Apologies

My apologies that this space has been so silent lately. It's just too darn hot to sew in the evenings. An un-air-conditioned house plus triple-digit heat here in CT means I've got nothing to show you, and not much to blog about.

However, my boss has asked me to blog about books for the library, and since it's never too hot to read, there's been some writing done over there! Looking for suggestions on what to read? Go take a look!

The heat should break in the next day or two, which will hopefully mean more posts for you guys in the near future. Stay cool, and thanks for bearing with me!

Bee Block roundup

Of course, you know if you haven't heard from me in awhile, there's a glut of things for me to share with you. In this case, bee blocks!

I was lucky enough to be involved in the Sew Fresh Fabrics charity bee this round, and got my packet of fabrics last week. Look! Pips! Rainy Days! It was such a nice little parcel to open and pet while I figured out what I was going to do with them.


I added a few bits from my stash and just did a little improv log cabin frame around each fussy-cut print. The finished block is 12.5" and is already headed back to Sew Fresh Fabrics HQ to meet up with the rest of the blocks.

Then there were this month's blocks for do.Good Stitches, based on a tutorial by Ashley over at Film in the Fridge. LOVE these blocks.




Sorry they look a little wonky here--I think it's part camera angle and part the ripple in the design wall--I really need to tack down the bottom edge. They were super fast to put together, and easy to chain piece--thinking perhaps I may have to do a limited-palette scrap quilt in this pattern sometime in the future. Heh, like I need another project, right?

Finally, I sucked it up and dug into Annabel's parcel of fabrics for her month of The Beehive. I'll be honest, Annabel's month was actually June--I was a bad bee and slacked like nobody's business on this one. I do that when it's something I'm not so comfortable with. :(



Some little sailing ships for her month (none of these are bigger than 4" finished). I made these up as I went along, and will let Annabel choose which she uses--she'll be sashing them out to appropriate size with more of the dark blue solid, Kona Nightfall (the photo doesn't do it justice, it's really a gorgeous deep blue). You should check out the Beehive photostream to see some of the amazing blocks being made by my bee-mates for this one. The theme is "The Busy Sea at Night" and I am in awe at some of the talented paper-piecing going on. I don't know how to paper-piece beyond a string block, something I suppose I ought to learn someday.

Now, to prep some sample blocks for the new round of 3x6 and its new offshoot bee, the 4x5. Would you believe I'm caretaking for both bees now? Heh. Yup, the mad librarian quilter, that would be me...

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?

Sexy Sunday Stash

Well, I suppose it mostly counts as sexy if you're an old-school gamer, a dork, AND a quilter. As I qualify as all three, this little stack of fabrics has me all a-flutter.


Pac Man ghosts, Alien Invaders, and a stack of gorgeous shot cottons, all courtesy of the seriously awesome Brenda of Pink Castle Fabrics. Thinking of adding some white and black in there, too. Now if I can just figure out a pattern to use for them, I can get started. Anyone have any suggestions?

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?

Calling out sick

Is it possible to call out sick from blogging? Because that's what I would have done this past week. As soon as the weather gets really nice? Bang, down for the count with a cold and cough! Blech! No motivation to do anything other than drag through the day and collapse at the end.

Thankfully, there was a bright spot at the end of my sick-o week! The evil postie of doom (as my not-very-nice postman shall henceforth be called) decided to drop off a parcel for me! My Scrappy Mug Rug Swap parcel, to be exact! I hadn't seen a photo of this one on the group photo pool, and I know just why!


A little shelf of books, just for me! And the call numbers, oh my goodness. See, my partner, Colleen? She's an elementary school librarian! How perfect! What do the call numbers mean? Let's hope I don't embarrass myself here.

The first two stand for Colleen and Yarnell (cuz that's her name). The second two are fiction books (accidentally shelved out of order--curse of librarians everywhere!), Nor for my last name, and Meg for my first name. Then we get into Dewey! 006.754 Fli? That's for Flickr! The next is the classification for coffee, followed by a book about quilting. The last two? 974.6 CON is the history of Connecticut, where I live, followed by the history of North Carolina, where Colleen lives!

