Threads In The Wind

With Sarah Ann Smith

Waiting...

It is that in between season... I've often said my oldest son was born in November to bring love and joy and light into this otherwise somewhat dreary month. Here in Maine the bittersweet hits its peak as the berries pop, the orange husks revealing the crimson inside. It's time to go cut some to cheer the house for the winter.

First we just need to have some colorful FUN! My year as a Michael Miller Brand Ambassador is drawing to an end. Given COVID, supply interruptions and whatnot, it hasn't been what anyone expected. But after months of waiting, I did get some polka dots, which I love. The problem was I have never ever made anything from a roll of 2 1/2 inch strips--I'd asked for fat quarters, which weren't available. I'm thrilled with the result! I googled around, got some inspiration, and had a bolt of the aqua (purchased for a workshop that ended up not happening), so used that. My "day job" (highly underpaid) as Chair of the Town Select Board has had me stretched beyond my limits for the past couple months, but I hope to have some quick and free guidelines on how to make it on my blog in the next month or so.

This is the first large-ish quilt I've done on my Janome M7--LOOK AT ALL THAT HARP ROOM! It has probably been 20 years since I have done walking foot quilting on a whole quilt. I was DELIGHTED! Yoda has also granted his "plonk" of approval during construction, when I was checking out where I was going next.

The dots are "Dumb Dots" by Michael Miller. I used 18 or the 20 colors, and used 36 strips total. Finished quilt is about 68" square. My other favorite tool was using Susan K Cleveland's Piping Hot Binding booklet and tool....learn about that in my Absolutely Perfect Facings (and binding and more) class. For the Bias Binding itself, learn about that in Absolutely Perfect Bindings half day workshop.

From the sublime to the ...well, perhaps not ridiculous... how about COZY? Time to snuggle in for the winter. Now, if it were evening, my iPad would be on a stand next to the chair, I'd have knitting on my lap, the pug sharing the seat with me (he squishes in) and the cat on the arm waiting for scratches. The best news is that I've taken a few photos and now I can USE the quilt!

Threads In The Wind With Sarah Ann Smith

Threads In The Wind

With Sarah Ann Smith