the makings of our whoville quilt

this beautiful fabric is currently sitting on top of my printer waiting for me. yes, that's about how organized i am right now with piles of fabric laid aside for certain projects all over my workroom.

i apologize for all the early holiday posts! usually i don't decorate for christmas or anything until after thanksgiving but i've got to get the shop ready prior to that so i've got it on the brain now!

my last machine quilt gave me a lot of confidence and ever since i thought a fun and relatively quick project would be a christmas lap quilt to go in our living room during the holidays. i agonized over picking out the perfect fabric that we would want to curl up in year after year and finally fell in love with michael miller's "christmas spice" collection for it's bright cheery look and it's mix of retro and modern lines. the colors remind me of the old cartoon version of whoville in "how the grinch stole christmas."

my only problem now is that i can't for the life of me decide what kind of quilt design to use with it since some of the prints are huge and others so small in comparison. i just can't find a quilt pattern that will show them all off equally. and some are so different from each other that i might just give up on being able to combine them all into one quilt. what do you think, any ideas on what kind of design would work best?

The Big Move

There are a few new items in the shop, but for the most part I have been working behind the scenes to prep new items for the holiday seasons that are just around the corner now—get ready for sachets specially scented for christmas, compress' with some cute new kokka fabrics, and a new take on my café aprons! I've also been teaching myself to knit in the round, yikes! I have loved working with yarn and fibers ever since my godfather built me a loom many years ago; I took weaving courses for a few years but when I began high school I'm afraid I couldn't keep up with it in addition to sports, orchestra, and my studies. Knitting has been a fun way to work with so many beautiful yarns again though in a much more portable way and I do hope that I can someday share my handiwork on etsy.

In the meantime...we've found a new home at last! The last couple weeks have been so busy making plans for our big move that it feels as though my head might spin right off. Boston has always been in the back of our minds as a possibility but the comparatively good job market for John's work (as compared to DC) as well as a dream apartment settled the matter for us quite comfortably and so Boston it is!

my current (soon to be former!!) "studio" which really just consists of a small bookshelf
and equally small table for my sewing machine which sit in the corner of our bedroom.
(Apologies for the slight blurriness here)

Whenever we have been down and out, moody in our cavernous little basement apartment, and just positively itching for some kind of new opportunity after John's lay-off, we've sat and described to each other the kind of place we would like to make our new home in. A kitchen that is not just a hallway in disguise, an extra room for me to set up a real work space/studio in, windows everywhere (we have only one right now in the very front room of our english basement apt., ugh!), stairs to force the cats to exercise (ha!), and all of this nestled into some quaint little town with trees and paths and water for recreation. So as you might imagine, we were dumbstruck to find all of this just 20 minutes outside Boston!!! A doable commute, a peaceful place to come home to away from the city's dirt and noise....insert huge sigh of relief here.

So for the next week or so I'll have somewhat spotty access to internet. I am leaving the shop open though so that you may browse and purchase at your leisure! Simply allow an extra 1–2 weeks for your package to arrive for any purchases made during this time (October 19th–26th). And of course I will respond to any queries you may have via etsy convo as soon as I am able.

Hope to meet you back here soon—and coming to you from Boston!!