secret | Night Quilter

This is a tough time of year for me in terms of blogging. I mostly like to share photographs of my progress and projects, but this time of year I’m spending every free second frantically trying to get projects done (and not very many free seconds blogging). On top of that, I’m currently working on two secret projects and three Christmas gifts, so there’s not a whole lot I can really share in full. I’m considering taking an official “Christmas vacation” from my blog, but also don’t want to miss all of you too much.

For now, I decided to take some crazy close-up photographs of some of my works in progress to share with you in an aura of mystery. Here are some of the things I’ve been working on. Go ahead and guess what they are, if you want! It reminds me of the backs of Ranger Rick magazines I read as a child, where they had a grid of super macro photographs of everyday objects and you had to guess the object. Have fun!

I also have to include this process shot, completely unedited. This was my first time using my new Massdropped pink clover clips, and this one glows in the dying light. I think it’s such a cool photo!

If you’re a quilter-blogger who also has a lot of holiday and family obligations this time of year, what do you do to ease your stress levels? Take a break from blogging? Let go of obligations or personal expectations? I’d love to know!

For as much as I photograph and swoon over flowers, florals are foreign to my fabric stash. Last week, I built my stash with this fabric it rarely sees: florals. I bought in 1/4 yard cuts since it was the smallest possible cut at the local fabric store I visited, and I don’t typically use florals in my projects. I must say, though, I am happy with the floral fabrics I did find, and they are perfect for the project gift I have in mind.

This project is a surprise gift with a short deadline. I KNOW the recipient will love it, and I’m exciting to share details with you. But for now, I’ll just show off these fabrics.

I don’t know the full information for all of the fabrics, since I didn’t have a chance to write them all down, and I bought small enough cuts that the selvedges don’t all have the manufacturer/designer information present. Many of the fabrics are from the Grace fabric line by Mary McGuire for RJR Fabrics, which I love. I had to buy some of the Snug as a Bug (spiderwebs) fabric by Melly & Me for Riley Blake Designs, since how could I resist sneaking a spider web into the garden?! I also bought a couple of fabrics by Andover and Studio E, with two coordinating Cotton Couture (I think?) solids, one for sky and one for border.

fussy cutting plan — Planning my 2″ square assiduous cutting (okay… fussy cutting!), with the help of the 2.5″ square template I made.

As you may have guessed with the little hidden templates, I plan to fussy cut most of these to make a garden quilt wall hanging. Some of it will consist of 2″ squares on point (2.5″ unfinished), and some will consist of 1″ squares on point (1.5″ unfinished).