Book Tuesday!

I have this problem with fiction: at a certain point in the book I begin to think that the characters exist in real life. Maybe I believe this most when I fall in love with the characters; the families, the friendships, the loss and redemption.

Here is a book all about a character whom I adore, and sincerely wished were real. (I secretly think he is.)

In "Clay's Quilt" by Silas House, we meet Clay Sizemore, a young man, a miner in the Appalachians: he drinks too much and gets wild, he loves nature, he is totally committed to his family, everything he does is done with great passion. His family story is also intense - his mother Anneth was the town's wildest child, killed when Clay is just four years old. There are actual quilts being stitched in this book, but they play a minor role. The real quilt of the title is the life that Clay creates by piecing together all the different elements of his history, family and hopes.

One thread of this book follows Clay's efforts to learn who his mother was. It is an essential part of his journey to discovering who he is, at his core; his mother gains some dimensionality when we hear from those who knew and loved Anneth when she was alive.

This book describes a part of the world I know nothing about, the hills of Kentucky, but I just drank it in: the close knit families, the place of religion and of nature in daily life, the alcohol, drugs and violence, the amazing music. I love to just open the pages at random and sink back into this place that Silas House created. His words don't leap off the page, they just gently seep into your bones, in a different rhythm to the words you're used to. This world House paints is so rich, I want to start saying "Hidy" to my friends in the morning, and to go clogging on Friday night in a smokey honky-tonk...

On a scale of 1 - 5 yards*, I give this book a 5 YARD RATING.

Pain, loss, redemption, religion, joy, love and crazy dancing - this book's got it all. Beautiful.
If you try it, leave a comment and tell me what you thought!

*Of course yards. I'm a quilter. How else would I measure anything?

End Of Year Beanbags

My 2nd grader wanted me to make some beanbags / rice bags for her teacher as an end of year gift. She picked out the fabric and I got to work.



If you sew, even a little bit, you can figure these out for yourselves. But for those of you liking a little direction, here is a tutorialito* on how to sew 2 squares together and call it a gift.

Cut pairs of squares - these are 6":

With right sides facing each other, sew around 3 edges about 1/4" from the edge, twice, to give them a little extra strength. Trim the bottom corners if you feel like it:

Fold over about 1/2" at the open edge and iron it down:

Turn it right side out (the folded down bit is now on the inside):

Pour in enough rice so that the bag is about 1/3rd full when it's standing up, or a teeny bit more.

While the bag is upright, pin across the rice to stop it from pouring out when you sew the opening closed:

Sew a narrow rectangle across the top, about 1/2", and remove the pins:

Tie the ends into knots and bury the threads.

Ta-dah! Super speedy little gifts!

Okay, now the small print :)

You want to watch out for two things when you sew this up:
1. the weight of the rice can make the package hard to control as you try to sew a neat line, and
2. the corners might need need a little prodding from a tapestry needle (or awl of choice) to get the fabric moving under the foot.

But don't let that get in your way!
Just go do it!

These rice bags can be juggled, balanced, warmed up in the microwave on cold-hand days, or just piled on a table for some eye candy.

Or worn as decorative head-gear.

*thanks Sew Hungry, for the lexicon!


Linking up with Freshly Pieced, Live a Colorful Life, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts!

And The Winner Is.... (Drumroll Please...)

 

 

 

Congratulations to Comment Leaver #3 - that's Archie the Wonder Dog!

 

Fabric will be winging its way to you this week - all the way from Israel!

Just be in touch and let me know where I can mail your yummy pile of text!

 

Thanks everyone for your great book suggestions, and for celebrating my Blogiversary with me!

(And thanks to my son for being a fabulous hand model and official number picker outer.)

Building a Home

Here comes a story of a little house, about 12" tall, that has - so far - taken several hours of eye-straining work. I can't say how many because I lost track. And  it's not even finished yet. But check out the details.

This will be a gift for a very special friend. The last time I saw her, we met for coffee right after my phenomenal afternoon in Liberty's, so I was on a bit of a fabric high, and also totally thrilled to see my friend.

So my very first piece was the cafe table. The construction was a bit convoluted, on account of me making it up as I went along, but it definitely began with a small oval of card, with white cotton fused to each side, which would help form the shape of the table.

The fabric for the tablecloth - Liberty's! - was cunningly cut on the bias to hang beautifully, which worked not at all. I eventually forced it into place by sheer will and determination. This whole cardboard-lined piece was sewn by machine to the backing fabric following the lines of the table top, and then I hand overcast the edge of the slippery fabric to slow fraying.

Do not try this at home. Really.

I created the flowers for the sunny-side window using lime green fabric with the thready bits from the selvedge showing, and some hand-cut red flowers.

The moon-side window has a Liberty's curtain (swoon!), and beneath the curtain, a window ledge of books.

I am waiting for the house to tell me what it needs next. Friendly suggestions are very much welcomed!


PS Looking for the Texty Giveaway? It's here!


Linking up with Quilt Story and Live a Colorful Life and Confessions of a Fabric Addict - go check 'em out!

Blogiversary! Woo-Hoo!