(Did I pass, Colleen? I all but failed cataloging in library school. Heh!)

Oh, and at the top of that photo? A little bag of color coordinated scraps from Colleen's LQS--they're SO pretty! I'm dreaming up a little quilt built around their colors!

Scrappy Mug Rug Swap, done!

Snapped a couple of quick photos on my crowded cutting mat before this little guy heads out the door. Speaking of heads, that poor bird--it's what happens when working with a limited amount of a fabric with large repeats. Ah well. Hoping my partner doesn't mind toooo much. This is the smallest thing I think I've ever made, short of the coasters in my header photo. Those little green and pink squares finish at just an inch! Little and schnibbly!

Officially caught up with ALL of my swaps, and I think I'm going to try and enforce a bit of a hiatus on the swapping over the summer. I'll keep up with my bees, but I'm going to try and abstain from pillows, mug rugs and home goods for a few months--maybe then I'll manage to finish another quilt! (Good thing I'm not a betting woman, eh?)

Caught up on my bee blocks!

For the Beehive. Kat sent out deliciously soft voiles and pentagon foundation papers, and asked for string blocks for this quilt using Malka Dubrawsky's pattern from Quilt Scene. Should be a stunner!

And I'm all caught up with all of my bees! Phew! Now, on to some sewing for ME!

do.Good Stitches

Coin blocks for the May round of the do.Good Stiches Peace circle. Coin blocks! Great way to use up scraps--thinking I may to my own quilt of these at some point. Pattern from over here.

A little something...

A scrappy little something for a secret swap. Off in the mail tomorrow--hope my partner likes it!

Sunday Stash in action, 5/1/2011

Happy May Day, (or Beltane) to my readers! I'm still here--and officially on a "stay-cation" this week. That's right, all the sleep, cups of tea, book reading, couch lounging, and sewing I have been missing out on for months! Think I can cram it all in in just a week? Yeah, me either. Oh well.

I do have a few things I plan to get done in the early part--you know, the "gotta-do" stuff. But I also want to do them, so it doesn't feel too terrible.

One is to turn this pile of scraps into a couple of blocks for this month's round of do.Good Stitches, the Peace circle.



I'll be turning these bright and pretty scraps into a couple of coin blocks--hope to show those tomorrow!

I also need to get cracking on a mug rug for a swap over on flickr. I know there are some folks who really don't get the whole mug rug thing. I think they're cute and functional--hope my partner knows I hope to use what she makes until it falls apart! I drink a LOT of tea and coffee, especially at work, so I'm hoping that I'll have something cute to bring in to the office and break up the dreary gray of my workspace a bit. Honestly, I'm really all about the silver linings lately. (Not up for positive? Come over and I'll make you cookies. Seriously. Life's too short to be miserable--I've had a lot of forcible reminders of that lately.)



These are what I've pulled for the mug rug I plan on making my partner. I hope she likes it--I need to get sketching!

Oh, and as far as keeping track of my Sunday Stash? I think I'd rather just enjoy what I'm working on than keeping inventory on what I buy and what I use. I tried it, it's not for me. I'll still do Sunday Stash posts, but I think it will be more about using the fabric instead of sitting down to do math and statistics every Sunday morning. Ok with you guys? Or are you sticklers for math?

3x6 bee blocks...Part Two

3x6 bee blocks, hive #7, a photo by meg_norrell on Flickr.

For my hive #7 girls this quarter, I used a tutorial from Elizabeth (http://dontcallmebetsy.blogspot.com/). It gobbled up scraps, though again, I've got so many, it didn't make such a big dent. I did alter Elizabeth's directions a little, and made the centers square instead of rectangular--I wanted the blocks to take up more of my scraps!

