Progress, or something like it

Got quite a bit accomplished in my cutting frenzy yesterday, but not nearly as much as I'd originally planned. I set out my stack of oriental themed fabrics,


but never cut a single one.


However, I am down to just a few last novelty prints to cut squares from.

What I started with yesterday:



And what I have left to cut from today:


Several of these, like the two fish prints, will be fussy-cuts, which takes a bit more time. But the end result of yesterday's "cut it up" was this:

Nice stacks of 4", 5" and 6" squares, perfect for kids charm quilts, simple one-patches, or I-Spy quilts. I figure I have enough here for three or four toddler-size quilts, easily.

ETA: Barbara asked what the squares were for. Basically, it got some of these 10-year-old novelty prints out of my stash, and into a usable format. The one-patches or I-Spy quilts I have earmarked these for will most likely go to Project Linus this fall/winter.

On today's agenda? Not so much. I have my favorite mug, full of coffee...

Yes, it really is that ginormous. 30oz, and heavy. I love it. :) I figure I may dork around on the computer a bit, maybe read a little--it's turning out to be a lovely day, so I might as well enjoy it before heading into a 6-day week at work starting tomorrow. I figure, if I'm lucky and my sewing machine comes back in time, it will still be next Sunday before I have time to drive out to pick it up. *sigh* Such is life. In the meantime... We'll see.

Christmas in July continues!

Hop on over to Kati Cupcake's blog for a cool kit give-away, complete with delicious Amy Butler fabrics. Too cute!

What's been going on here? BUSY week at work--most of the time, I've been crashing right after dinner. Not much piecing has been occurring. And with my machine in the shop til next weekend at the soonest, my guess is that not much more will happen--at least, not quickly.

But that's ok!!

I went through and sorted my stash--I've now got what I consider "considerable yardage" separated. Basically anything bigger than a half-yard cut. I've finished ironing the last of my freshly washed stash additions:



Because, you see, I took my Singer to a shop that is also a fabric store, so I got to play! A few of those purchases are in this stack (the bright yellow, the black and white print on the bottom, the lime green stripe), and the rest were sale deals from a couple of shops online. Because the nearest LQS (and I use the "local" loosely--it's nearly in the next state...), I tend to do a lot of my fabric shopping online.

Which reminds me--the July Online Fabric Shop Hop is on--if you've never "chased the bunny", it's a really neat way to find new favorite online vendors, great sales, etc. You can find them here. There's a list of shops who are part of the hop, some vendors do special sales and bonuses for "fabshophoppers", and if you visit a certain number of shops, you're entered into give-away drawings for some pretty intense prizes. Hello, 50 yards of Hoffman batiks or Art Gallery fabrics as a grand prize? Um, yeah, I'll throw my hat in that ring.

Also, in the mail this week, I got my first kit of my strip-project of the month club. So cute!!

ETA: I got a comment asking who I'm doing my "Strip of the Month"
with. I signed up for the club run by EverythingQuilts.com. They run several different "of the month" type clubs, but I've always wanted to try strippy quilts, so I chose that one. So far, I'm really glad that I did!



I cannot get a clear picture of the pattern to save myself, but it's called "two by four" and it's blocks of squares and rectangles cut from the Jelly roll strips (the one that came with the pattern this month was Simplicity by 3 Sisters for Moda), finished size of each square being 2" and the rectangles 4". Clever, no?

And since my machine is in the shop, and I don't feel like handpiecing just this second, I've cleared my cutting mat...



...so that I can go ahead and cut for a couple of WHiMMs today. I figured I'd suck it up and bust through the novelty prints in my stash, and cut them up (or at least most of them) for I Spy quilts for Project Linus. I also thought I'd do some cutting for my Oriental flying geese quilt. This is my favorite part of the process, if I'm being honest--the selecting and cutting. It's a great, productive excuse to play with my stash!

More photos to come!

Give-Away winner (take 2)

Well, I never heard from the original winner of my RJR charm pack give-away from last weekend, so it's take 2!

