You know you're a quilter when...

You find seam rippers in your bathroom drawer.

New Project

I'm joining a new quilt along. I know, I already have a few BOMs running, plus the Civil War Quilt Along, and a cute list of UFOs I'm having a hard time keeping up with. I just couldn't sit this one out!

Sunny over at Quilting Dreams is hosting a Stay At Home Round Robin. You start with a 12-16 inch block for your center and every month Sunny will post directions for a new border. YOU work on your quilt, hence the "Stay at Home" part.

I love this idea. I don't join swaps and bees because I feel like I don't want to be on someone else's time schedule. Also, I don't trust my skills. I've been known to make a huge mess of fabric!

So my center quilt will be a block from a BOM that I started but never finished. Erin Russek is (currently) hosting an applique BOM at her blog. I love this quilt so much and would love to do it. Unfortunately, I'm just not that good at applique yet. I realized this halfway through my first block.

Right now my block is halfway put together. You'll be hearing more about this block definitely! Sunny suggests you have your center block completed by September 1. Another great idea is to use a pre-printed panel. If you would like to play along, head over to Sunny's blog to get more info.

Hurray! Big Fabric Sale!

Green Fairy Quilts is having a big sale this weekend! 30% off!!! That's huge. Judi already offers the lowest prices on Moda Pre-cuts and now they are ridiculously low.

I stole this Fat Quarter Bundle of Sophie for only $75! *happy dance* I don't have a plan for it, or the money, but I couldn't pass it up!

Green Fairy Quilts has Charm Packs for only $6. It was so hard not to toss a few of those in my shopping cart. Hurry though, sale ends tomorrow!

*I'm in no way connected to Green Fairy Quilts, I just love their prices and customer service!*

It All Adds Up

Guess who else went back to school this week?!

That’s right, ME!

I’m taking two Accounting classes this semester. Both are very intensive. I only need to complete 1 for a promotion at work I have my eye on. The other one is a “why the heck not” class. They are super hard so far! It’s been 12 years since I took my last Accounting class and I am completely intimidated. The big book weighs 8.3 pounds!

Let’s see how it adds up:

School+Full-time work+long commute+homework=no time for quilting! Oh no.

I’ll be quilting and blogging less regularly. But I’ll still be keeping an eye on what you are doing! Help me keep the quilting withdrawals away with your pretty projects!

I did manage to get some UFO work in this week before school started. I quilted 48 feathers on my Rehab Quilt.

Still haven’t torn the paper away, maybe I’ll do that tonight. I'm linking up to my UFO Busters at Blackberry Creek Home Arts. Making some progress on this monster quilt! Every little feather adds up :)

Cowboy Boots and a Quilty Husband

I’ve been catching up on my Boot Bash BOM blocks this month. And I still haven't found my camera, so these are taken with my iphone. Sorry!

This is my least favorite. It’s just kinda boring compared to my other boots. I did a raw-edge appliqué in the hope that it would fuzz after I wash it. Give the block a little texture.

I’m loving this one. I found a good size zig-zag stitch that I was very comfortable with. Not too small that my shoulders ache and not too big that looks like a kindergartener did it. I love the cactus too.

This little cutie is one of my favorites. I was worried that it looked flat, so I put some batting in it. It made such a difference! I had a blonde moment with the spur. I cut it out and it was the size of a softball. LOL. My husband came to the rescue and fixed it for me. He’s more artsy than he thinks, and has infinite patience with my quilting.

This is why my husband is amazing about quilting:

1. He listens as I drone on and on about my tension, paper-piecing vs traditional, modern vs traditional, why I think a pink fabric would look better than a purple one here, or bias edges.

2. He helps me sandwich my quilts. When I say my whole body is sore from sandwiching a few quilts, he says “I know honey. That is hard work. Of course you’re sore. Why don’t you relax tonight and take it easy?”

3. When I ask him his opinion about my color choices he seriously considers and gives me good feedback. He has a great eye for design and is much better than I at choosing a layout.

4.He will drive across town to take me to a quilt shop. It doesn’t matter if I buy anything or not. When I do spend an obscene amount of money on fabric he says: “You deserve it, baby.” When we drive around and he passes a fabric or quilt shop he asks if I want to go in.

5.He is very good about keeping himself busy when I sew. He actually LOVES it that I have a hobby of my own. He hardly ever whines that I sew too much.

6.He doesn’t complain when I take forever looking at quilts at a quilt show or antique store. Even if I walk through the quilt show 3 times, which I’ve been known to do.

7.He calls my fabric “Stash.” Once I showed him a picture of an awesome fabric storage closet and he said “Wow, look at that stash!” He walked in to my sewing room the other night and said “Who dumped all this stash?” He’s funny like that.

Yup, I’m a lucky girl!

FNSI Results

It was a late Friday Night! After going out for drinks and pool with some co-workers, I didn't leave much time for FNSI.

Instead of quilting, like my original plan, I decided to work on my Jewel in the Crown BOM. This little block took me over an hour to complete, but I love how it's turned out!

