ow. ow. ow. ow. ow.

That is the sound you make when both your legs are ridiculously sore.



At least it was for a good cause: the restaurant I work at has a "Greek Night" every two months or so, and for me, as its planner, that entails a lot of rushing and running and landing on an already bad knee. The Greek Night went well, but my knee hates me at the moment, and I supremely dislike it, for being such a curmudgeon.



I've been going strong on my hexies, and separating them into 30 piece bags (which, ironically, is about the same as a charm pack - haha, universe, haha) has actually helped me to baste more of them. It's easier to work on a small goal than a huge stack (although the stack is, admittedly, pretty to look at). And I bought a new, larger box for keeping my hexies-in-progress in - I've got a compartment for papers, a place for fabric squares, my pincushion (which arrived and is so amazingly cute), a place for thread and then places for miscellania. The only issue with it is that there's no latch to close it (and the compartments are really just paper dividers) but these are things that can be fixed!

My Wonderland has shipped! I'm ridiculously excited. I can't wait to get a hold of it! ... and promptly cut out a 2.5" piece of fabric as I do with every piece of fabric love I acquire. Of which I've acquired much more. But this is the last of it for awhile, I swear! :)

I'm off to take a delivery and then, luckily, join my boyfriend for Italian Food night! Who ever heard of eating pizza, spaghetti, hot wings (admittedly not Italian), and garlic bread all in one sitting? We did, apparently.

and sometimes it's tuesday

And you are at work, and there are lovely hexagons to be basted, and you are very, very cross.

...

Well, not extremely cross. How can one be cross, when they just ordrered a jelly roll of Momo's Wonderland? The perfect addition to a hexagon quilt and fabric stash in general? As you may know (or you may not), Alice in Wonderland is quite possibly my favorite childhood tale (seconded by The Last Unicorn, which was fantastic). How could I resist?...

But that one won't be here for another week, in my estimation. In the meanwhile, I've put myself on a strict schedule of basting thirty hexies a day! I've got a bunch of new fabric in - so I have plenty of 2.5" squares to cut - and there's more to come, so I'm forcing myself to perform this most tedious task. (Actually, the most tedious is cutting out hexie shapes, which I leave to my wonderful friend who enjoys it very much. One day, when it's finished, I'll embroider all our names on it - and she shall live in infamy!) That way, I figure in a month or so I ought to have them all done - sooner, if I can get my butt in gear.

That's all for this short post. I have hexies to baste!

plans and ideas

My fabric for the baby quilt - a bundle of Erin McMorris' weekends - arrived. So did the Innocent Crush. I couldn't be more pleased with both! Lovely fabrics. Innocent Crush I think I love more, but you have to laugh at the little bikes and lollipop flowers in the Weekends line. So cute!

I'm starting on the baby quilt tonight. Since my off day is cut in half tomorrow (I have to work in the morning...and then on my half day on Wednesday...), I'm starting after work.

I'm doing the "rectangle squared" pattern from Film in the Fridge (can you tell I love her blog?), because it seems easy to quilt (this one by hand, too) and I love working with easy, square shapes. Of course, wonkiness is fun, too...but for the time constraints, I think this is best. As soon as I get the top quilted somewhat (I'm thinking a quilt around 45"x45"), I'm headed up to Joann's to purchase some goodies.

With my income tax this year, I've decided to do two things: buy new tires, and finally get some of those sewing notions I've never had (and probably needed). Such as rotary cutter, cutting mat, and acrylic ruler! My mom always cut things with scissors and templates of card stock, so I always did that, too. So my list, at the moment, is : some handquilting thread (for the baby quilt, for the Innocent Crush quilt), a rotary cutter, a mat, an acrylic ruler, several yards of Kona in White (because that's the main color I use), and several variations of blue (for a quilt for my boss, using QAYG technique).

I ALSO took the liberty of ordering myself a cute little pincushion, made with Moda Wonderland's Snip Snip in glass. I felt like it was time for a new one :)

Off to work, and to plan! Then for some quilty goodness! Have a good weekend :)

I am now swimming in it

Fabric, that is. My packages came in the same day I wrote my last post! Even though I had to wait to run home, when my backup came in at five ...

and then run a delivery ...

and then take care of some other stuff when I got back ...