Now, to get these puppies all wrapped up and mailed off to their new homes! Don't worry--I took a page from Bonnie Hunter and started a couple of leader/ender projects. I know, I need more projects like I need a hole in my head, but it means that I have most of the piecing for a throw quilt already done. One of these days, I might even have a finish!

In the meantime, happy holiday weekend!

3x6 bees, 2nd quarter...Part One

3x6 bee blocks, 2nd quarter, hive #28, a photo by meg_norrell on Flickr.

I love these blocks! I chose to use a tutorial from Christina (http://sometimescrafter.blogspot.com/), and dipped into my box of pre-cut 2.5" squares. They were easy to chain piece, and came together really quickly. Sadly, they hardly made a dent in my stash of squares. It's given me great ideas for a scrap quilt soon, though!

FMF lovers, rejoice!

From Denyse Schmidt's Facebook page today: "With FreeSpirit, I'm reprinting a limited Flea Market Fancy collection for January 2012." For those of us who have been begging, pleading and petitioning and dreaming, for those who missed the boat entirely, hoarded obsessively, or used stashes sparingly, this is delightful news! We don't yet know what exactly "limited" will mean--just a limited printing of the whole line? Select original prints in their original colors? Or in new colors? Any number of possibilities--all of them exciting!!

No idea what I'm rambling on about? Go check out some of the obsession here.

Delicious DS Quilts!

If you haven't heard the news blowing up the quilter's corner of the internet this week, then I am about to impart great wisdom and excellent news. No, no, this has nothing to do with car insurance.

This has to do with Denyse Schmidt releasing a line via Fabric Traditions, exclusively for chain stores. Namely Jo-Ann Fabrics in the US and Spotlight (in May) in Australia. At $9.99/yard, it's not cheap. What it is, though, is soft and lovely, and so, so pretty.

Forgive the lighting, I wanted to set the mood...


Cue the Barry White. I think I'm in love...

*shakes head" Where was I? Oh, yes.

I called my local Jo-Ann's on Monday, when I first read that someone had randomly found it in their local Jo-Ann's. The staff at mine said it was in the building, having just been delivered, but that it wouldn't be out until later this week. I took a chance this afternoon and, after work, drove over. Only to find a bolt of every one of the 21 prints on a U-boat (think tall, giant dolly with two sides, forming a U) along with some Alexander Henry Farmdale prints (roosters, apples, some of the hatch and dot, and the turquoise floral). Ordinarily, just the Farmdale prints would have sent me into a tizzy. But not today. Oh no. Today, I was on a mission.

I flagged down an employee and asked it anyone would mind if I helped myself off of the U-boat. She looked at me like I was nuts. "Honey," she said, "if it's what you want on that cart, help yourself." Right on!

Think of a cross between the joy of Christmas morning and an Easter egg hunt, as there were at LEAST 70 bolts of fabric all mashed in on the 3-level cart, stacked a good 6 feet high. I sized it up, planned my attack, and started pulling. At one point another employee came around the corner and asked if she could help. I explained what I was doing, and she began to grin. She GOT it. She knew who and what I was talking about, and was so excited about the fabric, too! I don't often get to share my geekery with real people, you know, in person. There might have been squealing. Maybe.

I showed some small restraint and left 3 bolts on the cart (I am not totally sold on the small ginghams, and one of the green florals), then counted. And recounted. Only 19?? Then I realized--the dots were missing!! Those dots you see in at the bottom of the stack there? Were not on the cart. ONOES!

Then I felt stupid. When I'd called the store on Monday, the two product ID codes I'd had them check were the dots--the girl had offered to put them aside for me. So I took my cart and zipped back to the cutting table and *phew!* there they were! I'm a dope (and if you are not new to my blog, you know this already. Heh.).

In any case, there was much cutting. And much more geekery, as the girl working at the cutting table also was sooo excited about the line.

