Quilting Orgy

No Mom, not that kind.

I've been madly trying to make up for lost quilting time.  I've been sewing anything and everything that wants to go under my pressure foot.  Big or small, new or old, it doesn't matter.  All sorts of parts and pieces are piling up on my sewing table, all jumbled up in a glorious mess.

The HSTs are star points for the BOM I did last year.  Instead of buying the package finishing kit, I chose to buy my own fabric, so that my quilt wouldn't look like all the others.  As usual, I wound up buying much more fabric than I need for this quilt.  Of course, I can use it for other quilts, including my Jane Stickle quilt and my other fall quilts.

The little pink things are for the hearts quilt - my newest project.  I like to have a new project going to keep my momentum going on my older quilts.  When I tell myself that I can't start a new project until I have all the old ones done, my motivation to quilt completely leaves, so now I use the new projects as a jumping ground to finish the older ones.

The purple / orange/ blue/ green thing at the very bottom is my Wildflower Garden quilt.  This one is even older than the BOM.  I had a minor error on this block and ripped it, but for some reason, didn't manage to sew it back together.  Now it is done.  All the pieced blocks are done. I need to work on the applique on this project.

I've also been madly skimming through my Google Reader.  I can't just delete the whole and start over.  So I skim and keep all the ones with the pretty quilt pictures, and keep adding to that never ending quilts-to-make list.

The hearts quilt is actually completely pieced.  I still was not able to free motion quilt it.  My machine is very fickle with free motion quilting, and I'm not in the mood to make it behave, so I am hand quilting it. It is another small quilt, and I am hoping that it will be my next finish. I'm actually enjoying the hand quilting.

Weekend

It is very beautiful outside. Makes me want to spend it outdoors enjoying it.









It's also cool enough, that it energizes me to do something creative indoors. It's the kind of weather and mood that makes me feel like doing all of the things on my to-do list. All at once. Hard to decide.












This one is my favorite.

Quiltfest Progress

Let me announce that Quiltfest is/was very successful. I managed to finish three and a half blocks for Wildflower Garden. One of them gave me a lot of trouble. I originally thought there were 10-12 blocks, but there are 14, so there are a few more to go, but progress is being made.

I also pressed my rail fence blocks I make as leaders and enders. Don't worry, I won't show them to you individually, but I did give you a group shot. I was just trying to see how many I had. I made some more after I pressed them that aren't in the picture. Maybe it needs some more multi-colored / novelty ones.

I think I got as much accomplished housework wise as I normally would, only the guilt didn't hit me until I was getting ready for bed. I really should have made a project of cleaning something - the basement, the garage or the office (tiny spare bedroom). All three of them get neglected for the more visible parts of the house.

Because Quiltfest was successful, I think I will continue it. I will dedicate some time for one of those rooms anyway, so that progress can be made in that direction as well.

Quiltfest

A Quiltfest is going on here on the High Road. It means that I am giving myself permission to quilt this weekend, not in little bits of time I can sneak in around other things I normally do. No, it means that I quilt. And sneak in the other things. This doesn't mean I will have a finished quilt at the end of the weekend to show you, because I am sneaking in the other chores, reading blogs, playing computer games, etc.

I even cooked yesterday!

But there might be a quilt block or two. Like this one from the Wildflower Sampler.

What's Next?

I finished the pictured block before I finished the mini quilt. I was merrily going along making the blocks for the Wildflower Sampler, when all of a sudden the designer springs a paper pieced block on me. I haven't learned how to paper piece, and even though someday I may want to do that, I know I've done these triangles without having to paper piece. And I want to decide when I learn. So there. I had a printout from a magazine about what size to cut triangles, etc., so I did that. I may have made a mistake somewhere because this block doesn't look like everything fits well. I may have to remake it.

I then made the mini quilt and finished it, as I told you last time. This weekend, I got to decide what I was going to do next. This is a very hard decision, let me tell you. There are many choices of quilts that are in progress that could use more of my attention. I finally had to tell myself to stop wasting time deciding. I could simply pick up anything to work on - there is no wrong decision here. I decided to go back to work on another block of Wildflower Garden. Since I am out of kits, I decided to start with Block One, instead of working randomly. That would help me keep track of which blocks I need to work on. Oh yeah, and limit the decision making trauma on this and future blocks.

Guess what, Block One also has paper piecing. I guess the designer wasn't trying to trick me.

Happy Boy's Day

I received this beautiful card from Tanya in honor of Boy's Day. It is three dimensional. It was lovely getting something in the mail that wasn't bills, and to get one all the way from Japan was an especially wonderful treat. Thank you for thinking of me Tanya.

I'm sorry the picture is blurry. I think I changed some setting on my camera that is making a lot of my closeup shots blurry, and I don't have time to figure out it right now. You should see my flower pictures. I'll try to remember to replace the picture later.









