I need variety!

 I've got a friend with a big surgery coming up in a couple of months, so I want to give them a quilt.  When considering my (considerable) UFOs, my plaid string quilt seemed like a good option for them, based on Julie's beautiful creation.

It's up on the design wall and I've completed a few more 9-patches and sashings, but man! Now I remember why I fizzled out with this quilt.  I'm excited about how it is going to look, but it is so boring for me to create.  Part of why I love scrap quilts is that there are so many different fabrics playing together.  With this one, it's just plaid.  I'm gonna do it, but I need something to spice up my sewing stints as well.

Today I finished my January Bee Blocks:

Finished sewing together all of the 2022 Stashbuster blocks that I had precut:

I'm going for a non-traditional holiday quilt look

And worked on this scrappy bear paw variation that I started over winter break:

I also did some purging, identifying some orphan blocks, some fabric and some thread that I plan to take to Swansons to swap out for some quilting scraps, and along the way I unearthed some of the quilts I started hand quilting but never finished.  I need to commit to getting back to them.  There's the one I made for my bed around 15 years ago but never finished:

And this scrap quilt where I was playing with big stitch quilting in a rainbow of colors - I completely forgot this quilt even existed:

There's this mini twister quilt made from salvaged pillowcases:

Completely forgot about this sailboat baby quilt:

And this self-portrait:

There were others, too.  I amaze myself sometimes with how much I DON'T finish!  Time to change that!

Short...in so many ways

Short seems to be my life's theme these days.

Short on time. 
I finished hand quilting the pinwheels in the Good Fortune Lil Twister quilt top, along with two stitch in the ditch lines in the borders, but that is it.  I was out of time, and it was going to have to be enough.  And since I had so little time, I decided to bind the quilt by folding over the backing. I've never done that before, but I knew I had to try, because it was the only way I would finish on time. 

I'll probably do it again on select projects, and it turned out very neat and my corners are nicely mitered, but I will continue to bind with a separate fabric(s) on most projects.  I'd seen someone bind this way using a decorative stitch (was that Cheryl, perhaps?) so I tried that as well - I like the result.

Short on fabric.
Once I decided to bind with the backing, I started trimming the excess batting off, and squaring up the backing fabric.  Once I got to the 4th side of the quilt, I discovered the backing fabric was too short by 1/2" on that one side.  I proceeded to go around and trim 1/2" off all sides of the quilt and the backing to make it work.  So the quilt is 1 inch smaller in length and width than I had anticipated, but you do what you have to do.

Short on ink.
Since I didn't have a seam on the back to sew my label into, I decided to write my label directly on the front of the quilt.  I chose a purple pen.  As I was wrting, first I misspelled the baby's last name - yikes!  So I transformed the misspelling into a heart.  Then the pen ran out of ink halfway through the last line.  It looks shabby, especially with my less than pretty handwriting, but I wrote the last two lines in blue. (It turns out, they've picked out the name Maya for the little girl they are expecting, but I don't trust that you always get what the ultrasound technician tells you you will be getting.  My cousin calls me "Cuz" all the time, so I wrote "Baby Cuz" on the quilt, just in case.)

Short on sleep.
I finished the quilt at 2 AM.  I had to wake up at 7:30 AM to get the kids fed, get the campout stuff out to our campout site, and then get into town with our bikes for the Cub Scout bike rodeo that started at 9 AM.  The bike rodeo ended at noon, at which point I handed my kids over to a friend for the day, hopped in the car, and drove the 4 hours to the baby shower.  After 4 hours at the shower, I had to leave if I was going to make it back home for any part of the cub scout campout that had started without me.  I was so tired, however, that I had to stop twice on the 4 hour drive home for power naps in random parking lots.  I made it home at 1 AM, changed clothes, tended to the animals, brushed my teeth, and was at the campout by 1:20 AM.  Some of the parents had kept the fire going and waited up for me, worried.  Even though I was exhausted, it was so nice to sit and chat, gazing into the fire, that I didn't go to bed until 3 AM.  But it is a campout...all the boys, and therefore I, was up by 7 AM.  After a fun morning fixing our breakfast over the campfire and doing a scavenger hunt, we were home by 11:30.  I got done a couple of tasks around the house, sat in the sun with a book for a while, and then gave in and took a nice long afternoon nap.

