More and more I love doing hand work. There is something so peaceful and thoughtful about it. The first Intro to Hand Work class started on Saturday. I was eager to finish my homework, so I completed my sawtooth block by Sunday night. Since I didn’t need my machine, I did most of the work sitting in bed watching tv online and listening to podcasts. It feels so luxurious to sew this way!

Over time, I’m sure my stitching may become more even, perhaps more tiny but I think I’m doing okay to start.

I decided to feature the pink vintage feedsack fabric that I bought at Quilt Market in October. The dark grey contrasting fabric is a Japanese import that we just received. I’m hoping to throw in some aqua Tula Pink hexagons, but I don’t feel ready to commit to my border fabrics just yet.

I bought a small vintage tin on ebay today to hold my hand quilting ‘kit’. I want everything to be kept together and portable, so I can work ‘on-the-go’. Our teacher, Carolanne, has two tins that sit one in the other on her lap while she rides the streetcar and does her hand piecing.

BTW. My favourite pins right now are these slim white glass head pins. (last photo) They are nice to handle and easily slide through all fabrics, especially finer ones like Liberty Tana Lawns.

I took a look today and realized that I never posted my finished quilt top and quilt back for my Double Wedding Ring Quilt. I’m not sure how that happened. I love looking at this quilt, the colour combination still delights me. For the backing I used the submarine print from Tula Pink’s Neptune collection and then scrapped together the leftovers from the border and the rings.

It’s amazing how quilting projects can stretch out in time. When I started making this double wedding ring quilt, I thought I’d be done in no time. What on earth was I thinking? I was able to put the entire thing together and get it basted during the four week class. I was undecided about the quilting though. I machine quilted around the blocks and then debated if I should continue on the machine or try to hand quilt. I couldn’t decide, so I took a ‘break’ from the project instead.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on hand quilting my queen-sized quilt. Slowly. I am getting better, at least. My stitches are not perfect or even, but at least they are shorter. I’ve been experimenting with using the small little inbetween needles and I’m now using the smallest ones – size 12. In the beginning I did not understand the purpose of these teeny tiny needles, but now I’ve seen the difference in stitch length it can make.

The other night, I decided to figure out just how far along I was. When I realized that I was only about a third of the way done, I was slightly crushed. At this rate, it’s going to be a quite some time before i take my last stitch on this quilt.

Soooo.. I’m switching gears and bringing out my Double Wedding Ring quilt. When I took a look at it over the weekend, I realized that I could quite possibly hand quilt this in a relatively short time. (compared to a queen-sized) So, I’m going to do my very best to finish this quilt soon. (using my typical loose definition of ’soon’)

After a lot of hemming and hawing, I’ve finally decided on my colours and fabrics for my Double Wedding Ring quilt. The class is finally starting this Thursday!

Originally, I was thinking red, blue and cream. This palette has been refined to coral, aqua, navy and creams with multi-colours. The inspiration basically came from all the new fabrics that came last week. The new Tula Pink ‘Neptune’ collection and Anna Maria Horner ‘Good Folk’ collection are so pretty that I can’t resist including them in this quilt. The background will be a soft grey Anna Griffin fabric.

I’m really excited, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of Johanna’s quilting classes. Her clever tips and tricks are always so invaluable. If I can stay on track then it’s possible I’ll have a completed quilt in four weeks!

Andrew bought these lovely tulips yesterday and for me they are the perfect marker for the end of a crazy work week and the start of a heavenly two day weekend.

I wanted to share a few bits and bobs before I head off to devour some rare free time.

Glorious new fabrics arrived this week including Tula Pink’s Neptune collection and Japanese treasures like nani IRO, kokka and echino. Oh dear, what to make next?

I’ve created a new page on the blog where you can see all the ‘Tutorials & DIY projects‘ in one place. Hopefully this will make it easier to reference some of my past projects and get me going on doing some more tutorials for you!

Reva told me about a new sewing magazine that has just come out called, “Modern Seamster“. You can download the first issue as a pdf. With all these magazines closing, it’s so nice to see something new.

I love Audrey Tatou, so I’m really excited about the new Coco Chanel movie. The trailer is in french which makes it even more intriguing. I am marking this one in my calendar, I want to see this in the theatre. Wanna make a date? {via NOTCOT}

The Globe & Mail’s article on craft and the economy came out yesterday. This seems to be a very big topic of interest with the press. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on this? Are you crafting more right now? Do you craft and sew to save money? Are you buying more or less locally made and handmade stuff?