Sewing up a storm

I've been doing my best to sew a bit every single day during this holiday break.  I finished quilting my niece's quilt and got the binding on just moments before they left after spending time here for the holidays.

I'm working on clues 5 and 6 of the On Ringo Lake mystery quilt simultaneously.

And I'm answering the call for quilt blocks for the California Thomas Fire.

6 blocks - super quick with my bins of precut scraps

Just three days left of break - just three days left of sewing for hours on end.  How I love vacation!  Back to the sewing room!

Starburst

I have two design walls, but all my photos lately have been taken on the floor!  Time to clear up room on the design wall!  Rather than pull things off and put them with my other UFOs,

My smaller design wall has had these left over comfort quilt blocks on it since June!

I took the time to FINISH something!  Woo hoo!

I think I should have switched the yellow and green blocks in the lower right corner.  Is it worth unstitching?

What on earth took me so long?  I love this quilt top!  At 50" square, it seems a good size for a new baby.  Hmmm...who do I know who is pregnant?

I'm linking up with Monday Making and Oh Scrap!

Procrastinating

Thanks so much for the encouragement about my row for the Row By Row Experience.  I'm feeling much better about everything.  Now I just have to prep kits - in other words, cut, Cut, CUT!!  I admit to feeling a bit intimidated when faced by this 30 yard pile of fabric (and that's only to make 50 kits!),

so I sewed instead.  First, I pieced the May block for the Westering Women BOM by Barbara Brackman, The Platte River.

Then, when I got home after an 11 hour day at work, I treated myself to an hour of sewing at home!  I have a slight addiction to making these blocks that our Guild is making for our Comfort Quilt effort.

I haven't really liked how they look together, though, so I started playing with alternate layouts.  Perhaps some interlocking wonky stars?

We'll see.  In the meantime, I have some cutting to do.

Do you Row by Row?

I'll be honest - I've been a nervous wreck.  Upon the recommendation of a fellow shopkeeper who also has a yarn/fabric shop, I am participating in the Row by Row Experience this year.  It's been a bit of work getting ready:

1) I had to design a row based on this year's theme, Home Sweet Home, and write instructions for it.  My row is Blue Ridge Sunset, depicting the view from my front porch - the sunsets, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the dogwoods in bloom. (To be honest, the sun COMES UP on the Blue Ridge Mountains and SETS on the Appalachian Mountains when you are at my house, but I really wanted blue mountains so I hope no one will take umbrage at the liberties I took.)

It's one thing to make something for yourself or a friend, but something else completely to make it for public consumption (and critique).  I'm nervous about what visitors will have to say about my row this summer.  I hope they like it, but I plan to wear my "big girl panties" to work each day and just deal with it if they don't.

2) I had to decide whether or not to order fabric license plates, and if so, which to get.  I'm happy with my final selection, two of which are also appropriate for the knitters/crocheters who visit the shop, and I'm having fun thinking up projects to make with them, like this drawstring project tote bag.

It turns out this was probably a good investment as I've already had people call and order the fabric plates from me.

3) I'm most nervous about the fact that I am more of a YARN shop than a QUILT shop.  I'm worried that folks will come in and see my paltry selection of fat quarters and Kona Solids bolts and be disappointed that they scheduled a stop.  The only criteria for shops was that you have all the necessary accoutrements for making a quilt - the fabric, the batting, the notions, etc - and I do, I just don't have a lot of any of it.  But, I guess that if they come, they are really coming for the row pattern and I shouldn't sweat it.  There are probably lots of quilters who also knit or crochet, right?  Breathe in, breathe out, and stop worrying about it, Erin!

4) I still haven't kitted up my row, although I have written the instructions as well as a spreadsheet that tells me how much of each fabric I need for each kit.  The hard part is done - all that remains is cutting and packaging.  I'll start that next week.

On top of all that, I have two weeks of kids'  summer camp starting on Monday.  Next week we are making Molas, the week after is Crochet Camp.  Those will be some long days - fun, but long.

So last night, I put aside my worries over the Row by Row and summer camp and just went to the sewing room to SEW.  My Strippy Scrappy Flippy Happy quilt needs just one more column of blocks to make it 5x7, then I'm adding borders and calling it done.  You would think my scrap bins would seem more depleted by now, but no.

I also put together 3 more of these colorful blocks for our Guild's comfort quilts project this month.  Since I can't stay at the meeting to make blocks with everyone else, I'm hoping to have a bunch of blocks to donate - or even a completed top - by next weekend.  I just can't quite figure out how I want to lay them out...

On the agenda for today is making a mini mola pincushion, working on my Westering Women block for last month, and making a couple more comfort quilt blocks.  Plenty of time to stress over Row by Row in the coming weeks.

Lounging & creating!

This was my the first weekend in about two months that I didn't have company.  While I LOVE having company, especially my family, I think it is considered poor form to hang out on the computer or in the sewing room when they are here, so I haven't had much time for either sewing or blogging.  But this weekend...

The view from my porch yesterday.  It was a glorious day, warm with a nice breeze, and I stayed put out there for hours, sometimes at the cast iron cafe table, but more often lying down on one of the wicker loveseats!

I spent yesterday on my porch: snacking, reading, knitting, counting my blessings.

Then, when the sun went down, I moved down to the sewing room and got to work.  I've been working on blocks for my guild's Comfort Quilts program - they are quite easy and addicting to make.

