OK, this week we are back to highlighting projects.  We have both Licorice Fizz projects AND Tokyo Rococo projects to get caught up on and I hope to tell you a bit about the people who have designed and/or made them.

But first, I will show you what I have been doing.  Not much! Having moved and renovated a new studio, sewing projects fell by the wayside.  Plus, I sew for fun only.  I have been inspired to start sewing again after I started designing fabric and getting to know some wonderful quilters, sewing pattern designers and sewists. I just had to get my hand back into it.  And I am extremely rusty, so whatever comes out comes out and in time the quality will improve.   I will sew a little with my own fabric, but also with my fabric stash. More on that later. (I have a great new storage place for my fabric stash!)

So here we have the last project I did with Tokyo Rococo, some placemats.  I think I would use a thinner batting next time, or even a thick stiff interfacing instead.  But it was a way to get my feet wet.  I actually just started cutting trapezoidal strips and sewing them together and pressing until I had shapes larger than a placemat and then trimmed them and sewed them together with a single piece print backing.  Yes, I got tangled up on the edges, and after resewing a couple sections, decided to keep them all rough and wabi sabi.  Plus it will be fun to compare it to projects I make in the future, in hopes of steady quality improvement. Have to start somewhere and if I get stuck in pursuing perfection, nothing will ever get done!

Next up, I am dying to make something using my raw silks from Asia.  I originally collected a ton of this fabric to make a large duvet cover using all squares.  But now I want to make an art quilt or large wall hanging.  I probably won’t add any prints, but want to add a little 3D element…stay tuned.  I have a few drawings for inspiration, not sure if I will plan it further before I start sewing. But looks at these colors…..

AND, I am reading Kaffe Fassetts autobiography.  It was passed on to me by Diana McClun who is working on an amazing book project of her own with Laura Nownes. I was lucky enough to see many of the new quilts going in there in person a couple weeks ago–absolutely BREATHTAKING.  They were floating around in my mind’s eye for days. More about that when the time comes.