Blocks

 Ive been trying to sneak few moments here and there to work on my super fun blocks.  I got some pressing done upstairs on my portable ironing board while the monster watched a race on tv. 

 These colorful blocks make me really happy 

 Ive got the square in square blocks finished.

Now I'm working on the postage stamp blocks. :) If only the hubs was here to take the monster out to play or keep him entertained.  I could use a big hunk of sewing time....

Jumping In

There I was very proud of myself for having my WIPS under control.  I've been working on my stars, I have the Buttercup dresdens hanging around.  There are three quilts needing to be basted and quilted. That is pretty manageable for me. 

Then I was cruising through the list of blogs I read and I clicked on Cluck Cluck Sew's new post...a tutorial?  I like tutorials.  Then I starting thinking irrationally.  

 I started thinking about my treasures and tidbits bundles I have had in my cabinet for the past year.  

Then I opened my bundles and decided I MUST make this quilt with these fabrics NOW.

I booked it to my washer to get the fat quarters in there.  Then I had to make dinner and do parental things until after the monster went to bed.  Once his cherub head hit the pillow I ran upstairs, turned on my DVRed Craft Wars episode and got cutting!  

I made some real progress.(and almost cut my hand off) I still need to cut my 5 inch strips and my 2.5 inch strips.  I love these fabrics.  I love the pattern.  I think this quilt should be our official picnic quilt.  

I love new projects.  I need a distraction to get me through the next week... waiting for a closing date is brutal! 

miscellaneous

I feel so productive, but I have nearly nothing to show.  I don't get it.  Maybe there is just a lot going on, but maybe i'm not really finishing anything.  poo.  I just don't know.   I have been making bags lately.  They give me this freedom to buy a hunk of something I find irresistible, and make something useful out of it.  And I've been giving them away, so that seems nicer too, that way I'm not hoarding 15 bags.  I would like to think the people that get them NEED them.  

 I just love the blues and greens.  Screams SUMMER to me!

 I love this one.  Its simple. The flower makes it perfect. 

This one is dang cute also.  

With HOLO coupons and sales these only cost about 5-8 bucks each.  

 I'm getting ready to make a star quilt.  I'm quilting along with some really fun ladies.  Last year when I made my barn raising I sewed along with my mother and sister in laws via a secret Facebook group.  Then the past few months my South Dakota friends and I were making snowball quilts together during our weekly sewing night.  This star quilt is a mix of both via secret Facebook group again, I asked a few quilters I know and it ended up being a group of fifteen of us.  Watching these 15 quilts come together is going to be a riot!  I cannot wait! 

I also got my sisters wedding invitations put together and mailed out.  I was planning to print out the envelopes but between the 7 month old pup, the four year old monster and the paper jams I had to wave the white flag and mail them for my sister to do on her printer.  

I'm counting down the days until the husband returns.  My sewing life is suffering.(and there is no one here to put the laundry away)

Making it up

i heart this top

 The hubs is gone.  Not as far and not as long as last time.  Still its not easy to wear the single parent/ cook/ yard mower/ quilter hats all at once.  Its a pain.  I've figured out a way to steal 30 minutes in the sewing room in the evenings.  I like it.  I managed to get this top sewn together. Wondering where the other  100 bow ties are??? I chickened out.  I just finished the sampler, and I just wasn't in the mood to make another giant.  So I decided to make two throws (its a big throw).  Then as I was finishing this top I realized I didn't think I had the attention span to make another.  I want to jump to something new, so the other blocks are going to my quilt friend Kristen.  She will do them proud I'm sure.  I just realized that my friend Kristen has transitioned from quilt 'student' to quilt friend!  Wahoo Kristen!!

what am I supposed to do about this jade plant?!  Help!

Also I've started another dresden.  I loved the little one I gave my cousin.... and I just LOVED making those little blades.  So I'm using my Buttercup layer cake to make a throw.  I thought the layer cake would be just like having four charm packs, BUT the layer cake yields 2 extra blades!!  

I've been manning the dining room table for this project.  Its good.  But everything has to be put up high so the monster we feed puppy doesn't grab it and take it to the backyard to trade under the fence with the neighbors puppy.  

I'm just winging it over here.  Heaven help me.

my FINISHED sampler

This quilt was one of my oldest UFOs.  I purchased the fabrics in the summer of 2009.  Using Around the Block by Judy Hopkins my cousin, Erin and I each picked half the blocks.(I picked alot of pain in the rear blocks.  Sorry Erin.)  We meant to do one block a week... taking us 42 weeks then eh?  psssht.  Its 2012!  I think for awhile there I was on track.  It didn't last.  After a year we decided to make a final push to get the blocks pieced atleast!  I did five one day, two the next, seven the day after that, zero the next day, and I finished up the week getting 12 done the last day!  Finally I had all of my blocks done.  Yep.  That was June of 2010! Two years ago!

The blocks were frustrating.  That is why it took so long to make it into a top and then another year for me to finally baste and quilt it.  I learned alot while making this quilt.  I had never made or sewn triangles before this sampler. I had never had to work through the frustration before.  I thought about throwing it away several times.  I said some not so nice things about Ms. Hopkins at one point.  If my cousin wasn't having issues also I for sure would have quit. I thought myself a quilt dunce until one day during the block making my cousin told me 'if this was my first quilt project I would have quit quilting'  

Now that its finished I love it.  

Now that its DONE I have dropped the 'from hell' part of its name.  

Now its just the sampler.

done

a can of paint I tell you!

last month, after months of waiting impatiently, the hubs finally spray painted this desk for me.  

i literally had the can of spray paint for a couple of months with no movement.  

then one afternoon i just started taping the seat and desk and BAM!!  

the hubs took notice and within 45 minutes the darn thing was finished! 

i am always shocked at how much i love things painted.

desk- free (lil sister bought it for two bucks at goodwill, then gave it to me)

paint-8 bucks

look these things up on etsy! 

psssht.  

mine 8 bucks!