Hey folks, this is a very exciting moment! I've been blogging a year!

Here's what I've learned:
I like blogging!
I want to sew and blog more than I do.
The main and most important thing that has happened this year, is that I have met a wonderful quilty community across the globe and made new friends. Thank you all!!

Now onto the good stuff - it's Giveaway Time!

A special day deserves a special celebration, and I just want to share some stash goodness and give someone else a happy day too! Which is where you come in.

I have this obsession with mild habit of making little stash collections. Purples-with-maroons. Greys. Light greys. (Two totally different categories, duh.) Stuff to match my Midtown Miami. Text.

Drumroll, please - I have this yummy, juicy, stack of texty fabric, and it's all gonna be wrapped up and sent to one lucky reader! Each piece was cut randomly, ranging from smallish to almost a quarter yardish.

To enter this Giveaway - and why wouldn't you?! It's all text, all the time, baby! - just leave a comment and share some text of your own: tell me the title of a book you love.

The Giveaway is until Friday 7 June, so get your comment in now!

May Update (And Some Sewing Too)

I haven't been posting as often as I'd like. But I've been doing a lot of traveling... Sadly, my father is not well, and lives in the UK, and, well... I don't. So I've been getting to know the ins and outs of international travel, and more importantly have been spending some quality time with my parents.

During my most recent visit, I carried with me a small sandwich of natural muslin and batting, and a bag of embroidery threads, just in case I had some moments of peaceful sitting, when I could work on a quiet project.

It came to me, one morning, what my project would be.

See, I made this quilt a few years ago, to celebrate my parents' 40th anniversary. At the root of the trunk are my parents' names embroidered in gold thread; each branch has the names of a sister and her husband; each hand-leaf is the actual outline of a grandchild's hand, embroidered with their name, and sewn on the "correct" branch! It was an epic project, took me 5 years from idea to completion (in my defense: I did give birth several times during those 5 years...)

This quilt hangs in my parents home, so I saw it daily during my visit, and one morning, sitting in the sunlight by my father's bed, I realised that we don't have my father's hand-print on it. I quickly traced around each of my parents' hands, and cut out their handprints to use as a pattern. I traced around the paper patterns using a regular pencil onto my muslin and got stitching.

Here's what I've got so far:

Close Up

 

Whole Piece

My parents asked what I was going to do with it. I admitted I didn't know - a wallhanging, perhaps? A pillow cover? My mother said, It should be the centre of a quilt. I think she wants one of her own :) since I just made one for Daddy who won't let it off his lap long enough to be washed! I enjoy the hand-stitching very, very much, and see this as the beginning of a long, treasured, slow-stitched process.

True story: on my flight back home, I sat next to 2 little kids who were pretty adorable (not mine :) and when I whipped out my hand-stitching, they demanded to be taught how I was doing it. On the scrappy edges of my sandwich, I taught a 10 year old girl and a 9 year old boy how to back-stitch. I explained how I traced hands onto muslin, and they are so excited to go home and make their own! Yay, passing sewing on to the next generation!

And, a finish! This will be a birthday gift for a colleague (shhh, don't tell).

The floral is from a piece of fabric I bought in Liberty's about, errm... 25 years ago! (Oh lordy! I ain't getting any younger!) I didn't photograph all the ways in which I messed this one up, but let's just say that I unstitched as much as I stitched... But she's finished now, and quite lovely.

Book Tuesday!

Historical fiction? Check.
Strong female protagonist? Check.
Coming of age story? Check.
Got quilting in it? Check.

I was jumping up and down with excitement when I discovered this in my local library (O Bala Cynwyd Library! How do I love thee?) and later again, when I bought my very own copy for numerous re-reads.

 

"These is My Words" (by Nancy E. Turner) tells the tale of a family heading out to Arizona territory in the late 1800's as narrated by Sarah Prine, a teenager when our story begins. This has a bit of a Little-House-All-Grown-Up feel to it, though "These is My Words" is grittier, scarier and more realistic than the Little House books, with descriptions of terrifying events, great despair and lots of gun slinging. But like "Little House," it maintains the same kind of wonder at the possibilities of new opportunity, and the hope of building a community together. We also get some romance, though to my great relief, the book doesn't end with church bells; we get to follow the couple through thick and thin, as two strong-willed characters forge a life together.

 

Why do I keep coming back to this book to curl up with? To start with, it's pretty easy to read: this is a diary of an ordinary woman made extraordinary by circumstance, and she is both full of great spirit and a wonderful story-teller. Secondly, I like the main characters! Sarah is fiesty and smart, her sister-in-law is kind and deeply religious, the men are sometimes strong, sometimes sweet. Laziness or shiftiness in anyone is not tolerated, an attitude I definitely appreciate! Thirdly, I really did enjoy learning about this time and place in history, and how the area developed and changed over the span of the book.

 

On a scale of 1 - 5 yards*, I give this book a 4 YARD RATING.

Awesome reading if you like this genre. Very satisfying.
If you try it, leave a comment and tell me what you thought!

*Of course yards. I'm a quilter. How else would I measure anything?