Another Happy House Quilt

This must be the year of buying houses, because I've made so many little housewarming mini quilts!

This one is for a co-worker who loves the color turquoise.   

Tried a new quilting pattern here - wavy lines and leaves.

Headed to the housewarming party now!

Happy House Quilt

Sometimes, I'm so excited to deliver a quilt that I completely forget to properly photograph it!

This quilt/wall hanging is for our friends Kelly and Nicole, to celebrate their recent wedding.  When Ian and I were married a few months ago, some of the most special gifts and cards we received were a play on our wedding invitation, so I wanted to do something like that for Kelly and Nicole.  

I appliquéd the buds on the invitation, and added a sweet little house to celebrate that they just settled in to a lovely new home together. These colors are so them - bright, joyful, and exuberant!

Congrats, Kelly and Nicole!

Tiny Quilt #5: A House-Warming Quilt

My brother and sister-in-law just bought their first house.  Moving just a few weeks before their baby is due couldn't have been easy!  I was thinking about them a lot as they got settled and assembled all of the baby furniture.  

My favorite way to think of someone is to make them a quilt.

It was a great chance to make another tiny house block from Elizabeth Hartman's Modern Patchwork.   And to use some of the fabrics from the Modern Quilt Guild's Madrona Road Challenge.  I love these fabrics - they're so playful and sweet!

One of my goals for 2013 is to practice some more free-motion quilting patterns.  Santa Clause brought me some great books about it!  In this tiny quilt I tried some swirls, a flower, and writing the family's name in cursive.

The countdown is on - this baby is coming soon!

Fall Table Runner

A few months ago, I started a chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild in Rhode Island.  We've been meeting monthly since June, and we have such a great group of talented quilters!  Every time I come away from our meetings, I inevitably spend the rest of the weekend in my studio, buzzing with inspiration.

For our last meeting, we challenged ourselves to make table runners out of only solids - no prints allowed!  Here is what I came up with...

I wanted to use fall colors, so that it could be a gift to my Thanksgiving hosts this year. 

I had a lot of fun with the actual quilting - it's a "pumpkin patch" quilting pattern. 

I love the combination of these colors - fall is simply my favorite! 

As usual, I love the back (maybe even more?) than the front.  So it's reversible!

To see the other table runners made by RIMQG members, check out the RIMQG blog.

Happy fall!

Tiny Quilt #4: El Nidito

I finally got to deliver my latest tiny quilt this week to a very dear friend, Hannah.  She is beginning a new job in a new city, and settling into a perfect new apartment that she's calling "el nidito" - her little nest.

Happy new chapter, Hannah!

Tiny Quilt #3: Home

Time for the next quilt in my tiny quilt series!

The design is from Elizabeth Hartman's new book: Modern Patchwork.  I used some scraps left over from a recent super secret project that I'll reveal later on this summer.

This was a chance to try out a new quilting method: dogwood.  It was a fun form of free-motion quilting and gives a sweet little floral texture.

It's official: I'm addicted!  More tiny quilts to come....

House Warming Quilt

My friend Deb is leaving Providence next week to move to Brooklyn with her girlfriend. We've had lunch together frequently as she's been planning her move, and I know she's been dreaming about her new place, and about making a home for the two of them together in the same city for the first time. I wanted to send her off with a small tolken of gratitude for her friendship, good talks, and great lunches.

I went back to the color palette she had inspired back in February - yellow, black, and cranberry - and tried out hand-quilting on a small scale by stitching around each letter.

I hope this little wall hanging will find help Deb and Ann feel right at home!

I'll miss you, Deb!  Safe travels and happy new home!

In Full Bloom

Over the past week, the warm weather has really kicked in here in Rhode Island. I was inspired to embrace it, and as one of my portable projects this month, I stitched up these yo-yos to create a spring tree.

Now Spring has joined Summer and Fall on my mantle!

Christmas Memories Tree Skirt

For Christmas this year, my family did something a little bit different. Following up from last year's "gifts from the heart" - handwritten notes - we each brought one gift that we could all enjoy while we were together - food, drink, games, movies...and it was great. I've been dying to reveal my gift to the fam for forever, since I made it back in August when I was surprisingly feeling Christmasy.