Another Wildflower block is done. I really like the way this block looks. My eyes seem to fill in that green square. I am almost all out of the BOM kit, so the remaining blocks will take a little more time, because making decisions about what fabric to use seems to take an agonizing long time some days, and the following day, the same decision seems very clear and simple.

BOM

There is a quilter at work, and she asked me what I was up to. I was explaining to her what I was doing. I told her I was trying to do a little sewing everyday, in order to finish one block a week. I explained to her that it was originally a block of the month program at the LQS, and I had received some kit remnants, etc. All this stuff you know. You know what she said to me? She said,

"You do understand the concept of block of the month, right?"

I tried my best not to corrupt her like you have corrupted me.

I have recently become acquainted with BOM Quilter. She enjoys making BOMs, and she will generally show you the 5-7 blocks she has made each day. I make one every 5-7 days. I think we average out somehow. You can see hers and be inspired. You can see mine, and not feel so far behind. The exciting thing is that she is also making this Wildflower Sampler. I hadn't seen anyone else make it in Blog World. Anyway, I have two blocks made that I hadn't shown you. I was thinking I should maybe save them up and show them all to you at the same time, and maybe make you think that it was possible I made them all in one day. But that would take three more weeks, and you would all have forgotten me by then! Then you would come back the next week, or even, gasp!, the next day, expecting to see another 5-7 blocks.

Fabric Found

As I was working on the Wildfower Sampler block, I decided to look for the fabric I thought would go well with it. I had to look for it before I made up all the kitted blocks, because the fabric that is already kitted up is one quarter inch too small for the project. Aargh! So close. I found it, and it turns out to be both good and bad. It is good because the fabric is not a part of a kit for a specific project. It is a bag of batiks that is available to do with as I please. What this means is that I do not have to set aside Wildflower to make something else, in order to know what is available as leftovers for Wildflower. The bad news is that the fabric is in small pieces. There is a 5" charm pack, and I believe that every charm is different from the other. I thought that was good at the beginning, but now I wonder. I needed two pieces that were almost three inches. I am forced to make it scrappier than I originally planned. I think it will be okay. There is also a Bali roll, which is even smaller - 2 1/2" strips.

I think it is good that I realized the challenges this fabric is going to have for me early. I am going to have to save the kitted fabric for the bigger pieces and use the Bali roll for the smaller pieces, if there are pieces that small in this quilt. Don't worry, I also have bigger pieces that I used on the Beth Ferrier quilts that I can steal from if I need them.

As for the picture, no the flowers are gone now, but I haven't gotten a chance to photograph the flowers that are in the yard. I went to sweep the driveway and it started raining, which gave me reprieve, but not before reminding me that the lilacs were in bloom. I wouldn't have thought of it any other year, but this year, it smells like laundry to me!

Wildflower Block Eight

Here's another wildflower block. Doesn't Block Eight sound so much better than second block I've made? I've had some spare time this week - a big change of pace from the rest of the year. I've been catching up on the cleaning that has been put off all year. I've been anxious to start another quilt project, but I have been trying to limit myself to what I can do between cleaning breaks. Hopefully, though, it means you will see several of these blocks done this week. At least until I run out of the kitted fabric. After that, I have another kit that has fabric I could use for this one. I'll have to make that second kitted project, to see if I have extra fabric to use on this one.

Friday Block Party

Yes, I am quite aware that it isn't Friday but I am crashing the block party anyway. Wrong outfit, wrong block, wrong day, but I am crashing it anyway. Quilt Pixie has been hosting her Friday Block Party for several weeks now, and I have been eyeing it longingly. Wouldn't it be fun to join in and make a block a week?

I decided to go ahead and make a block. No big projects that will never be done considering my schedule. Surely I can spare a few minutes a day and come out with a block at the end of the week?

As luck would have it, my mother returned the bag of fabric that she purchased on Super Bowl Sunday. I'm not sure if it was meant for me, she might have told my brother to give me back my bag and forgotten that there were things still in there. I'm not asking any questions. The bag of fabric appears to be a kit for the book that I bought that same day. It is clear that it isn't the entire kit - there are duplicates of some block, and some block are missing entirely, but I figure I can start one. I randomly take out a roll of fabric that is bundled with a sticker that says block 10. Okay, decisions averted - I'm making block 10.

There isn't enough turquoise fabric to make the block - oops. No problem, I'll borrow from another block. Oops again, I manage to get too happy with the rotary cutter and need to remake one part of the block. None of the other blocks use this fabric. The amazing thing is that I was able to find scraps of fabric in my house that match wonderfully. When I ever get to finish Moondance, it won't have any fabric left, because I keep borrowing it for other projects.

It isn't perfect - I didn't think about those points having to match, and I'm not that motivated to make them all nice, but once I took the photo, it looks pretty good to me.