And then I met a blog lurker! Not one of mine, sadly, at least I don't think she is. She did, however, know Amy (Badskirt), because really, who doesn't? (I meant that in the nicest way possible, Amy, honest!) I didn't want to ask her if she knew who I was. Because either way that could go would just be strange, no? However, lovely girl and fabric addict whose name I didn't catch at the Milford, CT Jo-Ann's, it was wonderful to meet you and I hope I left you enough Picnic and Fairgrounds!

Now, off to drool a bit over the goodies, and then sweet dreams!

With a little help from my friend...

If you're familiar with the song in the title, I'm sorry--I know you'll be singing it for the rest of the day. :)

I am referring, of course, to my quilting buddy:


This would be Timmy, keeping half an eye on me while I sew, in between his naps, of course.




What is it about cats and niches? Does that look comfortable? (please don't look at the fact that we're missing the baseboard on that wall. It's been on the honey-do list for...5 years? Oy!)

Timmy was supervising my work on this:



A ginormous 20.5" log cabin in Echino-inspired solids, for Andi of The Beehive. I left this slightly large for Andi to trim down--it's bigger than my cutting mat! I loved working with the range of bright colors, though, and every time I work strictly with solids, I promise myself that one day, I'm going to do a solids quilt. Of course, you and I both know that means I'll start one... *wink*

This week also saw the kickoff of the second quarter of the 2011 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee over on Flickr. This is my second round with the group (though I did help out with a couple of angel blocks in the 4th quarter last year), and it's my first time acting as caretaker! Yeah, I don't know how I managed to get roped into that, either. *sheepish* So the first week has been hectic, getting everyone set up, information shared and links mailed. I also spent two nights knocking my head against the wall with total quilter's block. I had a flash of clarity two nights ago as to what I'd be doing for one of my groups.

Did you catch that?

That's right, in addition to The Beehive, and do. Good Stitches, AND caretaking one group for the 3x6 Bee, I'm doubling up and participating in a second hive with the 3x6 Bee.

Am I insane?? Quite possibly. We'll see if I can manage to make this all hang together the next few months.

In the meantime, I've been cutting up lots and lots of little squares...


Spending the rest of the day working on my trial-run block, and if all goes well, tackling a few more of these!

And since I'm running behind on my Sunday Stash reports...

Used this Week: 3 yards (bee blocks sewn from stash)
Used year to Date: 161.5 yards
Added this Week: 3 yards (Solids from Pink Chalk Fabrics)
Added Year to Date: 53.25 yards
Net Used for 2011: 108.25yards

If you don't see me for a day or four, don't worry--you know where I am. :)

Progress?

I can't say that my design wall has changed much in the last month or so. I've developed a wicked charity sewing habit lately, it seems! I think for me, charity sewing is like joining a bee. I think my favorite part of quilting is making blocks, and both bees and my recent charity sewing ( Just One Star, Log Cabins for Japan) allow me to indulge in making some blocks and then moving on to something else. I don't know, I guess I'm finding it rather liberating!


April will also be my first month taking part in the do. Good Stitches Charity bee on flickr, a project started by the talented Rachel Hauser. I'm so excited! My circle's first round is being led by Katie, and she's asking us to use a brilliant tutorial by Elizabeth of Don't Call Me Betsy. I had a little time the other night to dig into my scraps and try out a block...



The light in here is weird today--that light color actually is Kona White. Can I just tell you how much fun this block is? And with the surplus of scraps going on over here, it just eats them right up! I've sorted through and pulled for the two blocks I'm making for the April quilt.


So you can see what I'll be up to this weekend! (I'm almost disappointed I have a wedding to go to tonight--I'd rather be sewing!)

Also, just a little thank you for everyone's kindness in putting up with me being a bit whiny in my last post. We all have our days, right? Good news it that the treatment seems to have helped, and I'm feeling quite a bit better! Whew!

