It has been waaaaay too long ...

I am back ... it has been awhile ... it isn't that I haven't been blogging ... it has that I haven't been sewing ... but I am back ...

There were some very challenging extended family issues over the past 3 months.  They are now behind us ... we have moved on and I am slowly healing from the rough patches and really happy to be getting back to sewing/quilting.

It's cathartic ... it's an outlet ... I love doing it and am way behind where I wanted to be for some family events this year.

My first step back is not a quilt ... it's a couple of sewing projects that I am behind on.

First the pouf ... some of you may remember that I made this quilt as one of my first commission quilts last year.  It was commissioned for "J" by his godmother "D".   "D" saw a pouf that I had made for a little one's birthday present back in the summer and asked if I would make one for "J" for his first birthday.  I am a little late ... but it's done (she knew timing wouldn't be optimal when she asked for me to make it).

"J" and his parents live in a loft in San Franciso ... so I didn't want to make something that looked to babyish ... I wanted it to look at home in the open loft and tie to the quilt that I made last year.

I made my own piping for the first time ... far SIMPLER than I had ever anticipated!  If you're interested ... you can find the links for the tutorials as follows:

• Pouf
• Piping

Over the past few months ... I was often in a position where I had to drop everything at the ring of the phone ... needless to say ... a lot of plans ended up getting cancelled at the very last minute.  That includes my cut & color appointment with the BEST stylist ever ... Vivian.  In 6 years, Vivian has taught me not to hate my curls (as I had for the previous 40+ years), but to embrace them with a great cut AND great product to help.

She's expensive and hard to get appointments with ... but totally worth it all.  In August, I had to cancel on 30 minutes notice which usually results in a 50% charge.  I get it ... she's a professional and owns her own business.  She graciously scheduled me for a new appointment a week later on her day off so that I didn't have to wait for ever.

She complimented me on my bag when I came in -- love that fun look when you tell someone that you made it!

When I asked her what I owed her for the missed appointment ... she suggested that a bag would make us even.

She said she loved orange and I spent some time on my iPhone when I was under the dryer and came up with some fabric options ... her preference was Orange ... and disturbingly for me ... a large chevron.

The reason I was nervous about the large chevron is that I am a quilter ... not a seamstress ... matching those chevrons had me really really worried.  In the end ... I cut and made it this morning and am pleased to say that the concern was warranted ... but not insurmountable ... and here it is.

It's not perfect ... but they do match and that's half the battle.

This too comes from a great tutorial out there.

• Market Bag

Happy to be back and slowly getting to some quilt designs and hope to be back in the saddle soon ...

Happy November ...

All the best
Lisa