The Hospital Gown quilt

Memaw, my maternal grandmother, is the one who taught me to love thrift shops.

At one point, the thrift shop in our little town had a whole bunch of hospital gowns, which she bought, and sewed into a bunch of little quilted pads (which came in handy as crib pads) and at least this one quilt, side 1:


Side 2:


Just simple strips, but it packs a graphic punch. I love this quilt. My middle kid has claimed it as "his" quilt.

There's progress, albeit slow, on Rocket Ships. I'm quilting around the ships close to the applique with navy, which disappears into the background, and then further out with variegated thread. I'll probably do another round with the applique. I have NO idea what to do in the sashing...


Closeup:


Gratitudes:
1. That nobody in our house has gotten the flu
2. variegated thread
3. decaf coffee
4. cordless phones

Rocket ships

So, the rocket ships quilt got pieced and sandwiched yesterday.
Here's a photo of the top:


And here it is sandwiched and rolled - the dents are from the cats sleeping on it:


I've quilted around 3.5 rocket ships so far. When I went to start, I had NO navy cotton thread. Hmpf. So the mid-kid and I went to Hancock's after karate and bought thread, navy and some red perle cotton for his quilt. I still don't have the variegated thread I want - I think I'll have to stop by the LQS on Monday to see if they have any that would work.

Living near DC, there's a lot of [FREE!!] wonderful stuff, but we too rarely take advantage of it. I didn't find out about the quilt show at the Renwick until about 4 days before it closed, so I didn't make that one. Not this time! Look at this: A Stitch in Vine: Botanical Quilts, a textile show at the U.S. Botanic Garden. Not only that, but it runs at the same time as the orchid show!!!!!!!

Gratitudes:
1. My ankle is better - doesn't hurt so much, even though I don't have full range of motion back.
2. Watching TMOTH teach the mid-kid how to work on his Pinewood Derby car (the race is tomorrow and the car needed to be done today)
3. Sponge-Bob Squarepants and the Backyardigans
4. Seed catalogs

Applique rockets nearly finished!

Two blocks left to finish; the rest are done! I started sewing some of them together with the planet fabric; it's really really cool.

edit - APPLIQUE DONE!!!

On the down side, I sprained my ankle today. It turned under me as I was walking out to get the paper with the dogs. Sitting on the driveway, all I could think about was how long it would take TMOTH to miss me if I'd broken it. Just sprained, along with a scraped knee and hand. I went to work so I could go to lunch with a friend, but I think tomorrow will be a sick day if it's not a snow day.

Gratitudes:
1. Only a sprain, not broken
2. Left side, so I can drive - especially since I switched to the van today, the automatic
3. Juicy gossip at lunch
4. Thread on sale again - along with notions 50% off, so another bobbin holder that really works!

A day of quilting

We had a "quilting day" today, at the Universities of Shady Grove. (It's an off-campus site that offers classes from a number of universities from around the region). The classroom was great - it had outlets at each desk and comfortable chairs. The only drawback was we couldn't eat in the room. (Coffee was OK, at least!) It was a kind of mini-retreat.

There were about a dozen women there from our guild. All were working on different things. I mostly worked on the Rocket Ships quilt. I worked on another baby quilt, but somehow managed to screw up one of the blocks - and I didn't notice it until I'd sliced the nine-patch. Oh, well. I finished four more Rocket Ship blocks, and have four more to go until it gets sashed and assembled. I'd like to get it done in time for the show - if I can get the top finished by March 3, I'll send in the show form.

Serendipity, convergence, and Quilter's Home

First, a happy belated Valentine's Day to all of my blogging friends.

These are the cookies that are left over from the ones the toddler took to his Valentine's party today.

The Iris quilt is finished - and I think I will rename it Serendipity Iris:

Apologies for the crookedness - I couldn't get my holder to cooperate.

Why serendipity? I went to a talk on Thursday by Al Siebert, who founded and runs the Resiliency Center. The highest level of resiliency "is the talent for serendipity--the ability to convert misfortune into good fortune." This pretty much defines what happened with this little wall hanging. Because I miscalculated the size, I had to add a border. Then I had to decide how to quilt the border. I decided to try a random big stitch meander to tie in with the black squiggly fabric, and it worked better than I could have ever imagined. Even TMOTH, who is rarely impressed, gave it a "wow."

This is a close-up of one corner. It WOULD be the corner with the wonkiest border seam.


Now it needs a hanging sleeve and a label, a lot of time removing cat hair, and it's DONE.

