It's ALIVE...

Or, rather, I am. Really. I seriously can't believe it's been over a month since I posted to my blog, but I am still alive and kicking. As for what's been keeping me away from my blog (and most of the blogs I regularly read too -- we won't even go into how many posts bloglines says I haven't read) take your pick from the following:

• Sick husband


• Sick child


• Child deciding to learn how to slide head first into home plate but using a steel door frame as her target


• The blahs (probably the biggest reason folks -- I was having a major tail end of winter funk that just would not go away)


• Getting some substitute teaching jobs (love the money, teaching, etc. but you usually don't find out whether or not you are working the next day until sometime between 6 and 9 pm)


• Scratching an eye because of something getting in my contact lens which made light painful and meant I had to wear my soooo out of date glasses for two weeks (um, yeah, I actually had to try and thread a quilting between during that period -- luckily Tink was asleep or she would have had way too many new words to add to her vocabulary. This was also another major reason for not posting -- when it hurts to look at a computer screen, um, yeah.)

And -- just because I'm in the mood for lists here are some sure signs you haven't posted to your blog in much too long:

• You get wonderful emails from blog friends asking if you are ok. (thank you everyone who wrote -- I'm catching up on my email so if you haven't heard from me yet -- you will soon!)


• You get a call from one of your favorite quilt shop owners saying you haven't written on the blog lately and she and the staff are wondering if you are ok. (thank you for calling -- it means a whole lot to me -- I'll be in soon!)


• Every conversation with your mother includes a reminder that you need to post to your blog.

Soooo -- what have I been up to in the past month? Well...I did hold the drawing for my 1 year/100th + post giveaway. Tink decided when I asked her to "mix" the slips of paper that she absolutely needed to use a spoon to do it. Hey, who am I to argue? She also decided that "one" was not enough -- so she chose two names: Gwen of Scrappy Angel Quilts and Lisa of Upstatelisa. I DID notify the winners via email. Now to just get their packages in the mail (it isn't just the blog that I'm behind on folks...).

I also managed to finish a gift for a coworker of my mother's who retired in April. This is someone who has been a great help to my mother and who has been generous in her praise of my humble efforts at crafting. I just HAD to make her something. After seeing a book that had some wonderful Japanese designs I decided to use a sashiko/applique design of a cherry blossom (a sakura) but instead of the sashiko technique use western embroidery. I then turned it into a decorative pillow with some pretty spring colored fabrics. I LOVE how this piece turned out. It's hard to tell from the photo (click to make it bigger) but the embroidery is done in pale pinks that shade out to almost white. I think I'm going to have to try this one again -- maybe with one of the other traditional Japanese designs.

I also finished my Four Seasons Spring piece!!! Wooo Hoooo! I'm kind of conflicted about this one. One the one hand, I put a lot of myself into it. It represents a lot of hours and a lot of things I haven't experimented with before. It's the first piece I've ever hand quilted that had seams. (check another thing off of my new year's list). It's the first piece I've ever done that has incorporated both knitting and quilting. Yes, call me an over achiever -- but that lace edging is the one I was working on here.

And, yes, the base of this piece is the trip around the world I talked about here. I took some of the suggestions and added embroidery to try and make it pop a bit more. There's a bit in the upper right hand corner.

And a bigger section in the lower left. I also added in some knit flowers to add some dimension. So why the conflict? Well -- I love the individual elements, but, somehow, I'm just not sure about the finished piece. This one is also just, well, despite the fact that I designed most of it -- just so not ME. Maybe because of it, it was really hard to let this one go. I think I may have to repeat this one again. It is on its way to its new owner and I hope she enjoys it. I really did have fun making it, even if I am a bit unsure about how it turned out. Maybe it's just nerves.

Yikes -- I don't post for over a month and then I end up going on and on. I do have more to say (so since when is that a surprise) and show (you should see the lovely swap piece I received -- and you will, I promise!) but I think this one is getting a bit long! I'll post more soon. I won't promise tomorrow, but hopefully this weekend!

