The winner is.....

Between the Studio Tour and choosing a winner for the Quilt Raffle, I have been busy completing holiday orders. I had a lot of fun making several mini placemats for small children...

and several mug rugs.

Then the day finally came. 

Shortly after arriving at Denis and Judy's home, I was asked to sit down and draw the winning ticket.

The lucky winner: Jean Spackman Hall of Chester Springs, Pennsylvania!

Thanks to your generosity, we were able to raise $2, 475.00 for the Walking with Nathaniel Fund.

What a blessing!

The drawing was followed by a lovely celebratory dinner with the Asselins, Sara Hodgson, and Barry Halkin.

I have been deeply moved by this journey. We have all learned much about the scope of the heart. Thank you all again, and have a wonderful holiday season filled with

peace and love.

Create something....anything!

I was so excited when Sarah finished my placemats. I made a set of twelve.

She chose a beautiful Sashiko quilt pattern to enhance the bamboo Paintstik panel and the fabric my mom brought back from Japan 15 years ago!

Now, I have my work cut out for me binding them all, but I'm getting started.

I've had a new project in mind for a bit, and yesterday, while working in the shop, I found the perfect combination of fabrics for it. I believe I'm already thinking fall....wanting to just skip the 98 degree humid summer days in Philly.

I finished the center piece for the new block-of-the-month that I am working on for the fall (there it is again...my favorite season). Now, I will begin the twelve blocks that will surround this. I'm ready to go...

My days are simply filled with looking for time with my machine....but the cat littler is calling again, and the dishes are begging to be cleaned....not to mention that my children want to eat. I could go without food and sleep just to be in my studio creating something...anything! 

Something new from something old...

The New York Times Natural Food Cookbook. I got it in the late 70's in paperback. Last fall, I found an old  hardback copy in good condition. I was ecstatic because my copy was in three pieces. I have truly loved this cookbook. I have been making the whole wheat banana bread recipe from this for as long as I can remember owning it. The only tweak I made consistently was adding a generous quarter cup of sesame seeds to the batter. All these years, I have looked forward to brown bananas so I could make this recipe.

The other day, I got the batter ready and said to my son who happened to be in the kitchen...."What can we do differently this time?" His suggestion was to add fruit. We happened to have blueberries, so in they went. I did not expect it to be so absolutely delicious!

I decided to make twelve placemats with the Paintstik bamboo panels that I made. I clearly wanted an Asian theme for the fabric I chose. I hunted through a box and found a lovely piece that my wonderful stepmother brought back from Japan maybe fifteen years ago. I was so excited to be able to finally feel good about using it.

The bamboo panels got a 1/4" border of dark green with metallic gold dots...

and the result was this. They are super-sized placemats 15" x 20".

I've been wanting to get the brown star quilt done, so I completed the blocks for the April class...

May class...

and June class...

Thankfully, I have now finished ten out of the twelve blocks. Two more to go....then I can put it all together!