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Harambee! Let's quilt together!

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Hey everyone! It's really been a while since I've posted anything here... life has been CRAZY!  I'm popping in today to share a little picture tutorial for a quilt along project I've been asked to orchestrate for the First Quilters. Every two years, our friends at KenyaHELP (the organization we made the market bags for) have a fundraiser called Harambee Night to raise money for their mission work in Kenya. Harambee is a Swahili word that means "all pull together", and is traditionally associated with events meant to benefit or help individuals and communities. In fact, "harambee" is Kenya's motto, and it appears on the national coat of arms.  I have designed a beautiful, intricate-looking, African-inspired quilt block that is also very easy to assemble, and I am in the process of pre-cutting batik pieces to make kits for the 25 blocks we need to make a queen-sized quilt (and maybe a couple extra for matching throw pillows). The ladies of the Fir...
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More UFOs than Area 51...

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 Yikes. This year has been a doozy, hasn't it? I can't believe it's October! I'm still processing March, I think?  I've been pretty busy during COVID-19 social isolation, working on quilts, cross stitch projects, and a diamond painting project for my mom (amongst juggling four part-time jobs to pay the bills). My "to quilt" pile grows larger and larger by the week... and I noticed there were some quilts in the pile that I wrote about years ago (literally), that would be fun to share progress- or lack of- on. Let's start with the oldest quilt in the bunch. Hmm... how about the honeycomb quilt I started in March of 2013 (OMG). Well, it's been "done" for a while, but every time I think about finishing it, I remember that I wanted to order black batting for it so little puffs of white fluff don't poke through when I quilt it. Black batting isn't impossible to find, but it's not really common either. I've tossed a roll in my A...
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2020's IT Fashion Accessory...

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I wish I were joking. This pandemic has really given face coverings some leverage. Paris, New York, London... face masks have adorned lovely model faces at major fashion shows since early February. A model wearing a Pitta Mask walks the runway for The Blonds during New York Fashion Week: The Shows at Gallery I at Spring Studios on February 09, 2020. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows) Ok, so mine aren't quite that fancy. But they're effective, and I've gotten a lot of comments on how well they fit and how cute they are in comparison to the standard medical face mask. I can't claim ownership to this particular method of constructing these masks; I followed the video tutorial recommended by the Wisconsin Face Mask Warriors, an organization collecting donations to provide masks to healthcare workers across the state. There were a few instructions I thought were lacking, so I'm going to go ahead and give you a written tutorial with de...
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