Psssssst! I have a crush...

I've been wanting to make a quilt for a loooooong time.

Like about a year and a half.

A picnic blanket quilt actually, and I finally got around to working on it the other day.

I faked busy for the afternoon, pulled out my sewing supplies, and started in on it.

I must admit something first.

I sort of have this thing where I fall instantly, passionately, and head-over-heals in love with a fabric.

This love affair will consume me for a period of time, say, six months or a year, and then...

Poof!

One day, just as quickly as I fell in love with it, I fall out of love with it. 

And that's it.

I'm done.

I have no use for it anymore.

Wouldn't use it on a project if someone paid me in chocolate to do it.

Does anyone else have this problem?

 I figured I'd better get on it before my crush with Heather Bailey's Hello Roses in Olive grew as cold as yesterday's hot cocoa.

(Lest anyone reading this blog should think I am professing to be a real live quilter, all you have to do to is take a look at the intricate top of my quilt to see that I am a faker.)

But can I share my secret for completing a quilt top in an afternoon?

BIG BLOCKS.

BIG, FAT BLOCKS.

BIG, FAT, WONKY BLOCKS.

...sandwiched between two LARGE strips of the object of my affection.

And since I'm in the sharing mood, may I share my secret to quilting happiness?

Quilting outside.

Yes.

It's the latest thing.

I highly recommend it.

You should try it.

Just thought I'd share...

...a little something I made at Chicks in the Sticks when I was home in Idaho in January with my "chicks".  

A sweet little collage made out of a vintage postcard with the Hawaii Mormon temple on it.

Simple and easy.

I made it from the inside of a book-cover that I simply tore off an old book. 

I decoupaged a page from the book and a copy of the vintage postcard on the front.

Then I glued bias tape along the torn edge and punched holes for a ribbon hanger on either side.

The flowers are made from a kind of fabric called silk essence.

 I curled the edges of several circles of fabric by melting them over an open flame, then stacked them and sewed a couple of seed beads to the center to keep it all together.

Put a little hot glue on that baby and voila!

You're an artist.

Oh yes, and what exactly is Chicks in the Sticks, you ask?

Welllllllll...

Let's just say, it's an event that causes so much laughter that the attendees go through a box of Depends in a weekend.

Each. 

(More details coming soon.)