the first of mini

Designing that last tiny quilt for the give-away created a monster.  I have had mini-quilts on the brain ever since, using much of my free time the past couple weeks dreaming up the next one.  These are great for me because I can go gang busters on them and they are highly portable, allowing me to work on them almost any time I have a spare minute.  Last week I put together this mini which I believe will be the first of many, the inspiration coming from a 1960s era children's book appropriately titled Little Girls.  I've adored the line drawings in that book from the moment I found it several years ago.  I knew some day I'd turn one of them into a quilt.  I call this one Innocence.

A little lassie with a lamb evokes wonderful feelings of fresh air and country life.  I believe if I could, I'd pick up and move right into this happy scene.   In my imagination I fancy that this sweet girl has just gathered a fresh bouquet for her mama.  Running and playing without a care in the world, she stops for a few moments to have a conversation with her woolly friend.  She wears a simple blue sundress and sports a red-checked scarf over her nut brown pig tails.  She's the picture of innocence.  I would be her friend.   Wouldn't you?

I will likely offer this for sale.   I need to figure out how to price items such as this.  While it and others like it may be small, (this one measures just 10"X11") they still take hours to put together.  Nearly everything I quilt is original, which means I'm not following anyone else's pattern.  I delight in drawing out the scene, deciding on fabrics for appliqué, designing the embroidery, etc.  And obviously, since it is original, there isn't another one on the planet like it. Such is the beauty of truly original artwork.  The more I've designed, the more I find myself eschewing patterns altogether.  Funny how that works.

I'm also trying to settle on a name for my non-baby related creations.  Cradle Moon is solely for baby gear; I need something else for the other stuff.

I started this wee pink cottage after I finished Innocence.  I got the idea from a vintage 1950s greeting card.   It won't be as small as Innocence,  but I'd still consider it a mini.  I have more to go on it; later I'll show you the finished piece.  Under the cottage I'm going to embroider "Bless the roof and chimney tall.  Let Thy peace lie over all."  I love that verse from the hymn "Bless This House."  We had it sung at our wedding.

My inspiration comes from various places as you can see.  Story books, greeting cards, almost anything.  The problem is that the inspiration comes way faster than the fingers can stitch.  I have at least half a dozen more mini quilts brewing in my head.  The challenge is going to be finishing one before pulling another from my swirling gray matter and putting it into fabric.

Which brings me to my next topic: UFOs.  These aren't "unidentified flying objects", they are unfinished objects, sometimes also referred to as WIPs, or works in progress.  You don't want to know how many of them are tucked around in my sewing room.  As a conservative estimate, I'd say I have at least 20 of them in varying stages of completion.  A constant but never achieved goal is to get them all finished.  Every once in a while, like this past weekend,  I get my motivation on and pull out some to complete.  I take the "debt snowball" approach, finishing the ones that need the least work to complete, providing almost instant satisfaction.

Needing a shot in the arm and a challenge, I thought it might be fun to ask you how many UFOs you think I can complete this week.  Want to play along?  Tell me how many you think I'll finish in one week.  I'm counting what I did this past weekend, and I'll add to it what I finish this week through Friday.  Take a guess and let me know.  I'll have a little gift for the winner.  If there is a tie, I'll draw from the correct guesses to choose a winner.  If no one guesses correctly, I'll just draw a name from all the entries.

Love,