Through the looking glass

Have you ever had a day, or a stretch of days, where everything seemed like it should be copacetic, and yet somehow, nothing was gelling? I'm having a stretch like that. A trip to my pain management specialist and a new round of treatment left me in side effect hell for the weekend, allowing me to do little other than stare at the television and nap in a Benadryl-induced haze. I'm still having trouble shaking the last of the effects, and have spent the last two days stumbling through days at work and then coming home and crashing almost as soon as I walk in the door at the end of the day.

So sewing progress in these parts has been limited, to say the least. There have, however, been a few projects I've managed to cobble together in the occasional burst of energy.

Last week, the madman and I took a trip to Ikea for a set of shelves for the sewing room. It was nice to spend some time with him--work schedules being what they are, we rarely get a day off together. We got home and put these puppies together, and I spent the following couple of days shuffling, sorting and organizing. What we have now is this:


Top shelf: FQ bundles, a scrap bag from Moda (contains mostly Luna Notte), some pre-cuts, and a bunch of strips cut for my someday Single Girl quilt.

Second shelf:


Solids! Mmmm, I think I have a problem with gray. Also, green.

Third shelf, projects that have been pulled/cut for. Momo in the bag, a bin of Hope Valley and Kona Snow, and a stack of large-scale florals for a hopefully-soon project.

Fourth shelf: My little bin of Heather Ross scraps, some yardage for a Christmas quilt that somehow never got done this year.



Bottom shelf: Bins of strings and sorted scraps to the left, smaller bins of little shnibbles and a few works in progress. A LOT of this had been contained under my sewing table, so it's nice to be able to stretch my legs now!

Finally, in a short burst one evening, I went through my bin of pre-cut 2.5" strips and pieced together a few Log Cabins for Japan. Just a few more strips and I'll have them in the mail!



Here's to hoping for more energy and less pain in the coming days--I'd love to actually have a bit more sewing to show around here!

Sunday Stash, 3/20/11

You know how I've been muttering over the last few stash reports that I had something big that was going to be done with my stash? Beyond organizing? Well, yesterday was payoff!



No, no. That's not incoming. That's OUT. Approximately 150 yards from my "old" stash, all packaged and now officially delivered to the members of the CT Piecemakers quilt guild, which is the largest quilt guild in my area, at over 200 members. They have subcommittees that make quilts for a variety of charities, including Project Linus, Quilts of Valor, and a local one, Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. All are charities dear to my heart, for various reasons. But that's another blog post.

The guild used to meet at the library where I work, which is how I first became familiar with them. However, their large and growing group of members quickly outgrew the library's meeting facilities and moved on to larger venues for their meetings. But I knew they still met in town, so when the urge to do some spring cleaning came, I contacted their board.

I've been quilting for about 12 years, and while you've seen my newer, more modern stash in recent posts, there's a whole lot that has been packed in tubs in our spare room, fabric that in many cases has been with me through three moves, and not getting much love at all.

Do you see where this is going?

Yesterday afternoon, one of the Piecemakers was nice enough to stop by the library (I was working) and take all five boxes to be distributed among guild members and subcommittees for various purposes, including charity initiatives. It just felt like the right thing to do.

The numbers this week look pretty good, too! I'm still in the midst of the sewing room overhaul, and as a result, there hasn't been much sewing going on. Um, make that nearly none this last week. I'm hoping that a trip to Ikea tomorrow night and the subsequent final shuffle in the sewing room this week should clear it so that I walk into the room and can just sit down and sew, instead of walking in and feeling too overwhelmed to know where to begin!

So the numbers...

Used this Week: 150 yards (Not sewn, but out of the stash and on its way to being sewn!)
Used year to Date: 158.5 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 50.25 yards
Net Used for 2011: 108.25yards

Now I just need to remind myself not to try and fill the space in my house left by the donation!

I took the pledge

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Tiffany is one of the queens of flickr swaps, and she's challenging all of us swappers and bee participants. Be on time. Communicate with your swap mama or bee members if you'll be late. Follow through. NEVER leave a swap partner or bee hanging. If you take on more than you can do? Do it anyway, and try and be more realistic in the future.

That's my pledge! What about you?