Welcome Back!

     I basically disappeared when I moved to Connecticut last summer. It's been slow going to get settled into my new home. I'm actually adding on a quilting studio this summer, planned to be 20 X 45 feet. I thought the little ranch I bought would be plenty of room. I neglected to consider that I was getting a longarm machine delivered once I arrived. So right now, I have no living room as it's my sewing room. Works, but I can't have family or friends over until I have somewhere for them to sit, other than the kitchen table. Luckily my nephew is a contractor and will do most of the work himself. And I'm in a little 4,000 people town with no zoning so there are no issues as long as I keep it under 1,000 square feet. I've been to Ikea to look at furniture and storage solutions. This is going to be good!

     I am also facing back and knee surgery in the next few months. Just working out the order so that I can get some pain relief. The combination has kept me pretty close to home, but I did get to the Vermont Quilt Festival last week.

     I was very happy to get a space in Pepper Cory's It's a Wrap class. In this we learned about the Japanese way to wrap purchases in cloth rather than carrying them in bags. She also shared some of the history of sashiko, and we did some stitching. My piece isn't finished yet, but this is Pepper's class sample. I'm half way through the sashiko and will then finish it up.

 







     I also took a class with Brigit Schuller titled Holes as a Design Element. This was a very interesting class with an unusual approach to the piecing. I didn't make much progress in class but will definitely continue working on this. Sorry, I don't have a photo of my work in progress, and haven't unpacked from the weekend yet. I'm using all different shades of blue/blue-green batiks with some chartreuse thrown in.



     When I moved here last summer, as a treat for myself, I bought a purebred Maine Coon kitten. Up till now I have always adopted, ever since the first cat I chose for myself. But I had fallen in love with the photos of a kitten from a breeder in Mystic, CT, Marikoons Maine Coons (http://www.marikoons.com/). That kitten was being called Walnut (the nuts litter) and I didn't think to give him my choice of name as soon as I'd chosen him. So Walnut stuck. He is now just a year old, and the best cat I've ever had. So affectionate and intelligent. Handsome, too!

     These are my two rescues above, Nosey and Seamus, with Walnut in the middle. And Walnut showing off his tummy. The boys like to help me sew (ha, ha).

This is Rory. 

 Rory and his two sisters.



He will be coming home later this month. I think the old guys will thank me because Walnut will have someone else to chase!


Future Plans:

A favorite embroidery site, Sweet Pea Machine Embroidery, www.swpea.com, is just starting a 6 month machine embroidery class, all online, teaching various techniques but specifically "in the hoop" projects. I have a few years embroidery experience, but there are always new things to learn. I have signed up for this and will share the projects as they become available, every 2 weeks. They are providing an instructional video with each design but I will give tips for each specific project. The first is this mandala coaster shown left. Please join in and sew along. There is an active Facebook Group for Sweet Pea Embroidery.


     Well, that's enough news for tonight. If you are looking for the Ruby McKim 101 Patchwork Patterns, that will be starting up again shortly. If you would like to join this sew along, click the 101 Patchwork Patterns menu tab at the top of the page. You can get started on the 14 blocks we've done while I look for the project box containing these blocks!

Thanks for visiting,
Mary