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 - Relentless Forward Motion

Another week, another husband no-show. Good for top finishing...not so much for the quilting. Which is a teensy bit frustrating since I have customer quilts...another downside to renting long arm time.

But, he should be back soon, so hopefully I'll be making tops into quilts this week! Until then, I'm just trying to see how many tops I can finish before he gets back. ;)

My aunt's Tennessee Waltz is done to borders. I love this pattern so much. Even though I had to fix one block twice.

Weekly Churn Dash - not sure what this was...Riley Blake maybe? Anyway, it's cute and it was in my Rainbow Chevrons.

Backings prepped for the t-shirt quilts. I did a great job matching the chevrons...and didn't even attempt to match the floral.

Since I was ahead of schedule, I pulled out Summer Drinks to see what it needed to finish up. I'm extending the HSTs into the border. Not sure if there will be a second border or if I will call it quits after this.

This happened, too.

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

April - The Adoption Month

Our adoption was finalized this month. Does anything else really matter?

Well, actually, since that was all done in Korea with no input from us at all, I had plenty of time for other stuff this month, actually.

Like finishing the Little Man's quilt - my AYOLF goal.

And finishing Pretty in Pink, which was one of the several quilts listed on my Facebook page and already sold.

I also finished up a bunch of quilting, mainly of the striped table runners, but also of Cat Tails. I'm saving Cat Tails for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, so only sneak peeks for now.


Since the table runners have hand-stitched bindings, they finish up slowly. This one went to a silent auction for my church, so that's why it's done.

In piecing:

My four weekly churn dashes. Definitely a range of purples!

A couple extra RSC'13 blocks.

Finished the block piecing for Spin Cycle. I'm setting them aside now because I don't feel like sewing sashing I'm waiting for the release of MISS KATE for the borders of this Bonnie & Camille tribute quilt. I mean, really - obviously they named the new collection after me, so it only makes sense.

Some progress on Celtic Solstice. Last month I decided on a new layout and unpicked all of the secondary blocks. This month I actually started on the new design. I like it. The pinwheel was just too distracting, IMHO.

And then I made it all the way to the 29th without a NewFO! Instead of whipping out a kit, I decided to work on a quiet book for the Little Man. No iPads allowed at the embassy, so I have to have some way to entertain him. I know, weird, right?

But it is a sewing project, so I think it counts. The Dude and I have been having fun Pinteresting and designing the pages. The monster is completely his design. Unzip the mouth and unroll the tongue!

I'll have a post on Friday with more pages, or you can catch a sneak peek on Instagram. {@katiemaequilts}

And in family news, besides the whole finalization thing, the Dude became a Webelo. Momma cried. So did the Dude, when we had to rip that mustache off.

And I realized CC is the same size as Tycho now - and she's only eight months old. He still barely tolerates her. She manages to snuggle up with him if she creeps up slowly while he's not looking.

Linked:

Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy

A Year of Lovely Finishes

Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts

NewFO @ Cat Patches

March - Big Events for My Boys Month

I haven't posted in two and a half weeks...gosh, I wonder where I might have been! ;)

If you need a hint, "Eolmana ma?" is how you say "how much for a yard?" at a Korean fabric market. Sort of.

And this is what 15 yards for $45 looks like.

And that other thing we went to Korea for...I think that went well. Honestly, I'm not going to breathe again until we get initial approval. But, we met the Little Man and he flopped right down on the quilt I made for his foster mother and hugged it, so I like him already.

Sewing

Chunky Log Cabin - Finished

Skorca! - Finished

Both long-time UFOs, so good to knock those off the list.

Some smaller projects...

...a table runner for a friend...

...a pillowcase for the Dude...

...and a birthday table runner. For my NINE YEAR OLD.

Quilted

Central Park Sudoku / Reverse Hearts - Hearts is now bound but not all the threads are buried. CPS is waiting for binding.

Piecing

Spin Cycle - adding a few blocks every week. By the way, who bet on 2.5 months before Little Miss Fluffy Tail ripped the design wall down?

Bedtime Monkey {my NewFO} - done to the applique. I can't decide if the monkey ought to have shoulders. He looks a bit weird without them.

Striped Tablerunners - I took a class on these at the beginning of the month and whipped together a few more. Only the birthday ones have been quilted so far.

Weekly Churn Dash - quickly polished off the last two {bottom row} this weekend. The darker teal is from Boardwalk, and the other is, of course, my most favorite fabric ever, the Lovely from my Celtic Solstice. {Does it count as a scrap if you're not done with the quilt yet?}

And speaking of Solstice, I didn't do any sewing on it this month. In fact, I unsewed. I decided the pinwheel centers in Block B were too distracting, so I used the 12+ hour plane rides to rip some seams, and the down time in Seoul to sketch out a plan.

And I dug out Toy Story 1 and discovered it was a whole six seams from finished. So now it's a top.

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

A Year of Lovely Finishes
Fresh Sewing Day @ Lily's Quilts

NewFO @ Cat Patches

2013 - In Review

I'm doing this a little backwards - since 2014 is already up and running. Oh well, here's 2013 anyway!