Why convergence? I bought the March/April issue of Quilter's Home today, on the advice of fellow bloggers who deemed it worth the $5.99 cover price. (AND, I bought it at the grocery store on the way in to work for full price, rather than using my JoAnn's coupon!) In this issue, there's an article titled "Are You Creative?" Well, duh. Why would anyone quilt (or do ANY kind of craft, for that matter) if not to be creative? I know there are people out there who will only work from a kit, or use EXACTLY the colors called for in the pattern, and I actually understand the satisfaction of *making* something. I just tend to wing it more.
Will I buy the magazine again? Maybe - with that coupon from JoAnn's ;>)

On a sadder note, Phyllis A. Whitney has died. I doubt that I've read any of her books for at least 30 years - but in high school, I devoured all of her books that the library had.

My other, even greater favorite, from those years, Mary Stewart, is apparently still alive. I still re-read her romantic suspense novels from the 60s and 70s when I need some extraordinarily well-written light fiction.

Gratitudes:
1. FINISHING something
2. Plenty of chocolate for Valentine's Day
3. Half-price thread at Jo-Ann's
4. Time for reading - maybe I'll hunt down some Mary Stewart
5. Quilt retreat on Sunday!

A day of play

Today, I put the black borders on Iris and started the handquilting:

My lovely holder has claimed this one :)

I'm doing a big stitch with pearl cotton on the border to echo the black fabric in the rail fence:

So far, I REALLY like it - even TMOTH likes it!

Gratitudes:
1. TMOTH may have landed a part-time job.
2. Space heaters.
3. Pickups from VVA - I got about 4 bags full of stuff and the outgrown carseat out of the house today.
4. Winning my appeal with the insurance company. Small potatoes, dollar-wise, but still a victory.

Jill's having a giveaway for her 200th post!

Congratulations, Jill!
I posted a comment, then forgot to link to her blog. D'oh!
She has some REALLY nice things donated for her retreat. How exciting!

Potential tasks for my "day off"

I took the day off so I could ferry kids around to school, etc. while TMOTH has an overnight meeting. This means that I have from about 9:00 am to 3:30 pm to hopefully do something other than play Spider solitaire. The following are possibilities (asterisks are primary):

1. *Borders on Iris. If I get this done, I can pick up some pearl cotton before I get the later pickup kids and work on it tomorrow night. I've decided to do big stitch quilting on black to mimic the black with swirls that was part of the challenge.
2. Painting. I could potentially get the living room finished tomorrow.
3. Wallpaper removal. This has been unfinished for going on 10 years now. Time to git 'er done.
4. *Kit up Laura's quilt and Stephen's quilt. They can go with me to the mini-retreat.
5. *Put away Christmas decorations. They've been put in their boxes; I just need to put the boxes in the attic.
6. General tidying.

Gratitudes:
1. Being able to take the day off for personal reasons pretty much any time I need to. A lot of people have jobs where they can't, and I never lose sight of just how lucky I am.
2. That my brother and SIL-to-be take wonderful care of my mom. She's pretty independent, but has moved into their house, and everybody seems happy about the situation. I'm also grateful that I could hop on a plane and be in Florida in a couple of hours if necessary.
3. Ice cream sandwiches
4. Leftovers when TMOTH is away.
5. A 12-year-old daughter who's mostly wonderful. She stayed in the living room to keep the dogs happy while I took the boys to bed.
6. Plant City strawberries at the grocery. A taste of home.

What's on my bed?

Jen asked, so here's the answer:

A store-bought duvet cover.

On my list of things-I-want-to-make-when-I-have-the-time is a patchwork duvet cover. I even have some of the fabrics I want to use and the pattern in the planning stages. Maybe I should work out sizes and work on it next Sunday...

Chocolate roses

I had a vision for a baby quilt for a co-worker who just became a grandmother on Tuesday morning. I stopped at Jo-Ann's on the way home for fabric, got to work, and it's done! It was also a practice project; some things worked out better than others.

I wanted to use the disappearing nine-patch technique, so I made four squares in this layout, using six-inch squares as a start. The baby's a girl, so I wanted something feminine, but not too baby-ish. Fabrics are rose, cream, and chocolate.


Some slicing and re-sewing later, and it come together into this:


Part of the experimenting was the design, and I think that worked out very well. The other part was the free motion quilting - it went well enough for me to be willing to gift this quilt, but I can see EVERY little blip that's not quite right. A close-up of one part:


I'm going to make another one - I intentionally cut extra strips so that I'd have enough already cut for two and put the [hopefully better quilted] one in the show.

Gratitudes:
1. Toddler is potty-trained!!!
2. Really, everything pales after #1 !!!