Congratulations, Anya! You are the winner! I've emailed you, please do email me back so I don't have to do this again! :)

Green Fairy Quilts Give-away!

Judi over at Green Fairy Quilts is celebrating her 99th post with give-away patterns, jelly rolls, bags, quilts--go check it out here!

Crazy days, no machine...

Work has been incredibly hectic. Summer reading, holiday weekend, people on vacation. I feel like I hit the ground running every morning and don't get a chance to breathe til I get home (and sometimes not even then!). And there really aren't any pictures to share at the moment, either, since I'm hand-piecing (slooooowly) while my Singer is in the shop. It needed a new presser-foot lever, and my mother admitted that the machine hasn't been serviced since she bought it nearly 30 years ago. So it's gone for a minimum of a week, and I'm already going a wee bit stir-crazy. For a self-proclaimed hand-piecer, I sure did change my tune once I could accomplish more, faster! :P

So it looks like this weekend will be some hand-piecing, and some cutting for a few WHIMMs that are begging to be WIPs. The Flying Geese with oriental fabrics is at the forefront right now. I'd also like to whittle down that stash! I also need to cut strips for the Fractions quilt I'm working on, but I need to run a round of auditions for that one, and would rather have my machine prepped for that one--once it gets going, it should be very quick.

Finally, Valerie, you have until 6pm EST tomorrow to contact me (my email address is in my blog profile) with your mailing info for the give-away, otherwise, I'll be picking another winner this weekend.

Off to the book club. Hope everyone's having a good week!

And the winner is...

Thank you for your patience--I didn't forget, I fell asleep! Zonked right out on the couch after dinner last night, and only managed to get up long enough to move to the bed two hours later. Eleven hours of sleep later, I guess I needed it!

Ok, ok, without further delay, the winner of my little holiday retreat give away of the RJR Basics charm pack is...


#6, Valerie Boudier! Valerie, you didn't leave me an email, so I need you to contact me by the end of the week, or I will have to choose another winner!

Too good not to share...

Today's word of the day: Serendipity.

1.
an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
2.
good fortune; luck.

I fell in love with Tranquility by Moda. Got a charm pack. Fell even more in love. Found a layer cake at one of my favorite online shops. They called this morning to tell me that it was no longer in stock.

Blast!

So I hunted around online. And found it a bit cheaper at Miller's Dry Goods. AND they're having a sale on all precuts through the end of July--20% off, in fact. So go there, and enter PRECUT in the coupon field for your additional savings. I basically got free shipping with what I saved. Woot!!

Also, don't forget to check in tonight, when I announce the winner of the RJR Basics charm pack from my weekend give-away!

Give-aways abound!!

I wanted to share the wealth--hop on over to Ryan's blog for a chance at some gorgeous prizes!

I swear, with quilters, it's always Christmas!

Ah Sunday

I was rather industrious yesterday, finishing all of my 9-patches and getting a start on my next project. I had a bit of a mid-retreat meltdown, because I suddenly just could NOT decide what to do with my 9-patches. I didn't like them any way I sashed them. I think I was just sick of looking at them--total quilter ADD, if you know what I mean. So I cut some of them up to do Disappearing 9-patches.


I must say, I think I like this better than just the straight 9-patches, though I've saved a number of them for future projects. Perhaps I'll like them better if I put them away for a bit? I find that I do that quite a bit these days. I am sort of a fly by the seat of my pants quilter--I never work from an established pattern from start to finish. At most, I use a block pattern and then make up the sashing and borders and layout as I go along. I'm reasonably good at seeing something and being able to reproduce it, but I quilt like I cook--a pattern, like a recipe, is a starting point. I can never just follow it, I have to tweak it to my preferences. For food, the result is usually quite good, or at least edible. :) For quilting, I wind up stopping and starting a bit, unsure of layout, needing to walk away and come back to it at least once before making final decisions and pressing on. (Pun intended, by the way.)

