Swoon

Slowly but surely I've been getting back to sewing.  

I have been working on my Swoon quilt, and boy was that a lot of cutting.  Then there was more cutting to make the HSTs,  Then trimming and on and on.  

But I did turn my sewing machine on.  And I sewed all of the HSTs together then I managed to get one block sewn.  

It feels nice to make some time for myself in the day again.  

Strawberry Lemonade

Before we left for Michigan I was finally able to gift this baby quilt, so now I can share.  

I made this quilt for my friend Kristen's impending bundle of joy back in July.  

It was a fun project that kept my attention, so I finished it fairly quickly. 

 Kristen had been out of town and I thought it was a great time to start on this quilt so I wouldn't slip up and mention it to her while I was working on it.   I was feeding her cat while she was away, and I had to work hard not to text her,"the cat is fine, and your quilt is almost finished!"

 It was killing me not to gift it, but I was waiting for the sewing night that we would 'shower' Kristen.   I had to wait until the end of August for her shower to finally gift it.  I don't know how many times I opened the cabinet where it was stored while she was over, especially during the sewing symposium.   If she caught a glimpse she didn't mention it.

I spent days and days looking for a backing, and I couldn't find anything I liked.  I knew I had a perfectly pink ombré in my stash, and I couldn't get my mind off of using it.  So finally I stopped hunting and went with the ombré.  I love it.  I have never used a solid as a backing that I can recall, and I probably never will. This isn't quite the same as a solid though, and it felt like I was bending my own rules.

I quilted it simply, and I really love how it turned out.  

I think this is the last baby quilt I had on the giant list of gestating friends and family, which has seemed constantly lengthy for over a year.  In a 15 month period, I made 10 baby quilts!  CRAZY!

In other news:

I still haven't sewn...... soon hopefully.

Time Away

I haven't quilted or sewn in a long time.  

We've been away for a couple of weeks.  

Back to Michigan for another visit. 

her favorite color was red

 Last month we traveled to see my husband's ailing grandmother.  

This month we traveled to attend her memorial service.

 In the past six weeks I have been a wreck.  Going through emotional stuff, dealing with unkind friends people,  packing and unpacking, driving and driving and driving.  I've been cutting myself some slack, and thankfully, most everyone in my life has also.    

My Juki has been closed up for several weeks.  I haven't sewn anything since the last time I blogged which was Aug 24th.  

i only bought the batiks because lisa and i both despise them, and i kinda thought we were both being silly

The only quiltiness in my life has been a little fabric shopping.  I made a visit to a local quilt shop with my friend Lisa.  I also hit up Joann's and bought a few supplies.  

this is the traffic jam I hit on my way to pick up Lisa for our coffee/ shopping date.  i loved it.

  Hopefully the change in seasons will help me shake off this big run on road trip haze I've been in.

  I'm hoping to get back to sewing this week.  If it doesn't happen, I'll try again next week.