Swimming Upstream

That's how I've been feeling lately, like I'm swimming upstream. The more I do, the more is left to do! As a result, very little has gotten done. I started marking my MQX challenge quilt, then had to stop to "erase" an area that didn't quite lay out right. Now that it's dry, I'll have to remark it. I plan to get that on the machine so I can start the trapunto on it next week. I've sent in the entry form, so I have to get it done! :o)

I should have lots of time for quilting in the next few weeks, my DH will be in Europe. Now that my older daughter has passed her driver's test, she takes herself where she needs to go, so now I'm down to playing chauffeur for one child...that frees up a huge amount of time!

Last week when I gave my friend her journal, I wound up with orders for several more! Today I ran and picked up the fabric for those, so will have to make a pattern and get started. I'm thinking of making a load of journal covers and a few other items (eyeglass cases, notebook covers...any other suggestions?) and getting a table at a few of the local fall craft fairs to see if I can make a little money with them. Once school ends in June, I'd have the summer to stock up on them. If they don't sell I can always give them as Christmas gifts!

Journal Cover

I found a journal cover over on Covered Porches and Wooden Screen Doors blog and fell in love with it. I have a party to go to tonight and decided it would make a perfect gift. So I dug out some fabrics and had fun figuring out how to make it. My favorite part is the fabric covered button I made to close it...haven't seen those in years! Thanks for the inspiration, Mel!

Still Sewing...

I should get a day off more often, I get a lot accomplished! After finishing the Heartstrings blocks, I noticed my blue nine patch quilt hanging on the rocking chair. Since it hasn't turned out to be quite what I envisioned, I've decided to call it done...and use the quilt as an opportunity to continue with Judy's February Challenge. Three yards of blue fabric was pulled from my stash and it became the borders and binding for the quilt. I even have the binding made and ready to go on! Then I pulled this incredibly soft flannel from my stash...5 yards worth and plenty for the back! So, that will be my third piece of fabric pulled from the stash for the challenge. Now I have to get this quilt and my sunflower quilt done by the end of the month so they will count!

I have Monday off for President's Day...wonder what I can do then???

Icy Day...

I've spent most of my day indoors...just heading out long enough to clear about a half inch of ice off of my car and my daughter's car. The rest of the day has been spent at one sewing machine or another. I loaded a customer quilt and quilted about half of it. Then I made a cup of tea and headed up to my sewing room. I finished the Heartstrings quilt blocks that I had cut foundations for, so they are ready to send off to become quilts. I love how the blocks look when they are put together. I didn't realize that I had made one block that was all pastels, it looks odd in with the others!
Mr. UPS man stopped by this morning and dropped off my Checkers order. These three books were in it. The Clever Quarters books have a lot of great scrap quilts in them, all made from Fat Quarters. I'm thinking the Lone Star quilt book will be an inspiration book...I can't see myself making one of these any time soon! The quilts in this book are stunning.

I love having a day off! I hope all of you who are affected by the winter weather are safe, warm, dry and spending this Valentine's Day with the ones you love!

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone has a very happy Valentine's Day! My day was made happy by a phone call at 4:30am telling me that we have a SNOW DAY!!! We got a few inches of snow yesterday, but it all turned to ice and freezing rain overnight. It's a mess out there! It's more of a rain/sleet mix now, but should continue most of the day.

Since I cleaned and did the laundry after work yesterday, that leaves my day free to sew! I have 3 or 4 more foundations cut out for Heartstrings blocks so I hope to make those today and send off the blocks I've been working on later in the week. I'll be loading a customer quilt and working on that today as well.

Enjoy your day!

Finally!

I feel like I've been working on these socks forever! The first sock was done before Christmas and I had hopes of having them done to wear on Christmas day. I'm happy to say they are finally done...in time for Valentine's Day! I'll wear them to school on Monday, we're having pajama day in Kindergarten, so it will be a fun day to wear them.

I did make it to the quilt show today and it's made me think. I was definitely underwhelmed by the quilts I saw there. It was a local show, but it seemed that many quilts were just large chunks of fabric thrown together and the machine quilting paid little attention to the style of the quilt. There was one beautiful basket quilt in 30s fabrics that was hanging upside down and the quilting on it was almost jarring to look at. There were, of course, many beautiful quilts as well and I enjoyed seeing them. It was almost impossible to take pictures because the rows of quilts were very close together. My DH and I were there for less than an hour. This show has made me consider the quilts I make and whether I'm just making quilts to use up stash or if I'm actually putting thought into the pattern. I love intricate quilts but they take a lot of time to make. Do I want to put that effort in? I know that I do, but often compromise for the sake of time. Maybe I'm putting too much emphasis on quantity over quality. I'll have to take all of this into consideration when I choose the next quilt I want to make! I still love the classics, which are simple blocks. I also love the string quilts we're making for Heartstrings. But I wonder if I really want to make more quilts that have you slice fabric, then put it back together with no matching seams and intersections. This could take me in a whole new direction...

Friday

Not much quilty is happening here. I've managed to finish 5 log cabin blocks and that's it! I do like how they're turning out, although I need to give a little more consideration to what I'm using as lights and darks. Some are very medium and could go either way! A busy weekend is ahead...tomorrow is the Love Apples Quilt Guild show and I'm hoping to be able to get there, but the weekend is full already and I'm not sure I'll have time. If not, I'll definitely spend some time in my sewing room! Have a great weekend...

Stripping...

I've been wanting to start a new project, knew I wanted to make it scrappy, but I'm so tired of working with the Thimbleberries strips that I cut last summer. After all, I've made two quilts out of them and have been using them in my Heartstrings blocks. But the colors are so boring....

Yesterday it occurred to me that Judy said we should pull a fabric from our stash and make something out of it for February...so why couldn't I pull a whole bunch and make my scrappy quilt more interesting and...fun! So, I spent last night and this afternoon ironing lots of old (very old!) fat quarters and cutting them into strips. I've decided to make a log cabin quilt for my bed for the summer. I don't expect it to be done at the end of February, but since I'm pulling lots of fabrics from my stash I figure I can take a little longer. The centers will be red and the logs will be all sorts of colors. While I'm cutting, I'm also cutting some strips larger than the 1.5" strips I need so that I can add them to the strips for my Heartstrings blocks to make those sing a little too!

So my bins are filling up...can't wait to get started!