This is just a few pics of my recent fabric purchases. I need to get busy and
M A K E something.

I have a few Bee blocks to do for Do.Good.Stitches and I’ve been busy making Kongko Cycling Gear hats. This is a very special-request-funky-customized cycling cap. It was fun to create.

I am in love with all the Granny Square Blocks being created. {Why Yes, I am late to the party. Here, have a bottle of wine and let me in} I blame Pam.

Photo property of ©PamKittyMorning

What are Y’all making?

Charlie Scott of Qubee Quilts has a goal of raising $1,000 for Aids Walk Kansas City to help people living with AIDS and HIV and their families. Please go here and vote on the pattern he will use for the donation quilt. You can read in detail about Charlie’s goal and how you can help with this cause by visiting this page
Tremendous advances have been made in research and treatment of AIDS and HIV but so much more is needed. This is dear to my heart. I use to care for AIDS patients at a Hospice…before it was officially named AIDS. It was a horrible, ravishing disease without much hope for successful treatment or survival. Changes have happened both medically and socially. Then there was so much fear and judgement. Today is different. I pray we keep moving forward.

Click here to find an AIDS Walk near youChange the Course of the Epidemic

I recently returned from a road trip. Before I left I went a little crazy sewing bags. I made a few with clasp frames and the classy Gathered Clutch from Noodlehead

Holy crap on a cracker!! if anyone was here over the past few days they may have seen that someone left their FREAKIN’ maintenance mode turned on after editing someone’s blog. I think I shall fire her…me…what?

On to my post…

Between; not during; Thanksgiving and Christmas my youngest daughter came home from college in a foreign land. She had to leave that country. Heh…to renew her visa.
Anyhoo while she was home on holiday she took over one of my sewing machines and borrowed a bunch of fabric to sew gifts for her Mates back in her foreign land.


I did get selfish and did not let her have my newest Lotta Jansdotter fabric…bad mommy award coming my way soon.
She sewed her first bags ever. She installed her first zips ever. She altered patterns. She is a sewing natural.

Awesome? Why YES she is.
We went to our favorite AND BEST pizza place in Austin,

HOMESLICE pizza


We had a wonder albeit short time together. We journeyed 3+ hours north to DFW airport. Twice. Which required treating ourselves to
In N Out. Twice.

We said goodbye.

I sent her back to the foreign land. Down Under.

I cried most of the drive home.

She doesn’t always make goofy faces. She. Is. A. BEAUTY!

Good Monday Morning on You!

“Quo Vadis” = Where Are You Going? And by You I mean ME.

It was a glorious morning out on my patio…the kind of morning where you sit and ponder… My darling Mr. Coffee loves to use the word ponder… Me, not so much… but today the word fits me well.
Coffee and Cotton is a crafty / quilty / sewing type blog. I throw in some foody stuff and my humor –– albeit dry and sometimes snarky. I am at a crossroads. I have a helluva lot to offer but it isn’t all Fiber Fodder. Some things could get downright personal. Do I do it all here at Coffee and Cotton?
What to do… what to do???

Some may have noticed my sporadic posting, my vague sniffle-y rants and my damn near invisible-ness. At least I like to believe that you noticed! I am pulling it together, dusting myself off and giving myself a good “snap out of it!” kick in the arse. Again. My dear Friend gave me a kick of her own and demanded told me to write something… actually suggested Haiku. Heh. I am lousy at Haiku. I do not follow rules well. But because I listened to Maddie {and did NOT call her a Haiku Nazi} I am posting my poetic attempt at bringing honor to my Nagymama… my Grammy. She is my hero and my life’s influence. I hope she knows that. I feel her presence every time I sew, knit, design or swear in Magyar {hell, who am I kidding…in English too!} ❤ Here’s to you Maria Ana Soltësz. Thank you for the heritage you wove into my life ❤

The ‘stitching heart rhythms’ line was influenced by what my oldest Son said to me after I had sewn THIS he told me “Mama, your stitches are like heartbeats!” I will forever cherish those words.
AND. THE. BEAT. GOES. ON.

I love the Sea. It inspires me, calms me. I love it even {especially} on cloudy/foggy/gloomy days. I am a West Coast girl living in Texas and I miss my Pacific.
I am reading this book. It’s awesome. It has the Sea. It’s non-fiction author is a woman sharing the stage of life I am in. She has befriended a woman 30+ yrs her senior. Oh to have an older friend to glean such REAL wisdom from. I will review it more when I finish it but I can tell I will love it. I love books and never just read one at a time but usually have 3+ going simultaneously.

{here is the link to the book if you are interested. Yes, in full disclosure the link is to my Amazon account but that is not why I am reviewing it… look it up on your own if you wish.}
A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom From an Unconventional Woman

My late-to-the-party Fall decorating
Yes, I collect things that I think are of beauty… shells, driftwood, dried seed pods…I could go on…but I think shells look lovely with a white pumpkin all laid out on a woven wool mat

{ETA: the plate is a thrift store find}

Bennington Museum and the Vermont Quilt Festival

In my time away from blogging I have thought…and thought…and thought…about a lot of things. Some thoughts are introspective and personal, some artistic and design related…all are pertaining to life. One thought path I have revisited over and again is where are we today? in respect to fiber creations––specifically quilts.
The Quilters of today have a plethora of tools, notions, gadgets and an abundance of fabric choices. Is that a good thing? I ask myself this question too as I have more than I need to bring my design dreams to creation. Several machines. Helpful tools. BIG items too. Enough fabric to clothe a village or possibly get me on an episode of Hoarders.
Please…hear my heart…I am not bashing or criticizing the quilt world nor fabric designers…I am just questioning.
Our fabric choices have led to fiber gluttony. Our final projects smack of the latest trends in color, style and technique. I love the newest fabrics. I love the designers and bloggers that are popular as well as the hidden jewels. I do know it must be hard to stay on top of the trends because they seem to be whirling past us like a category 5 hurricane. But I must ask, are we in danger of losing the unique in our art?
Previous quilting generations made do with what they scrounged and saved and turned those pieces of fiber into beautiful works. Items that made most of our hearts leap the first time we saw what their hands had crafted. Pieces that were laden with patience and time…that spoke history and told stories of joy and heartache. THOSE pieces are what captured us and made us want to know the stories behind the cloth and thread.
I know, they had to use what was available. Leftovers from clothing that was handmade. Pieces of clothing from a loved one no longer in their life. Fabric that once held food. Tattered wool from blankets. Today we don’t have to do it that way.

Gee's Bend Quilting Bee

Quilters also used their needles to give voice to the tension of their day… Women’s Suffrage, Slavery, Politics, etc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewomensmuseum/

Yes, they had patterns that were popular but still so much of the quilter shined.
I ask you and I ask myself…. Do we, today, put meaning behind and put ourselves into, what our hands create? Do we tell a story? Do we give voice? DO. WE. SHINE??