I feel like I’ve lost my crafting mojo lately. Maybe it has something to do with it being the dog days of summer, but I feel a little bit in a crafting funk. Now, I still dabble. I half-heartedly put in a good 9 inches of hand-sewn binding on a charity quilt at the pool they other day. And I’ve been plugging away at knitting some of the world’s easiest dishchoths here and there. But I haven’t felt engaged and excited about a project lately. I miss that.
It may be, in part, because I am spending a lot of time in the kitchen these days. I always cook, and mostly from scratch, but the 30 Day Vegan workshop really pushes it up to another level for me. Beans, grains, sauces, dressings, snacks- and these things just to stock the fridge so that I can put something together come dinnertime! I’m still trying to find that balance of eating and cooking this way while giving my kids something they don’t dread for dinner. I love to spend time in the kitchen, but there are only so many hours in the day, and it is definitely cutting into my sewing time.
So, if I had all the time in the world, what would I be working on?
~ finish up Boy 1’s quilt. I flew right through the quilt top, but I am doing a pieced back for it- and I am stuck. I let him design it with the leftover fabric. Here is what he came up with:
I don’t even know where to start.
~ a pillow based on Anna Maria Horner’s wholeclolth quilting project. I bought some Valori Wells Wrenly fabric (Ingrid) at the Sister’s Outdoor Quilt Show with this in mind, but it has not even made it out of the bag yet. I think it will lend itself very well to this project. I love handwork, so I am looking forward to this.
~ a Wrenly quilt. I bought fabric at Sister’s for a Wrenly quilt, and I bought a pattern too, but I think I want to design my own quilt instead. So, ideas are percolating in the back of my mind for this one.
~ baby quilts. I am toying with the idea of opening an Etsy shop with baby quilts, other baby items, table runners, and other handmade items for the home. So once again, percolating. I think I am finding a theme here.
~ and art quilt. I have been wanting to dip my toes in the water with art quilting. I have my inspiration:
This is a school art project done by Boy 1. I love it. I love how the jars intersect and overlap. I don’t think I really have the right fabric for this, so I’ve been percolating on that one too.
~ play blocks. I spent one evening with the book Liberated Quiltmaking from the library and just made improv blocks and house blocks. I would love to spend some time just playing with solid fabrics- making little one-block works of art. Maybe it would become a quilt, maybe not. I just want to play.
~ embroider tea towels. Also inspired by Anna Maria Horner, I’ve been embroidering a little lately. I love to have these flowersack tea towels around, not to dry dishes, for which I feel they are worthless, but to use like paper towels, drying veggies, or to put over a bowl of rising bread dough. My local quilt shop is doing a class on embroidering tea towels and handkerchiefs, making the back look as good as the front. I’d like to take it, since there is no way I’m taking a picture of the back of this tea towel.
So there is my all the time in the world list. I’d better get crackin’.
Love that art quilt idea!!! Check out Robbi Eklow’s website, she has done some fabulous vase quilts with this overlapping sequence like in your son’s drawing…I even made and posted about one from a class I took with her years ago. http://www.robbieklow.com/
Tanesha (CraftyGardenMom blog and podcast)
Thank you so much for that link! I love those quilts. My son plays guitar- so I especially love that one. I will pop over to your site to try and find your vase quilt. Also- I added you to my sidebar- don’t know how I missed you first time around!