In My Hands, And Yours - A Month of Sundays

In the midst of vacation and gathering quilts and blocks for Just One Slab my next baby came out! A Month of Sundays is now available in stores! (And on-line.)

A Month of Sundays is about everything we do on the weekend - Eat, Explore, Relax, and Shop. The quilts, sewing projects, and essays are all inspired by these four themes. And each theme includes a number of prompts and tips for embracing the lazy Sunday afternoon.

There is so much to say about this book, about the book writing process, about the photography, the photographer, and oh, the quilts! Then there are the essays, recipes, and 8 other sewing projects. This book is so intensely personal and I want to tell you everything about it. But I don't want to bore you with the details (and I want you to buy the book to see for yourself).

There are two quilts and two sewing projects per theme, that means 16 projects in total. All of them are designed with ease of use and creation in mind. They aren't necessarily meant to be finished in a single Sunday afternoon, but they can easily be picked at like a bowl of cherries - devoured at once, red fingertips to show for it, or nibbled each time you walk through the room.

Oh, and did you know ALL the projects feature low-volume fabrics? Indeed, my own fascination with low-volume fabrics fueled the book. You could easily turn up the volume and embrace all your modern brights with each project too.

I do hope you all love it. I'm looking forward to sharing more with you in the coming months, in addition to hearing from you. If you have any questions about the project comment here and I will try to  add those my discussions, over a loverly cup of tea.

Just One Slab Mail

Just two weeks of mail. And that's not counting the boxes in my garage or the stuff I brought back with me from the Vancouver and Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guilds!

I've got a lot of processing to do. Just so you know, I enter every single package into a spreadsheet and label every single slab with the maker's name. That way, I can make labels for each finished quilt. Quilts need their history documented, even the donated ones.

This week is the deadline for receiving any donations. Assembly starts next week!

If you have sent a package, I'm sorry, but right now I cannot confirm if I've received it. There are just too many awesome donations to respond individually by email. Once I've caught up on processing I will post a list of donations (modified so everyone's name is not splashed all over the internet). Keep an eye on that list for your donation.

If you've responded to a post looking for a mailing address and you haven't heard from me, that's because you are a no-reply commenter and I cannot send something back to you. Please email me: mamaark AT gmail DOT com.

A Stack O' Magazines (Weekend Reads)

So much talking, a lot of visiting, a whole bunch of driving, some attempts at surfing, campfires and sleeping bags, and a glorious stack of magazines.

I had grand plans for this stack. Some beach time, during naps in the car, quiet mornings in the woods. Beach time involved cheering on the girls at surf lessons and my own half-assed (or should I say double assed?) attempts while keeping the Garbage Truck from eating too much sand or discarded mussel shells. Naps in the car were great, but the roads in British Columbia are very, very windy and not conducive to reading. Quiet mornings in the woods? Nope, not at all when camping with 3 kids.

But I did get one afternoon by the fire on a lazy day and a straight stretch of a main highway in the day light.

Quilty - so many fun quilts in this issue. Lots of inspiration.
Cake &Whiskey - inspiring stuff for any of us working, running businesses, and living a life beyond school pick ups.
Uppercase - wildly rich in visuals and ideas.

Sometime next year I will read another magazine.

Friday Favourite: Le Tour

(image from The Guardian)

Confession: I still watch The Tour De France and I still love it.

Yes, I know about all the doping and the disgrace of many of the sports' stars. Yes, I know that nearly every rider plays that same game. But I can't help myself. I get sucked in by those helicopter images, the frenzy of the crowds on the mountain stages, the banter between Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggeett, Bobke, and sheer strain on the cyclists. Doping or not, those guys are still working their muscular butts off.

I can also remember what quilts I was working on every year during Le Tour. Which ones I basted while we watched, which ones were under debate as the mountain stages loomed. Talk about memory by association!


So, every year, come July, my Hubby and I settle in for 21 nights to watch Le Tour. It's usually hot out so we drink beer and chat throughout the 3 or so hours we watch. It is about the only TV we agree on. And in July we probably talk about life more than at any other point in the year, because we are sitting together. I love it all.