This was my view until I finally came in to take a nap.  I love sitting on my porch!

Short in stature.
Here is my cousin and his pregnant wife.  They are over the moon about this pregnancy.  They are both in their 40s, and have been trying to get pregnant for most of the past decade.  Those smiles were on their faces all day yesterday.  I am so happy for them!

Seeing this picture made me feel really short.  It also made me realize that, if I hang out with pregnant women, it will make me feel really petite.  I'm filing that away for those days when I feel dumpy...

The quilt seemed to be well received.  There were the usual Oooohs and Aaahs, but then someone said, "Wait, is that HANDMADE???"  One woman attending the shower hugged me, said she was a cross stitcher and knew how much work must have gone into my quilt and was brought to tears that I would make such a gift for my cousin.  I hope they like it.  I hope they USE it.  I hope the rest of the pregnancy goes smoothly.  I can't wait to meet and hold my new little cousin.

SFO Terminal 3

Imagine my delight to find an exhibit in the terminal called "Threading the Needle: Sewing in the Machine Age," when I arrived in San Francisco on Thursday evening!   But it was getting dark and I had to get my rental car and drive an hour to a place I had never been, so I didn't dawdle.  Instead, I vowed to get back to the airport early on Saturday so I'd have time to check it out.

Fast forward past a wonderful visit with my college roommate and her family, followed by an exhausting yet exhilariting conference, and I was back in the airport on Saturday evening with hours to spare before my redeye flight back home.  I didn't photograph everything - there was simply too much - but I did pick a couple of things to share with you.  First of all, the quilt blocks:

I'm going to make a butterfly block like that some day!

The toy machines:

I'd love to get my hands on a toy machine!

The clever thread/scissor/pin holders - I love these birds!

I wonder if I can get someone with a table saw to cut some birds out for me...

The chatelaine's (I just read a book where part of a chatelaine was uncovered at an historical archeological site, and I wasn't quite sure what it was - now I know!)

If you fly through SFO anytime soon, I encourage you to mosey on down to Terminal 3 to see this for yourself.  And to think, there were people who hopped on the moving sidewalks to bypass this treasure trove!  I overheard one woman say with a sniff, "I don't think many people have time to still sew."  If only she knew!  I was so hoping that she'd be the one seated next to me while I worked on quilting my Good Fortune Lil Twister quilt on the plane ride west.

The front

The back

When I got home, the kids and hubby had cleaned the house and there were hugs, kisses and presents waiting for me.  I spent the afternoon helping Jason make his own travel pillow for our road and plane trips later this summer.  I'm sure Donald will want one at some point, too.  Jason's is flannel, for extra soft snuggliness.  I thought he'd want it to travel, but he's been wearing it around the house...

We made his a little bit smaller than mine, flannel, with a black back.

He has been wearing it ever since he finished it!

He says it is so comfortable he could sleep standing up.  Clown!

Someone asked if I had a pattern, and I don't.  I looked for one online, and there are several, but I just drew my own.

California bound!

You guys sure are good at making someone feel better - thanks!  My kids are good at it, too - Thank God for them!  On the way to the bus stop yesterday morning, they were singing Travis Tritt's "It's a Great Day To Be Alive" song at the top of their lungs.  How can I feel blue when I'm being serenaded by such cuties with such a wonderful message?

I'm leaving for the airport as soon as I log out - headed to California to present at a conference and college fair at Stanford.  I'll get the chance to reconnect with one of my college roommates tonight just outside San Francisco - yay!  I hate that we live a continent apart, but we actually see each other about twice per year, which isn't bad.

But I have long flights ahead of me.  I always envy the people with the neck pillows, but I'm too cheap to buy one.  Today, I took matters into my own hands and made one. 

