Doing My Part

Yup, I spent the day doing my part to boost the economy. Today was the start of Sew Expo. Four days of vendors and seminars and yet more vendors. Naturally, we awoke to this:
Some of you in other parts of the country are probably laughing at this paltry amount of snow. However, it was enough to delay most schools and close a good number of them. Western Washington is totally incapable of dealing with snow, especially when it's usually accompanied by ice. But, lucky for us, the temp was rising and the sun was predicted to make an appearance by afternoon. So three QB's set off to do our part for the economy. I can say that I did my part!

The neutrals on the left were purchased within my first 10 minutes at the show! 5 - 1 yard pieces plus one fat quarter. I have a couple quilts in mind that will be using those. The middle coffee stripe is going to be borders for a coffee themed quilt I'm planning as a gift. Then there are some more polka dots for a project I've been doing as a leaders & enders - photo below. Then there's this neat padded laptop case. Last but certainly not least, the Hip to be Square kit. Check out the wild fabrics in this one!

I don't know WHY this one kept calling my name. I tried to resisit it, but, as you can see, resistance was futile. Lime green is usually not one of "my colors" but I think it's been growing on me after working with so much green in my high school senior quilt.

Below is the beginning of my polka dot quilt leaders & enders quilt. What I'm not showing you is the huge stack of polka dot fabrics yet to be cut. I knew I should have stuck with that quilt the other day instead of going back to those pink log cabin blocks. Turns out I managed to put three strips on all 30 of the blocks going in the wrong direction. Instead of working counter clockwise around the center, the last three strips were all put on clockwise! I spent some quality time working on un-sewing while watching Lost.

Meanwhile, I hear the drying buzzing, that means my greens are dry! Guess what I'm going to start?!?

An Evening Out

Last Friday evening 3 of us from my weekly quilting group, the QB's went to see this wonderful play. It was held in a small, intimate theater, the Taproot Theatre. The play was wonderful. A very moving, thought provoking story which documents a difficult period in our history. If Gee's Bend comes to your town, GO SEE IT! The acting was wonderful, just a four member cast, all with wonderful voices. I often forget how many wonderful gospel based hymns are part of my very traditional, middle class, christian background.

Progress

I've finally made some progress in the sewing department. The top for the High School senior is completed. Once I get the backing, I'll get it loaded up and quilted. This is a yearly project that I've been coordinating for about 7 years now. Back in 2000 our church decided that it would be a cool idea to make quilts for the graduating high school seniors. So every June, they are wrapped in quilted love and sent on to the next part of their lives. After the first year, it was decided to give the kids a questionnaire to fill out so we can personalize the quilts to each student. This year was a major struggle as 4 of the 5 kids (all girls) said their favorite activity was "hanging out with friends" and a few other things that just can't be represented in fabric. When I received the questionnaire for my girl I was starting to despair -- until I got to the last item she had noted "I drive a VW bug". Ah ha! Yippee, major Happy Dance! My stash just so happens to have all sorts of VW fabric. So I happily pulled out the bright VW bugs. Her favorite colors were green and black -- which explains why this quilt is so darn green!

Now I guess it's back to pink log cabin blocks......

Early Birthday Loot

Yesterday was an early birthday celebration at quilting (QB's). Due to schedules, we had a joint birthday celebration and Janis and I ended up with some good birthday loot -- fat quarters and good food! We always have a potluck lunch and the birthday girls get to decide what they are collecting in the way of fq's. This year I chose jewel tones, purples, blues and greens. Here's what I ended up with: They are really much richer and warmer than they appear to be in the picture. My plan is to use them in the Nearly Insane quilt. My goal is to try to do at least one block a week. At that rate it should take me 2 years. Yikes! Well, I suppose since I have several UFO's older than that, 2 years would actually be a realatively short amount of time.

I have managed to get a start on the Nearly Insane quilt. And now I know why it was named. It certainly will be a challenge. Here's Block #1. It took two tries to get the center measurement correct. This block measures 6.5" unfinished. I learned just how important that scant 1/4" really is when piecing things on such a small scale. I had this pieced out to the rectangles surrounding the center square in a square before I realized it was too big. Being off by just 1/8" or less adds up quickly when you're working in a small scale. I think this project will be a good learning experience. If nothing else, it will help hone my precision piecing skills.

Meanwhile, the pink heart log cabins are taking a well deserved rest while I work on the High School Senior quilt top and some test ideas for the QB Christmas Challenge which I cannot show here -- at least not until December. But I can spend the year teasing you.

More Happy Blocks

The second set of Happy Blocks are completed. Here they are all up on the design wall. They really do make a fun quilt. This is such a neat project the Heartstrings group is doing. All the quilts are just so darn, well, Happy! Take a look at their blog and see what I mean: Heartstrings blog.

Meanwhile the bin of pink strips keeps staring at me. It's a darn good thing they can't talk! I've got a good start on the rest of the log cabin blocks needed to finish the log cabin heart quilt. But, I think I'll put them aside for a short while and go back to working on the high school senior quilt. Now I just need to stop drooling over the Nearly Insane quilt...

Hearts

Finally, some sewing and something to show for it. Besides finishing all the log cabin hearts I also managed to get 2 of teh 32 regular log cabin blocks completed. After more than a week of no sewing it felt good to get something accomplished. Now I just need to prioritize all of my many ongoing projects. I really do think I have ADD. I am so easily distracted. Am I the only one who goes from project to project without completing the first one before starting a second, and third and even fourth? So many quilts.

While browsing quilting blogs the other day I found several references to being easily distracted. At least I know I'm not alone and that I'm in good company.

I also found a Quilting Bucket List -- a list of quilts the quilter wanted to do before she died. I liked that idea. There are SO MANY quilts I want to do. But I wonder, if I actually put them down in writing, more or less in the order of importance, I wonder how many there would be? Would it count if they get started but not completed? Do you see a recurring theme here? I definitely need more discipline.