I took last night off to hang out and picnic with the DH. We had grilled mushroom burgers, corn on the cob, and salad on the back deck, then had s'mores once the coals had died down some. As a kid, I grew up on the beach during the summers, so cooking out on a charcoal grill is part of my childhood. My husband? Not so much. I can't believe it, but he'd never toasted marshmallows or made s'mores before last night. NEVER! I can't believe it either! My poor deprived hubby. For me, it was a taste of my childhood, bringing a big sticky grin to my face and a tear to my eye. We sat out til it started to go from cool to chilly (it was cool enough last night that I needed a second blanket--good sleeping weather, as my mom would say), then listened to fireworks for several hours after it got dark.

Today... I have no idea what I'm doing. I think I've changed my mind on the sashing and final border for the HST strip quilt I've been working on for Project Linus--I think I like my new solid red better than the red with the white swirls. I'll have to audition and see. I may go ahead and put together the Disappearing 9s, or the rest of my pseudo-fractions blocks that I made with my Aviary (by Sisters for Moday) charm pack yesterday. They started out as my leaders/enders, but I was so taken with them, I finished that part of the piecing, too!! Who knows? Maybe I'll just go and sort my stash? :D Any excuse to play with fabric, you know?


And don't forget--today is the last day to sign up for my little at-home holiday retreat give-away! I will announce the winner tomorrow.

--Meg

Mid-retreat

Today is day 3 of my little holiday weekend at-home retreat. A bunch of us (30 something?) from the Stashbuster Yahoo Group all had the weekend free with nothing to do (my husband works retail, and is working 10-11 hour days this weekend, whereas I have 4 days off), so we decided to do an online/at-home retreat. I just figured I'd blog about it while I was at it, and do a little give-away for my readers to celebrate! It's not too late--hop over to the post and leave a comment--I'll be announcing the winner at the end of the weekend.

So, I have a confession to make this morning. Yesterday was just too darn chaotic to be productive. Woke up late, realized I really couldn't put off a trip to the grocery store any longer (it was critical--there was no half & half for my coffee!!), and by the time I got through the crush at the store, got home and unloaded everything and put it away, it was 11am, and humid and disgusting out. Showered up, had some lunch (breakfast just never happened) and settled down to piece some pinwheels. Got a few done, but it kept clouding up (I prefer to work by a window to save electricity during the day), so I gave up and watched some TV, napped with a couple of the cats ...


That's Timmy. He is a champion napper. My husband actually woke him from a nap for this picture--see how amused he is? (NOT)


So, yeah. Yesterday was kind of a bust. So I went to bed early last night, got up to a gorgeous, sunny and cool morning (65, not humid...yet), and am now caught up with email, have ironed and stowed my stash wash from yesterday and am armed with my second cup of coffee. The remaining violet and green 9-patches are waiting next to my sewing machine, ready to come together. So there should be more pics later today!

Oh, and happy 4th, all!

First afternoon of retreating over...

I have a bit of progress made at the end of the first afternoon of my at-home retreat...



Nine 9-patches completed, the rest chain pieced in need of finishing and pressing. If I add one more row, or sash it in white, it's enough for a large crib quilt. If I add sashing and another row in each direction, plus borders, it's enough for a lap quilt, and I'll still have plenty left over for a crib quilt. I'm leaning heavily in the latter direction, meaning I'd be able to gift one and donate the other, and pull me up to 3 tops finished for my retreat... We'll see how I feel about it in the morning.

For this evening, I've got my pinwheels waiting for some attention. Pictures of those in the morning.

And don't forget--in honor of my 4-day at-home retreat, I'm doing a little give-away in this post--leave a comment over there for your chance to win a RJR charm pack!

Kicking off my at-home retreat (and giveaway!!)

