Waves

Hello friends

it has been a while since I stopped by this space. Somehow lately days and weeks feels so monotonous and a bit of blur. Getting into a creative mode feels more difficult these days, but thankfully being part of an art quilt group (The Endeavorers) really encourages me to create, even if it’s a small piece. The theme for this quarter was the sea…. I have to say, I was really excited at first when the theme was announced: so many possibilities and then my mind went blank. For many days I played around the idea of creating something abstract or something that reflected the color variations of the sea. Looking through my fabric stash I found a small piece of screen printed canvas that had the perfect colors and pattern I had envisioned. I bought this piece of fabric as a remnant years ago for just less than a dollar (such a bargain right!) but the tag didn’t offer much information about the designer or the name.
Anyway, to create this piece I decided to do a raw edge appliqué over linen to mimic the sand at the shore on the beach. I cut the fabric following the design of the fabric (which offers the perfect wave patter of the ocean. Finally I quilted it very organically following the wave pattern. It is such a simple quilt but I love how it turned out.

Lately…

Hello friends,

I hope you are doing well. Around here things have been a bit stressful. We had had two heat waves that brought us extreme temperatures followed by a record number or wild fires through California. We have been fortunate that our neighborhood has not been on the evacuation list. But we continue to be engulfed in a cloud of smoke. Air quality has been deemed hazardous and we have been advised to remain indoors as much as possible. We haven’t seen blue skies in so many days I’ve lost count. My heart breaks for the people and living creatures that have lost or their homes are in danger and all the firefighters that are stretched so thin trying to keeps us safe.

Ive been working on a few quilts that I’d love to share with you soon. Hopefully we can see some improvement on the weather and the fires cease. Wishing you a happy week. Stay safe

XO

Martha

WIP: Bowtie Quilt

Hello friends, I hope you had a lovely weekend. I’ve been trying to slowly bring out the projects that I have in progress and finish them before starting new ones. This is one of them. I started this quilt about a year or year and a half ago. I saved the trimmings from a star quilt I did a long time ago because I couldn’t see myself parting with all those little triangles. I mean it is Denyse Schmidt Chicopee so every little scrap it is a treasure. So I kept them in box waiting for the inspiration to turn them into a quilt. So to crate the blocks I cut up 6 inch squares of blue chambray. Then on two opposite corners of each square I sewed the trimming as improvised as the fabric would allow me (since the trimming as quite small); therefore, when the blocks are joined together will form a bowtie.

I can’t wait to put this quilt top together and share with you as it has been too long in the making.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

XO

Martha

Summer Vibes

June and July are supper busy months around here. So much to do in our garden and the kitchen, specially because peach season is at its peak. We have a peach tree in our garden that is very bountiful and each year gives us more than enough peaches to last us for a year. Unfortunately fresh peaches don’t last very long, so we are always looking for ways to preserve them so we can still enjoy such delicious fruit throughout the year. So literally I spend weeks canning, making preserves, jams, fruit leather, dehydrating, freezing peaches. but is is all worth it in the months to come. This weekend I did the last batch of peach jam. I’ve been using the same recipe for years and it never fails. You can find the recipe from where I first shared it here.

Since I’m done preserving fruits for now I think I’ll be able to get to the sewing room and finish some projects I’ve been working on and share with you.

Have a lovely week

XO

Martha

Blue and Green Log Cabin Quilt

Sharing this quilt is long overdue. As you can see I took the photos last winter when my wisteria was completely bare . Since then my wisteria has blossomed and now is full of lush green foliage.

I designed this quilt to showcase my small collection of Denise Schmitt’s fabrics that I have collected over the years. And to add a pop of color and some dimension to the quilt I decided to use Kona cotton in Picke green for the center of each block. There is something about that green that makes my hear sing. I think it is the loveliest shade of green and can’t get enough of that color. Each block is on the larger side measuring about 16 inches on each side: to achieve such oversized blocks I cut the strips for the logs of the cabin two inches wide. I think thus far this is may favorite size for log cabin blocks; the strips a wide enough that you can still appreciate the design of each fabric being used. The overall size of the quilt is about 90X90 inches. The backing is a bed sheet I found at Target; I thought it was such a stroke of good luck to find such a perfect match for this quilt.

