Slowly Swooning

The last week or so, I've felt "off". Maybe it's the time change? I feel frustrated, unfocused, and edgy. I thought maybe it was because of the full moon (it can't just be me who has trouble sleeping when it's so bright?). Then there's work stress, but then, who doesn't have that, right?

I know. I'm whiny. And tired. Mid-way through the week, I thought maybe some quality time in the sewing room would help. Until I started sewing parts of my Swoon block together wrong, and then I knew it was time for bed.

(Block 6 in progress. Also, please disregard my disgusting ironing board cover...thanks!)

I'm so close to being done, though! And by so close, I mean...I have 6 of 9 blocks done. Just 3 more! But as I am admittedly one of the slowest sew-ers on the face of the planet, it takes me an hour or so to cut all the pieces for a block, and then about 2-3 hours to sew, press, and assemble the block. When I'm in a good, productive groove, I manage a block a week, cutting one night, sewing the next two. If I'm super-lucky, I do that AND cut a second one, then sew it up one day during the weekend, provided I actually have a day off that weekend. (To the women who work full-time, and are moms, AND manage to blog and finish a quilt or more a month, I salute you--I don't know how you do it. I feel like a slacker!)

(Blocks 1-4)

(Block 5)

I have so much I want to accomplish, but Swoon is feeling like a big beautiful albatross right about now. I want it finished! Now! Especially since I have three other quilts waiting in the wings that I want to leap into. Normally, I'd just shift over for a few weeks, then try and shift back. But my track record on the "shift back" part is kinda shaky, so I'd rather avoid that if at all possible right now.

So, to get my proverbial engines revved, I had a play with a few different color palettes this morning. Nothing I plan to cut into quite yet, just a little juice for the old brain, and the eyes.

First, this delicious stack of Heirloom by Joel Dewberry, from the Ruby and Sapphire colorways. I chose to keep the greens out of it, and just ran with purples, pinks, and those bits of mustardy yellow. Those who have been reading around here know that I am typically not a pinks and purples girl...like, at alllll. But this collection really spoke to me, with the architectural, modern feel to so many of the prints. My plan is to use these beauties for Camille Roskelley's On A Whim pattern, which is what the Swoon-along group on Flickr is working on next (alongside another of Camille's patterns, Hopscotch, but I'm saving that one for another day...).

But there's another quilt in the works, and I have some test blocks I need to make in the next month or two. So I built this palette of basics in royal, navy, carrot-y oranges, and sunny yellows.

How can that not make you happy? I'll be sharing more of this one as we get closer to the summer, I think.

Hope everyone has lots of their favorite things this St. Paddy's weekend. My husband HATES corned beef, so we're skipping that and going straight for the Guinness! Cheers, and happy sewing!

Left hanging

Didn't mean to leave y'all hanging over here. I've got a camera full of photos and it happens to be in a different county at the moment. *sigh* Needless to say, I've been in a finishing frenzy. Which, if you've been a reader here for awhile, is highly unusual for this mad quilter. A baby quilt and two throws have been finished (pictures pending, obviously...), three pillow tops and another throw quilt top have been finished in just the last week. Saturday night, I have a basting date with the madman and the MadMan Cave floor, and Sunday will be a marathon quilting session. At a quick estimate, I've made roughly 900 inches of binding in the last 3 weeks, and sewn about 2/3 of that already. In fact, I was up until 11 last night sewing and pressing binding.

Needless to say, 6:30 came VERY early this morning! *mmmm, cooooffffeeee*

Once the mad sewing, and wrapping and gifting and feasting is over, it'll be back to business. Deal?

Deal.

Now we can all quit procrastinating and go finish our projects!!

Works in progress...

Do you remember these blocks I started over the summer? I made 100 of them, total, and have finally started to sew them together.

This is 1/4 of the finished quilt. I'm crazy--the finished quilt will be something like 100" square. See? Crazy. (Speaking of crazy, let's not point out the heaps of blocks and unfinished tops littering the top of the bookcase on the right side of the photo, shall we? Thanks.)

