To my legions of adoring, loyal fans, I think I’m making a move. I’d like to consolidate all of my ramblings into one. So if you’ll come over to www.berkshiresbliss.com with me, that’s where I’ll be posting about crafting and other adventures from now on.
See you there! :)
A few weeks ago the Purl Bee blog featured a post about the Wonderful Wallaby, a cute pattern that looked like fun to knit.
Wonky Four Patches. Aka Crazy Four Patches.. The word wonky is growing on me. It used to grate on me slightly… but I now appreciate what it’s trying to convey. The word crazy is simultaneously rather vague and judgy. Am I the only one who even thinks about such things? I’m being rather vague and judgy! Who really cares, right? Let’s just get down to it!
Making our simply framed, slightly askance four patches is actually quite simple.
(Note: All seams are 1/4 inch)
(Another Note: If you’d like a rather cleverer way to put together these wonky four patches, check out this helpful tutorial by Allie over at the blog Strandz. She cuts the square once, sews halves together, then cuts again, whereas I make both cuts in the beginning.)
What You’ll Need:
I may or may not have admitted this before… but we have 3 cats. It’s rather a long story as to why there are three of them, and it’s something I relate on my other blog.
In my quest to avoid packing at all costs a few weeks ago when I was supposed to be getting ready to move from California to NYC, I decided to make them a cat bed or two. Actually, I justified taking time to sew as a) stress relief and b) a way to use up a bag of scrap fabric that I’d been saving to stuff cat or dog beds. Was I supposed to pack that bag as well? No. Throw it out? Never! Finally use it and avoid packing for a little while longer? That sounds good.
I joined an online quilting bee last month. What’s an online quilting bee, you ask. Back in the days of yore, ladies (bc that’s who quilted back then) would gather and work on a quilt together. It was a practical and social gathering - many ladies working on one quilt sped along its production, and simultaneously allowed for them to have some fun social time together. Fast forward to 2010, you don’t need to gather in your local church basement to be a part of a bee - the internets changes things!
I found the Quilting Bee Blocks flickr group through a quick internet search, and “met” the other 11 members of my group via the page where people say: “Ooh! Me, please, I want in!” We quickly formed our little group, Sew Bee It, and decided that we would try to go for a fresh, modern look as a unifying theme. Each person gets a month during which they send out little packets of fabric to the other 11 people, along with some guidelines on what you’d like made. At the end of the month, you have a bunch of finished blocks sent back to you, very possibly with each one different than the next since 11 different quilters created them. Hey presto, insta-quilt top.
Last March my lovely mother, who looks like she’s 40, turned 60. I had made a few quilts and knew I wanted to make her a quilt for the Big Occasion. My mom is a great mom, daughter, sister, grandmother, cook, teacher, and also a devoted gardener. Her quilt would definitely feature flowers, this I knew. I scrambled to source a medley of fabric and get it all pre-washed.
What a weekend!! It’s been non-stop eating for the past 3 days, it seems. This weekend was a very special one: Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and President’s Day rolled into one. It basically spelled 3 days of unfettered feasting and a lot of time together for my family.
It’s a Chinese tradition for elders to give youngsters 紅包, red envelopes, usually containing cash. In addition to the small token 紅包 we gave my parents as a gesture of our filial piety, Joe had the idea of giving my parents a bottle of wine in a “red envelope.”
Though I’m not really into the look of sampler quilts, my former boss’ wife Beth, whose quilts and general level of cool inspired me to finally start quilting, highly recommended the book Quilts, Quilts, Quilts by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, which features a sampler that has been completed by thousands of beginning and developing quilters. I have yet to get around to to making blocks from the book, but the idea of a sampler stuck. It’s a great way to learn a variety of techniques without investing the resources into making several of each block.
Bags are great fun to make, and they can immediately be put to use. That’s what I love most about sewing right now - the utility in what you create.
Two of my dearest friends Mark and Anna got married last summer. It was a GORGEOUS wedding; two beautiful, wonderful, caring, funny, fun, creative, smart individuals surrounded by their adoring family and friends. And their dog Gordon. Puts a huge smile on my face thinking about it. I didn’t actually get to attend the wedding itself, due to scheduling conflicts, but I did get to hang out with them in the days leading up to the main event. Bliss.