Farm Houses

Another cloudy day here, but that's okey-dokey. If the last week had been sunny and gorgeous, I might never had been inspired to head off in this direction with my stitch work... a direction that I'm really enjoying! (Thank you, grey skies!)


This piece is entitled "Farm Houses", as that's what I see... two white farm houses, one on the left and one on the right.

However someone else might see it differently...


what I see as a red door, part of a porch roof, and a window, (or maybe it's a date stone?) someone else might see as a red house, a garden plot and an out building.


And, what I see as a window, a trellis and a porch roof, someone else might see as a house, a train track and an upside down barn!

Any which way you see it, is the right way in my book. I get a kick when people see different things then what I see. I like different points of view and perspectives. That's part of the joy of art, don't you think!?


"Farm Houses" is now available here in my shop.

(Note: Now Sold)

Pojagi Panel #3

Here's #3, (okay... technically it's my 4th panel, but for some reason I forgot to count my first effort. Probably because it felt so experimental to me, having never done it before, and wondering if my machine stitched efforts would even work.... I hope that first one doesn't feel left out... poor little pojagi panel.... I love you, I really do.)

Ah, but I digress...


This panel definitely has an improvised, modern quilt vibe going on.


These are the seams from the "back side", and below from the "front side".



Now, if you give pojagi a try, (and I hope you do), and you want to hang yours in the window, your best bet would be to use light weight fabrics, as they will let the light shine through more.


If you like cotton fabric, as I do, a light weight muslin works well, and I think one made from vintage hankies might be pretty cool, too, but I haven't tried that yet. This one, and my previos two were made from Kaffe Fassett shot cottons, which are lighter in weight then the Robert Kaufman ones, (which are great for quilts!) Also, Fassett made them in conjunction with Oxfam, an international charity that champions fair trade, thus helping to support the poverty-stricken weaving villages in India and Guatemala where the cloth is produced... that makes me very happy.

Remember... see here for a tutorial on machine stitching the seams!

Breaking the Shell

Many thanks to you all, as I was really touched and encouraged by the comments left after my last post. By that evening things started to become clearer to me, and the shell began to crack open. I realized that the reason I was having a hard time translating the lines and shapes that were in my mind into quilts, is because this time, I wasn't suppose to put them into quilts... I was suppose to just put them into cloth.


Wanting to keep going with the theme of utilitarian patchwork, I turned to Pojagi, (which is a type of Korean patchwork, often used to make square wrapping cloth) for inspiration.

Traditionally, (from what I can gather) Pojagi is constructed with hand stitched french seams, that are then tacked down with very small hand stitches. However despite my love of hand stitching, I knew that I didn't want to do it that way, (as I tried it once and didn't like it!)

I kept thinking about it and as I fell asleep I saw how I might do it on the machine, and the next morning I woke up and started to create a humble little panel out of muslin.


I joined my patchwork with machine stitched traditional seams, pressing them open, and tucking the raw edges in, then stitching them down... (and I enjoyed the process very much this time!)


To continue the play of light and shadow that this work encourages, I also added a little pocket where a leaf can be tucked into.

Now my mind is expanding with new ideas, and it feels wonderful. My next experiment with this construction method will be a long and narrow cloth runner made with shot cottons. Can hardly wait!

Patching Things Up

I'm now on the final layer of Work Quilt #3... sewing a few patches here and there... which will be followed by some more hand quilting, and a good wash in the machine to bring out the textures. Hope to have it all completed in the next few days.... but someone has been stealing my attention...



(Ellie Mae wishes you all a very Happy Valentines Day!)

Slow Stitching in the Fast Lane

Is it just me, or is time truly zooming by at speeds never before seen? I don't know what exactly is happening, but each day seems to be over and done before I even got started. I feel like I am on some Twilight Zone amusement park ride which is whipping me around so fast that everything is starting to blur. Why is that? Anyone else feeling this way?


I try to slow things down a bit with all of this hand stitching. I am now in the last stage, quilting all of the 31 patches that I hand sewed on to the quilt top. Counter to the quickly passing hours of the days, it is not moving fast at all. More like crawling along at a snails pace, and despite my desire to have life slow down a bit, I can feel myself caught up in the whirlwind of time management, or lack of, and am starting to feel anxious at how long I am spending on this piece. (Truth: I'm not sure if it is possible for me to ever really just be content with how things are.)


At the same time I feel grateful for the oasis of calm and rest this quilt provides for me, and know it's good to consciously go slow at times, especially when everything around you is going so fast.

Sweet and Simple

The items are sweet and simple, the blog post is short and sweet...
(as well as one more shameless and self indulgent plug!)


Pincushion Pillows


Mini Patchwork Quilt

With very simple piecing and the help of some good 'ol solids, the patchwork mini quilt and the 3 pincushion pillows were all easily made using just 1 fat quarter of my Posie Party fabric. All the stitched items shown are also available in my BooDilly's shop!

And speaking of sweet, (and self indulgent!) enjoy your Trick or Treating! (Hopefully it's all treats and no tricks!)
Wishing everyone a very Happy Halloween!

Project Improv Blocks - Orange and Pink

For the Project Improv charity block donation, each participant was asked to pick one of three color combinations, (red/aqua, blue/green, orange/pink) and construct an 12.5" x 12.5" improvised log cabin block... obviously based on the pics below, I picked orange and pink!


The batik prints and colors used in 2 of these blocks are so bright I almost feel like I should wear sunglasses! My current projects are in more muted colors, so when I started pulling fabrics from my stash to construct these, I tried going for just the opposite.


I decided to go ahead and construct 3 blocks, just in case they could use some extras, plus it gave me a good excuse to play around with different ways of construction.


Some of the participants have volunteered to help sew the donated blocks into quilt tops, (just for the record, and to be completely honest, I am not one of those amazingly selfless people who so graciously volunteer their time. I get very grouchy and difficult to be around when I commit myself to large group projects. Wish I had a more giving temperament, but I don't.)

I read that Jackie of Canton Village Quilts, and a friend of hers have volunteered to do all of the quilting on their longarm machines for free. My hat's off to them, the other volunteers, and especially Jacquie of Tallgrass Prairie Studio, the brains and energy behind this project. I am continuely humbled, (and shamed a bit, too!) by people's energy levels and true generosity.

To see more of Project Improve blocks and projects, check out Project Improv's Flickr Site