Of course, I got this far and then put it aside so I could work on Xmas gifts! That said, I work much better with a deadline.

Other blocks (partly pictured above) that I also started over the summer using some charm packs of Wiscasset and Clermont Farms along with Bella Cream Solid, finally made it back to the design wall.

And even got borders...

It's now basted and set aside with a couple of other tops for this weekend--Thanksgiving is over and I'm giving thanks to have my dining room table back! It's my favorite place to quilt and sew on bindings!

Baby quilt blocks in progress...

Slowly working my way through my "to-do" stack as I have time this week, including sweet little pink and gray star blocks for a baby quilt. I even went so far as to cut into some of my Flea Market Fancy--they're reprinting some of the line, which will be available early next year (so I hear), so why be stingy, right?

I love stars. What are you loving this week?

What a week!!

The good:

I finished a top! A quilt top, that is! Sadly, I only have progress photos, but you'll get the idea.

This is Leah's Epic Adventure quilt. Between now and February, I have 2 baby and 2 older sibling quilts to make. Leah's 4 and looking forward to having a little sister for Christmas. I know older siblings often get a little jealous when there's a new baby getting lots of presents, so I thought maybe Leah would like a quilt of her own. I dug through my scraps (which always makes me happy) and used Heather Ross prints for the centers. From what her folks (we've been friends for 5 years) say, Leah's a bit of a princess, but loves art and detail, and will look at storybooks for hours. I immediately thought of Aneela Hoey's tutorial from the first issue of Fat Quarterly, which I've made before for bees and for a baby quilt and just love every time. I used these blocks as a break between rounds of bee blocks, and they were a great break. Now it's in the stack waiting for the marathon basting day next month, and then onto the finishing!

Also good. I went to the grocery store this morning. My one morning off this week. As a reward, I now have iced coffee. It's the small things around here that keep me going. Which leads me to...

The bad:

I left work Tuesday night to a flat tire. My phenomenal husband drove over to put the spare on in the dark. (Smart man brought the lantern. Thank you, Irene, for making sure we had fresh batteries in it.)

I had the tire patched and put back on after work on Wednesday. Went to dinner at the diner next door (bought dinner for said phenomenal husband). Drove home. All good.

Went out to leave for work on Thursday morning. Patch did not hold. Tire dead. Bad. My brother, who lives 10 minutes away, came and got me and brought me to work. There's been a week's worth of drama attached to that particular relationship, so a half hour commute trapped in a car with him wasn't quite what I had in mind. But I am grateful that he helped me out in a pinch.

Phenomenal husband picked me up after work and went home to put the spare back on. In the rain. He also took the tire to be patched again the next day.

That patch held until Saturday afternoon--thankfully, I got to work in one piece. But it was deflated by the time I got out of work yesterday...

(By this point I wasn't even upset. I was just...done.) Called the tire place to make an appointment to buy new tires on Monday. Not an expense I'm delighted about, but it means I won't have to count on the Madman as a personal pit-crew anymore, either. Tire place dude was extremely nice and is giving me a deal. (I should also say I've been doing business with this shop for 7 years and their tires and previous patch jobs have been nothing short of amazing, so I can't fault them for this. Sometimes, this just happens.)

Bought bbq dinner for phenomenal madman. Here's where it gets to...

The ugly:

A mile from home, I heard this terrible rattle coming from under my hood. I turned off the radio and the air and listened, then pulled over because it sounded like I was dragging something. Looked under the car. Nothing. Continued to make the noise all the way home. At which point I parked, grabbed the bbq and ran for the house like I was being chased. (Don't worry, Meg. That little black cloud will come, too! /sigh) The Madman drove it around the block twice, and it made no noise.