I'm also finding these strippy flippy scrappy happy blocks quite addicting, too!  I think I'll finish this row and then add one more full column.  After that, I'm thinking a thin, orange inner border and a scrappy piano keys border.

Look at all the violets that have arrived in the mail from my Block Lotto winnings!

And finally, I never jumped on the Granny Square Quilt Block wagon, but I've been wanting to try one ever since I first saw them.  Of course, I didn't want to have to cut all those individual squares, so this was my first attempt, playing around with sewing strips together and subcutting.  I still need to tweak my process, but I think there is a Granny Square quilt in my future.

It's been a wonderful couple of creative days!  I'm linking up with Oh, Scrap! and Monday Making.

Quick Comfort Quilt Block

I've had lots of company lately, which means loads of fun but not much sewing.  Today, during a quiet moment in the shop, I couldn't stand it anymore - I just HAD to sew!  My quilt guild is doing a Comfort Quilt workshop in June, and while I can't attend, I figure I can at least sew up some blocks to donate.  I'm not sure what this block is called, but it is a super way to use up my precut 5" squares from scraps (cut down into 2.5" x 4.5" bricks).

Eight 5" squares plus 15 to 20 minutes equals two scrappy 8.5" blocks.  I bet I can whip up 2 a day of these most days, no problem!

One UFO done!

Remember I joined the New Year's UFO Challenge? I chose 3 projects to complete, and today I finished one. Yay! With all that was going on this week, I felt moved to finish the flannel "Love Crumbs" comfort quilt I began nearly 2 years ago. It is far from perfect - I goofed on one corner while attaching the binding, so it will never be described as having square corners - but I don't care. If it will make some little girl's eyes light up like the kids to whom I gave comfort quilts earlier this week, then it is perfect in my eyes.


(Do you like the action photo with the dog and the kid playing with the Batmobile in the foreground?)

I have to work this Saturday (of course, ugh!), but I plan to do some sewing this weekend. With so many projects in progress, I'm not sure what I'll do. I guess I'll just see what I feel moved to do.



And finally, I just have to say that the memorial service yesterday was both much harder and much easier than I expected. I am so proud of my strong friend, who stood up to speak and started with "I am so blessed." I was so caught up in what she has lost that I wasn't paying attention to what she has. Even in her grief, she is an inspiration to me. After the service, Jason and I stuck around until the place cleared out - Jason playing with his friend and me entertaining and being entertained by the twin girls. With all the grown ups talking, it was nice to be there for the kids. And you know what? My friend is going to be alright. She IS blessed - with a wonderful family, supportive friends, a strong faith, and 18 years worth of memories of her precious, special, first-born daughter - and she is going to be just fine.

Comfort Quilts

My guild makes comfort quilts to give to local residents during times of need. I contacted the person who coordinates the effort and told her about my friend and her loss. During my lunch break yesterday, I drove out to meet her, and I picked out some comfort quilts for my friend and her three remaining children. I wish I had photos to share, because these were some CUTE quilts. The people in my guild are not only generous, but also very talented.

For one little girl whom my son managed to hook in the head last time we went fishing together, I picked out the brightest quilt with lots of fish fabric and two adorable appliqued fish. For the other little girl, who is always wearing pink and/or purple, I picked out a cute pink and purple caterpillar critter quilt. At least, that is what I call it. The blocks are set to look like a caterpillar wiggling across the quilt with a 3-dimensional smiling face at the end of each. For the boy, I picked out another caterpillar critter quilt, this one with bright dog fabric, since he is always talking about the shenanigans of his two dogs. For my friend, I picked out a quilt that Mamanance made that I absolutely love. Here it is, prior to being quilted, I think:

Picking out the quilts was easy. Giving them was hard. When I arrived at their house with my kids in tow (for comic relief), one little girl ran outside and jumped into my arms, and right there my throat closed up. I hate that these precious little children are suffering right now. I finally gathered them around me and explained that I belong to a group of people who love quilts and who believe that wrapping yourself up in a quilt is like wrapping yourself up in a hug. I explained that we like to give these quilts to people to make them feel better when they might be having a bad day. Then I pulled out the quilts one by one and wrapped them around their shoulders while I explained why I chose each quilt for each child. They were the perfect recipients - their faces lit up, and one immediately smoothed hers out over her bed, and the other two wore theirs around their shoulders up until the time I left. Their mom was out during my visit, so I gave my friend's quilt to the grandmom and asked her to let my friend know that I was thinking of her.

While there, the grandmom also pulled out some professional photos of the 4 siblings together that were taken only about a month ago. It turns out, they haven't had pictures taken together (besides candids) for several years now, so it seems pretty fortuitous that they just had it done. They are such a beautiful, happy family. I didn't want to overstay our welcome, so after looking at photos, I went looking for my kids. The brother, Jason's friend, was wrapped up in his quilt showing Jason all of his sister's things. I asked what they were doing, and he said, "Oh, I'm just telling Jason all about my sister." My heart shattered right then and there, and I went back into the kitchen to cry and let them talk.

So yesterday was hard. I've woken up every night this week with a wet pillow from crying in my sleep. But today will be harder. Today is the funeral. My husband and I talked to Jason about how funerals aren't fun, but that it is important that he be there to support his friend. And I'll be there to support my friend. And my husband, bless his heart, will be there to support Jason and me. I know that human beings are strong and resilient, but I can't even imagine how my friend gets up each morning and functions throughout the day. Would I be that strong? I pray to God that I never have to find out.