The envelope, please

Just before Thanksgiving I finished the NYC Subway quilt inspired by Oh Fransson's Tokyo Subway Quilt (here).  

I was so excited to share it with all of the family.  In the past we have drawn names for Christmas, but this year we decided to do something different.   We held a drawing, each family had their name put in a paper which was folded and placed into a piece of paper.  When Justus drew the name, we are all pleasantly surprised to learn that my father-in-law, Paul won!

The Big Apple

A few of my favorite shots from our trip in November:

(starting to go through the pictures from Christmas!)

I'll be honest, I felt a little rusty behind the lens.  I took photography classes in high school, but haven't devoted much time to my lost hobby until recently.

Thanksgiving

This year Justus and I made the trip out to visit everyone in New York for Thanksgiving.  We had a wonderful time with family and the craziness of New York during the Holidays.

Another take on "Muppets take Manhattan."  Kermit was the highlight of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Fun pictures during a stroll through Central Park after our Thanksgiving Feast!

Subway Quilt Ironing

This is what last weekend looked like... lots of ironing and tiny 2.5" squares....

but PROGRESS, so much progress on the NYC Subway Quilt.

Subway Quilt Progress

There are days I wish I could move quilting up on my list of priorities. For now, here's the progress I've made this week: I made rough drafts of my lettering to play with the size of letters. I like the scale of the letters, but not sure about the font...

NYC Subway Map Quilt

I find my inspiration for quilts from many sources. Most of the time I find inspiration from the fabric itself. I've had the idea to piece together a quilt top using the New York City subway map as a guide since I first started dating Justus. Recently a quilting blog featured a quilt design inspired by a Tokyo subway map. Initially I reviewed a copy of the subway map and decided that I didn't want to do all of it. By focusing on the island of Manhattan I feel like I'm able to get good coverage without having to make the squares difficult with which to work. I've started to collect fabrics, but have let myself have some fun with my spreadsheet program. This is the first draft of perhaps many drafts, but I'm really liking it so far. What do you think?