This morning, it made no noise, except to purr like a kitten. (Also, the bbq last night was amazing. If you ever happen to be near Seymour, CT, you have to stop into Uncle Willie's. It is the most shocking thing to have real southern bbq this far north of the Mason/Dixon line, let alone in the sticks of CT, right down the road from my house. Their pulled pork is like velvet. Unreal.)

(The car IS 12 years old and has 160k miles on it, so someday, it will go to the giant parking lot in the sky. I'm just not prepared to let it go just yet.)

So thank you, my fearless readers, for putting up with my pity-party-post. I believe I'm going to spend the rest of the day cutting and sewing blocks for a quilt for Leah's little-sister-to-be.

Right after I finish this delicious iced coffee. (Thank you, Bobby at Starbucks. You're my favorite. Don't tell the others.)

Snippets

Summer is marching on at a rather alarming, if sweaty, rate. I mean, it's August already? How did that happen?

In the few moments it has been cool enough to sew in my un-air-conditioned sewing room, I've gotten a few bits and pieces done.


I finished and sent out my July blocks for The Beehive to Belinda just in time. Linen, French newsprint center strips, red, blue, and pops of kelly green in string blocks. I think Belinda is a color-combining genius--these blocks were extremely quick and fun, and I just love the colors.

I've also been noodling around with blocks for both hives of the 3x6 bee that I'm in this quarter, as well as for the first round of the modern sister-bee, 4x5. Trimming...



And sewing up some test blocks in my own colors, aqua, orange, white and gray. Like this Mosaic block, most recently from the Summer Sampler Series going around blogland, care of Faith, Lee and Katie.



It's been too humid to be comfortable working with the iron at all, or sewing much past noon on my days off, but I've gotten a few bits and pieces done. Heck, it's too humid for blocks to stick to my design wall for very long. Hopefully I'll have more to share soon. I don't know about anyone else without AC, but I'm looking forward to some cooler evenings to help me get some sewing done!

Working, working...

Just no finishes to share! I've been alternating between two projects the past few weeks, and while there's plenty of progress, there's not an awful lot to show, finish-wise. But I couldn't just keep leaving y'all hanging indefinitely, so I thought I'd share a few shots of my works in progress...



First are these giant windmill blocks--each one finishes at 16.5" square. They're a combination of Moda Bella Solid in Cream and charm packs of two Minick & Simpson collections, Wiscasset and Clermont Farms. I spent one evening drawing sewing lines on the back of my cream squares, matched them with the print squares, and have been using them as leaders/enders while I've worked on other sewing lately. The result has been that suddenly I had everything sewn and ready to go when I was ready to put the blocks together...


I know there's more than one of you looking at these and going, "Ok, the librarian has officially gone mad. What's with the paisley?" Well, since I don't always sew for myself or the madman (or bees...or swaps...), sometimes I need to take the recipients' tastes in mind. In this case, said recipients tend to be a bit more traditional in their decor. But that's about all I can say about them at the moment, on the off chance that one of them remembers I have a blog... :D

I do have a bit of a confession to make here, though. As much as I really love modern fabrics (and you know I do), I have a deep-seated passion. For paisley. There, I said it! Ok, let me explain a bit. When I was little, my grandparents' house was somewhere I spent a LOT of time. And my grandmother's decorating aesthetic tended toward Jacobean embroidery, flame-stitched and damask upholstery, and yes, some old-school paisley here and there. So in this case, working with more traditional fabrics is no hardship--I love Minick & Simpson (you've seen me singing their praises here before). And sometimes it's nice to switch things up, right?

Especially when I've also been sewing tons of these:


See, more paisley-inspired prints. And modern! You've seen these blocks before, too. 83 completed blocks in that stack, just 17 left to go. But I'll probably hold off on putting the top together until it's slightly less hot and humid...like September. No AC here, so it requires a bit of strategy. Summer is for block sewing, fall and winter are for tops, basting and quilting.

What about you? Do you save certain aspects of your hobbies for certain times of year?

