Playing with Patchwork

Thanks to playing with my Fabscrap fabrics I'm almost 100% sure I want to make a Dresden fan quilt now; it's a fun way to use lots of different fabrics to produce pretty patchwork. Right now I'm still making practice pieces to figure out the exact design. I've never worked much with wovens or plaid, so this one was fun to make.

I'm learning, too -- using prints for the background fabric means it shows through lighter fabrics, as you see here with the stripey linen I used, so some strategic trimming is needed. I like using feather stitch embroidery rather than straight hand-quilted stitches on the blades of the fans, too. I'm still not sure how I want to finish the base of the fans. I like the lace and the yo-yos more than the usual fabric wedge, probably because they're easier and look better.

I have one more to make, and then I'll probably commit to a quilt. All of these fabrics in the Dresden fan practice pieces would have ended up in a landfill if not for Fabscrap, so I'm really grateful to have the chance to use them.

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Gifts

This is a story that starts out very sadly, so if you're depressed by the holidays you might want to skip the first part. As far back as I can remember I've dreaded the holidays. Being poor, having constant family troubles and belonging to a strict religion made that time of year always pretty unhappy. I just hunkered down and hoped to get through without being yelled at or punished because I didn't do something I was expected to do, like sit in church for hours without moving or making a sound while a priest spoke mass in Latin. Gifts were uniformly disappointing, too. My mother usually gave me dolls or socks or underwear for Christmas. I understand now as an adult that she was doing the best she could, and trying to save money at the same time, but as a kid I'd been told good children got what they wanted for Christmas. I was a pretty good kid, but while my friends received new bikes and cool toys and lots of treats from Santa, I didn't. I thought San

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Survived Another One

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Rayen

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