before leaving home, in hopes of making a sort of color wheel version. Crossing fingers on the color arrangement... Working in 3D is definitely more challenging than a 2D color wheel.
I got most of the quarter circles stuffed and sewn closed. This part of the hand sewing gets hidden inside the ball. It's nice to be able to relax and just sew without hiding knots and whatnot!
I also checked out a fair number of sewing books from my library before leaving town, including 2 by Sarah Fielke and Growing Up Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee. I don't usually need to own quilting books, as taking in the pictures and sometimes reading construction notes is just about perfect. What new quilting books my library doesn't already have they'll often purchase by request. So, it's a win-win way to support the authors and also save space on my bookshelf.
I particularly enjoyed this log cabin quilt from Hand Quilted with Love. See how Sarah Fielke uses subtle color changes to create a secondary pattern echoing out from center? Someday, someday I'll bite the bullet with log cabins. Like for real. They're such a timeless, classic quilting look.
I also learned in Quilting from Little Things about the usefulness of step down sewing, also known as partial seams (and used to make this Night Garden quilt). This is a technique I haven't ever tried, but now that I'm familiar I already have one quilt in my mental queue inspired by some brickwork I saw in Savannah. It's so great how new techniques open up new worlds of creativity. Yay for always learning!
I'll have to tell you more about my thoughts on Meg McElwee's book some other time. A whole baby sewing post is in order. I've got plans.
p.s. FYI, the book links here and in other posts are Amazon affiliate links, which means I earn a tiny commission on sales made after you click through those links. Just want to keep you informed, as per my legal duties. Hope you don't mind!
This weekend we visited Savannah as well as near bye Wormsloe, a historic settlement site with this gorgeous avenue of live oaks. It was all a lovely time, but truly I was way, way low on energy. This weekend my body seemed to need a double portion of rest and to have sudden, urgent needs for nourishment. Thank goodness for those backup walnuts I keep in my purse!
Anyhoo, we did make it out to the salt marsh, a view I'm glad I didn't miss. Gotta love the low country.
Along the way (when I wasn't napping), I made some headway on a Puzzle Ball for Eleni. I had cut a selection of rainbow fabrics before leaving home, in hopes of making a sort of color wheel version. Crossing fingers on the color arrangement... Working in 3D is definitely more challenging than a 2D color wheel.
I got most of the quarter circles stuffed and sewn closed. This part of the hand sewing gets hidden inside the ball. It's nice to be able to relax and just sew without hiding knots and whatnot!
I also checked out a fair number of sewing books from my library before leaving town, including 2 by Sarah Fielke and Growing Up Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee. I don't usually need to own quilting books, as taking in the pictures and sometimes reading construction notes is just about perfect. What new quilting books my library doesn't already have they'll often purchase by request. So, it's a win-win way to support the authors and also save space on my bookshelf.
I particularly enjoyed this log cabin quilt from Hand Quilted with Love. See how Sarah Fielke uses subtle color changes to create a secondary pattern echoing out from center? Someday, someday I'll bite the bullet with log cabins. Like for real. They're such a timeless, classic quilting look.
I also learned in Quilting from Little Things about the usefulness of step down sewing, also known as partial seams (and used to make this Night Garden quilt). This is a technique I haven't ever tried, but now that I'm familiar I already have one quilt in my mental queue inspired by some brickwork I saw in Savannah. It's so great how new techniques open up new worlds of creativity. Yay for always learning!
I'll have to tell you more about my thoughts on Meg McElwee's book some other time. A whole baby sewing post is in order. I've got plans.
p.s. FYI, the book links here and in other posts are Amazon affiliate links, which means I earn a tiny commission on sales made after you click through those links. Just want to keep you informed, as per my legal duties. Hope you don't mind!