Brickwork done

On Iris, that is ;>)

I did get to Hancock's for thread, and bought lots. (Lots for me, anyway.) No fabric, since it wasn't on sale today. I was standing in line at the cutting table when I re-read the ad - the fabric sale ended yesterday. :(

I cut out the chess pieces for John's quilt and started on those. I got 3 pawns pinned and started to applique the first one. This will be a pain, but worth it.

Gratitudes:
1. The Patriots lost!
2. A little quality time shopping with my daughter today.
3. Grapes
4. How easy it is to make French toast
5. Beautiful sunny if still too cold weather this weekend
6. Seed catalogs

Too small

Like many of my jeans, Iris is too small...minimum size for the Guild challenge is 30" x 30", and she'll clock in with binding at 21.5" x 33.5". Thanks for all the previous kind comments and suggestions - I may actually finish and bind at the size I like, then whipstitch on a quilted border that I can remove easily after the show. Or, I may just show it in its disqualified state :)

The quilting is going faster than expected - view without so many safety pins but with masking tape here:


I'm handquilting it; I'm using a machine quilting thread because I don't like the stiffness of the handquilting thread. I've got the horizontal rows almost done; I'll then put in vertical rows staggered to look like bricks. Close-up of stitches here:


We started the day with sleet here, so the county delayed school for 2 hours. YAY!! A couple of loads of clothes folded and either put away or delegated to kids, another load washed, a couple of rows of quilting sewn. Kids managed to be in a foul mood despite the 2-hour respite.

The Small Man had his 3-year checkup today. The doc was convinced he had flu or strep, because he was coughing, despite me telling her he was just coughing. The flu and strep tests were negative, of course. It's his birthday tomorrow!! My daughter was complaining because I "only" got him 4 presents, but good Lord, he has millions of toys that the older two have outgrown.

Hancock's is having a Super Bowl Sunday sale this weekend - time to go stock up on thread.

Gratitudes:
1. A super boss- he loved the carrot cake I made for this birthday party, and his wife wants one for her birthday now.
2. My church-lady cookbooks. I was worried about the carrot cake because of how it looked coming out of the oven, but they didn't let me down!
3. Healthy kids.
4. Peppermint.
5. Wren friends.

Much crocheting done today

Our Council meeting was today, so in the morning for the open session, I hung out in the overflow room and crocheted for approximately 3 hours straight, and got about 5 more rows done on the ripple afghan.

I'm now still working on the challenge quilt; the quilting on that is going much faster than expected.

I'm grateful for:
1. Masking tape
2. a new flavor of cough drop - Ginger Ale
3. The democratic process
4. A food processor when making carrot cakes

Iris

Here she is. Border pieced and sewn on, sandwiched and safety-pinned. Most of the flower's been quilted around so far - going faster than I thought.

Gratitudes -
1. Trader Joe's - Love that store.
2. Happy kids.
3. Oreo cookies.
4. Halls mentho-lyptus cough drops.

Photos, at least

I had a rather unproductive day today - the only thing I really accomplished was getting all the yardage washed. Not even ironed yet. I also did a couple of rows on the new rippled afghan:

You can see the blue of the lovely Kroger bag in the background. All of my grocery bags are in use as project bags, so I still wind up getting stupid plastic bags at the grocery.

I had ambitious plans, which still have tomorrow to be have progress on, but today I still feel as if I'm coming down with something. Plus, I had to go in to work - I got worried last night that I wouldn't get everything I needed to get done before my meeting on Monday done in time. If I hadn't farted around at work so much on Friday (or even thought of it then), I could've DONE it then. But no. I remembered it as I was trying to go to sleep last night, so I went in after lunch and was finished by 2.

I then went to the first of the never-go-to-on-the-weekend places, the Super H Mart. I love the H Mart. It's the huge Asian/multiethnic grocery with really good, cheaper on many things than the price-gouging regular grocery stores. BUT it is crowded in a third-world market kind of way on the weekend. I got my chicken thighs, fruit and vegetables, and tea and a lovely little teapot for my quilt guild secret sister, then waited in line for about 15 minutes.

Got home, middle kid informs me: "D's birthday party is tonight!" This is at 4. Party starts at 5:30. We HAVE NOT remembered to RSVP. Call D's mom in a panic; everything's OK and he'll be happy to see J. at the party. Mad rush to Target (second never-go-to-on-the-weekend place) for a present. Not sure what to get - D is developmentally delayed in some way so is not a normal 10-year-old. J. is sure he would like something like Legos, so we wind up with a big box of K'Nex and a gift receipt, plus "big boy underwear" for the toddler, who wants to wear underwear "like J." Wrap gift, find a card, rush to the aquatic center for the party.