This is the largest quilt I’ve have ever made. I don’t know if I’ll venture into making another quilt this size. It was quite challenge to quilt and wrestle all that fabric through my sewing machine. But the biggest obstacle was trying to get a full shot of the quilt. Usually my husband holds the quilts for me to take phots, but being such a large quilt it was challenging for one person to hold it up. So I set up the camera on the tripod with a timer and literally run to help hold it up. The full shot photos were not great but we had great fun. And I really love how this quilt turned out.

I had a few scraps left over from this quilt, and I’m already planning a small quilt to make. I can’t wait to share with you.

Wishing you a happy week

XO

Marha

Lately ...

Hello friends,

I hope you are doing well. The world has certainly changed since the last time I posted here. This world wide pandemic has brought a lot of unprecedented events. I have trouble expressing all the emotions that I’m feelings: fear, uncertainty and a great feeling of impotence to name a few.

The past few months i’ve been sewing masks non stop. It keeps my mind busy and it is a small contribution to keeping people in my community safe. But at the same time it feels bizarre that this is our new normal.

Right now more than ever we need more things to uplift our spirits. This blog has been a great scape and creative outlet for the past few years and has brought me great comfort specially when dealing with difficult situations in life: from loosing my mom to cancer, the struggles of infertility and having to say goodbye to my beloved Dog Mini Lou this blog has been a constant pillar. Expressing myself creatively has helped me so much in past hardships so I thought it is time to turn to this old friend for support. The online sewing community is so amazing and I’m proud to be part of. I’m hoping to resume my weekly posts sharing my makes. updates of my garden and a few tutorials. I hope you stop by.

Please be safe.

XO

Martha

Lattice Quilt

Happy New Year!

I hope your holidays were happy and peaceful. Around here we are just getting back to normal from the business of the season. And getting back to normal means more time spent sewing. I’ve been working on finishing up some projects and starting new ones. But also I have a couple of quilts that I finished a while ago and I’m just getting around to photographing. This one for example… a lovely lap quilt that I made using scraps left over from this half square triangle quilt I made back in 2017 (which now feels like ages ago). The lattice or the cross in the middle is made up of of scrappy pieces and for the back I used the larger pieces I had left over (because who doesn’t like a scrappy quilt back?). I really love how this quilt turned up and it is a great way to use up scraps. I’m thinking on writing a little pattern for it. Would you be interested? Let me know in the comments.

Have a wonderful week

XO

Martha.

Currently On My Table...

Hello and happy Sunday!

I wanted to stop by this little space and share with you what I’m working on right now. This quilt top I started months ago. I wanted to use some of my beloved Denise Schmidt’s floras and I wanted to showcase them so they would pop up. So I decided to play around with a diamond pattern. The idea was to create and argyle diamond pattern (plus I wanted to use a new diamond ruler I got). I love how it is coming along… but let me tell you there were some technical difficulties while putting this quilt top together: First the half and quarter diamonds for the edges were a bit tricky, then when I finally had put the quilt top together I realized it was to narrow. That was very discouraging. I put it away for weeks trying to decide how to fix it: add a border? Rip it apart? Add another row? But I sewed it diagonally and to add another row it had to be done vertically… it was a bit of a head-scratcher. However, I was able to figure it out and very carefully I ripped a section of the rows vertically and added one more to make it less narrow. It came out great! And what a sigh of relief when it was all sewed back together.

Now I’m working on the backing. I decided to do a pieced backing. I’m doing some improv piecing and it is almost complete. I can’t wait to put it together. But while I finish the backing I’m still trying to decide who to quilt it. Any suggestions?

Have a wonderful week!

XO

Martha