Quarterly Review

Here we are on April 1st (and nope, no April Fool's jokes here) and it seems like a good time to do a business style review of my progress this quarter. Based on my New Year's goals and projections -- let's see how my work has been progressing (or not -- which is much more to the point here).


Skills:


Hand quilting -- actually, I've been working on this one. I still have a bit more to do on my second mini-wholecloth but not bad. I figured it would take much longer to get to this one.


Applique -- still a total and complete wimp.


Embroidery -- I have at least two projects in progress and one that I've finished the embroidery part but I can't show yet (and need to finish the other part and get it in the mail -- eeek!). I also finished the embroidery on my Winter Four Season's Swap. So -- not too bad here. It would be better if I FINISHED a few more things -- but, I'm working on it. And just to prove that I am -- a hint about some of the work on my current Four Season's piece.



Knitting -- well, actually there is more to report here than anywhere else. I've made three and 1/2 pairs of mitts over the past three months, finished a scarf, started another scarf, almost finished a sweater for my daughter, almost finished a princess/fairy dress for my daughter, made three washcloths, a couple of bath scrubbies, and a really long piece of lace and some flowers for embellishments. Whew. That actually is a lot. If you would like to see photos of most of these -- you can check out my Flickr page. I'm still enjoying knitting so it's likely to continue -- though, I have an experiment that I tried over the weekend that is getting frogged when I have enough heart to do it. UGH. As for not adding to the stash -- um, yeah, we just aren't going to go there.


Projects (this is the category that is going to just KILL my stock values here):


PIBS -- (projects in bins) Yeah, haven't touched them. They're still there. They're still waiting for me. See above for some reasons why they haven't been touched.


UFOs -- still there. Still UFO's. Though -- I did finally buy a backing for one UFO (though if I'm kind I'll call it a WISP -- Work in Slow Progress though I haven't touched it since -- let's see -- um, LAST March) that needs to be a FO by June 1st for my daughter's birthday.


Bags -- not going there. Have plans for three or four, have two I need to make pronto. Yep. Not going there.


Stash:


Um, haven't been sewing much, haven't been using up what I have. Though, I will say -- I did find a use for this piece from my stash while Mom was here visiting. Yep -- another new project. There's a surprise.


And if I keep on giving in to lovely new fabrics that I just want to play with -- how I'm ever going to get to use what I have is beyond me. But, really, these? Can you blame me???


And well -- when kind friends decide they want to send you bits and bobs to help you have MORE fabric -- can you REALLY say no? And, let's be honest -- do you really WANT to say no? Especially when you have a little one with a shoe fetish? No -- I didn't think so. (but I will say thank you so much KATE!!!)

As for hoarding fabrics (a nasty little tendency) -- um, is it really hoarding if you haven't been using much fabric AT ALL?!?
Christmas:

It sounded like a good idea, get Christmas presents done throughout the year so that my November/December isn't totally crazy. Started well -- hasn't been working out all that great. The one present I had managed to make has already been given away. NEED to get on top of this one if I don't want a repeat of last year's sweat shop.

Life:

Trying. Best I can do some days.


So -- overall report. Um, yeah, not so great. I have a ton of projects started, in the works, plots and plans and not much action. Not to mention I've been neglecting my blog. I won't even mention the number of posts I have plotted out in my head and haven't gotten to yet. Not to mention how far behind I am in my blog reading (yeah -- when bloglines tells you there are over 1000 posts you haven't read -- time to do some serious reading and/or editing of your lists -- so I apologize if I haven't been commenting much lately).


As for my giveaway -- I've had a terrible work stoppage problem here at my house (Tink and Mr. Cornfields have been sick). The drawing that was supposed to happen while my Mom was here didn't -- so I will be drawing names TONIGHT and posting winners tomorrow. My helper is feeling better so -- time to get her back to work!

Houston, We Have Flimsy...