I finally managed to OPEN my packages at seven-thirty (it is TORTURE to wait that long), and I couldn't be happier! I'm officially in love with Modern Meadow. So much in love that I've decided the only thing to do with it, rightfully, is to make a big, queen-size quilt with it.

I've already decided on a pattern and worked out the blocks. Have you seen Film in the Fridge's "Rubik's Crush"? It's going to be like that - not exactly, since there was no pattern, but I think I worked out the measurements somewhat. Of course, I've decided to try it several times with scrap fabrics and see how that goes first!

I ordrered some more of the line (15 more pieces), since I intend to have it in its entirety. After they arrive, I'm only missing 5 of the Handpicked Daisies (excluding Grass), Acorn Chain in Maple, and Napsack in Berry and Lake.

But that project, as much as I am excited for it, is on the backburner until I finish a friend's baby quilt! The fabric is on the way (along with some delicious INNOCENT CRUSH) and I'm psyched to get started on it :)

In the manner of quilts already started ... I began quilting my couch quilt, and after doing a few lines, I ... HATED IT. It didn't look the way I wanted it to at all, and I must have basted it incorrectly, because it kept bunching. Not the machine's fault, but mine, so I decided to start over ... I got out a little quilting hoop, and began hand-quilting each square. So far, I love the look. I know I'm not nearly as fast or efficient a hand-quilter as my mom, but I think I did okay. Pictures when I'm not lazy anymore!

It's that time again - work! - but I'll return later!

Four thirty here I come

It's silly how excited I am. But at home ... rather, at my mother's home ... there are eight! yes, eight! packages of fabric waiting for lil' old ME.

I broke down the other day and bought some fabric I'd been wanting for awhile. I'd been sticking to only charm packs ... but I desperately wanted some of the following, and so I bought it:

1. Fat Quarter bundle of Innocent Crush in Charmed Pallete - I love, love, LOVE all the blues and subdued purples. I really do. So this one was a must :)

2. Fat Quarter bundle of Erin McMorris' Weekends - This one, actually, is for a baby quilt I'm making for a friend at work. I figured the pinks and greens and purples and cute details were perfect for her little girl - and now that I know the name, I'm going to embroider it on there!

3. Custom Fat Quarter Bundle from Fabricworm - Little Miss Alice. You may not know this, but I'm a HUGE fan of Alice in Wonderland, and I am also a huge fan of red, grey, and black together. So this was a perfect set of colors for me, and I snatched it up quicker than you can say "How Curious!"

4. Some Joel Dewberry, Modern Meadow - I wanted some of the herringbone fabrics, and then I realized, as I looked at the whole line, how awesome a quilt it could be. I'm still deciding on how I want to piece it - no small squares, for instance, I want the "picture" prints to be very visible - but I'm sure it'll be lovely.

5. Some Hope Valley - I only bought three or four prints, but I felt like they would be excellent additions to my stash.

6. Vintage Sheets! - I've always admired the vintage sheets that are trending the blogs now-a-days. I love the muted colors, the soft, watercolor feel of the visual. And aside from the "Little miss alice" fabrics above, I've wanted to make an "Alice in Wonderland" quilt with a little embroidery - and I feel like these muted colors will do the trick. So I bought them :)

7. Some Vintage Sheet Charm Packs - I got these to add to my Alice quilt, of course! Twenty pieces to a package, all different, was too great to pass up :)

I definitely made some purchases, didn't I? Now let's see how I'm going to explain to my poor boyfriend, who's already dubious about the closet full of craft stuff I have, how I needed these new fabrics? Wish me luck...

And so it begins

But not without having an awesome off day pass by, wherein I accomplish many things:


- Sewed three new blocks for my QAYG log cabin (yellow, brown, aqua)

- Basted forty or sew hexies

- Watched Sleepy Hollow (again) and put up the Christmas decorations

- Cleaned up the apartment a little (and managed to put back all fabric pulled out)...

- Took the boyfriend for dinner and enjoyed a nice, quiet evening :)


And this week, luckily, I have a half day! I think that I'll be taking a trip to Joann's up in Webster for some more batting and some coordinate fabrics, preferably dots and stripes in basic colors ... though I'll most likely take along my Heather Ross fabrics and see what matches up where, and take a small amount of those.

