Playroom

My son seems to have mistaken the hallway for the playroom. The playroom is very, very, very clean, but I am very likely to break something trying to get out of my craft room. If the gate is down, everything ends up in my craft room, but if it's up, most of it ends up just outside my craft room, with plenty of things thrown over the gate. I'm not sure how much longer the gate will work either. He fell over it the other day (stood on a bucket and leaned further than he thought), and today he pushed and pushed and pushed until it was no longer in the doorframe and he could crawl over it. Now how am I supposed to get things done during the day and yet keep him out of my craft room? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Organization, Disorganization

No matter how nicely I get my room and my piles looking, I almost always have what I want/need to work on on the bottom of the tile. This results in my organization, becoming disorganization, very quickly. I can only blame my son for so much, the rest is all me. Oops.

Blanket for Terri's Baby

Another one of the baby blankets is coming along nicely. I'm well past halfway. Just have to decrease it back to a point. This is for a little girl (hence the black and pink) named Blaire, with wide eyes and long fingers and toes. Her daddy works with my Spencer.

Etsy Piles

Did I mention Piles? I've been working on more stuff  for my Etsy shop. Here are more Rat Hammocks waiting to be sewn. I have my original double sets ready, and soon to be added to my shop, I have small single hammocks. These will be the size of the top part of the double hammock, and can be used as replacements for top parts. Our rats can use the same hammock for months and months and then overnight, they chew through one of the parts (it varies which part), so I'm very glad I decided to make the parts detachable.

I also have been working on a few more of the edged fleece baby blankets. I have also decided to lower the pricing of these items in my shop, so be sure to check out the new pricing.

Christmas Piles

 Piles, piles, and more piles. That is how things end up in my room. At the moment, there are several piles of Christmas quilt makings. Maybe I should make myself focus on one until it is completed. But on the other hand, it is nice to look at the piles and know they are almost done. Then in my head, I also say, "Oh, one good day of sewing will finish X's quilt."

Elna is hard at work for sure. With all the fabric she's trying to work with, she keeps reminding me to regularly dust out her bobbin casing, so she can hum again. I love my Elna. Thanks, Mom.

Medallion Quilt

This is my finished center for my Medallion Round Robin. I EPPed (English Paper Piece) the hexagon butterfly, and then I hand-appliqued it to the background. I'm afraid the background has few warps in it now, since it was my first attempt at applique, but hopefully, the borders and quilting will work that back out. Sorry, Annette, for making this harder for you.

These are the inspiration fabrics that I am including in my bag for the ladies to use at will. I figured bright and happy fit me, and since I am in a house filled with boys (husband, son, 2 male rats, 2 male-named fish), I figured if I went with pink it would be less likely to be used by the others.

This is the final post I will do about this Medallion Round Robin until all of the quilts are finished. I will make sure to take pictures of the quilts as I get them and the borders that I do, so that I can do a short series when it's all over. While I would like to post as I finish them, I also know that a few of the ladies in the group follow my blog, so this way I have a guaranteed series later.

Until next time.

Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I've started using Bloglovin to follow blogs. Now I'm claiming my blog on their too :) .

Short Post, Laundry's Awaiting

Sorry I missed my post yesterday. I thought about it off and on all day, but never sat down to do it. Then I went to a friend's graduation celebration dinner, followed by her graduation, and just never remembered again until this morning.

Let's not forget the first setback of the morning. My computer harddrive (that houses windows) finally snapped. It is no more. I must wait for a new harddrive and hope I didn't have anything too serious on it.

When the thought of posting did finally arrive, it was after 3 separate meetings, all of which Nate would not sit still or listen to Mommy during, and just before I finally got Nate down for a nap (2 hours late). At that point, I was soo frazzled, nothing was going to get done.

Now I don't really have time to write much. I have several loads of laundry waiting to be folded, a counter covered in dishes (which my husband kindly pointed out when he got home from work), several movies from Netflix to watch, and not much to report anyway. So I shall humbly bow out for tonight and try again on Saturday night.