Design wall Monday

Around being sick as a dog last week (especially over the weekend, once I started feeling better), I pulled together fabrics for a new quilt. If all goes according to plan (tempting fate here, aren't I?), this will eventually turn into a queen-sized quilt for our bed this winter. Each block finishes at 10", and I have 40 done so far. 60 to go! (I figure this will be closer to a king-size quilt--my way of making up for the madman's cover-hoggy ways.) I'm also brain-storming ways to quilt this myself without having to wrangle all 100 blocks in one big mass. Anyone have experience with or advice on quilting such a beast on a domestic machine?

Production!

I've been making a concerted effort to take at least an hour every night to come into the sewing room/office and make things. First, it's productive! Second, it's relaxing--it's been a rough week, but each night, as soon as I sat down and started to play with fabric, I could feel the tension headache begin to loosen. And that's a VERY good thing!

Earlier this week, I finished my swap pieces for my Urban Home Goods swap partner. A trio of placemats, AB Love hexies on Robert Kaufman Essex Linen.


Some straight line quilting, backed in Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow Flower Fields in Sunglow, and bound in a Moda Crossweave (pale aqua with a cream crossweave) that I picked up at my LQS last fall. They've gone out to my partner, and I hope they get there soon, and safely!!

I was lucky enough to have the fabulously talented Alecia Sharp as my sending partner this round--I've been following her work for nearly a year, and I was so in love with what she was making this round, I seriously didn't even dare hope they were for me.

Let's just say, I made a lot of noise when I opened my package Thursday night.



Do you see that bag? Love hexies and linen? Yeah, great minds think alike! Too funny! And how sexy are those potholders? My photo is a little wonky, but the left one says "too HOT to handle" and the one on the right says "hot damn". SO fun--even the madman is totally enamored of them. So, so cute and I am such a lucky girl! Also want to give a couple of shout-outs to Tiffany, for being an awesome swap mama (this particular flickr swap got so big, they divided us into multiple swap pools), and to Heather and Kerri for creating and running this group--awesome job, ladies!!


I've also been making a few other bits and pieces along the way...


Like a cute little mug rug for a friend.
Love the fabric on the back--I got just this little bit in a scrap pack from Jenny, who was begging her blog readers to take some of her scraps off her hands--of course, how could I turn down a plea like that?



Just enough for a little 8"x6" mug rug--perfect! (Please don't look to hard at my binding. You know I'd do the same for you!)

Lastly, I've been steadily working my way through those Just One Star blocks for Moda's Quilts of Valor initiative--100 quilts in 100 days to servicemen/women and veterans. Looking for more info? I blogged about it over here. It's a great way to do some good without having the daunting task of making an entire quilt--the block instructions are really clear (the pattern is Minick & Simpson's, and they're awesome enough that they put a tutorial on their blog, in addition to the pattern--you can find that here.) and the blocks come together super quick. I sat one night and cut enough background and star fabrics for 13 blocks. I have just 3 blocks left to complete today--not bad for a week's work, eh?

One thing you may not know about me is that I taught myself to quilt just after graduating college. I won't tell you how many years ago that was, but it was more than 10 and less than 20. Fair? But that many moons ago, this whole modern quilting movement hadn't come into existence yet. So I still have a couple of bins worth of more traditional fabrics. Since the quilt pattern is on the more traditional side (thought it would be really cool done in modern red, white and blue fabrics), I chose to use this opportunity to dig back into that part of my stash.




Each block is left untrimmed so that the project volunteers at Moda can trim them down before the quilts are put together. As I said, the blocks are coming together very quickly--there are lots of opportunities for chain piecing, and each one is done in about 20 minutes. I'm just hoping they won't dock me points for the occasional clipped point. Heh.

Off to finish the last few blocks and get them sent out. Tomorrow, it's on to the Sunday Stash report!

Sneak Peaks...

Working hard on my main swap project for the Urban Home Goods swap over on Flickr.

Wanna see?


Essex Linen blend in Natural, some Amy Butler Love hexies, lots of straight line quilting...



One down, two to go...