I repeat, Houston, we have flimsy. Wooo Hoooo! My vow of finishing my Christmas quilt top last week was a success! It is now at flimsy stage. I love how this one turned out -- the colors are fun, the stitcheries worked out well, and using charm square packs really made this one come together pretty quickly. (thanks to dh for holding this one up for today's photo shoot -- cute toes and all, though I've been assured this is the most he wants posted of himself on my blog -- I smartly refused to promise anything. bwahahahaha)

Now on to the current quandaries about this one. My first problem is trying to come up with a name for this quilt -- some names just come to you, others, well, they just don't. This one isn't. Or, well, one does keep popping into my head, but it just seems. . . unoriginal. The entire time I've been working on this one, I've been thinking about the show Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer. You know, the one with the Island of Misfit Toys? For some reason the elves (though no real physical resemblance) touch off fond memories of watching this show every year -- is it just me? Anyway, add to that the fabric is called "Holly Jolly" and I've been hearing Burl Ives singing "A Holly Jolly Christmas" in my head the entire time I've been putting this together. My first thought is to call it "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" and be done with it -- but, I don't know, it seems kind of, well, derivative? Hmmn, maybe I'm over thinking this one. Any suggestions for names would be appreciated though.

The other quandary about this one is how to quilt it. Though, truthfully, this one isn't so much of a problem right now since it's not going to be able to be sent off for quilting (nope, I don't have the talent for this one yet -- and it deserves something better than I can currently do) for a few months at least. Not because of the $$, though that is a factor, but because the top is not sitting comfortably in my flimsy drawer. No, nothing bad happened to it, it is now in its new temporary home. When I went to my newest LQS to pick up a couple of extra charm packs to finish up this one, I brought my elf stitcheries with me (ok, so I wanted to show off a bit -- I'm kind of proud of how they turned out). I showed them to the owner, Tammy, (who is a really sweet lady btw) and explained what I was doing with the rest of the blocks. Unfortunately, I didn't explain it all that well -- but she asked to see them despite my bumbling. I brought in a few of the disappearing 9 patch blocks in a couple of days later and she loved them. She also asked if they could use the top as a shop sample. Knock me over with a feather! (ok, kind of a hokey saying but -- it fits)

To make me equally dumbfounded (you would think someone had stupified me -- sorry, necessary Harry Potter reference -- the book comes out THIS WEEK!!!!!) Laura2 (her designation at the store, not my own weird way of naming her) who plans the shop's classes asked if I would be willing to teach a class on the technique. (I think my answer was something erudite and sophisticated like "um...sure...I'd...yeah") So in September I will be teaching a class on the disappearing 9 patch block and until then, my top will be displayed at the shop (I think it will go up sometime this week but they may wait until they get their shipment of Holly Jolly bolts in whenever that is). Have I mentioned again that I love the new LQS? (and if you haven't followed the links above, and here I'm trying to be all subtle and everything but I did promise to reveal the name of the shop eventually, the name of the shop is Tammy Tadd Designs -- yep, she does design patterns and fabric and the store is adorable -- and no, I'm not just saying this to suck up, really, I was spending money there before any of this happened) I will get a picture of the quilt in the shop when it gets put up!

And speaking of spending money on fabric. *sigh* I'm back on my fabric diet. No new lovelies for me for the rest of this month. I may, just may mind you, have gone a little nuts over some new fabrics that came into the shop this past week. But really, can you blame me? I resisted for a whole 24 hours before I went back to the shop and bought fabrics for the quilt that just would not leave me alone. (I was literally finishing up the Christmas quilt and taking breaks to design one around these fabrics) I do have to go back tomorrow and buy a little more of one of the fabrics -- I bought just enough fabric for my design idea and, of course, made a cutting mistake. But other than that (oh, and some binding for the Christmas quilt when the yardage comes in, and maybe some backing fabrics -- I think I've got a problem here) I'm in a no-buy zone until August at least. Not like I don't have three or four quilts that need to be done. Not to mention Mom's pillows to finish up and other assorted projects to complete. But I can't regret splurging on these -- I think the quilt is going to be fun!

Confession is good for the soul.

At least, that's what Father Jim told us in CCD classes when I was much younger. Then again, he got sent off to seminary after breaking his jaw in a bar fight. So not so sure it was the best advice ;0). But here I am to confess my fabric purchases despite my no-buy vow for the month of June.