I was up bright and early this morning. Well, early anyway. It's a cool, damp morning here, and we'll see whether that changes any as the day progresses. We had several rounds of storms yesterday, some of them pretty brutal. Work was amazingly busy, so when I got home, the DH and I had some supper and I lay down for a quick nap. Imagine my surprise when I woke up at 10pm and realized we had no power! J. said there was no power on the street, so I gave up and went back to bed. Slept until the power came back on near midnight, went around and shut lights out (it did NOT wake J.), reset clocks, and went back to bed. I was done sleeping at 6, so now I'm up with my second cup of coffee. However, since I'm "retreating" at home, I AM still in my PJs!!

I got the last of my mailbox goodies yesterday:


I apologize for the blurry pic--I took about a dozen photos of this, and this was STILL the best one. *sigh* It's a Tranquility charm pack from Moda--it was kind of an impulse, and I am SO glad I snagged it. I totally fell in love with these fabrics, and am already planning how I'm going to use it!




A sweet array of solids for some WHIMMs that have been dancing in my brain. A lot of the quilt bloggers I read have been doing a lot with solids as sashing and backgrounds, and I've honestly fallen head-over-heels with the concept. These are Kona solids, and from left to right are Mirengue (2 yards), Robin's Egg (.5 yard), black (1 yard), natural (1 yard), Nightfall (1 yard) and Rich Red (1 yard). Blows my stashbusting to smithereens in the short-term. In the long-term, I think these will be awesome additions.

(By the way, these are all care of FabricShack.com--I love them more than words can express.)

Oddly enough, some new tone-on-tones (.5 yards each) found their way into my box:

Because there is literally no such thing as enough tone-on-tones, in my humble opinion.

And last but not least, a few dots and prints:


They are so sunny, it makes me smile. And are those dots not to DIE for??



Ok, you've been patient. My giveaway, in celebration of my 4-day at-home holiday retreat, is:




A 36-square RJR Bare Essentials charm pack. I've been snapping up charm packs like it's my job lately, and I thought I'd share the wealth! This is full of neat black, white, tan and cream fabrics. Leave me a comment about what you would do with the prize, and make sure I have a way to contact you by email. Link it on your own blog to spread the word! I'll pick a winner using the RNG at the end of my weekend retreat.

Happy quilting!

--Meg

Keeping the weekend in mind

It's the last day of the fiscal year. It's a holiday week. I'm racing around like a loony trying to get things done since I'm only working three days this week. And boy am I ever looking forward to this weekend!

What do I hope to accomplish on my little at-home retreat?

--Finish the top I'm working on for Project Linus. All it will take is a middle sash and final border. I'm putting this aside for finishing when it's not going to be 80 and humid. My guess it will be tied this fall.

--Use my mornings, when it's cool, to wash, dry and iron all of my new yardage, for infiltration into the stash. (hehe, sounds like an alien invasion when I phrase it like that. Or else I watch too many movies...)

--Machine-piecing--work on violet and green 9-patches. I'm hoping to have all 25 pieced by the end of the weekend.

--hand-piecing--draw sew lines for chain squares. Piece a few of these, as well as pinwheels, each evening. Time provided, cut pieces for the next Xmas Star.

--Have fun! Watch movies, listen to music, take a nap, snuggle a kitten, relax, chat with my fellow holiday-weekend retreaters on the list-serv. Do easy things for dinner--preferrably minimal cooking involved.

Ultimate goal: to be productive in a relaxed atmosphere. (Wishful thinking, yes, I know.) And to blog about it!

OH! I almost forgot. I'll be doing a give-away at some point in the next few days. So stay tuned for more info!

Quickie Monday Update

No photos today, I'm afraid. I managed to be quite industrious on my day off yesterday, and sifted through my stash, coming up with one half-yard cut of background fabric, as well as a dozen FQs and a couple large scraps and sat down to cut. And cut. And cut. I now have enough 5" squares cut to make 24 large 13.5" (i think?) 9-patch blocks, in green and violet and cream. Sashed, this should make a long twin quilt or if I make another 9-patch, I can do a 5 x 5 setting for a large throw. OR two large crib quilts. I haven't sewn a stitch yet, but I'm so excited! And the best news was all of the fabric I used was in my stash already--NO new purchases. A drop in the overall bucket, but a small victory.

