Sew Bittersweet Designs

Do you any any forever projects? I have a couple. I have one that my Great Grandma Tevaite started long long ago. I guess it isn’t my project yet because I only possess it, I haven’t started working on it yet.

My other forever project is my hexagon quilt. I started making 1” hexagons back in December of 2012 while my husband was on his second deployment. I needed something to keep me occupied at night and it was a good handwork project for long car rides.

This past summer I finally finished prepping all of the hexagons (I hope, I haven’t really done the math to see if I’m really done or not). After I had a kitchen injury and couldn’t do much with my left hand, I decided it was time to bust out my forever project again.

I currently have 145 flowers pieced together. I guess it’s really 145.5 since that one on the table is half done. I still have half the purple prints, all of my gray prints to make; then I have to decide if I’m going to make any solid flowers. Once I finish all the prints, I will lay it out and take pictures and hopefully you all can help me decide what to do.

Do you have any forever projects?

One of the requirements in my middle school sewing/quilting class is that students participate in a charity quilt of some kind. As a member of this community who has helped make 30+ quilts for children in foster care, sewing for others is extremely important to me. I feel so strongly about it that I have built it into my quilting program. This year my beginning students, yes I teach beginning and advanced quilting, made a gorgeous log cabin quilt.

The theme was Americana and the quilt was auctioned off to help support a local community college baseball team. I am so proud of my students. For many of them, prior to September, they had never held a rotary cutter or used a sewing machine. To date, my beginning students have made scrunchies, drawstring bags, log cabin quilt wall hangings and they are currently learning how to make half square triangles and flying geese while working on table runners. Our next big project will be self-directed as they learn how to design their own pattern. I am excited to teach them the math involved and help them discover their inner quilt artist!

Stay tuned for a future post on what my advanced students are working on and their charity project!

One of the many reasons I have been absent is because this summer I lost one of my closest friends, Sara. She was one of the first people I would show finished projects to. I liked to show her my designs when they were in progress and she was one of my biggest supporters. We shared so much of our lives, we raised our children together and had a beautiful friendship.

When I lost her, I lost my spark. The week after her funeral my amazing husband practically shoved me into my studio and told me I needed to quilt something. I told him I was afraid and he told me “it’s just fabric and we can buy more of that.” That day I went into my studio and poured all of my grief into a Dream Big panel.

Losing someone you love takes so much out of you. I’m still trying to find a new normal. In the meantime, I think I have found a small way to honor my friend with this quilt. It was created through raw emotion and bound with love our our friendship.

This was my binding label. Binding the quilt was almost as hard as quilting it. Finishing this project felt so symbolic and I couldn’t figure out how to do it properly. I finally came up with “In celebration of friendship, July 2019.” This quilt has helped give me some peace and comfort, I know that Sara would have loved it.

This weekend Anne and I took advantage of the extra time and did some sewing together. My aunt set her an adorable minky pillowcase kit and we had fun putting it together.

Before I would let Anne use my rotary cutter I ordered her a safety glove. As a middle school teacher who teaches sewing and quilting, I always make sure my students, and myself, wear protective gear.

I bought this handy dandy safety glove on Amazon. The only downside is that it doesn’t have the rubberized grips on them like a Klutz glove would have. You can find it on Amazon if you search for Evridwear Kid Sized Glove.

We had a fun time working together. Here are a couple pictures of her cutting and sewing.

I’m so proud of how hard she worked. She did an amazing job. Next weekend she wants to finish the quilt she started when she was 4. I am excited to finish that one and start a new project with her. With her being 10 and more willing to listen now, we are going to be able to have sew much fun creating together.