Dear Hannah Quilt Block in Japanese Taupe Fabric

Another little Dear Hannah taupe block is complete and my collection of them continues to grow.

I used Japanese taupe fabric and the freezer paper applique method. It came together pretty quickly. It takes me longer to cut out the fabric and iron it than to actually applique the pieces down. This block is B-2.

Behind my block is the new book my darling sister got me for Christmas. "I Heart Patchwork" by Rashida Coleman-Hale.

Rashida's blog I Heart Linen is of course very famous, and her work is so very Japanese and perfect in every way. I'm sure you read her blog already, but if you don't perhaps you want to start.

Twins' Garden Style Blog is another place to stop if you're looking for a fresh blog with some beautiful photos and inspiration.

One question for you - Has anybody out there used MagCloud to self publish a magazine? I'm thinking it sounds like a really interesting way to get a collection of your photos out there.

Oh, and finally, the baby is at last feeling better so thank you all for your words of encouragement. He is finally back to his bouncy giggling self. Whew!

Shakin' it up

In case you don't live in California, and didn't feel all the earthquakes we've had in the last 24 hours, I'll just say that they keep us on our toes here.

No damage thank goodness, but sheesh! Enough already!

I am always falling in love again and again with incredible toy companies, and Rubbabu is no exception. Their products are not only super fun and functional, but beautiful as well.

I gave them to my boys for Little Christmas, which was yesterday. I always try to give my boys a little something to close out the season each year on Little Christmas.

I have been making more Dear Hannah blocks as you can tell from the above.

What may you ask is the awesome book laying underneath this beautiful block?

Any guesses?

Is it so pretty that it's distracting you from looking at my block?! Better not be!

Dear Yoko Saito

I made block "F6" from the Dear Hannah quilt pattern using Japanese taupe fabrics.

Maybe I should call this quilt Dear Yoko instead of Dear Hannah. Do you think that Ms. Saito would approve of my use of taupe colors? I sure do hope so. I'm in love with little taupe applique blocks.

I'll be making another similar block for my sister's wedding quilt (which she will be lucky to receive on her 10th wedding anniversary at this rate! sorry sis - eek!).

It's starting to look very Christmas-y around here, and the kids can smell the closeness of Santa's arrival. We are still counting days instead of hours which is perhaps the only blessing there.

Mona, a friend from Singapore, visited the Yokohama quilt show and mailed me the catalog. Thank you so much Mona. Those quilts just blew my socks off. I'll have to photograph my favorite page for you or something.

She sent me Yoko Saito's business card with her email address on there. I sent her some fan email, but she has yet to invite me to lunch with her. I'm sure that will happen eventually.

The Stink Eye

Our little 4 yr old has perfected what I like to call The Stink Eye.

When he doesn't get exactly what he wants, he give us this look that we are starting to get very used to seeing. Since we don't give in to the demands I guess we should start to embrace it. I'm wondering if I should take more pictures of it. In certain ways it's really adorable.

Thanksgiving was huge for us this year. We drove to see my family, and I gave my mom the Chevron Scarf that I was working on for the last year. She really loved it. We also visited the happiest place on Earth, so that was a giant thrill.

On the way there I started working on some little Dear Hannah applique blocks again. Gee, it's been a while, but they sure are fun to make. Will post some pictures of them soon for you. Should be quick to square them up.

Above is a photo of a wedding signature quilt block. I'll confess that I have been trying to make some progress on that project too.

Looking forward to so many things - shopping for a Christmas tree, visiting a sick friend who recently moved to a hospital closer to me, buying an electronic portable drum set kid toy that has some serious volume control, seeing my sister again in only 2 weeks.

Dear Jane quilt blocks & Moo stickers = peas & carrots!

Let me see here...

Quilt blocks are square.

Moo stickers are square.

Coincidence? I think not! Could it be more perfect? I photographed my Dear Jane and Dear Hannah quilt blocks, and uploaded them to Flickr.

Moo directly pulls files from Flickr and poof! Adorable quilt blocks are stickerified.

My bronchitis-ridden 2 yr old is already wearing a couple, and I almost believe they are cute enough to ease his cough.

Or maybe it's been so long since I've left the house that I'm starting to enjoy my incoming mail a wee bit too much.

Another Twin

In stolen moments here and there I finished the twin block.

First come the taupes (good practice!) then come repro blocks. I have fallen in LOVE with the background fabric for this block. I'm nuts for birds lately.

We went to Ikea to scope out furniture this morning. Their breakfast there is SO cheap, I could not even believe it. Did you know that in Europe there a Ikea breakfast clubs where people eat there every morning because it's so affordable?

After we finish our re-roofing project, we may be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner there!

PIQF - call for entries

This is a little Dear Hannah block that I just finished...must photograph the rest of it and upload to my flickr group.

Not sure if there are other crazies out there making these tiny detailed applique blocks by hand or not...

I would love to invite more folks to join the flickr group, so let me know if you have any other friends making the blocks too. I sort of make up whatever method I think will work for each block but other ideas are of course welcome.

The roof project is going well, although if you are in the center of our kitchen, you can look up and see the stars. Think that will change tomorrow with a bit of sheet rock.

PIQF - Pacific International Quilt Festival is taking applications for entry into the show up until August 29th. I have a wall hanging quilt I'm toying with entering...it's an original design, so I think I have a shot at getting accepted.

Hope some quilters enter some cool stuff this year. They usually do!

Dear Hannah Quilt

The Dear Hannah quilt is very near and dear to my heart. If you're a quilter, you probably know all about the Dear Jane quilt and probably Dear Hannah as well.

If you're not and you're reading this to gain a bit of education, or your just my dad or something...here's the deal.

The Dear Jane quilt was made in 1863 by Jane A. Stickle. Brenda Papadakis published a book about this quilt, and includes some really great patterns of the blocks that billions and zillions of quilters reproduce in either full sized quilts or smaller versions - we call these "baby Jane's".

Brenda Papadakis then published her own book which she calls Dear Hannah. This has a ton more applique, although also has pieced blocks too...but is in the style of Dear Jane but with her personal twist.

I love both these books, hence I'm using them together to make 1 quilt by pulling all my favorite blocks from both.

Anyhow, I mentioned that I started uploading photos of my Dear Jane blocks to the flickr group, but felt like my Dear Hannah blocks, like that above, were getting slighted since there was no where for them to be displayed to the greater universe in all their glory.

Hence, the creation of a Dear Hannah Flickr group!! So, if you're out there...making these blocks...give me a shout, and I'll invite you to join my so far only group of 1 very enthusiastic quilter. C'est moi.