Last year, I had my family write Christmas memories, and we all talked about the history and traditions in our family. I collected each notecard of memories written in each person's distinctive handwriting, and I knew I had to do something with them...

Here it is! A tree skirt!

It's my own design, inspired by the "little forest quilt" I found here. I scanned each notecard into my computer, enlarged them, and printed them out on iron-on fabric. Tah dah!

Here is my grandpa's memory: "I remember my first electric train! It had a loud horn."

And my grandma's: "I remember midnight mass on Christmas Eve when Pete came home from the war and gave me my engagement ring. He was so cute with his look."

I was so excited to give this to my family as something that we'll hold on to forever. And it looks great under the tree!

Saying Thanks

I'm feeling especially grateful this year, this month, this week. I've been doing a lot of reflecting on all that's happened in my life this year, and I feel so lucky.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's about just that - saying thank you - and not about buying people things and going to stores. It's for feeling warm and fuzzy and looking around and taking stock of all that you've got. I love honoring the spirit of this holiday, and I've been making an effort to say thank you to a bunch of important folks in my life this past week.

One way I said thanks was by hosting a dinner party for all of the wonderful women who have been featured as My Creative Friends here on the blog. Ian and I invited them and their partners to our apartment for an elaborate fall meal. I wanted it to feel super special, so I sent out these paper invitations in the mail.

Unfortunately, everyone was super busy so only Rachel & Alyssa and their partners could make it - but Ian and I could only round up so many chairs in our small apartment, so it was kind of nice that it was small and intimate!

I decorated with everything I have that's red, gold, orange and brown. And we cooked, and cooked, and cooked all of our favorite fall eats. Here's what we served:

Course 1: Vermont cheese & crackers, squash tarts with tomato jam

Course 2: Turkey squash soup with crusty bread

Course 3: Butternut squash lasagna, Maple roasted chicken and sweet potatoes, Green beans

Course 4: Pumpkin Pie, Baked apples with roasted pecan crumble

Here's the gang after we ate - we're all so stuffed!

And my creative friends Rachel and Alyssa. There in spirit: Joanna, Moira, Marisa, Claire, and Alice - we missed you, ladies! Thanks for always being supportive, encouraging, and for being your creative, inspiring selves!

Custom Providence Collage

My friend Aaron recently moved to New York City, and since he's missing his old home a bit, he commissioned me to create a piece to remind him of Providence.

I created this paper collage of Providence's iconic Industrial Building. While I mostly work with fabric, I secretly love paper collage as well. I particularly love using paper with text - like these old flyers for a local arts venue.

I've never tried this type of collage before, but I think it came out well, and I was a little sad to see it leave my house, so I'm certainly going to make more.

What other iconic building (in Providence or elsewhere) would you like to see me create?

Meet Winnie

We met at a yard sale last weekend, and it was love at first sight.

She looks very at home in my living room.

And every time I look over at her, I feel so happy! Best $20 I ever spent!

Custom Potholders for Monica

My creative friend Monica just returned to Providence for rehearsals for A Christmas Carol at Trinity Rep Theatre - she has been in New York, and while she was away I missed her birthday. We got together last night and I finally got to give her a birthday gift.

Before I show you the gift, you first need to know something about Monica: she is the owner and founder of Monicakes Bakery, and she makes the world's most amazing confectionary creation - cakies.

What is a cakie?

A cakie is a cookie exterior filled with cake, which comes in lots of amazing flavor combinations.

{ cakies }

But, as my friend Evan said, "You had me at cakies."

My two favorite cakie flavors - pumpkin cake/chai cookie (pictured above) and chocolate/pistachio - inspired Monica's gift.

Monicakes potholders!

This was my first experiment with log cabin quilt squares - the method of piecing together strips of color one by one in this spiral pattern. I put it together in a quilt as you go method, which was really fun.

And the back is a cute little wonky pieced pattern. A great excuse to use up all those little scraps in my scrap drawer.

Happy (belated) Birthday, Monica! So glad to have you back in Providence for a couple of months.

And for those of you out there drooling at the thought of cakies - they will be available in New York City and online soon and I'll be sure to feature Monica as My Creative Friend when it all launches! Until then, become a fan on Monicakes' facebook page and join the Monicakes mailing list to stay in the know!