Bonus here is that the room is WARM, and I get to sit and crochet and chat with the other moms for a couple of hours while boys splash in the pool (most of the boys are Cub Scout cronies). Come home, DH has NOT fed the toddler (he napped late and didn't want to eat earlier, to be fair to DH), so I make tomato soup and toast with jelly and celery sticks with ranch dressing. I eat a bowl of cornflakes because I still feel like crap.

At any rate, the heavens have aligned, so more photos are below.

My two bags of remnants. In the foreground, looking peeved at being disturbed, is Baby (we did NOT name her). We've had Baby a couple of years now; she was at least 10 when she came to live with us.


The next couple of pictures are each bag spread out on the bed. The first bag was mostly quilting cotton (i.e. if you are not a fabric snob):


The other bag had a bigger variety of types of fabric; some cotton, some knits, a couple of pieces of velveteen, etc.:


The little head in the back of the picture is my toddler, in "my sleepover":


Math error: I work up sizes in my little notebook; this is the design for my middle kid's chess quilt:


SO, what's wrong with this picture? Other than the messy room, of course ;>)


That's right. I added wrong. I'm actually great with math - it's arithmetic that throws me for a loop!

This is what I really want to finish the top of this weekend:


It's a challenge quilt for the guild quilt show at the end of April.

Finally, a brag on my kids' artwork.
This came home with the toddler recently:

The handprint reindeer is pretty standard, but that doll's face! and those straight lines! he's definitely his own small man.

My daughter drew this dragon - it's huge, probably 3 feet long.


Detail of head:


She's SO talented. This, I think the details are simple enough I could applique it...we'll see.

ETA - forgot my gratitudes...
1. Easygoing fellow moms who don't guilt me TOO much about forgetting to RSVP for their kid's birthday party.
2. My dryer. I lived for more years than I should've with a dryer that didn't work properly. It taught me a very good lesson about replacing appliances when they need to be replaced, not when they're really quite completely dead.
3. Raspberry sherbet.

Stash enhancement

I stopped by Hancock's on the way home because I needed Kona cotton to finish the mid-kid's quilt top. I got 1.5 (plus, more on that later) yards each of black, white, and snow. I was 95% certain I'd started with snow, but in the store it looked too yellow, so I got white as well. I figured I'd probably be happy to have white cotton around at some point.

Welllll, on the remnant racks, they had grab bags. My weakness, so I bought 2 at $3.50 each. I could see at least a couple of prints in each bag that looked fun. It worked out well - I will post photos soon, once The Man is off the desktop that the camera hooks up to.

Gratitudes:
1. That the ladies at the Hancock's cutting table are so nice. Today, it just so happened that all of the pieces of Kona were the ends of the bolts, so she gave me the extra length on ALL of them at no charge. At least an extra quarter-yard of each.
2. That I can be thrilled by a grab bag of fabric. I'm a cheap date, too.
3. Macaroni and cheese for dinner. The ultimate comfort food for me.
4. Sunsets and sunrises and kids that notice and comment on them. Nearly every morning, the pre-teen and the toddler discuss how wonderful the sunrise in; in the evenings, they look for the moon.
5. A toddler who sees vapor trails and crows "Rocket Ships!"

Squeeeeeeak!

I ran out of the sky-blue batik for the challenge quilt top, so I went back to my LQS today to buy a little more. Well. Nothing even close to sky blue on the bolt. No sky blue fat quarters. BUT, in the little fat eighth basket on the wall, two tiny pieces matching my batik. YAY! Hopefully I can finish that top this weekend and start quilting.

I found the camera, but now I can't find the blankity-blank cable. Crap, crap, crap. You'll just have to take my word about the loveliness of the work in progress.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. Tiny little pieces of sky-blue batik
2. A husband that cooks
3. Finding my iron with the retractable cord and the steam that works
4. Fluffy towels

Rippling along

The mid-kid's afghan will be very nice. Navy, charcoal, and red (which looks a lot less pink combined with the dark colors).

I have the light blue batik in my purse to match it so I can finish the challenge top and Kona is on sale at Hancock's. $4 a yard rather than the $3 a yard it was last week at Jo-Ann's, but not so bad.

