Tim and I scored some awesome Pottery Barn chairs (two for the price of one) for our living room last weekend while I was visiting family in Pennsylvania. They came with some matching pillows, but you know I just can't have matching. I removed the covers, tucked them in a closet and set to work quilting pillow covers for the chairs. The little green and grey diamond pattern was another score from Pennsylvania, my mom found this vintage gem on BOLT in one of our favorite fabric stores. Needless to say I sent her back for two more yards this week. I know it is sort of an odd pairing of greens, but they really do look great with the rest of our living room. Can't wait to share pictures once we buy some chairs for our dining table.
A few things over this past month have been making me think about how quickly time passes and how tiny and profound one moment can be. I suppose it's an appropriate reflection during Autumn, but so much more is reminding me this year: a friend's loss, another friend creating a new life, realizing suddenly Tim and I have grown into adulthood together (we're celebrating 6 years), and allowing myself the room to make work at my own slow speed. All of these things are summed up and somehow embodied by these beautiful porcelain "stones" by otchipotchi. They came across the ocean from Portugal at just the right time, and reflect perfectly my sentiments for the moment. I was so happy to pass one on to a friend to express exactly what I've been thinking and feeling, and I hope it spoke to her in the same way.
I'm really looking forward to a weekend in the studio. My double wedding ring quilt top is just begging to be doubled or tripled in size. I can piece so quickly once I have a nice fat stack of cut pieces, so I think tonight Tim and I are ordering in and I'll cut fabric while we watch a movie. What's on your 'to-make' list this weekend?
I'm working on the next round of my hand pieced medallion quilt. The square in squares have been so fun to piece, and I'm really trying to play up the hodge podge of color/value match scraps within the same row. It's my favorite part about the original quilt and the quilts by some of the other 'quilt-along-ers'. Most everything else so far is really not so much like the original, and I thought a long time before starting this round about whether to keep it sort of 'light almost neutral value' on 'light almost neutral value'. I figured in the end that the greens and blues I'm working with are almost the same value and are close enough on the color wheel in hue to create a simmilar effect with a tiny bit more contrast. I'm excited to see how these design choices will make the quilt feel when I'm finished. Right now all the tiny squares are like little leaves falling and blowing around the studio whenever the wind blows in the window. I almost don't want to sew them together, maybe they've got a plan of their own.
