Alphabalance

My latest letterpress project was a poem surrounded by a jumble of wood type. Making a jumble of wood type is a lot more work than the word "jumble" implies. First I picked out letters I liked and arranged them around the poem.





Then I started arranging the letters on the press bed. I used a chase (a very helpful suggestion from the studio monitor) which made things a little easier. But there are still approximately eleventy million little pieces of lead in there. And also some bits of modeling clay in areas where I couldn't fit lead. The layout took a long time. A. Long. Time.





I pulled a lot of proofs to get the paper and chase aligned the way I wanted, and to make sure all the letters were printing more or less ok. I had to slide paper under a few letters and also add paper and clay between a couple letters that were wobbly.



The end result. Totally worth the time it took to put eleventy million pieces of lead into place.

Elephant

Another elephant from the retro mama pattern, this one is for Isaac. It's stuffed with bamboo fiberfill, which I'm not sure I like for large projects. It worked really well for small knitted toys, but I'm afraid it might bunch up in a large, flat toy like this. Time will tell.

sock monkey quilt

I finished Isaac's baby quilt while he was still a baby. I started it last summer and had everything done except the quilting, which I procrastinated on for a long time. I invested in a walking foot this year, did some practicing and finally got up the nerve to quilt this. It's by far the largest item I've machine quilted. I quilted one block at a time and they're all a little different. Some are much more intricate than others. One even has his name stitched in it. The quilting took a really, really long time but I'm pleased with it.



The fabric is Moda Funky Monkeys, which I've been admiring for years. The pattern is my own design.