Lost and Found

This year I have taught two classes for the Beginners Sampler Quilt I designed.  This is the quilt I started as a demonstration for the first class.  At first I did a good job at keeping up with the class, but due to running short on the background fabric I ended up not finishing all the blocks.  Then I started teaching the second class and started a second quilt and things really got confusing!  I lost the center block as well as the remaining background fabric and despaired of ever finishing my quilt.

I had three blocks to finish from the paper piecing lesson, and two of these blocks from the templates lesson to finish.  The shortage of bakground fabric was the big issue as the fabric had been given to me and was purchased out of town. Yesterday while I was looking for a folder, I came across my little baggie of leftover pieces and my missing block!  I was able to finish up the paper piecing with the small pieces of background I had left, then was able to cut out enough pieces to finish these!  As you can see it was quite close and I ended up piecing two of the corners on the bottom block.  But now I'll be able to finish the top - Hurray!  (Well, first, I'll have to remove that one corner on the top block that ended up turned the wrong way.  How did I do that?)

Here are the first three rows sewn together with the sashing.  Wild, isn't it?  I absolutely love it, though I feel like I really should think it's hideous.  Definitely a throwback to my childhood, I think!

It's going to have an inner border of the same green in the cornerstones, then the final border is supposed to be that stripe.  I think I'll have to make sure it looks all right.  I'm kind of thinking the dotted fabric might work better.  Or maybe that wavy stripe.  I guess we'll have to see what looks best.  That's one of my favorite parts of quilting, how the quilt will end up dictating to you what it wants to be!  I really like how the stripe worked up in the blocks.  Especially those dresden plate - I think the stripe gives them a great effect.

Did I mention that this quilt was made totally out of stash?  Stash I acquired at half off the red-tag clearance price making it only $2.00 a yard!  Oh Yeah!

 

 

Wednesday WIP

This week I've been working on several projects, but my favorite is the Twister Lap Quilt I started two weeks ago! The twister ruler is really kind of fun to use, but I was a bit challenged in how I wanted to finish my quilt off. I thought I would just sew borders on, but realized that it would look much nicer if I sewed the border to the edges of the blocks before using the ruler so that I could have complete twister blocks around the edges. Of couse, because I did this after I cut out the center I mistakenly figured my yardage for the already cut center and I actually needed to sew it to the outside edges of the uncut squares.

Luckily I bought an extra yard, but I discovered that I was a bit short. I was only about 7 inches short, and had noticed that the seams didn't show much in the busy fabric, so I pieced the last bit out of the left-over 3 1/2 inch strip I did have. It worked out marvelously and the border looks awesome. I pieced the back today, and hope to be able to get it quilted over the weekend. I've got lots of quilts lined up - can't wait to get busy and get them all done!

 

For more great projects check out the WIP Wednesday post on the Quiltsy Team Blog! 

Grrr.

Nothing but frustration today. Had a long list of things to do, but still thought I could fit some sewing in. No such luck. At least I got the toilet fixed, though. Hopefully sewing will take place tomorrow, I've got projects to get going!

Trunk Show, Thanksgiving, and Seattle

What a busy week! Not much sewing going on, but a whole lot of driving, cooking, and networking!

My husband and I drove to Seattle to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of our engagement! We had a lovely time at the Space Needle, enjoyed a romantic dinner and I received a lovely new ring :). He is definitely a keeper, by the way...

We then drove back home, stopping to pick up the Dancer to come home for Thanksgiving. The usual 7 hour trip took several extra hours due to the horrid traffic :(. Then when I hot home I had to finish thawing the turkey and doing some meal prep. Up early the next dinner with a whole lot of cooking, eating, and hanging out with Two of our girls. Fun, but I was worn out by the time I finished all the clean up!

Friday was last minute prep for the trunk show, then Saturday was setting up, manning the booth, and tearing down. Unfortunately the show was not well attended, but I did all right. I had fun visiting with my neighboring vendor, Hannah, and admiring her wares!

Today was another trip to return our Dancer to school. Two more weeks and she will be home for a month! Yay! I'm looking forward to more sewing this week - I have a very special project that is almost finished and can't wait to show it to my friend/customer!

When did we start looking like old folks?  I never do like looking at myself in pictures...

Well, I've been quite the absentee blogger, lately, haven't I?  I've been thinking lately about why in the world has it been so hard for me to keep up on this lately.  Frankly, I think it's the pressure.  Pressure to have good pictures.  Pressure to be relevant, build links, have good content.  Be funny.  Be serious.  Post tutorials.  Don't offend anyone, but be interesting.  Wow. 

There is a lot of advice out there about how to build a wonderful blog.  And there are a ton of great blogs out there about quilting - (I would know because I follow a lot of them!)  And I think I got a little too caught up in the obsession of making my blog be another beautiful, informative blog, then became discouraged at the work and my own limitations on time, energy and equipment.  I started using a different camera, and the process of getting my pictures to the blog has become an ordeal in itself.  I have to use a card reader, then absolutely must do everything in a certain order or my computer will freeze up and throw a large tantrum.  Not fun. 

But I still love my blog.  It's a wonderful record of what I am working on, how I am feeling and what is inspiring me.  So I am going back to just writing.  Adding pictures when I have them, but not feeling like I have to have at least 3 beautifully edited and perfectly formatted pictures for every single post.  My pictures probably will include the bad lighting, messy sewing room, and definitely lots of the cute kitty that has joined our family.  I will write about working on boring projects, wonderful projects, and the things I make for other people.  I won't feel guilty about working on a dozen projects at once, because that's how I roll - I always meet my deadlines and sometimes I have to work on something that I want to play with just for sanity's sake.

I will also write about the weather, the everyday ups and downs of life, and my opinions on it all.  I want to share more of who I really am, and not just the painted pretty picture of an obsessed quilter.  Not everything in life is sweet and charming and pretty.  There are worries, struggles, and hurdles to jump.  My faith in God is strong, but yes, I struggle, too.  I want to be open about all of these things and not worry about what the world at large will think about me.  I think so often we feel like we have to have a facade up so that people don't think less of us, but I want to be honest about my life and the struggles I face, because I know that everyone struggles.  And we don't have to do it alone, even though we deceive ourselves that it's easier that way.  But it's really not.

Thanks to all of my followers, some of you are dear friends, some are my loving family, and some are the wonderful people who don't even know me, but enjoy seeing what I put up here!  Thank you to all of you who support me in what I do - good, bad, ugly, pretty.  Success, failure, always reaching for more, trying to find my way, my voice.  I love you all and hope that you will still enjoy my blog as I do a little restructuring.  As Pop-Eye says, I Yam what I Yam!