Sunday Stash, 1/30/11

Stash in action!



To say I feel a bit better about my productivity this weekend would be an understatement. I listened to music, and cooked, and most importantly, I sewed. This will be one quarter of My Quilt. I've gone whole hog with this quilt, cutting into my Heather Ross stash for the star centers, and even going so far as to cut into my Flea Market Fancy scraps for some of the star points. Crazy, I know! But I figure that if it's going to be the first quilt that I make for myself, it should be special, right?

It is also going to be HUGE. Each block is finishing at 12.5" square--what's on the design wall now measures just over 36"x48", and that's just a quarter. Finished, this puppy should be a fairly enormous 72"x96", a very generous twin size. PLENTY big for cuddling under. And considering that we're still buried under 4 feet of snow, with over a foot predicted to fall in the next storm slated for Tuesday/Wednesday this week, I think a big quilt is a very good idea.

I've done some shopping this past week, for a couple of reasons. When we were assigned our partners over in the Urban Home Goods swap on flickr, I had an immediate lightbulb moment. And then there's the Single Girl Support Group bunch on flickr--we have mentors helping us through making this slightly intimidating but very cool pattern by the very talented Denyse Schmidt. So while I decided to make the rings of said quilt with fabric from my stash, I didn't have the 5.5 yards required for background. So... I went over to Kerri's Etsy shop, and found everything I needed for both the quilt AND my idea for the UHG project. Those items aren't here yet, though, so I'm not counting them as adds to my stash this week, but I promise pictures in next week's post...

And then...there was the other purchase. See, I can justify (excuse?) the yumminess on its way from Kerri--even if a few extra odds and ends did happen to jump into my cart... But the other? Well, I'm blaming Ashley over at Film in the Fridge. She happened to mention the closing of a certain online retailer in a post this past week, and having caught me in a weak, snowbound moment, I caved. And boy, did I have fun!! So there will be more photos of guilty pleasure incoming.

In the meantime, I will look anywhere but directly at you and whistle innocently while I post my stash report for this week...

Used this Week: 0 (not counting the blocks on the design wall until they become a bona fide quilt top)
Used year to Date: 3.5 yards
Added this Week: 0
Added Year to Date: .75 yards
Net Used for 2011: 2.75 yards

Sick and tired

You remember that week I had off? Well, I woke up on the first day of said week with a cold. Not like the sniffles, or a little frog in my throat. I mean a full on upper and lower respiratory monster, complete with with a cough that I'm still working on kicking two weeks later and a fever.

Yup. I spent that week's vacation looking like this:



Curled in the fetal position, adorned with cats. Special thanks to little Beans (L) and Domino for posing so nicely.

My MRI had to be rescheduled because I couldn't lay flat for an hour without hacking. Same went for the couples massage my husband and I had planned. Going out to eat was sort of senseless, since A) we'd have to sit in the plague section and B) I couldn't taste a thing.

The upshot is that everything fell by the wayside, including my grand quilting plans. Oh wait, did I mention we've had 4 feet of snow in the last month? That's right, one horking storm a week, a foot at a time. Reallllly sick of that, too.

Here's what I've accomplished in the last 2 weeks...



Pretty. Pitiful, but pretty. Hoping for a little more pretty and a little less pitiful this weekend!

And, while I'm not counting it until it's in the house, I've fallen off the wagon with the fabric diet. So while tomorrow's Sunday Stash won't look like much, next week's? Wooo doggies, that's going to make for some pretty pictures!

Have a great week, and stay healthy!

Sunday Stash report

For me, I got quite a bit accomplished this week. I look around at my other quilty, bloggy friends and am often in awe at how much they manage to crank out, week after week, even with jobs and families and pregnancies and all sorts of other distractions. Heck, I just work, take care of the Madman, and indulge in a couple of other hobbies *coughWarcraftcough*. How do I manage to lag behind so terribly? Do you ever feel that way?