I missed the quilt show at the Renwick. I'll try to keep a closer watch on the shows there http://americanart.si.edu/renwick/renwick_about.cfm#exhibits

Gratitudes:
1. That it didn't snow!
2. cats
3. The new heater in the bedroom
4. The Japanese iris fabric panel hanging above the fireplace

Accomplishments

A useful day today:
1. Finished the applique on the iris
2. Decided on a border and sewed about half of it
3. Started sewing more of the chess quilt together - it's going to be REALLY cool
4. Washed and pressed the flannel blocks - they're REALLY wonky, but I'm just going to put on the sashing and square them up and ignore the wonkiness
5. Washed and dried most of the new fabric - there may be still some hanging out in the washer
6. Put another row on the mid-kid's new afghan

Today's gratefulness:
1. Rotary cutters
2. Colored pencils
3. A yummy dinner
4. Sweatpants
5. No snow today
6. Seeing how happy all of the Wrens are to see snow in the South

Aarrgh.

I sewed down a stem and a quarter of a leaf before I noticed that I was sewing through TWO layers of fabric. Ripped it out, and started resewing. All pieces of applique are now pinned - I have a stem, a leaf, a bud, a calyx, and a petal frill to finish. AND a border to design, cut out, and sew.

I bought backing fabric for the iris today at Jo-Ann, along with some more black Kona cotton to finish the mid-kid's chess piece top. Also a remnant of fireman fabric for fifty cents! It's almost a yard! AND, last but not least, using the last of my 50% off coupons, a smaller rotary cutting ruler. I have lots of little pieces to cut for the tween's quilt, and wanted (not NEEDED, obviously) a more maneuverable ruler.

This computer has no working photo input. The spouse - who, to be fair, BUILT this computer and is usually pretty savvy - can't figure out how all of the ports are fried. So, to get photos off the camera, I have to use the laptop. The mid-kid is playing now, and I don't feel like kicking him off. So no photos tonight.

I'm grateful tonight for:
1. No snow today!
2. Schools opened on time, and little traffic meant an easy commute
3. A good friend for my daughter
4. Toddler artwork
5. Comfy socks

Materials for finishing

Big sale at JoAnne's. I went by there on my way home [early - it's snowing] and got some stuff, mostly for finishing:
1. Two cotton batts
2. Backing for the quilt Memaw started for me
3. Flannel to work up the flannel quilt squares (I think Memaw must've bought them at the thrift store)
4. Cotton thread to quilt the challenge quilt
5. A big square ruler for rotary cutting
6. A green fabric remnant

Today, I am grateful for:
1. A place to work where I can take leave because it's snowing
2. A husband who bakes cookies
3. New glasses that are RIGHT
4. Wine for dinner

More yarn for another afghan

The mid-kid thinks the holes on his afghan are too big, so I'm working on a ripple afghan for him. I started with the navy left over from the toddler's afghan, and added charcoal and a kind of raspberry red (I'm still convincing myself it's not pink).

The applique on the challenge quilt is nearly done, so I will soon have to worry about the pieced border. I have an idea, and hope it will work.

Applique flower pinned

I have one bit left to pin, then the sewing goes pretty fast. The tween drew a wonderful dragon, about 2 feet by three feet, that I MAY be able to applique on the center panel of a quilt.

Confluences

On our alumni listserv, someone posted a link to a technique that involved journaling gratitutes, so I started on this blog. Today, I was putting away fabric. Once piece was from a guilt Christmas swap that came with a bookmark. I put the bookmark into my copy of Simple Abundance, and the entry for January 13 was about gratitude.

So, today, I am grateful for:
1. Silk thread
2. Applique pins
3. Washing machines and dishwashers

#1 and #2 are directly related to starting on the challenge quilt. YAY! One leaf halfway stitched down. Design is based on this:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/curtis/images/50.jpg

Not much crafty today

I did buy two organizer boxes at the dollar store before I went to Trader Joe's and I got the piece of background fabric washed. Not ironed yet, or anything pinned...I WILL get it started tomorrow.

I went with the mid-kid to the DC offices of the Fox News cable show. It was a lot more interesting to the grown-ups than to the Cub Scouts, I think, but they liked seeing themselves on the monitors.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. Warm snickerdoodles and cold milk.
2. Living in an area near DC, which I don't get to nearly as often as I should. There is SO MUCH available to see and do downtown.
3. Something blooming downtown with an amazing smell. In January!
4. Strawberries in January.
5. Blood oranges.

50th post!

Don't know why I never noticed the number of posts before.

At any rate - back to G Street Fabrics today, THIS time with the iris pieces. I bought a lovely brick red (http://www.rivercityquilts.com/fabric/fabric-moda-9881-81.cfm) piece for the background - quite a large change from the cream I started off with. I may order more online - it was almost $10 at G street, but I needed it NOW or I'd never stand a chance of finishing by April.

