June - The Roller Coaster Month

June has been an interesting month - lots of ups and downs.

My husband was supposed to go on a short trip, but ended up shredding an engine and being stuck in Guam for nearly two weeks. {He had three other engines to land with. Clearly this was not an emergency. I like denial.}

Since this was a mere 20 days after getting home with the Little Man, I was going slightly insane by mid-month. Not to mention, no "babysitter" = no long arm rental time = delay in finishing a customer quilt.

But woo - the up! A customer quilt!


A running t-shirt quilt - and I think I did a fabulous job. ;) {My AYOLF goal.}

I also ventured cautiously into the world of branding and hired a designer to do my logo. I'm slowly working toward understanding my Facebook page and blog as a business. Don't worry - it'll take all summer.


I also finished a t-shirt quilt for Lori - just a sneak peek, full post will be Friday. With professional photographs! {Because I mailed it to her.}


Worked on a Tennessee Waltz for my aunt - the first border, an "extension" border is done. {My NewFO.}

Kept steadily cutting Ripples and Reflections. O.M.G. So much cutting! I thought I would cheat and just cut step 1, but so many of the steps overlap pieces. I need one Fabric 4, Piece B, for Step 1, then four more in Step 6, and the last three in Step 10 - or something like that. So I need to cut everything...and I really don't know how to organize it.


Put extension borders on Summer Drinks. I wasn't sure on this, but I think it's the perfect way to finish it off.


Finished the star blocks for Cardinal Charms and started piecing the rest of the quilt. I laid it out and thought about making more star blocks {six seems paltry} but I really like the 10x12 layout. So I'm sticking with it.

{And yes, the colors will be spread out. Just threw them on the design wall/floor to check layout numbers.}

Since we're halfway, here's six months of Churn Dashes. Not too many darker ones, but this month is red, so there will be some darker tones added. Overall I'm really happy with these!

Oh, and I made a skirt! A very simple maxi skirt, but I followed instructions. And my fabric wasn't stretchy in the same direction as the instructions. So my waistband had no stretch...plus I measured after eating pasta, so everything was just a little off. ;) I ended up sewing a casing, picking out the side seam, and putting in elastic. Little extra work but it fits fine now! And the foldover waist hides the extra stitching.


There was also school finishing and national park visiting and half marathon running and lion feeding and inappropriate dam joking. You know, summer stuff.

Linked:
BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot
Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times
Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River
WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced
Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy
Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure
Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric
A Year of Lovely Finishes
Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts
NewFO @ Cat Patches

Weekly Progress - Pieced Borders

So, a quilty question. What do you call borders that extend the main quilt top design? I mean, they're not just borders, or pieced borders. They're different. And I worked on two of them this week.

Tennessee Waltz - finishing out the points from the snowball blocks. TW will probably get another border in the grey.

Summer Drinks - finishing out the quarter square triangles. I think I'm done here. At least, I'm out of fabric!

I also finished a t-shirt quilt.

And quilted a second one.

...but both are just sneak peeks until they have been received!

And did my Weekly Churn Dash. This is one of my mother's old scraps.

And popped the binding on Mom's Halloween striped table runners so I had something to hand stitch while we drove around the Seattle area.

You know, where I ran a half marathon. Not even close to my best time {but also not my worst.} Considering my longest training run recently was...Portland's half marathon. A month ago.

And the boys played in the snow pack in front of Mount Rainier. It's not as dirty as it looks!

Linked:

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River
WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric

Weekly Progress - Back from Korea

So, yeah, the adoption/new toddler thing was my major progress within the last two weeks. {Three? How long has it been since I posted one of these? I may be sleep deprived.}

Also, I finished Cat Tails. Don't be too impressed - it was done to the binding before I left, and it took three days to do 90 minutes of binding. The Little Man and I are slowly working out a routine of distract/sew/distract/sew/stop fingers from pushing buttons/sew/sing a silly song/sew/distract/give up.

I finished all the blocks for Spin Cycle and set them aside. Not because I'm too lazy to sash them - but because Bonnie & Camille named their next collection after me, so I'm waiting for its release to decide on borders and put the whole thing together.

And I made a running skirt in Half Fanatics colors for my half marathon on Sunday. Yes, that's right - I ran a half marathon on Sunday. When I scheduled my races back in December, I really thought I was cutting it close with the January one. Never once did I think I would be coming home within a week of the May one.

Finished some quiet book pages before I left. The button one was the biggest hit.

In piecing, I started to catch up on my green churn dashes.