Part of it, I know, is just perception. And part of it is that they blog more often, and take prettier photos!

In any case, I finished my blocks for the first quarter of the 3x6 Beehive mini bee, all pieced from stash--I'll have photos of them tomorrow! I made one for each of the 6 other girls in my hive, plus one mock-up block in my own colors, just as a test run. They were not difficult, went together quickly, and used up a mighty amount of fabric--wonky piecing always seems to do that.

Oh, I got an update on the baby quilt I made and sent out last week. Even with all of the wild weather the East Coast has endured the last week and more, it got there in time for the baby shower! YES! And since I had finished one old UFO with that quilt, I figured that gave me license to start something new. Logic? Has no place in a quilter's studio. Heh.

So I did something crazy...


I got out all of my Heather Ross fabrics. ALL of them, all of the Mendocino and FFA2 and Munki and Lightning Bugs that I have been hoarding in scraps and bits for over a year...



And I started cutting! Oh yes, I did. Squares, 4.5" each. Lots of them. Some turned into triangles, some are staying square. What will they be? MY quilt. I decided it was high time I had a quilt of my own (to which the Madman says "It's about time! Dang!"), and what better to make than a quilt of some of my favorite fabrics ever? I have a whole week off from work (the Madman and I refer to it as "post holiday recuperation") and lots of time to sew. *happy dance!*

Oh, wait, this is supposed to be a stash report, right?

I'm counting fabric out as the tops and quilts are finished (or bee blocks, if pieced from stash), sooo...

Used this Week: 1.75 yards (yardage and scraps for bee blocks)
Used year to Date: 3.5 yards
Added this Week: 0
Added Year to Date: .75 yards
Net Used for 2011: 2.75 yards

How I spent the last weekend before Christmas...

Finally finished my Grandmother's Christmas present. Because really, what do you get for the 87 year old woman who has everything? This matches the colors in her living room quite well. I hope she likes it--I find giving handmade gifts rather nerve-wracking!!



This weekend, my sewing machine has taken a bit of an excursion. Out of the sewing room/office and out to...


The dining room table! Complete with Christmas wrapping paper detritus, centerpiece left over from Thanksgiving, platters set out for hosting Christmas Eve, as well as extra chairs for said holiday hostessing event. Nine people for cocktails and hors d'ouevres? No sweat!

What was I saying?

Right!

What you see here is my new vantage point. It means that not only do I have all the table space I could ask for as I quilt miles...




And miles...


Of my husband's Christmas present (doing organic shattered line quilting), but I also have the TV across the room to keep me company. The finished quilt will be about 50" x 60", a decent sized throw for the Madman's Man Cave--plenty big to cuddle under when he's watching movies on the wide-screen, seated in his recliner. He helped me baste it, so it's not a huge surprise, but it will be done on time (barring any and all catastrophes), and that's what counts. He's out tomorrow night with the guys to see Tron *yawn*, so I'll spend tomorrow evening watching something, anything else, while hand-tacking the binding.

Bits of sewing

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch! Well, unless you consider the gravy flood of 2010, but otherwise, everything was great. Hehe.

In the last week or so, in and amongst preparations for the holiday, I managed a bit of sewing!


First, I volunteered to be an angel for this round of the 3x6 Bee over on flickr.com. I knew I couldn't devote a lot of time to being part of a beehive this quarter, but I've liked helping out when I had some free time.



Dipped into my stash, and found I rather love the color combo. Not sure it would work in my house, but it's one more reason I love bees--I get to play with fabrics and color combos I might not otherwise sew with. Also, I love maverick stars. LOVE them. So quick and easy--I have a feeling that my Heather Ross quilt may be made of these. Ah, one day...



In other news, I'd mentioned that I'd finished the last 10 blocks of my husband's quilt. Here they are together on the design wall. They just need sashing and sewing together. I may move them around some, as I see a few spots where the red is pretty concentrated.


