It's Not My Fault!

Greetings -- I haven't been very motivated to do much quilting lately -- the job hunt is still going on. The stress from the last 6 months of uncertainty has definitely taken it's toll and I've been in a major quilting slump. I've been doing more virtual quilting than anything else. But, I did start another new project. But it's not my fault, really. I saw this and fell in love. I didn't want to start another English paper pieced hexagon project. I already have one that's been hanging around for longer than I care to admit. I've been following Cathi's blog for over a year now. She uses Inklingo for all her quilts AND hand pieces them.

It was Cathi's blog that inspired me to hand piece my nosegay blocks for my Fruit Ladies Christmas  challenge last year. I discovered that I really enjoy hand piecing. So, I took the plunge and tried Inklingo. Naturally it meant that I HAD to upgrade my ancient ink jet printer to a newer one that didn't jam like my ancient one liked to do. In case you can't tell, these little hexies are .5"! Yes, I am crazy. And no, it's not going to be a full sized quilt.

I can finally show pictures of the graduation quilts. This one is for my niece in Colorado. It's Moda's Spring Magic jellyrolls.I had a hard time giving this one away.

Next up are the quilts for the high school seniors at church. We had 5 this year. The other quilters were not too happy with me....there were a LOT of half square triangles in these babies. Here they are hanging over Sally's railing.

Here's the one I did. My senior was a runner so the border fabric has running shoes. I quilted this with daisies (her favorite flower) and running shoes.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that the RIGHT job will come along -- SOON! 

This & That

I know, I've been MIA lately -- but, well, life hasn't been worth writing about lately. Not a whole lot of quilting has been happening, or much that I can show here yet (graduation gifts).

First up, as you can see by the picture above, Red & White Snowballs are DONE! Quilted, on the bed and doggie approved. Doesn't The Spotted One look cute? Reality is he would much rather prefer to be UNDER it than on top of it.

Last year Janet gifted me with some spotty dog fabrics to make a quilt for Arlo. Well, I finally got around to it.

 The border fabric, red & black were from Janet, "thank you Janet". All the rest came from my stash and we won't talk about the embarrassing amount of doggie themed fabric still awaiting use.......

 Do ya' think he KNOWS it's his quilt?!?!?

If you're reading this, send some good thoughts our way....we certainly need them.

784

Number of blocks = 169

Number of partial blocks in the border = 52

Total number of half square triangles = 784

Finished size = 96' x 96" 

Yup, that my friends is my completed (flimsy) red & white snowball quilt. Quilting will have to wait as there are some other priorities ahead of this one. What a nice feeling to have the piecing completed on that one. It was a good, mindless project to work on while keeping me from obsessing about the rest of our life the last couple months.

On the job front, the Bearded One has been offered a position back at Boeing with one of the contractors. Even though this is probably not the ideal job, going back to work at Boeing, he has accepted the offer. Meanwhile, he's started some heavy duty studying for some certifications which will help in the ongoing job search.

It's been an interesting, stressful few months. But it's also been a good time to reflect on where we are and what we really want. We've done some serious research about other areas of the country where we might want to live. We've come to realize that there are some other areas of the country that are high on our list where the cost of living is much more reasonable than here in the Seattle area. So, here we are, about to start down a new path. A path for which we don't know what direction it will eventually lead us.....

As far as this one is cares, as long as the dog treats and kibble keep appearing, he's not too concerned.....