I've been wearing it around the house all morning.  So far, it is pretty darned comfortable!  I think I want to make a patchwork one next...

I also sandwiched the Good Fortune Lil Twister quilt with this fun fabric - I had exactly enough, which to me was a sign that this was the right one and to stop pulling out everything in my stash to audition:

I'm taking it with me and praying that airport security doesn't take my safety pins and quilting needles.  Even though the baby isn't due until July, I found out yesterday that the baby shower is the first weekend in June.  Gotta get crackin"!  And just in case TSA robs me again, I have 4 books and my toothbrush needle and rag rug materials to work on, too.  By golly, I'm going to get SOMETHING done while I fly the friendly skies.

Have a great weekend, and to all you mothers out there - YOU ROCK!

Feeling blue

I'm feeling a bit blue today.  It is probably partially the weather - the sun has only been out for about 3 hours total in the last 5 days.  But it is also partially all the BAD that happens in the world.  You already know about my young, new dad co-worker who was diagnosed with ALS.  I wish they would hurry up and find a cure because he's a great guy, and his family needs him.  I support him as much as I can at work and through his website, but I wish there were more I could do.

Then, two weeks ago or so, there was that drive-by shooting in Seattle.  That shouldn't affect me much living in Virginia, right?  Wrong.  The girl who was killed was the girlfriend of my uncle's girlfriend's son, a family that has been in my life for over a decade.  So while I didn't know Nicole Westbrook, I'm really hurting for her boyfriend who held her as she died, and his mom who just wants to take the pain away for her son, and my uncle, who is surrounded by grieving people.  To say nothing of Nicole Westbrook's family.



Then, last night, my husband told me that the younger brother of one of his former players has leukemia.  This is a kid I saw regularly for 4 years, a kid named Zippy whose zest for life matches his name, a kid whose adult life hasn't even begun yet.  Again, I wish I could help, but what can I do?  I can donate money, and I can make a quilt, so that is what I started last night.  I'm hoping to make something like this Fading Charms Quilt, but with larger squares so I can get it together faster.  We'll see.

On a happier note, I did finish putting the borders on my Good Fortune Lil Twister quilt last night AND I straightened up my sewing room a bit so that it doesn't so much look like a real twister hit it.

Anyone know a good joke to cheer me up?

Winning attitude

I've had to check my attitude a bit this past week.  Things haven't quite gone according to plan.  But I'm proud of myself for seeking and latching onto that ever-present silver lining.

First, lots of great ideas for names for the Charm Quilt.  The Random Number Generator selected commenter #11, Colorslut, as the winner of the 25 Charm Squares from me, which will be going out in the mail soon.

But before the name could be decided, there was a minor incident.  You see, my washer is on the blink again, so I brought the quilt to town with me to wash at the laundrymat along with the rest of my laundry.  I thought I'd be fine since I always pre-wash my fabrics, but I brought a couple of Shout Color Catchers to throw in, just in case.  Of course, I forgot that not all the  Charm Squares came from my stash, so some of them were from fabric that had never been washed.  And wouldn't you know it, some of the fabrics ran.  Not a lot, just enough to annoy me, and here I was, at a laundrymat half an hour from my home and a tight schedule and no extra color catchers, etc.  I had no choice but to take the quilt home with me.

I did a quick search online before leaving town, though, to see if there was something I should buy and soak the quilt in to fix the problem before drying the quilt.  Someone mentioned RIT Color Remover.  OK, I know where to find that, so I picked it up on my way home.  I put the quilt in some water to soak with this Color Remover, sure that soon my quilt would be back to its former glory and all clean and crinkly to boot.

WRONG!

Here's the before picture:

Here's the after picture:

I didn't cry.  I didn't cuss.  I didn't vomit, even though I felt a bit ill when I saw just how many COLORS had been REMOVED from my newly completed quilt and how unevenly they were removed.  Instead, I reassured myself that at least now, I would get to keep a quilt that I had made, since there was no way I was going to give something this UGLY to someone else.  My hubby made a great point - that it could be my home theater cuddle quilt since it is so dark down there that no one would be able to see it.  Now, I'm just kinda wishing I had ruined a larger quilt...but not really.