Of course I bought two more bags of remnants. More scarf-y fabric, some nice knits, some horrible pieces that you wonder why ANYBODY thought it would be a good idea to make/stock/buy, even a piece of fake fur that may eventually become a bear. Fun, fun, fun. I then went next door to AC Moore and bought a skein of charcoal yarn to work on the mid-kid's afghan. I really need a red, but the only red they had was really bright, and I would really prefer a deeper red.

One of the list-servs I belong to had a thoughtful post about having gratitude for what you have, and not trying to worry about - or even THINK about - things that you really don't NEED to think about. Listing gratitudes was suggested, so mine are:
1. It's Friday!
2. That I can walk into my kitchen and make cookie dough.
3. Healthy kids.
4. A new shirt (although it is a little sad that an increasing portion of my wardrobe is the result of spilling coffee on myself on the way to work).
5. Fabric to pet.

My gambling addiction

No, not THAT kind of gambling.

I went to the fabric store at lunch for background fabric for the iris quilt. The fabric I meant to use is too pale; not enough contrast with the pale green.

Of course, I forgot the iris pieces so I couldn't buy backiground fabric at ~$10/yard without knowing it worked. What I DID buy was three remnant bags, at $1.99/bag.





Idon't know if you can tell from the photos, but they're pretty big bags. You get the bonus of seeing my clutter in the background. G Street sells quite a mix of fabrics, so I got quite a mix in the bags - and only maybe a fat eighth worth is quilty!! I did get a couple of nice small pieces of fleece, and a few scarf-size sheer pieces, and a piece that's just not quite dark enough for background - the olive green fades into it.

Guild meeting tonight

A talk and show by Beth Carlson. Lots of slides of England, and how it inspires her quilting designs. We'd seen a lot of the same things on our trip in the early 90s, but didn't always have the same impressions. For example, she really liked Blenheim, we were kind of bleah. She had one comment about the Bodlean (a picture of a carved door) while we could've happily spent another week just at that museum. It also bothered me that she just talked about William Morris as a "Victorian" - with no mention of his seminal role in the Arts and Crafts movement, which basically stood for everything the Victorians did NOT.

My secret sister gave me some coffee and a cheater panel meant to be made into a book, but I think it'll be a crib quilt instead, with some tweaking.

Long-time UFO

I was cleaning up my sewing area today (!!) and came across a baby quilt I started a long time ago. I don't even remember who I started it for. It's about half-quilted, and I actually found enough binding to sew around it. Of course, I don't have quilting thread the right color (white - how can THAT be) so it will have to wait a bit. I may give it to a co-worker about to become a new grandma, if it's "good enough." It seems a bit wonky on one side.

New Year Goals

All of the crocheting got done by Christmas, YAY! Toddler-boy's hat was too small, but I made him another one. TMOTH actually liked the funky knitted hat. Mid-kid is not happy with his afghan (it's a loose pattern with holes and "not warm enough") so I've already started a ripple afghan with some leftover yarn from the toddler's afghan; I'll get new colors so it won't be too much alike.

This year, I'd like to:
1. Knit socks
2. Finish the rocket ship quilt
3. Make progress on the other two quilts
4. Fix TMOTH's quilt his aunt made for him
5. Organize all of my crafty "stuff"
6. Finish the iris wallhanging project I have in my head for the guild quilt show
7. Post more often - I seem to be more focused when I write down what's getting done (and what still needs doing).
8. Sew some pants for myself!

Guild night is this coming Monday - that's always inspiring. I stopped by Capitol Quilts today and got a fat quarter and fat eighth batik for my Secret Sister and a couple of scrap bags for myself. I justify the scrap purchases because of the tween's quilt, which is most definitely scrappy :)

Toddler's afghan finished, Yay!

STILL weaving in and trimming loose ends on the tween's afghan.

Hats all done, except for a few rows on the mid-kids - his looks a little like a bucket, but otherwise, I like the effect of using two strands of yarn together.

Squares

I spent much of the day cutting out 3" squares for the pre-teen's quilt. I had a parent-teacher conference for the mid-kid this morning, then an orthopedist appointment for the pre-teen this afternoon. She's now in a cast - camouflage!

After the doc, we went by the fabric store for more black Kona cotton - I used it for the Halloween bags, so I didn't have enough for the black squares or black chess pieces for the mid-kid's quilt. Now it needs washed.

Long break, huh...

I spent a lot of time on Halloween costumes - easy for the boys, not so easy for the girl. She wanted to be a "kitty angel" so I made wings and a tulle skirt. I also made halloween bags, which turned out really well - I'm bummed that I only had enough fabric for the 3 I made.