I also completed three more Civil War blocks.

This block is a re-make. My first attempt finished too small and stretched out and just looked horrible. This second time around still didn't finish perfect, but it's much better! I don't think this block and I make a good team!

I really like how this one turned out.

And this one I finished a few days ago.

Altogether, not bad! I've got my eye on some quilting tomorrow though!

My kitties check out my Finished UFO

----------Missing: slim black camera. Holds 1,000s of pictures of quilts, 100's of pictures of two pretty kitties, and not enough pictures of my husband and I doing fun things together. Please return if found. I miss my camera!!!----------

All these horrible pictures were taken with my iPhone. I am so sorry :/

Wow, What's this? It looks like a label!

And you fixed those popped seams!

I think that means...

this quilt is officially FINISHED!

Meet Johnny Cat and Azrael.

These big boys are Savannah cats. That means they are half African cervil and half domestic cat. They love to eat raw chicken and leftover cereal milk. Azrael weighs 14.5 lbs and Johnny weighs in at 12. They love to play fetch with thier little mouse toys and run like mad, rabid kittens around the house. Watch out for their claws because they are super sharp!

You can pet them, but they won't lay with you. Unless they are feeling very sweet and tired.

Or unless you have a quilt on your lap. If you have a quilt on your lap Azrael will not even wait for you to finish sitting down before he tries to steal it. And if you are hand quilting he will sit next to you and try to chase the thread as it slides through the fabric.

If you lay any quilts on the floor...well...you asked for it.

They like to hang out in my sewing room with me. Azrael has taken to laying on my iron cord, because he gets a lot of attention and love there. Johnny is a lot slower than Azrael and still tries to lay in my stash. That's we call him Johnny Brat sometimes.

But Mommy, I'm just so cute!

I'm also linking up with Susan at Blackberry Creek Home Arts to declare my official UFO Finish!

Thank Goodness it's FNSI!

Wow, August is flying!

I feel like I’m just running this month and not catching up on anything. I feel that way partly because of my massive Quilting To-Do List. The other part is the fact that our apartment lease is set to expire soon. It’s been a few weeks of: Let's buy a house. Let's stay in the apartment. Let's move to Timbuktoo. Let's live in an RV and travel. Let's become wine-making monks. Still going back and forth on that decision, and gathering paperwork, making budgets, and forecasting goals for each scenario is wearing us out.

That’s why I’m so happy that tomorrow is Friday Night Sew In! My husband already knows about this night. He already mentioned how bored he will be all by himself on Friday night. Sorry babe! My plan is to quilt some more feathers on my Rehab quilt. My goal for August is to quilt 50 feathers. So far I’ve done 1.

I haven’t been entirely derelict in my sewing though! I completed a Jewel in the Crown block:

This was really hard. I paper-pieced it. There were a lot of set-in seams that I didn’t think needed to be in the pattern. With a little bit of editing, those set-in seams could have been eliminated. But I was too pressed for time and did them anyway.

The second block this month requires the same. I decided to traditional-piece the second block, which will eliminate the set-in seams. I heard from other people who are doing this Block of the Month that the paper-pieced squares finish a little larger. I was trying to paper-piece the entire project, but I can’t take any more set-in seams this month!

I have more to show, but I’ll save those for later. In the meantime, go sign up for FNSI. We’ll have tons of fun!

Extraneous picture: My husband and I at Lake Tahoe. Isn't he handsome?

BTW, do you ever have to explain what FNSI is to people who don’t live on the internet? Example:

“Want to go to a bar on Friday night, Jen?”

“Can’t. I have plans. It’s FNSI.”

“What’s that?”

“Uh, a whole bunch of people on the internet stay home and sew. We are kind of sewing together but we are at our own homes.”

The next questions are always awkward: Do you know these people? Do you work on the same thing? Do you video chat? What’s the point? You would rather stay home to sew than hang out with me?

Awkward!

To-Do: Cut back To-Do List

I am definitely a To-Do kinda gal. I have To-Do lists on my iphone, my Outlook account, on random pieces of paper stuffed in even more random corners. I like making lists. I like checking things off. I have different kinds of To-Do lists (home, financial, health, work, chores) organized by color, bullets, priority, and timelines. If I find a To-Do list from last month, I will read it and check things off before I throw it away.

So I decided to make a Quilting To-Do list. Like any sane person, I first set my August Goals, then broke those goals into smaller steps, and divided those steps into manageable tasks across 4 weeks of August. Of course, I utilized my BOM list and my UFO list as references.
What I failed to reference was my giant wall of calendars.

Exhibit A:

So my To-Do list was a bit extensive and cumbersome. Editing my To-Do list is now at the top of my To-Do List.

What I’m trying to say is that the intention was there. The time and wherewithal were not. After that long introduction, I now present my UFO progress this week:

Just turn your computer screen to get a good look.

1 block completed for my Christmas Quilt. I’m linking up with Susan from Blackberry Creek
I will try to blog more next week. I lost my camera and always use that as an excuse for not blogging. Bad blogger Jen. Have a great weekend everyone!