And started my leader/ender, a simple charm pack tessellation-esque thing.

And finally, in planning, I started on a t-shirt quilt order - they came very well labeled! All the shirts are measured and the design is worked out, so now I have to wait for nap time to get some steady stitching done.

Nap time is the BEST.

Linked:

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric

Weekly Progress - Tape(r)

Tape and taper contributed a lot to this week.

On my quilty finishes, I tried out batting tape. Usually I franken-batt with a zig zag stitch, but I wanted to try the tape to see if it was faster/better. Also because I just had to get that little triangle in place.

Verdict: eh. No faster. Feels like it's holding just as "strong." Kind of a pain to wrestle batting on the ironing board vs. through the sewing machine. {Note: I do have CC trying to claw her way up anything draped over the ironing board. YMMV.}

The taper led to an epic finish - knocking nearly ten minutes off my personal record.

And the taper also led to lots being done in the sewing room, since I was full of nervous energy and couldn't run it off.

Finished

Owl Always Love You

Quilted

Road to Oklahoma - Washington Style

Working on the binding!

{Those are bow ties...not butts.}

Four Patch Frenzy

Don't even have binding for it yet. I took it to my long arm rental time as a backup, if-I-still-have-time thing. And then Flirt didn't happen, so I had time. Which makes me sad! Somehow I totally misjudged my backing for Flirt, so I couldn't quilt it. Planning on getting a new back and going back tomorrow! And maybe getting some binding for Frenzy. Eh.

Piecing

Obviously I finished piecing Road to OK - that was a biggie.

After that was done, I worked on borders for Central Park Sudoku.

And a churn dash of the week - this leftover from Big Blue, my largest quilt ever, was an obvious finish for the month of dark blues.

And here's the four blues together!

{Don't mind the feet. The feet wouldn't move. Neither would CC.}
Then I pulled out another UFO, Cat Tails, pieced together the last few cats, and worked on the layout. It exceeds my design wall by a bit, but I think I have a plan worked out.

And some Celtic Solstice leader/enders. I need to do some pressing and shuffle these pieces into blocks!

Linked:

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Scrap Basket Sunday @ Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

End of Month Report - December

Another month with a pile of finishes. It's interesting how much access to a longarm has changed things around here. I think I just seriously dislike getting on my knees to baste.

Finished

{Wow. I have a huge variety of camera angle shots.}

Loopy Ewe / Nine Patch Snowballs / Squadron T-Shirt Quilt

Quilted

Christmas Stars / table runners and pillow covers / Frolicking Pinwheels

I haven't cut any of these apart yet, or started binding/pillow-envelope-ing, but I will. Soon.

Pieced

Finished a pillow cover with my Swoon HST leftovers.

Finished off a top for a baby shower gift for the end of the month. It'll be quilted once the kiddo goes back to school. And I already have the backing and binding prepped!

Piecing

I'm counting this as my NewFO - Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter. I'm not using scraps - I pulled my favorite blue from my stash and bought some excellent complimentary fabrics.

Oh yes, she's Bountiful in her gifts: Sassy, Lovely, a bit Grunge-y, somewhat of a Coquette...

And I picked the border fabric already and it will all fit together perfectly. But the name on that will have to wait until the mystery reveal!

Life

Okay, so...some big news. Our Emigration Permit for the Little Man was approved, AND our paperwork was submitted to court!! After quite a long wait, we are finally in the end game - we have a 3-4 week wait for a court date to be assigned, which will be about 5-8 weeks out from there. But not necessarily, so we are tidying things up in a hurry here.

{I need to start his foster mom's quilt! And his!!}

The Dude is doing well - still obsessed with Doctor Who and Minecraft. We got matching shirts for Christmas...which we wore for the Christmas show. He rocks the multiplication tables.

{CC thinks Nerf darts are the best Christmas present ever!}

We had a good Christmas, enjoyed the in-laws, got most of the presents we wanted. CC is still a pain in the butt...just bigger now. If she grows into her tail, Tycho's going to be in trouble.

I pounded the pavement hard this month, logging 70 running miles - plus bike cross training and body torture conditioning classes. I'm doing this training plan, and I'm pretty confident in hitting my goal pace. 

And I registered for Half Fanatics! I qualified back in March, but Lori and I wanted consecutive numbers. So as soon as she finally qualified, we registered as #5871 and #5872. Yeah, we're dorks.

And that's about it for December. 

Linked:

Nothing But UFOs
A Year of Finishes
Year of the Finished Project

Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts

NewFO @ Cat Patches

End of Month Report - April

This will also suffice as my weekly report, since I haven't done much worth reporting. Ah, the joys of prepping a house to sell.