First up on the hit parade is this selection of the Moda Chez Moi fabrics. No, these are not a ton of fat quarters. They are something my newest LQS cuts -- 11" squares of fabric (well, ok, there is ONE FQ hiding out of the picture). It's great if you want a little bit of something or, as in this case, a selection from a whole line but not a lot of anything. It didn't hurt that they were on sale buy 2 get 1 free. Plus I had an additional 20% off coupon. Not 20% off of one item mind you, but 20% off the entire purchase. Can I just say I LOVE the new LQS??? (someday I will have to share the name of the shop, it may be coming soon) I think these are going to be cut into charm squares and made into a bag or something similar. And at $.40 a piece for the 11" squares, I ask you, could you resist? And yes, Lisa, I do blame you too!

More fantastic deals? Well, how about $1.00 fat quarters at 20% off. Hmmn. $.80 each FQs. Again. These needed to come home with me. As well as these other FQs. On sale for $2.00 each, plus an additional 20% off. Need I say more? I bought some other FQs, but well, some of them are already at their destination (see, I was buying gifts, really) and I didn't get pics. And others are going off later this week to their final destination. Since the recipient reads this blog, not gonna show 'em!

As for the splurge with my discount for doing the Yo-Yo maker demos -- well, I am still addicted to the lovely Fresh Cut fabrics (I swear I'm going to own at least a FQ of every print in the line before I'm done -- and I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do with them), I may have added to my collection. Who am I kidding? Maybe? Yeah. Right.

Ok, first round of confessions over. Now it's time to look back at the month of June and confess how much/little of my long list of projects I actually got done. Eeeek.

• Mom's pillows -- um, nope. Though I just decided for sure how to finish them this past weekend, so those should be done soon. This month for sure!
• Little girl's dress (still trying to come up with a cute pet name for dd -- I call her kitten, but hey, should be something more original don't ya think?) -- a big old nope here as well.


• God daughter's jacket -- if you have been reading you know DONE DONE DONE. She received it today just in time for her birthday. It fits and she loves it. Woo Hoooo!


• mil's Christmas present quilt. Cut and ready to begin sewing. Goal for the month met


• Background strips for leaders enders project. Cut. Goal for month met.


• My Christmas lap quilt. Started. Way started. All of the initial block sets done. 3 of the 5 embroideries done. 5 Disappearing 9 patch blocks completed. Goal for the month more than met!


• Summer Sorbet -- pushed to July as predicted.


• Practice machine quilting -- well, I did some on gd's jacket. So sure. I'll give myself credit here.


• Dick and Jane. Not even looked at.


• Bags for gifts, nope. But I did make myself a nifty new purse!

Not as much as I had originally planned. Some things done though. Since I'm used to assigning letter grades to my students, I'd have to give my June list and no-buy progress a C+. Hey, that's average. I'll take it. And to close out my confessions of quilting undone -- some in-progress photos of things I HAVE done. The latest stitchery for my Christmas quilt (ignore the running stitches, they are there so I can wash out the markings and still be able to know where my design area is when I cut the piece to put in the blocks) and some of the finished blocks.

Bags, stitcheries, and other random works

Well, my god daughter's jacket is now well and truly done and on its way to the Portland area. I hope it gets there in time for her birthday next week! I added a few goodies into the package as belated b-day gifts for her mother -- so I'm sure I'll hear when it gets there! You can also see here a few of the fabrics I bought last weekend. I mentioned that I had broken my no-buy June vow, here are three of the lovelies. Normally, this wouldn't bother me at all -- I'm not sure buying a gift for a fellow quilter counts as breaking my no-buy pledge. I mean, they're not for ME. But, well, I may have bought some fabrics for myself as well. Just a few. I'll get some photos and fess up properly. In my defense -- it was a sale. A really great sale. And I had an additional percentage off coupon. Oh, and an additional percentage off the next day too. Ok, I'm incorrigible!

