rainy days and progress

It's been a really nice week so far. What started out to be an inconvenience - getting up at 7:00 AM to pick up my little brother and take him to his internship at the hospital - is beginning to be a blessing.

For one, I'm starting to get in the habit of getting up earlier, which is something I've been trying to achieve for a long time, but had difficulty doing unless I was forced.

Two, I've had much more time to sew!

- My Innocent Crush String Quilt is coming along nicely! I've got 36 out of 48 blocks completed, and I feel like that's a pretty big achievement. Only 12 more! I -did- have to order some more fat quarters of the line because the strings of fabric I'd cut out were nearly all "cool" colors and I wanted to have some more "warm" tones added. But I should have extra, which is good!

- I took some of my scraps and make a little ticker-tape quilt for myself to play around with the zig-zag function on my machine. It's so bright; I love it! Just needs binding.

- Also ordered a little bit of the AMH Innocent Crush Home Dec weight to play around with. Maybe for a cushion or something - who knows?

-Finished another block for my "Prince Charming" Log Cabin. I'm loving the way the colors are playing together and how quick the blocks are. Three down, 22 to go!

- Basted some more hexagons and pieced some more together. At last count, I had 2431 free-floating hexagons - not bad at all, I'd say, considering that I have approximately 700 pieced together. Definitely a "long-term" project!

I've got some goals for the holidays. One is to save money so that I'm not completely broke by the time Christmas DOES roll around.

The second is to piece and complete for quilts for gifts. A lofty goal, right? But only two are a "large" size, the third and fourth are medium-sized, and the quilting on these will be more on the "minimal" side, and done by hand so that I don't have to phenagle things with my machine. Also, most of the blocks on these are large, easy blocks I can complete quickly, but will still look nice.

Quilt 1 - A "Greek Cross" quilt for my boss, in the "Poseidon" Kona colorway, with white cotton background and back and seafoam binding. With this one, I want to mimic the feel of the Minoan art that my boss has in his home - if you haven't seen it, look it up. It's beautiful and light and very different from other Greek art I've seen.

Quilt 2 - Another "Greek Cross" for my other boss, in the "My Blue Heaven" colorway. My goal is to mimic the color and feel of Santorini with this quilt, with rich blues and stark white to emit the feel of the ocean and the beautiful buildings.

Quilt 3 - A fairytale quilt for my youngest niece, who is very much at the age where such things are appreciated. I've got some prints already picked out and I can't wait for Anna Maria Horner's needleworks to come out, because I may very well be using them on this project.

Quilt 4 - A patchwork quilt for a dear friend who's always been there for me. This one is going to be a little bigger than a lap size, maybe 60x60, and I'm looking for some fabric - namely Disney's Goofy - to make an cameo appearance somewhere in there, since he's her favorite. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of pattern to use on this one, but I'm thinking simple squares might do the trick.

So there's my goals. I'm starting on the first quilt - the poseidon quilt - tonight, cutting out fabrics to start it with and organizing them while watching "It". Tomorrow it's off to Hobby Lobby or Joann's to search for Goofy, and pick up some white cotton Kona - I think I'm going to need it!

Quilt 5 - A "Swiss Cross" quilt,

Words of Wisdom from a Skull

"It's really not so good to have time. Rush, scramble, desperation, this missed, that left behind, those others too big to fit into such a small space - that's the way life was meant to be. You're supposed to be too late for some things. Don't worry about it."

The Last Unicorn was my favorite movie as a child. And, honestly, it's my favorite book as an adult; beautiful written, a true fairy tale if there ever was one. And the quote above - spoken by the Skull - is one that's been in my head since I first perused it. Because isn't it true? We spend our lives rushing, running, and yet we're still late for so many things - but it's okay. It's okay to be late; sometimes, we all are.

I, for one, am late for several occasions! My boyfriend's birthday is in a week - literally a week - and I haven't finished or even begun a present for him. My gift is a quilt - but I think that, to accomplish this, I'm going to have to work every day and night on it! (I do not, I repeat, do not, have that kind of time). But I'm going to try anyway. Maybe he'll like it half finished :) The fact that it'll be quilt as I go makes it easier, but I'm still behind. His favorite color is green, so I'll be doing it in green - mostly solids, some plaids and some prints. Trying to keep it manly here :)

Tomorrow we're off to Joann's to gather solids for it - not too dark, nor too bright - and some more cotton batting so that the process can begin!

Here's to hoping I'm done in time!

the best laid plans

So I had this great, grand plan for my new bed quilt. I was going to use Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry (which is one of my favorite lines) and I was going to do a pattern similar to Ashley's Rubik's Crush quilt. Because there was no pattern, I decided to embark on a pattern on my own; I'm not the best at math, so I was in the process of testing it out. I got the last print I needed in Monday (Napsack in Berry), and I was ready to go.

Until I saw that she'd made a pattern for it, and it's coming out in 101 Patchwork Projects in April.

So, being the lazybones (and perfectionist, what an odd combo), I decided it would be a much better idea to see how an experienced quilter would do those blocks. And while I wait...I would dig into my "Innocent Crush" stash.

Which has got the be my best idea ever. Every time I look at these prints, I fall in love! I even went so far as to order the voile (which is gorgeous), because my favorite print is "Maybe", and I decided that I needed it in every color. I'm not going to order the velveteen - partly because I feel like I already have enough for this quilt, and partly because I feel that it would be difficult for me to piece and quilt with. Not impossible, mind you, but difficult, and I'm all about ease and fun.

Having recently bought Elizabeth Hartman's new book, I decided to try out the "Valentine" pattern. I don't intend to have my separated by color - I do that enough, and I'm kind of tired of rainbows. So it'll be a mishmash of every print and so far I love it. It's my first string quilt - but I'm really, really excited! Strips of fabric? Check! Paper piercing? Check! I'm in.

So I ironed all my fat quarters (voile excepted) and have since been cutting. I cut my hand right off with the rotary cutter - paying too much attention to Glee, most likely, which I watched all day Wednesday - and had to resort to scissors. But I'll tell you - even though I like the rotary cutter, scissors will always be my choice method of destruction. I'm still getting the hang of rotary cutters, but me and scissors are like THIS, son!

So I'm off to finish cutting. And probably work some. And then I'm going to watch a movie and cut some more and hopefully begin piecing these soon :)

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...