I'm about halfway done with the toddler's afghan. Not much more progress on his quilt, OR on the other kids' quilts, OR on the challenge quilt. Oh, well. It will happen.

not so much crafting

We've had to spend lots of time on the yard after a nasty-gram from the county. We spend all of Thursday chipping [nearly] all of the sticks and piles of brush in the yard. We have some weeds to bag up, but then we're done.

I did start an afghan for the toddler - not sure if I posted that before. Medium blue and dark blue so far; it needs a light color I haven't picked out yet. Not beige...maybe a cream or an even lighter blue.

I have about 4 squares to finish for the toddler's quilt before I get to put the top together. I found DH's quilt that his great-aunt made that needs repairs in the boys' closet, so hopefully I can work on that as well.

I also got the invite to Ravelry, but haven't had time to do much with it. Looks like I'll need to set up a Flickr account, to start.

Done!

The mid-kid's afghan is done:


and closer:


I got the block of the month made for this month's quilt guild meeting:


I'm seeing this in green...

I need to make some bags...

We went to Trader Joe's tonight after the spaghetti dinner and I bought one of their canvas shopping bags. A very nice bag, but $2.99!!! Since I use them more for WIPs than for shopping, I have a little more leeway in what type of fabric I can use.

I went to the Bethesda Quilters' show on Friday. A small show, but some very nice quilts. No vendors at the show, but a super white elephant sale. Big ziplocs of fabric scraps for $1.00 (I got two). Small cuts of fabric for $1.00 each (I got two approx half-yard cuts). One is a cream with white design that just makes my heart go pitter-patter.

I also bought a floor-standing oval hoop for $10.00. Now I just need to shovel the junk off the living room floor so I can use it.

The ugly quilt is almost finished. I have two more hearts to quilt, then about a foot on each end to decide what to do with, finishing the edge, and I'm done. The mid-kid's afghan is almost done, too. Just some edging left. No evil ends to weave in on this one - I'm just crocheting over the ends to finish.

Ravelry

Getting closer...

From Ravelry:

Found you!

• You signed up on July 23, 2007
• You are #19915 on the list.
• 4844 people are ahead of you in line.
• 14350 people are behind you in line.
• 43% of the list has been invited so far

Wahoo!!

A wonderful, wonderful weekend

First the Shaker Forest Festival (info on my food blog).

Most of today we had to spend outside - the little dictator decided that it must be so. It was the best idea anyone could have had. I pulled some weeds, killing my left arm with scratches from the bindweed.

At any rate, the crafty progress consisted of:

1. Getting all of the fabric washed. This was
--the planet fabric for the toddler's quilt
--the fabric for the quilt guild challenge quilt
--pumpkin placemat fabric

2. Buying beeswax at the festival. REALLY helps with thread breakage.

3. Finishing quilting the center motif on the ugly quilt, and starting the edges.
--top:


--back (that's my ancient sewing box on top):


--quilt with Cookie:


--felt heart template (thanks to a tip heart at the quilt guild):


--quilting shows up better on the back:


4. Drawing templates from leaves for a fall table runner:


5. Helping TMOTH refinish our dining room table. (OK, all I did was help carry it outside, but that counts.):
--Sanding:


--In progress:


--TMOTH:


6. Inspiration- not sure what chewed up these walnut leaves, but they sure look pretty that way:

Afghan milestones

The hexagons are all together and the border is done! Now all I have to do is finish tucking and trimming all of the little ends from joining the hexagons. Why the heck I didn't do that as I was joining them I will never know.

I was also able to get a skein of black yarn 40% off at Jo-Ann's today. That should be enough to finish the mid-kid's afghan. It's about half-done now. I managed to make it out of there under $20; surely a minor miracle. I got a yard of cream for the background for our guild challenge quilt, some orange for pumpkin placemats, a couple of clearance remnants, and some big safety pins. Everything on sale! Everything I needed! (Well, except for the $0.34 remnant that will likely turn into a bag.)

The ugly quilt is progressing. I should finish quilting at least the center motif this weekend, even with the busy schedule. Shaker Forest Festival this weekend! WOO HOO!!!

Progress on many fronts-

- Only about 8 motifs and 4 half-motifs until I can start edging the pre-teen's afghan.
- The mid-kid's afghan is about half done.
- I got a couple of new animal prints for the toddler's quilt and finished another block. I bought some cool space fabric to finish it with a couple of weeks ago with a 40% off coupon.
- I almost finished the back for the ugly quilt this weekend - I ran out of light and thread (now I know that it IS possible to run out of white Dual Duty Plus!
- I bought more thread and a bulb for the sewing machine!!!
- I bought a pattern and fabric to make pants. One of my few remaining work pants busted out the zipper last night.
- I bound off the knitting for TMOTH's Christmas hat.

