The Quilt Chronicles

I've been thinking a lot about this old quilt of mine. It's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, draped across my single bed and strewn over chairs to make forts when I was a child. Sloppily thrown over the back of the futon in my first apartment... and more recently tucked sweetly around my oldest daughter while she sleeps and wrapped around all of us when we're cuddled on the couch. This old quilt has been around I tell ya.

I've been thinking about this amazing piece of patchwork history more and more these days. You see, she is beginning to show her age in spots, and there are times when I wonder if I should pack her away to preserve what's left of her.


She is a completely handstitched piece of magic. Seriously, not one bit of machine sewing can be found here. I can't imagine how many nights of slow stitching went into this...how many tiny bits of fabric were cut from old dresses and shirts... how many stories could be told just by following the quilting lines.



I would love to share more about this quilt with you in the coming weeks. More about it's history and the woman behind it. I am also really excited to document some of the handsewing I plan on doing ...just this old quilt & I.





xo

haley

Looking Ahead

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. We've been enjoying a mellow stretch of days at home with eachother. I love this week before the new year, so much planning and looking ahead. There are tons of things I want to accomplish in 2011, seriously, my notebooks are spilling over with inspiration! But first- I must tackle the monster in my workshop, (okay, it's not really a monster it's just a huuuuuge mess.) I'm going to take the next few days and slowly get it back in working order, maybe make the space a bit more functional. Then it's back to sewing and introducing some new designs in time for Valentine's Day,( sneek peeks coming soon.)

Happy New Year,
Haley
xo

PS From now until Jan 1st I am offering 15% off everything in my shop.
Just enter coupon code HAPPY2011 at checkout!

Progress

So the kiddos are back to school and there is real progress in the studio at last. These are a bunch of little owl legs patiently awaiting bodies. I'm in the middle of making a batch of thirty hoots, which is probably too many for me! It's super hard to stay motivated when working in large quantities like this, for me anyway :) Ah well, the finish line is in sight!

Having both kids in school full days has been a real change of pace for me. It's incredible to have so much time to get things done during the day. I almost don't know what to do with myself half the time!


This was the scene afterschool on the first day back. My little first grader sleeping soundly on the floor with her pup...

Lots of big changes this month for all of us, it's important to take time out and rest :)

xo

Weekending

I think this will be the start of a little series here on the blog. Scenes from our weekends, what we're up to, what we're working on- that sort of thing. Last weekend we took a trip out to The Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield to see Old Man Luedecke. Our little family is crazy about his music so we thought we'd make a day out of it.


We got there early so we could get a good seat, but I had a feeling that the wait for the show could be trying on the kid's attention spans. Enter Sketchbooks!
I am so glad we brought these. They drew and wrote stories and played hang man happily during the whole wait,(and parts of the show.) It was nice. During the break our littlest got to meet the Old Man himself. He signed a cd for the kids and was super friendly. She was quite proud of this little encounter and has big plans for bringing that signed cd in for show and tell. Love that.