May fortune smile upon you.

Handwork

I like rules. And I like to give myself rules (and schedules, but I will save that for another time perhaps).

One of the rules that I have given myself for handwork, is that when I start a new thread I have to baste a hexagon for my 1-Inch Hexagon Quilt. Then if I have everything for the flower, I make the flower.

While this does extend the time it takes to bind or applique, it also insures that I am still working on the hexagons (my first quilt).

Project Organization

My room had gotten out of control again, making it hard to actually get to the projects I knew were nearly done. So I decided to clean up and organize my sewing projects.

As you can see in the day and a half since it was organized, my son's toys have managed to migrate back into my room.

But now I can actually see the projects based on what still needs to be done.

The next goal is to get enough of the loose projects done that I can fit all of the current projects into the bin. When I get too many, I start to have issues with anxiety and difficulty trying to pick which one to work on. Just have to take it one step at a time.

Christmas is Under Way

 Family Christmas gifts have been started. I know it is still early for them, but if the last few years have taught me anything, it's that you never know what will happen between January and December.

The blocks for the first one are done, and waiting to be arranged and sewn together.

 The second is in 3 separate piles...

...but the blocks are starting to come together. I think the chances of getting these done at this point is high.

Though there have been other Christmases where I thought the same thing, and then nothing actually got finished.

Marion's Birthday

 Recently, Marion of My Quilt Diet had a birthday. She has done a lot to help me feel included in this great big quilting world. So when I heard it was her birthday, I had an idea pop in my head as a gift. A fabric flower bouquet.

I wanted to be able to use fat quarters in colors I thought she would like, so that she could use them later in the many, many, many quilts she makes. I tried looking on the web for tutorials on how to do this, and instead kept finding flowers made from strips of fabric that are rolled, twisted, and glued.

Then while trying to get the big flower (bottom right) to a size I could manage, I realized that it was similar to folded cloth napkins. Pinterest showed me how to do the smaller flowers. Put them on kebob sticks and in a pretty vase with glass beads, and the present was completed. Thanks for letting me do this for you, Marion.

Marsha's Baby Girl

My Best Friend had her baby girl this week. This is the one I that received the peach baby blanket. They even included it in their stuff for taking Baby Girl, Kaitlynn, home. I'm still getting used to calling her something other than Baby Girl.

Here the blanket is finished at the baby shower. I didn't have to put a name on it since Marsha knew who had made it.

Marsha tried using it to practice her peekaboo skills with the camera for the first shot.

Here is baby girl all ready to leave the hospital. I think she has some of her Aunt Katie's spunk already, her tongue is most definitely sticking out.

Medallion Round Robin

Some of my quilty lady friends and I are beginning a medallion round robin. We are to provide a center and then it will make it's way around the group and get bigger as it goes. We are to add borders to each of them. Thus making, a friendship quilt. This is the start of my center. It is a butterfly in case you can't tell. I still have to work out a background for the butterfly, and I will be attempting to applique it on. We'll see how well it goes. I will also be adding antenna, I just haven't gotten that done yet. This is English Paper Pieced.

Car Quilt-On Point

This quilt is just another variant of the car quilt I have already pieced. The first one is actually going to go in my husbands car, and I am claiming this one. I couldn't decide when I started if I wanted to do the blocks on point or straight across, so I decided to go with both, which works great since we have two cars.

This is just the beginning of it (bigger blocks on top not included). Much of the organizing (of the randomness) and several of the rows of blocks were pieced at a wonderful sew week hosted by another quilty friend, just after my parents left. It was great to get to sew without having to start acknowledging the fact that my parents were gone again (and that meant cleaning up the bedding and such from their visit). At the end of the week, I was ready to clean up and reclaim my quilt room (it really isn't big enough for 2 quilters).

And I do apologize for the repeat of the picture. If I managed to get more done on this before this posts then I will try to change the picture. Otherwise, this is the only picture I have of this, thus far.