I've got a couple yards of khaki solid for sashing. And that dark print with the little spots? It's a Japanese import, little owls on an indigo background. My husband fell in love with it when I was using it in one of the first months of my first bees last year--I tracked some down on Etsy, and have slowly worked along on improv log cabin style blocks. It should be big enough for a good-sized throw (just shy of a twin bed size), and will go well with the reds, blues and tans in his man cave. :)

Now, for a little more recuperation from yesterday's holiday marathon. So far, today has been nothing but lounging and napping. However, I do have a hot date for some leftovers, drinks and video games this evening. How can a girl resist an offer like that??

Keeping it real...

Sort of.

Down to making and sewing bindings on three projects. And a little hand stitching. Then some washing, drying, pressing and packing. After my major sleep-in yesterday? I was wide awake at 6:20 this morning. Yup, on a Sunday. So once I got my caffeine levels up, it was time to make some tracks...

Last night, the madman and I basted the baby quilt. I used a new-to-me brand of basting spray. NEVER AGAIN. Everything stuck to everything, and still is. It was like some really bad slapstick. I'll be going back to June Tailor's on my next project. Sullivan's, to me, is like working with superglue in spray form. Gack. (Sorry, Sullivan's. : / )

So this morning, I plopped down to do something I haven't done in many years.

Free-motion quilting.



I went for a meander with some loops in there. By the end my stitches were more even in size, though the design leaves a bit to be desired.



I won't talk about the toenail-catchers, or the tension issues than meant that even though there was no puckering on the back (yay!), there were some serious pulls in my loop stitches.

Why?

Because I'm not fixing them. I'm going to bind it, wash and dry it, and mail it.

Ok, before y'all fall over and die in shock and horror, let me explain.

My corners and points don't always match.

My lines and edges are not always straight.

My borders have ripples.

My quilts may have puckers.

I hate ripping out stitches. And if I were being paid for a quilt, you'd be damn sure I'd pick bunches of this apart and start over.

Right now, I have a deadline--this needs to be in the mail on Tuesday, because it needs to get from CT to AZ by Saturday. My cousin's wife-to-be is going to deliver in about a month, and Saturday is the shower. As my husband says, I obviously work better under pressure, because I have a really bad habit of leaving things to the last minute.

My handmade things very often look handmade. And I'm ok with that. I try not to send out things that look like a first grader did them, but I'd like to think that the quilt I am sending out, uneven stitches and all, will keep this little baby just as warm as something bought in a store, one of thousands just like it. I learned from the process, and the next one will be better, though that one will have mistakes, too.

I think some crafters have unrealistic expectations of themselves, ripping and resewing, scrapping and starting over. I don't have the time, the interest or the disposition for it.

I can point you elsewhere if you're looking for perfection, because this isn't the place you'll find it.

But if you're ok with me being human and keeping it real, I'm really happy to have you here.

Trying to get my butt in gear

Overslept this morning. Sure, I have the day off, but 10am? I haven't slept well all week--work has been incredibly stressful. I don't deal well with having loose ends, and there have been many this week! So I guess I was making up for lost sleep. Still, it's been a struggle to get ANYTHING done so far, beyond coffee and breakfast.

Finally, I did manage to pull my thumb out and finish the last of the blocks for my cousin's daughter's quilt. It needs to be in the mail this week, so here's to hoping I don't oversleep tomorrow, too...



Originally, it was going to be 3 x 3 blocks, but the blocks are 12" finished, and that was going to be huuuuge for an infant. So I'm pretty sold on the layout of the blocks, just thinking about sashing now. I'm thinking more pink will be too pink, so maybe white, with thin pink borders on the sides? Need to at least get that done and the basting done tonight. Then quilting tomorrow, binding Monday night, and if I'm very good, in the mail Tuesday morning.

Now to get back to it!

Remember, Monday starts our new October giveaway, this time with THREE prizes. You do NOT want to miss this!