So now, I'm having no problems coming up with names for this puppy...

All Washed Up

 Faded Dreams

 Butt Ugly

I could go on and on...

Live and learn, right?  Any of you have some TRIED AND TRUE methods to share with me to get just a tiny bit of color running out of a quilt top without going all Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor from Home Improvement on it like I did?

The week wasn't all ugly.  I took Friday off to attend the first day of our annual Guild Quilt Retreat.  My checkboard flimsy

turned into this:

I was surprised at how quickly it went together, but also at how much the top shrank down.  What started out at 40.5" x 36" is now 22" X 25".  There was quite a bit of leftover fabric that COULD have been waste, but not for this Bonnie Hunter protoge!  I cut down what I could to make a pieced border (which I hope to get on there tonight), and the rest went into my 1.5" squares tin.  And being famous for being a scrap collector, many of my fellow retreat-ers gave me their leftovers as well.  I was able to add lots of variety to my 1.5", 2" and 2.5" squares tins.  And I'm happy to say I got it all trimmed up while I was there, so no scraps that still needed cutting came home with me.

Saturday was another "look for the silver lining" day.  I was invited to be a vendor and demonstrator at the Old Middlebrook Village Day in a nearby town.  It is an old-timey event with live music, food, and crafters.  I went last year, too, and it was lots of fun for not just me, but my kids, too.  Wouldn't you know it - it rained ALL DAY LONG!  A few hardy souls came out, but mostly it was just us vendors huddling under our tents, trying to stay warm and dry.  I'm so glad I was a hand-quilting demonstrator - not only did my quilt keep me warm throughout the day, but I also was able to make some progress quilting my Pick and Choose quilt.  Plus, I did sell a couple of things, enough to buy the kids and myself lunch and make a couple purchases from other vendors.  So, I spent a day sewing while my children cavorted about having a ball, and I made enough to break even on the day.  That's not all bad, right?

I will say that yesterday I did nothing except eat, nap and read.  After all the disappointment of the week, I needed some time to recharge my batteries so I could come to work with a winning attitude today.

All prepped and ready to go!

This is a high stress week at work.  We have our Accepted Students' event on Wednesday, and since there are many students we've admitted who can't afford to get here to see the school on their own, I've been playing travel agent to bring about 40 families from around the country to campus at our expense.  Which would be fine if the blasted kids wouldn't keep changing their minds and their plans!  Every time I think I have everything done, I get an email or a phone call that throws my best-laid-plans right out the window.

This kind of stress calls for therapy.  Sewing therapy.  Our quilt guild's annual retreat is coming up May 4 and 5, and we will be making quilts with the Lil Twister tool.  You know, this kind of quilt:

Photo borrowed from http://www.quilters-connection.com/classes.asp

My cousin will be having his first baby in July - this seems like a perfect way to knock out a quilt for the newest member of the family.

Is it true for you, too, that one of the hardest part of making a quilt is fabric selection?  I thought I'd make it easy by using some of the Good Fortune charms that I won from Linda a while back.  After all, Good Fortune is a great name for a baby quilt!  But I only really wanted the oranges and the greens and a touch of light blue.  Once I took out the purples and dark blues and pinks and grays from the Charm pack, I didn't have enough.  Into the stash I went, and found a darker orange and a darker green to sprinkle in there for POP.  And there was one orange piece from a City Weekend Charm Pack that seemed to go well, too, so I threw it in there.  And then, of course, I stalled out at border time.  It's pretty scrappy looking, which means I'll probably love the end result, but will my cousin?

Back to the drawing board.  I decided on a safer alternative for the baby - perhaps I'll make that other version for myself!  I alternated all of those purples and blues from the Good Fortune charm pack with a white.

There are some really fun fabrics in here.  Two of my favorites are:



Anyway, I am super impressed with myself that I am ready for the retreat nearly two weeks early!  Now, I just need to get ready to face the rest of this week at work.  If you don't hear from me, send survival thoughts my way.