I would've started sewing right on the spot, but my back was really bothering me yesterday, so I spent the afternoon on the couch and the evening in bed with an ice-pack. I slept ok last night--the pain didn't keep me up too much. (I had a ruptured L5/S1 disc back in October, and had surgery to "fix" it in December '08. The result is that I still have back pain and numbness down my left leg/foot.) But I did manage to hand-piece another 5 pinwheels, bringing me up to 12 pinwheels and one chain block. Good gods, it sounds endless when I say it like that! >.<

There is literally no time to sew again until Thursday--the DH and I are going to dinner and a movie (he picked Transformers this month. I'm holding out for Julie and Julia in August!) for our monthly date-night tonight, then I work late tomorrow and have plans Wednesday, too... But my little at-home retreat starts with a cup of coffee and some gorgeous 9-patches bright and early Thursday, and that's enough to get this librarian through the end-of-the-fiscal-year nightmare at work this week!!


ETA: Nedra is doing a week-long Blogiversary giveaway! Go check her out!

As promised: Stash post!

As I read the blogs of other quilters, one of the things that I am most intrigued by is what their stashes look like. How do they store it? What colors do they favor? Are all of their WIPs stored together or separately? So I figured I would share mine, too. :)




This is my stash (just the tupperware bins, not the boxes behind--this is our "storage/kinda-guest-room", perpetually unfinished--as is evidenced by the painters tape that won't come off the wall... *sigh*). The big bins on the right-hand side are the bulk of it--FQs, yardage, etc. The smaller bins on the left are separated out by WIPs, UFOs, and in one case, WHIMMs. The WHIMM box is my 1930s prints, which are currently earmarked for a couple of baby quilts. I haven't started them yet, so they're just hanging around right now.


Inside one of my big bins. This is my uncategorized, catch-all, not earmarked for anything bin. Yardage, FQs, etc. When I talk about using up stash, this is mostly the one I want to work out of and finish off. Maybe it's a librarian thing, but having this big box of fabric that doesn't "belong" to anything kind of bugs me. The good news, for me, is that when I got home last night, I sifted through it and picked out a bunch of purples and greens for my next project, so I busted several yards. Hardly looks like I made a dent, but it's a start!!



Here is the innards of another bin--my Civil War repros. Some are slightly looser interpretations, and solidly half of it is care of my bestest quilty friend, Wendy, who decided the best way to get me moving on a Dear Jane project (or three) was to give me more ammo! Currently, I am still so awed by my embarassment of riches, I'm at a stand-still. Sorry, Wenders!


This is the innards of my handpiecing WIP bucket. A little pair of scissors, the horrifying pincusion I made a million years ago from some old scraps my mom had (my younger brother had a pair of jams made out of that fabric back in the 80s, to give you an idea!), spools of thread, and HSTs for pinwheels. This is what I do when I'm watching TV, etc. at home. The little bucket has a handle, so it's nice and portable. :)

This is what I mean by categorizing. In this bin, I have fabrics which are divided into batiks (lower right), oriental fabrics (top--I have plans for a flying-geese quilt with these), and paisleys and accents fabric (lower left) for my Stars over Kasmir quilt, which has yet to be started. I don't sort by color or value, but by what I envision them becoming a part of in the future. Again, I think it may have to do with the librarian thing. I don't shelve books together by color, or size, or what's on the cover. I shelve all the ones with the same subject together.

Oh, and even more of an embarassment than my "everything goes" bucket? Is this:


I know that Wendy, among others, is crying looking at this. This is my box (cardboard, yes, I know, bad quilter, no cookie) of "what the hell was I thinking??" fabrics. Enormous florals, novelties in a variety of flavors, animal prints--EEK!! Yes, they are going to find another home--and most of them will wind up in charity quilts of one form or another. In the meantime, they just make me absolutely crazy.