Family: the black cat started an extensive chemo program at OSU, and is responding really well to it. Every minute of cuddles is worth my entire fabric budget.

The Dude was Star Student this week. I think his brainwashing is complete.

And after a yard sale this coming weekend, I think the house will be ready to go on the market. Deep sigh.

Adoption: our agency's first cases of the year go to court soon, so we should have a better idea of the timeline soon. Meanwhile, our I-864 got lost, so I'm copying tax returns...again.

Running: another month, another half!

Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon - 2:33 and a PR for Lori! We did shots of vodka at mile 6.4...which was about 8 am. Obviously we take running seriously.

I made the sparkle skirts, mostly because Team Sparkle doesn't have a rainbow one. They were...less than perfect. The rainbow "fabric" has zero stretch to it, unlike the colors. If I had to do it again, I'd make casing - it's just as easy as zig-zagging the elastic to the fabric.

Other sewing:

I finished piecing the top of the fireman t-shirt quilt, and it's about 75% quilted. Should be done by the end of the week...which is not quite by the end of April, but pretty close.

All of the quilting is done on the Fractured Four Patch, and the binding is prepped, but it's in the queue behind the t-shirt quilt, so it waits.

I also said I would finish Boardwalk, Cat Tails, and Saturday Sampler - all of which were hardly touched in April. {Boardwalk had brief moments as leader/enders.} I seriously underestimated the amount of work the house would take. {Go ahead and laugh.}

Sadly, didn't even cut any green for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge. And I only did a NewFO if you count the fireman quilt...technically it was started in April!

Goals for May:
1. Quilt Rainbow Sherbet - and delivering it to my MIL at a wedding...Mother's Day weekend...

2. Finish the fireman quilt and Fractured Four Patch.

3. Start/finish another running t-shirt quilt. {Momma's gotta pay for chemo!}

4. Finish one of the above mentioned tops. {Boardwalk, Cat Tails, Saturday Sampler...one of them...any of them!}

Linked:

Nothing But UFOs
A Year of Finishes
Getting It Done
Year of the Finished Project
Just Three

Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts
NewFO Challenge @ Cat Patches 
Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Weekly Progress - Bad News/Good News

Bad News: my sweet baby kitty has lymphoma. Not the white one who lives in the quilt room, but the black one who prefers the sunny spots. I got him almost twelve years ago as an eight-week-old kitten, so this is...hard.

Good News: he's responding well to steroids and chemo for now. It's palliative care, but I'm happy that he's comfortable. And he's certainly loving the extra cuddles.

Bad News: my calf is pretty sore...

Good News: ...because I did this...again.

Bad News: I got almost no sewing done in the last two weeks...

Good News: ...mostly because I was prepping for and then going on a cruise. {Or cuddling with the cat.} 

Oh, and you should always do a half marathon before a cruise. Then when your judge-y husband is questioning how many ice creams you've had that day, you can be all "I just ran a half marathon!" Even if it's Thursday.

It was very hard to leave my Wedge at the vet for a week, but she wanted to observe him for a few days into the treatment anyway, so it worked out okay. And by okay, I mean, I nearly started crying into my third glass of wine at the fancy steakhouse on board. But okay.

Anyway, I did get some sewing done.

{Finished} the Dude's birthday present, a Minecraft Zombie pillow. He sleeps with it every night, and it is affectionately known as "Zombs." Yeah. He's weird.

Pieced all the strips for Flirt Marks the Spot, and started pulling the strips into blocks. {And that color is not at all accurate. New sewing room = bad lighting.}

{Design Wall} ...sigh... I should just stop posting. Haven't finished any new blocks, therefore the Wall is not changing. Going to make Boardwalk a priority this week.

Color pull for a Disappearing Four Patch with a Twist quilt for my sister. I need three more yellows...

{Fifteen Minute Challenge/Rainbow Scrap Challenge}
...so I pulled my yellow/orange scrap box to see what I could come up with. I'm massively behind on orange for my RSC, so it was about time I got sorting this box in my fifteen minutes.

...oh, and I got a commission for a rainbow chevron quilt {ala Red Pepper Quilts} so I'll be pulling for that, too.

Last week during my fifteen minutes, I worked on organizing some of the random projects in my old sewing space, and learned two things.

a} I have too many UFOs/PIGs. Some of those are stalled projects...some have never started. At least they're labeled now?
b} I may have too many shoes.

Linked:

Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

 

BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot

 

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story