A busy Sunday

First: The critical



I don't normally drink my coffee that dark, but we've been putting off a shopping trip, and I ran out of half n half. Soymilk was not really the best substitute, but it's what we had. Oh well. Caffeine was crucial to doing anything productive on a chilly, overcast Sunday. (Hence the quality, or lack thereof, of today's pics.)

Next on the docket, turning these sweet, yummy little scraps I've collected:


Into a little gift for a friend in need.


Then, tackling this pile of strips:



And turning them into more of these:


Sweet, scrappy squares for a baby quilt for my cousin and his new wife--and the little girl they're expecting next month.

Hey, don't forget--tomorrow starts my first giveaway of the month! It's a delicious one, and I can't wait to share it with you! I'll be posting a different giveaway each Monday, and posting the winner every Friday for the whole month, so keep checking back!

Think you've got WiPs?

This post is as much to get my head around what I have started and what I would like to work on in the future. I sat down the other day and started making a list of works in progress and quilts that I would like to make in the future. The list is almost enough to overwhelm me. But not quite! My goal, if I really have one, is to get a stack of tops done and ready for basting and quilting, whether that be on my machine or at the long-armer's. I have a number of quilts that are literally sitting around as a stack of blocks to be put together, or are partially finished and awaiting borders (like the one in my last post). Some of the things I haven't started yet are things that I have a stack of fabric set aside for (like my FMF stash and also my stash of HR scraps).

In any case, here's the list of getting real...



Basted quilts that need quilting and binding:

1) Pink strips baby quilt.

2) Quilts for Kids charity quilt.



Works I have started and need to finish:

1) Handpieced Xmas stars. If I choose to make this a smaller quilt, or a different sashing option (leaning toward the latter), I should be able to have this together in a matter of a weekend. Must double check the number of blocks I have finished--think I might have one or two left to round it out.

2) Amanda Jean's quilt-along. I'm currently about 3 weeks behind. It will realistically take me about a week's worth of not-working time to push through and get caught up/finished with the top. I still haven't figured out whether I'll quilt this myself or not.

3) Simple Abundance quilt, which you saw in the previous post. I have the last of the fabric I'll need on it's way, so I could quite possibly finish this top this weekend.

4) The Madman's quilt. I've got about 8 blocks done, unsashed. I'll need at least double that. I have all the fabric set aside for it, so it is just a matter of sitting down and doing it.

5) Wonky log cabins. I started this back with John's round of the ORBC quilt-along (#3? Good lord...). Again, I think I have a good 10-12 blocks done, so I just need to make a few more and sash them, and that's another top down. An evening's work, maybe 2.

6) Blue and brown baby quilt. This needs 3 more blocks and a border and it's done. It currently sits at 6 blocks and a pile of scraps. (This one has actually been really hard to pick up and work on--the couple who were the intended recipients lost their little boy at 4 months into the pregnancy. I need to finish it, but I believe I'll likely donate it as a charity quilt.)

7) Asian 9-patch. This started out as a quilt along, and wound up being a little pile of blocks, not enough for the intended project. I'm thinking of doing some off-set blocks with the blocks I have finished and just get it done, about throw-size.

Yes, there's more...

8) Civil War repro log cabins. Fabric is cut and set aside.

9) Civil War repro flying geese. Fabric is cut and set aside.

10) 1974 Jelly roll sampler.

11) Soiree Jelly roll sampler.

12) 2" paper pieced hexagon quilt. This is my current hand-piecing project. I have about 200 of the 350 basted, and about 50 of those sewn together. This is ongoing, and I don't expect the top to be done before Xmas. But that's ok.


Ok, now the gotta-do list is out of the way, so next up, my "wanna-do" list!

Here and there... Hexies!

I have, of course, been bitten by the hexagon bug that's spreading through Flickr at an alarming rate. On my lunch breaks, I've taken to turning these:

(2 inch hexagons, from paperpieces.com)

And these:

(4.5" - 5" charms from old charm packs and my stash...)

Into these!

(about 80 or so completed so far, only about 270 to go--oy!)