Want to share your stash with me and other quilters? Post it in your blog, and leave the url as a comment!

--Meg

PS--I am so totally going to join some of the challenges at Stashbuster.com next year--I want to get rid of some of this!!

At the library

Well, it's a gorgeous (!!) Saturday morning here in CT, the first really sunny, blue-skyed morning we've had in a month. And it's the town's annual fair-day. So my best guess is, people will be mowing lawns, doing chores outdoors, and going to the fair, and not coming in to see me and my coworkers today.

Which honestly is ok by me. It means I can sit and finish up some orders, and drink my coffee (which I'm drinking with soy milk this morning since the DH forgot the half n half when he shopped on Thursday. Yeah, he forgot, but he also does the shopping, so I suppose it evens out in the end... :P), and clean off my desk a bit.

Lord knows, I'd rather be home with all the windows open, book on CD playing (my library book club is reading Three Cups of Tea for our July meeting), and stitching away to finish the Project Linus quilt before sitting down to cut blocks for the green and lavender 9-patch quilt, or handpiecing HSTs into pinwheels. *sigh*

There's always tomorrow.

Spoils...

So, I'm coming clean with my reverse stash-bust here. *looks sheepish* I got some more goodies in the mail today...


FOUR charm packs, three by Moda and one from RJR. They came care of EverythingQuilts.com and FabricShack.com. There are some great deals to be had online, folks. And these charm packs are DELICIOUS!

The spoils do not end there, I'm afraid. There was *gulp* yardage involved...

Fabric Shack had some amazing deals, so I picked up a half-yard each of the Scott Jarrard whale print and stripes (they were on super mark-down, and SCREAM to be made into a sweet baby quilt), as well as the wonky plaid from Windham and the tiny geometric print from Play Date (both also on super sale, a yard and 2 yards, respectively). I foresee the plaid becoming binding, and the geometric becoming the backing for the current Project Linus quilt top.

Speaking of which... I came home from work today, and after dinner, just flopped on the couch and vegged in front of the TV. I started thinking about heading for bed, but looked at the clock and realized it was only about 8 o'clock. Well! That's way too early to head for bed, in my humble opinion. Sure I have to be at work at 8:30 tomorrow morning (yes, I work Saturdays), but still. So I decided to go ahead and spend a little time at the sewing machine, and here is what I wound up with:


I put the borders on the second panel for my Project Linus quilt. They're here auditioning with my one non-brick red fabric, which will be the final round of borders. At this point, I'm really fairly pleased. This means that if I can hack it, I will be finishing this top on Sunday, and pair it with its backing, reading to go to the longarmer. AND, it means I will likely start another quilt top. I have this itchy little need for a lavender and green and white 9-patch. No idea what will come of it, but I'm ready all the same!

However, I also have a 4-day weekend coming up over the 4th of July weekend. And since I am a guild-less quilter with no plans for four days, and a spouse who works retail and will be gone the majority of the time, I decided to join some of the ladies over at the Stashbuster Yahoo Group for an on-line quilting retreat. My plan originally was to finish the Project Linus top and then work on piecing some more pinwheels for the pinwheel chain quilt. Since it looks like the PL top will be done THIS weekend instead, I'll likely split time between a machine project and the handpieced pinwheels--the last time I tried to hand-piece for a whole day, I spent the evening with my hand in a bowl of ice, and the next day I finally dragged out my machine. I'd like to think I've learned from that experience...

Still coming soon: stash pictures!

Oh, and since I might as well start sharing these, here's a photo of one of the Christmas stars for my sampler:


--Meg

Separation anxiety

Have you ever had to work late, and had the knowledge that a beautiful package of fabrics was sitting at home on your dining room table, waiting to be opened and fawned over?

8 yards and a charm pack, to be exact.