I also plan to FINALLY finish my "couch" quilt ... I need to piece the backing and quilt it, but I have so much 80/20 batting that I don't need to buy any! It's all in the house! I've just been too lazy to actually do it ... and lucky for me I have a wonderful mother who has mad handquilting and binding skills, which I do not yet possess. And when you want a quilt bound fast (faster than a speeding bullet! quilt in a single bound! or at least a couple hours), who better than her?

I also plan to put some pictures on this darn blog...I've got them saved, but I'm a "procrastinator" and I tend to put things off. But there will be pictures! I swears it.
Off to work now! Later days!

Crafty Goals of 2011

I normally don't make "resolutions" every new year. I think that the pressure to succeed in a year's time occasionally prevents me from doing so.

But I do make goals. Sometimes I reach them, and sometimes not. If I can scratch five items from a ten item list, I'm a happy camper! It means I'm making progress. So I decided to write myself a list of "crafty" goals for the year 2011!

1. Finish Hexagon Quilt Top. While this is certainly the most time-consuming project I've got on hand, it's also been something I can go back to regularly due to it's portability. It's been great fun, and I can't wait to see it quilted and finished! Although I'm only 1/4 of the way through...

2. Quilt & Bind my "Bird/Couch" quilt. I finished the top some time ago, but have been too lazy (and interested in other projects) to finish the quilting. It's meant to go on the couch...hence the name!

3. Finish Q-A-Y-G Log Cabin! I've only just started, but this project has gone by so quickly that I don't think it's going to be too long before it's finished. It's so easy to sit for an hour or two and whip up a couple blocks!

4. Get started on my Far Far Away quilt. I'm still debating on whether or not to order those last few prints from the original Far Far Away - pretty, pretty snails - and I'd like some more "foundation" pieces (i.e. dots/stripes in monochromatic schemes) before I really start making blocks. But even if it's not finished this year, it'll be nice to see some progress.

5. Buy a fat quarter bundle of Heather Ross' new line! I saw one of the prints from it yesterday - "Girl Playing with Horses" - and I think it's cute. I was kind of hoping for more princesses (I know, I'm boring), but I love horses all the same :). I have to admit my curiosity is peaked to see what else is going to be in the collection!

5. Try my hand at one bag or clutch, at least. For that matter, try my hand at any kind of project that includes or requires fusible interfacing!!!

So there you have it; my quilty, crafty aspirations. I'm super excited for this year, how about you?

two day break? o-kay!

So I had two days off this week. It's really a rare occurrence - some strange luck that another manager had to take my half day, two weeks in a row, leading up to it.

Let me tell you, it was nice.

I started it off with a trip to nearby Webster - it's the closest place with decent bookstores and craft stores (Barnes and Noble, Joann's, and Fry's all within a mile of one another). I didn't get much - a book of recorded ghost sightings, the animated version of Lord of the Rings (I was really hoping for "The Hobbit", but they didn't have it), and some 100% cotton quilt batting. This last thing I was REALLY excited about - because it was all I needed to start my quilt-as-you-go log cabin blocks!

Initially, I wanted to do the quilt from the Q-A-Y-G along - with blocks alternating white and color throughout - but I decided to go with monochromatic blocks instead. At the center of each block is a scrap of some of my most treasured fabrics, my Heather Ross! I finally cut into both lines of Far Far Away, and picked a little of each from all of the scraps I had gathered (Lightning Bugs, Munki Munki, Mendocino).

So while watching countless movies (an eclectic mashup of all the Resident Evil films and Jane Austen films), I managed to arrange several blocks and quilt four. I was working on one last night when I ran out of thread on my bobbin, and since I HATE threading the bobbin, I decided it was time to give it a rest.

But I'm rather pleased with my progress! I knew this would be fun, but I didn't know how much - I really love this method!! Fun, easy, and quick. I'm certain that I have more blocks than the original quilt along (56), I minimized the size to 12" per block to account for it.

I kind of can't wait to get home to finish the blue one I was working on ... and rent a few good movies to watch at the same time :)