1.30.2011

Where do I come up with this stuff?

I often find myself knee-deep in insane craft projects. The kind that take infinite patience and require a little bit of delusional behavior. What can I say, I tend to be a glutton for punishment.

Take my postage stamp quilt, for instance. This project has been years in the making. I think the last time I even mentioned it here was back in February of 2009. And at that stage, I had already been working on this quilt for years.

Anyway, I spent all day - and I mean all day, from like 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. with just a few short breaks - sorting through the huge pile of 1.5-inch squares that I've amassed. I am pretty sure that I have now gotten squares cut out of just about every piece of fabric I own and all the scraps I've collected, even those I picked up at quilt camp earlier this month.

Here's a little look at the most recent pile of cut squares:



After I finished catching up on all my cutting, I started the sorting process, which is really overwhelming and can drive anyone into a nightmare of OCD. Basically, I have each color separated into a different Ziploc bag. I then lay out all the squares of one color, trying to keep them arranged from light to dark. And then the hard part: making sure I don't have doubles.

This. Is. Impossible.

I've already found a few fabrics that have made it into more than one block, but there's no way I'm going to tear them apart just to fix that. I hope that after the quilt is together no one will ever notice.

Here's a look at some of the medium red squares.



I got through most of the colors today, but still have a few left to do, including two of the worst - green and blue - just due to the fact that I seem to have more of those colors than any others. I'd really like to get going sewing these blocks together again soon. I am still not sure how I'll lay the quilt out, but I hope to have some design ideas to try out soon.

I have to admit that I am really, really curious about where I'm at collection-wise. It seems like I have a ton of squares since I've been collecting them for years, but since they're only 1.5 inches, I know I'll need a lot to make a decent size quilt.

1.26.2011

Backblogged. And Ugh.

I've been sick this week. And not my normal kind of nerve pain sick, but more of the sipping water and Sprite and trying not to throw up before I make it to the bathroom kind of sick. It's been awful. I'm not sure what caused it - either a virus or food poisoning - but I'm annoyed that shortly before the vomiting commenced, I was eating pizza that I had ordered in. So trying not to tempt fate, there goes a big waste of money. No way in hell am I eating any more of it.

Anyway, I've been home sick. Tuesday was awful. Between bouts of sickness I slept all day, not even having the urge to get online (you can tell I'm feeling miserable when that happens). Today I've been slightly better and have been able to keep liquids down. I just ate my first solid food - a bagel - so I'm hoping I don't get sick again tonight. Today has been filled with lots more sleeping, and I still feel so exhausted. It's been sucky.

One of the bad aspects of being sick is my lack of energy and brain power to work on any projects. Here's a look at something I made earlier this month as a birthday present for my friend, Natalie. It was a lot of fun to put together. It is made out of felt, stuffing, a button shaped like a flower, and embroidery floss.

151

Ugh. I don't think the bagel was a good idea. My stomach is hurting again. :(

1.17.2011

Guess what I'm working on ...

Hand sewing the binding on this quilt! I know it's probably hard to remember, since the last time I posted about it was in June of 2009!

Here's a sneak peek:

Preview of I dream in fuchsia (the quilt)z

I knew this quilt has been a work in progress for a long time, but that's even longer ago than I thought. Last I had posted about it, I had put it aside after realizing that the fabric I bought for the back was not big enough, so a pieced back was going to be needed. I started the back a while ago, but it got lost in the queue again. More recently - I took it with me when I went to the October quilt camp and had my friends help me layer it and pin baste it so I could get the quilting started.

While at camp, I started quilting it, but didn't make much progress. I had originally planned to quilt it in loops going across the front, but since it was so large, wrestling with it was crazy hard. I tore out the stitches I had tried and started again, this time doing loops in individual blocks, changing the direction of the loops between each block. It was easier to do a block at a time, but it was still a challenge.

I got back from January quilt camp yesterday, and after a full day and then some quilting (!!), it's finished! Now I am hand sewing the binding on, then need to cut a million and a half threads from the top, and then to wash it dry it and it will be done. I can't wait!

This is the largest top I've machine quilted yet, and I am really excited to have a quilt that truly is large enough for my bed. I've been using my dog quilt (which has been done for ages, but I'm such a lazy blogger that I never posted a picture. Oy.) which is big enough to keep me warm, but isn't really big enough for my bed. It's so loud fabric- and pattern-wise it doesn't show dirt, which is awesome.

Anyway, I hope to finish this soon and post pictures! This will be my first finished quilt of 2011, and will be my first positive points for our second stashbusting contest. (I accidentally went into the negative on the way to quilt camp, when Natalie's mom Cherry stopped at a fabric shop on the way and found white Purdue fabric that is really hard to find anymore. So I told her to get me a yard and a half, forgetting my fabric diet. Whoops.)