Fireman T-Shirt Quilt / Raiders T-Shirt Quilt / Squadron T-Shirt Quilt / Family T-Shirt Quilt #1 / Family T-Shirt Quilt #2

Swoon / Rainbow Sherbet

Really Random Quilt #1 / Rainbow Boats / Really Random Quilt #2 / H is for Henry / Sunkissed Jewel Box

Fractured Four Patch / Fall-gyle / Nine-Patch Snowballs / Olivia Schnibble

Layer Cake Snowballs / Loopy Ewe / How Charming - Girl version / How Charming - Twin Boy versions

Not bad, huh? 21 quilt finishes, including five commissioned t-shirt quilts and six commissioned not-t-shirt quilts.

Of course, a lot of these were pieced or partially pieced in years past, and a couple are nothing more than borders on a panel, but a finish is a finish, right?

I also kinda sucked at naming quilts this year. Nine-Patch Snowballs? Really? Okay...

Zombie Pillow / Creeper Pillow / Starburst Pillow

Two of Hearts Wall Hanging / Gobble Gobble Wall Hanging

Creeper Halloween Costume / Yoda Halloween Costume

Triple-Zip Pouch / Squadron Baby Blankets / Fabric Covered Corkboard

Kindle Paperwhite Cover / Weighted Blanket and Cover / Ribbon Blankie

I also had some smaller finishes, and even added that to the blog header. They might be little, but they're something I did, and pillows ought to be celebrated. Especially Minecraft pillows.

Life had some ups and downs. 

My husband came home from a seven-month deployment, we went on a cruise, Lori and I qualified for Half Fanatics and set some personal records.

But my beloved lap cat died, we had a rough move from Oklahoma to Washington State, and our house sale...well, it sold.

In addition, our adoption stalled when Korea halted all international adoptions for about six months. Now that we've finally been submitted to court, it's hard not to be bitter that we would have had him for at least Christmas, if not his second birthday, if it weren't for that stoppage and a couple snags with the move.

Bright spots at the end of the year include my sister's wedding, learning how to long-arm quilt, and for the Dude, CC the kitten. Tycho and I are still not huge fans of the kitten.

So, we're hoping 2014 will be a little better as we finally settle into our home, bring the Little Man home, work through the FIZes, run some races, and convince the kitten to stop acting like a kitten.

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 - July

 July  involved a lot of this...

...and this...

...with a little bit of sewing and wedding stuff thrown in!

Family: our house in Oklahoma is under contract and should close soon. We found a new place in Washington - renting this time - and will be moving in today. Well, the Dude and I. Our stuff might be here in a week. Let's just say it was NOT a good move for our stuff.

The Dude: got the award for muddiest at Cub Scouts camp. And he has the once-white t-shirt to prove it!

We stopped at Dinosaur and Craters of the Moon National Monuments on our way to Washington, and we all had a great time. The Dude especially loved the pteroglyphs at Dinosaur and the lava tube caves at Craters. I'll have a full post on that once I can use a computer that takes camera cards!

The cat: is already meeting with his new cancer vet in Spokane. Cancer is still in remission, but he is getting a feeding tube, as my 17 pound behemoth is now six pounds. :(

Adoption: well, let's just say the agency asked us to update the home study asap because travel may be in the near future. Which still could be a while.

Wedding: threw a very purple bridal shower in between all the moving and house hunting. And made sure I had a professional photographer around, so the photos are amazing! Full post on that soon, too. {Hey, I have nothing to do until the boxes are delivered!} I believe Lori is posting about it on Friday, if you want to see more.

Running: very little this month - just some sprints (ow) and a nice pre-shower run with Lori. In which we got lost in my parents' development, but managed the fastest 3.5 miles for either of us in the recent past.

Sewing: okay, this got to be a long update before I even got to the sewing!

Two quilt finishes - a second family t-shirt quilt, and a second really random quilt.

Finished the blues from, um, May, maybe? But that caught me up to the end of June on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Obviously my teal scraps were elsewhere this month.


{The following pictures were taken with hotel room lighting and a cell phone. Sorry.}

There was some shopping along the way, of course! I picked up everything but the neutral to make a quilt for my son's foster mother in Korea. The quilt is based on the "Road to Oklahoma" block {since we thought we'd be in Oklahoma when he came} so it seems appropriate that the fabric came from the road to Washington.

And I grabbed three pieces of Happy Go Lucky to finish off my little collection for Spin Cycle. Now I just need the neutrals {and time} to start that one!




And the biggie - my mother-in-law talked me into making this massive kit. The pattern has instructions to break it down into a BOM, so I will spend some time cutting and bagging it for that, in between unpacking. I've got just under two years before her 60th birthday!

So my four goals from last month? The two quilts are done, the move is...done-ish, and the sanity was gone by halfway through the month.

This month, I'd like to:

1. Move in/unpack.

2. Finish St. Paul's Cross. Yeah, I'm only two blocks in. No biggie. I'm sure I totally remember how to paper piece.

3. Start "H is for Henry."

4. Start the Road to OK/WA quilt.

Linked:

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

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