On the plus side, now that the jacket is done and gone, I have a few other projects I managed to work on. The first is a bag I made in my first ever quilt class. I've been quilting for six years now (about -- give or take) and I have been meaning to take a class for ages. The new LQS I mentioned awhile ago had a class to make these little bags. I figured it would be a fun and painless way to dive into the whole class thing. I was right. I had a great time at the class and I ended up with a cute purse. And, despite the temptation to buy new fabric for the class, these beauties came straight out of my stash.

Did I learn anything new in the class? Yes and no -- I did put in a magnetic snap for the first time, and a new technique for dealing with the interfacing in the straps. Otherwise, not much new -- but it did tell me that my vague idea to take an absolute beginner course is probably not a good choice. Now if only a quilt shop would offer a -- yes, you've been quilting for awhile but how about a class that can fill in the gaps in your self-taught quilting education -- class. On the plus side, while talking with the owner during the class, I got an invite to demo the clover yo-yo makers (which I LOVE btw) at their "grand opening" celebration. So, I got to spend last Saturday doing my demo thing. That was a ton of fun, and by the end of my demo the shop had sold out of all of their stock of the darned things. I don't know if it had much to do with me -- but I had a great time talking with other quilters and showing off a product I love. Oh, and did I mention the 30% of discount I got on anything I purchased that day? Yeah -- that would be a reason I fell off the no-buy wagon. Other than total lack of self-control of course.

I've also been plugging away at my Christmas quilt. I have a few of the blocks 1/2 done and the fabric colors look sooo good together! I can't wait to have more done and move on to the next step. I've also been working on the embroidery for this one. I finished the boy elf (yes, he still needs to be ironed, but hey, I washed out the iron on transfer pencil) to go with his sister and am now working on the other little ones I'm going to sprinkle into the quilt. I've also changed my mind about some basic design things with this one, so I am going to need to go and buy another charm square pack or two to get the size top I want. Originally I was going to do a 3 x4 block design with borders, but now I think I'm going to do a 4 x 5 block layout. Still not sure about the borders, but I have the feeling I'm going to leave them off.

Other than that -- not much to report here at casa de cornfields. I've been busy working on the paid research gig and trying to get some quilting time in as well. The little one is reluctantly taking her nap and the sound of the computer is making her stir, so I think I'm off to go put together more Christmas blocks. Have a great day!

Finally!

I'm Baaaaccckkkk. Finally. I was supposed to have my new modem on Monday at the latest. By Tuesday when the UPS guy had made deliveries to two of my neighbors (one of them has a SERIOUS addiction to QVC) I called to see what had happened to my package of Internet goodness. Turns out that when the nice young woman helped me with ordering the modem (and convinced me to sign up for the extended warranty on the new one so I wouldn't have to pay for the replacement) she failed to actually process the shipping for my modem. Hmmn. Many apologies and a promise to send it overnight. Great -- but, well, it was 5:00 pm on Tuesday. This means that "overnight" will get to me on Thursday. Great. And I said such nice things about them in my last post. Oh well, it got here -- for some reason though it was the same exact model as the last one I had to re-install the software (what? it uses something different than it did a week ago?) and I'm back in business. So tonight, I took some time off of sewing to catch up on my blog reading and indulge my Internet addiction fix. It may take me a while to catch up though -- it's amazing how productive everyone has been in the last week!

As for my own productivity -- well, I have been sewing. And I got some great goodies in the mail. And I took my first ever quilting class -- so stuff to say about that and a photo of the project. And a fun invitation I got. But, my, way too much for one post so instead of my usual marathon posts -- I will spread out the joy a bit and post a little at a time. Tonight's menu includes progress on my June goals.

First up tonight (omg -- I just looked at the clock. Ok, so it's this morning!) is my god daughter's jacket. DONE. DONE. DONE. (well, except for the buttons. But I need to go to the local national chain fabric store and buy some. That is on tap for tomorrow -- but those will be purchased and sewn on this weekend and it will be off in the mail on Monday -- plenty of time to get to her for her actual birthday) I really do like how this one turned out. The crosshatching was a pain, but it was so worth it in the end. I also got to play with some free motion quilting and I really like how that turned out as well. And would you believe, that except for the buttons, this one is entirely from scraps and stash! (this says something about my stash, but I'm not entirely sure what) The picture doesn't show the back of the hood -- but I used some of the orange stripe and the hot pink/orange dot for each 1/2.

