I'm handquilting my first "usable" size quilt. It's about a throw size, and i've been working my way out from the center creating concentric squares over the pieced portions. Now I've finally reached the linen edging and the corner pinwheels. I've finished quilting about 1/3 of the linen where I have been drawing some of the organic shapes from the fabrics I used as my quilting guides. This organic quilting on the linen is actually pretty subtle because of the thread color I chose, and I'm really pleased with that. The little shapes have to be discovered up close, and I can picture someone tracing their fingers along my quilting lines to find each little leaf, flower or strawberry. There's no time to think about those things when I'm machine quilting. I just love how doing the quilting by hand makes the process so much more meaningful.

I've been to a few fabric stores in my time, but my favorite by far is the Mennonite owned shop nestled in the most gorgeous farm country near Klienfeltersville, PA. Burkholders is really the only place I've been where I can actually walk in the door and pick fabric for a whole quilt. I have such weird taste, and most stores only have the modern quilting fabric lines or the super kitchy reproduction fabrics. This place, literally, has it all under one roof. Choosing fabric is so weird for me. I hate quilting with a "line" of fabric because it feels so unoriginal. At the same time I don't really like to walk in to the stores where the fabric is coordinated by color to pick my fabrics -- good prints just seem to get lost in a sea of monochrome that way. Choosing fabrics for my quilts is a lot more organic than either of those paths, and I guess that makes me like a "scrap quilter". A few from one line, and a weird one from here then all the sudden I've got a quilt going. Some part of me wants to hold onto the traditional, but I can't deny that I want to make something fresh and modern. I guess it only makes sense that I'm shopping at Purl Soho every weekend, but have an undying love for the Mennonite gem near where I grew up.

It's amazing how the strangest foods are the ones that make me the most amazingly homesick for a place. During my two years in Boston I desperately longed for pickled red beet eggs. Sure, I missed them when I lived in Philly but I could always make a little trip to the Amish stand at Reading Terminal Market on Arch Street to pick up an egg and maybe some shoo-fly pie. Boston had no such secret spot, and I haven't found one in New York City either.

Today I went to a family reunion picnic in Lancaster County, and I knew some little grey haired lady was bound to bring some homemade red beet eggs. Of course I was super excited when two showed up eggs and beets in tow. No wonder a strange food makes me so homesick... they're always there when the family is gathering for summer meals and picnics. The deep fuchsia of the eggs are just about the prettiest thing on the table, and my favorite part is always when you get through to the yolk and find the yummy orange bits where the beet's pink juice mixes with the yellow of the yolk.

While planning our living room Tim and I stumbled on a Marimekko fabric design that we loved and happened to match a Steve Powers print we had purchased for the room. I made us a set of pillows, but after living with them for a little while I wondered what it would be like to make the pillows with some free-form quilting. I dig it, and I'm thinking about doing it to ours now too. Check out this one over in the made by hand section.

We've been getting our work on in the new studio nearly every chance we get. It is definitely the new most used room in our place, and the sofa folds out for our frequent house guests. It's so nice after two years to be able to work side by side again, even if it is on different projects. This room is really the master bedroom, but we decided we needed the bigger room for our workspace. This is not to say that my photo stuff isn't all over the apartment or that our projects don't overflow into the living/dining room.

This room has a sort of anything goes feeling as far as the colors. Can you tell who is the tidy one of the two of us?! Hah! The workbench desks were a great

bargain, and are so sturdy. The extra depth gives us plenty of room for making without having to move the computers. They also have this unbelievably huge shelf for printer, sewing machine, and scanner. We bought them from Uline. Who knew?!

 The pull out sofa is from Room and Board clearance, and thankfully the mattress is pretty comfortable. We got it half price since the fabric was being discontinued, but it works great in this room. I've had my Goodform aluminum chair for years, but we found a matching one for Tim a few months ago on etsy. It didn't even need to be reupholstered. The desk lamp was another etsy find while I was living in Boston. We're in love with our Muji drawers for all of our little tools. It's a cheery and bright place to work, so we're enjoying this new space a ton.