Steamin' In Seattle

"Nuff said!

Zig Zag Stars & More

The Zig Zag Star quilt top is done. I think this had to be the easiest and fastest top I've ever made. Unfortunately the quilting of it will not be nearly as quick as it must wait it's turn. I'm sure it will be a well behaved quilt top and patiently await it's turn.

Meanwhile, see these adorable little munchkins?

Aren't they cute wrapped up in their quilts. This picture was from two years ago and these are the quilts I made each of them when they were born. They were visiting along with their parents this past weekend and they each had their quilts in the car with them. Jonathan, the older one told me that he really liked his quilt "because it has a cool side and a fuzzy side." This is why I make quilts. This is what I love to see. People not afraid to use and love their quilts. And almost 6 years later they are much loved and used every day. That just makes me smile. I told both boys that when they outgrew these quilts I would make them bigger quilts. I know that those quilts will also be used and loved. I'm guessing they probably won't accompany them on long car trips though.......

Some things are just genetic....

There's something about summer and dry, scratchy grass. The Spotted One has taken to laying out in the dry grass and has even, on occasion, been caught rolling around on his back. Sneakers, his grandmother used to do the same thing in the exact same spot on the grass. Arlo has only just acquired this habit. Ditto, our first Dal would never think of doing it. He much preferred the shade. But both Sneakers and Arlo have always preferred to be excessively warm, whether that means sunbathing or snuggling under a quilt. Yup, it's genetic.

Some (almost) Instant Gratification

It's been a busy couple weeks. I spent the better part of last week and some of this week working on a non-quilting project. I've had a wicker loveseat sitting, buried under fabric, in my sewing room for over a year. It's needed upholstery on the seat back and new cushions along with some repair of the seat bottom. My brother eventually will be taking it over to Chelan since he has a lovely sunroom the loveseat and matching rocker will look good in. With much prodding, he finally picked out some fabric. I just wasn't motivated to work on it since he wouldn't be driving his truck until bad weather.

Well, a friend needs to borrow the set for the sunporch at her Dad's house that they are trying to sell. Their real estate agent feels a little "staging" would help things along. Thus, I got the motivation I needed to work on this project. Naturally it turned out to be more work than I had remembered. But, I can now cross this project off the list. And I can say that this project was MOST DEFINITELY not instant gratification! The Bearded One is also happy this project is complete because it means the rocker will no longer reside in the garage.

Because I had to literally unbury the loveseat from the piles of fabric that were on top of it, that meant I had to do something with the piles. I currently have 2 large shelving units from Ikea that stand floor to ceiling and each have 18 cubicles. Each cubicle is stuffed to overflowing with fabric. Literally to the point that fabric is falling out onto the floor. Let's face it, it's far easier to just stuff the fabric back into the appropriate color cubicle after using. Yeah, I'm lazy. But hey, do fI get any points for admiting this deep, dar, secret to the whole internet? Anyway, After getting some motivation from Bonnie Hunter's lecture a couple months ago, I'm SLOWLY working on refolding these cubicles. (Notice, it's been several months since I went to that lecture.) I've discovered that if I fold the fabric as Bonnie suggested, I can get two stacks, side by side in each cubicle.

Here's the first cubicle completed -- See the pretty pinks, all neatly folded & stacked? Can I boast that I have two whole other cubicles completed? That's 3 down, 33 to go! (GROAN) It's a torturously slow process that really bothers my back. So it will get done a little bit at a time. Did I mention that there's also another shelving unit with 6 shelves that are also filled with fabric? You will notice I'm not showing pictures of all this mess. Nor will you see pictures of the piles of fabric that had been residing on the wicker loveseat.

So, now for the instant gratification. All quilters need some every now and then, especially since progress on the Storm at Sea is so tediously slow. I decided I needed SOMETHING to show for all my time downstairs besides burning through two audio books and a Quilt of Valor was a good diversion. It doesn't help that this morning I stumbled upon a Zig-Zag Quilt Along. That seemed to fit the bill (like I really need another project.)

Naturally I had to do things my way instead of the Quilt Along way. I prefer making my half square triangles using the Easy Angle method. And then there was the problem that I wanted to do this NOW, not week by week, as the instructions were doled out. And, after playing around in EQ6, I decided I wanted to do my squares 6". Ok, so I'm not really doing a quilt-along. But, here's what I got done this afternoon/evening.

This is half the quilt already and this was after I had sorted and folded 1+ cubicles of fabric. Of course I'm paying for it now by having to sit here with the heating pad on my back in the middle of a very hot summer.

There's been some progress on the trailer, but since I've babbled long enough already, I'll save that for another post. This is supposed to be a quilting blog afterall. Sorry KD, no pics of the Spotted One today.