I've also been working on some embroidery and blocks for the Christmas quilt I'm making for myself. No pictures of the blocks yet (I've only got one done as a test -- the others are in the partial construction stage so not very photo worthy) BUT I have finished the first embroidery and am 1/2 way done with the second. I found the pattern for this little cutie as a free download from Wee Wonderfuls. When I saw them I just knew they needed to play with the Holly Jolly charm packs I bought on the last shop hop. I chose all of the colors from those in the fabrics and just had fun stitching her and her little dolly up. Her brother is about 1/2 done -- so I should have a picture of him in a day or so. She was so much fun to do and I can't wait to see what she looks like with the blocks I am making. I'll try and finish up a few more of them and get a picture.

Other than that -- I finished the project I started in my first ever quilt class (more about this later) but no picture right now and worked on putting together some more embroidery designs for the Christmas quilt. More of those as they get finished. And while it was a slow week for mail of the techie sort -- I got some other squishies I will share with you in another post. I just realized how very late it is -- and that I am going to need all of my energy in the morning to try and keep up with the boundless energy of my own darling toddler. Is it possible to mainline caffeine?

More Progress...

Have you ever had a project that you know SHOULD be cruising right along but it seems to be dragging out of you? Unfortunately, my god daughter's jacket is going this way. I do love the way it's turning out, I'm just not having much fun making it. I think the problem is that this is the 6th time I've made this pattern. And the second time I've done the raw edged applique technique. It turns out differently every time, but still -- I'm bored. I want something new. I want something selfish. I want to play with Christmas fabric! (Remember the charm square packs?) So after this one is finished, I think the pattern is going into semi-retirement. At least until dd grows out of her current version.

BUT -- having said that, there is progress. I've got the two fronts laid out. One has been cross hatched, the other is pinned and waiting for me to sit down at the machine. Then both are getting a bit of experimenting. I've already tried it on the back and I like it so far. The cross hatching I'm doing totally avoids the largest daisies in the jacket. (these are actually left from a panel I used in other projects) Instead, the daisies are getting free motioned following (kind of, ok, so not really) the daisy print. I'm really liking how this is turning out (even from the back) -- but I really dislike doing the cross hatching! Now I have to decide if I want to continue the piecing to include the hood -- or leave well enough alone and use some larger pieces of the orange stripe and hot pink and orange polka dot I have and piece the hood from those. Hmmmn.

Other than that little bit of progress, I've been trying out a new skill. I've been admiring the embroidery work of May Britt at Abyquilt, Anne at Quilting Bebbs, Leigh at cinnamon sticks, and of course Tonya and beginning to re-think my position on handwork. While I'm not quite ready to do anything as fun as Tonya's threadies or her crusty, I do think I could do some simple embroidery. In fact, the Christmas quilt I am thinking about may have an embroidery or two (or three or four, haven't decided yet) in it. Soooo -- I should probably practice first hunh? Well, yeah, that was what I thought. I found this cute little kit at Borders when I was cruising the craft books. Seemed like a way to try it out, with some cute iron-on patterns (the ones in the kit are by the same lady who does these fun and funky embroidery patterns) and a couple of tea towels included for practice. So, I took the plunge. So here you go -- my very first embroidery. Some cute flowers and an Eiffel Tower in honor of Tonya (and yes, it does need to be ironed).

And another shot of a close-up of the stitching. Nothing fancy, just stem stitches. And I followed the advice in the kit about using all six strands. I won't do that again -- it's ok, but it just seems too bulky to me. I did enjoy it, and it was a great sit on the couch project. Full steam ahead then for my Christmas quilt embroidery, and I have a nice little embroidered tea towel as a practice exercise. Now I only have one question -- what does one do with a tea towel? And an embroidered one no less?