The rotary cutter

is a wonderful tool. I faced my fears yesterday and cut some strips to finish the back of the ugly quilt. I still have respect, though. It's clearly sharp as the devil, and I'm appropriately compulsive about keeping it away from the kids. So far, I've only used it in the bedroom when they didn't even know it existed, and will probably keep it that way.

Ever closer....

Since the pre-teen is having a sleepover tonight, I got some more work done on her afghan. It will be lovely when done.

I stopped into the quilt shop this afternoon and picked up two more animal prints for the rocket ship quilt. Now I just need to work on it!

I made this pincushion out of a thrifted teacup last week.
A generous freecycler (Thanks, Diana!) gave me the piece of green velvet to try out the idea, and I really like how it turned out. This will be a gift for my secret sister in the quilt guild.



Pictures of the "other" quilt parts:


The star with the sashing added (Cookie is not happy about being pushed aside for mere fabric) and a close-up of the purple. So happy!The dotty green I got to use to make a ruffled binding. If I'm going to go girly, I might as well go all the way! I also plan on a pieced backing, using a large-ish piece of the red flower fabric for the center.

Close to done

The pre-teen's afghan is almost finished. All of the lavender motifs are done, and all but two are attached to the body of the afghan. The mid-kids is about half-way done. I still need to decide on colors for the toddler's, AND work some more on his quilt, AND work on quilts (eventually) for the other two kids.

I got a piece of velvet off Freecycle to make a pincushion for my Secret Sister in the quilt guild. I hope I like it; otherwise I'll have to come up with something else to do for September.

A few inches at a time

Is how the mid-kid's afghan is coming. I can work on it when the pre-teen's around, but not on hers.

I fiddled around with some of the fabrics for the quilt back today.

The problem is that I have this super-duper new rotary cutter, since it's just straight strips that I need. I'm afraid of the rotary cutter. I think I just need to try it, even once, and I'll get over it. But so far - nope. Sigh. I'm such a wimp.

More thrifting success

Seems as if I've gotten more books than actually gotten stuff done lately, although the afhans are both progressing.

I found a "new" (to me, anyway) a couple of weeks ago, run by Life4Animals. Last week I found:
1. Cross-stitch patterns in color (29 cents)
2. an issue of Classic Cross-Stitch (29 cents)
3. size 6 circular knitting needles (99 cents)
4. Cross-Stitch Bazaar (25 cents)
5. American Quilts and How to Make Them (99 Cents)

and yesterday: Illustrated Guide to Crochet (99 cents)

I really need to just get some scrap fabric and figure out how to use the rotary cutter so I can finish the star quilt.

Playroom progress

Really it's the sewing/craft/computer/playroom - but since it's all playing, it's the playroom.

Embroidery stuff started going into one bag.
One bin from the basement airing out - may need some Lysol.
More thread and bobbins in the thread box.
Presser feet from the thrift box fit my machine!!!
Buttons on cards in another bag; loose buttons in a button jar.

Not much other crafting - I re-read the sixth Harry Potter to get ready for the new one.

Thrifty goodness

I stopped by the Goodwill store nearer our house on Tuesday afternoon and they had a WHOLE BOX of sewing and crafty stuff marked at $7.00. I snatched it and bought it, only looking at the first layer or two. A whole bunch of quilty fabric, some printed panels with cats, some with horses, most of a skein of red yarn, a couple of presser feet (which I haven't checked on my machine yet) and more more more!!!

I think an employee at the Goodwill near work snatches up all of the sewing stuff and squirrels it away for herself - I often see things behind the counter, but not out for purchase.

I laid out the cats on the bed, but for some reason the pre-teen doesn't like it. I need to investigate why - I don't MIND that she doesn't like it, but she has a pretty good sense of color, and if that's why, I'd like to know.

Lots of progress on the flower garden

I took it to work today and crocheted while watching a videocast conference. Best of both worlds.

It occurred to me that I really need to list the WIPs - and eventually to figure it out on the sidebar. Anyway...
1. Tween's flower garden afghan
2. Mid-kid's red and black afghan
3. MY quilt
4. Rocket ship quilt
5. Beach bag
6. Pencil pouch for tween
7. Pillow (OK, all really need to do is stuff this and seam up the opening.)
8. Knit (hat? scarf?)

Planned...
1. Finishing my mom's quilt
2. Afghan for the toddler
3. More hats for Christmas

Finished this weekend: Another hat! A mate to MIL's hat for FIL - the aran fleck yarn and a thrifted brown yarn in stripes. Maybe photos later after kids go to bed.