A yard each of pink, cream and white solids, a yard each of blue and yellow paisley stripes (I think these will make awesome bindings for kid quilts), a yard and a half of sprigged green calico that I got on ridiculous sale, a half-yard of yellow/orange batik with blue dots, a half yard each of 2 Oh-Cherry-oh prints (lime green with cherries & red with white blooms), AND a Moda charm pack (Aviary). Pictures obviously will follow shortly this evening.

But OMG, I still have a half hour at work (and thus, should be working *guilty look*), but I am constantly distracting myself with the deliciousness that is waiting at home for me!!

AGH!

ETA: So shiny!


The charm pack is adorable, and will make a beautiful baby quilt, or two. The pink solid matches the pinks in the charms perfectly. The two paisley stripes are gorgeous, and that batik makes me want to dance!

I know, I know. Gotta bust. AND I still want to do a LQS hop at the end of the summer, so I have to rope it in and keep my hands to myself for a bit. I THINK I can do that. I'm really not sure, but I'mma try. Now, off to sleep with visions of quilt blocks dancing in my head!

*grabby hands*

I am the worst Stashbuster ever. *sigh* Maybe it's the gray days that just won't let up that make me crave bright colors? I am being good and shopping sales, if at all, and cut myself off at $30. But I need to go back on buying hiatus--my stash is kind of ridiculous. I have pics, which I suppose I should post later today. Getting into this Project Linus thing is kind of dangerous, I think. I can piece a LOT of tops from stash, but here's the thing.

Most of my stash is NOT kid quilt material. I have a lot of Civil War era repros, a lot of tone on tone and darks and neutrals. I have a small amount of fabric that is novelty, and a very small amount of pastels. I don't do brights, or pink, or pastels, by and large. So what I have to work with that would be remotely kid-appropriate for what my local chapters want would probably fit into a shoe box. So, I'm doing a bit of sale shopping to boost that part of my stash. I'm having such fun with the current top--I love the bright yellow with the denim blue, the primary colors, the small size of the project that allows me to finish in a couple of weeks instead of a couple of months...

See, I basically only get to quilt on the weekends. And every third weekend, I only get one day off. My evenings have already been spoken for by work and friends and my husband, so I might get one evening a week to myself. Sometimes I read, sometimes I quilt, or watch a movie, or just go to bed!! I just feel like I need more time!!! Don't we all?

Until next time,
--Meg

Oh, but ps--there is still nothing like finding an amazing fabric from a great designer for only $2.98/yard. I'm just sayin'...

A weekend's work...

So, I pieced and pieced and pieced yesterday, and by this morning, I had this:


I have to rearrange my office/sewing room in order to set up my design wall. So in the meantime, I'm using my dining room table. This also counts for Judy L.'s Design Wall Monday post over at PatchworkTimes.com. :)

So this morning, I laid out all of the HST blocks. And then walked away for a bit. I set up my sewing machine. It's kind of broken (the foot lever snapped off), and desperately needs to go and visit the Sew N Vac, but it's working well enough to piece. And I honestly couldn't stand the thought of hand piecing all the little blocks together. SO, I went ahead and pieced a few double strips. And came up with this:


I did two long strips of double chains, and then walked away again. And thought. I was having a wicked time trying to match all of the seams and points--it has been a LONG time since I've machine pieced, and my accuracy is not what I'd like it to be. The thought of doing a whole top like that, when I'm trying to get the majority done in a weekend was enough to make me want to cry.

So I thought, and I ate grilled cheese, and I thought some more.

And I came up with this:


This is one of two panels. I have the blue and yellow borders cut and ready for the second strip. I'll do a final round of borders in red, and join the two panels with a strip of red. Kind of thinking of binding in green scraps. I haven't picked out a back yet, but I'm thinking of trying to machine quilt this, after I've had the machine serviced. Just in a plain grid. I dunno. Maybe. For now, it will get stacked in wait for quilting. Any longarmers want to help out Project Linus with a bit of time donation? :) I'd be happy to pay postage.

In any case, the finishing will be tomorrow night after work. I'll post more pics when it's done. :)

--Meg