Rhymes with purple

In a continuation of an unusual stream of productivity, I finished another quilt! And almost odder, it was a gift. I'm usually a selfish quilter, not wanting to give up any project that I spent so much time on. Non-quilters may not realize it, but making quilts often includes blood, sweat and tears.

Anyway. It was a gift for my friend Kim and her soon-to-be husband Collin. They are getting married in about a month, but I decided to give her the quilt at her shower.

While I was working on the quilt, it kind of reminded me of purple Kool-Aid, which in turn made me think of Jim Jones. I secretly wanted to name it "Don't Drink the Purple Kool-Aid" but figured that wasn't really the impression I wanted to make. I obviously have quilt naming issues.

I started the project at the last quilt camp and got the top done and started the quilting. Then I realized that the back was puckering and that annoyed the crap out of me. So I got out my trusty seam ripper. Lots of fun tearing all that quilting out.

Natalie helped me re-pin it a couple weeks ago and then I got busy with the machine quilting. I did wavy lines going across and down. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I love the fabrics and color combination!

Some finished stuff

I haven't been terribly productive in the last week or so. I've been super tired with work stuff and, in more exciting things, a visit from the boy! My apartment is now jam-packed with stuff from the old house in Texas now that it has finally sold. So in good news I now have grown up furniture ... in not so good news, my apartment is so full of boxes and plastic tubs that it's almost ridiculous!

So craft-wise I haven't been doing much. I have finally gotten through my entire stash of 1.5" squares, sorting them out by color, trying to eliminate doubles and seeing how many I have. I think I have more than 2,000 -- my count was 2,100 but I'm allowing wiggle room for some of the doubles I pulled out. Then I stuck them all in two gallon-size Ziploc bags and mixed them all up. That was rather satisfying. I've drafted a pattern that I plan to use in my quilt, but haven't started sewing yet. I think I'll have to break down and buy some background fabric, just because I used to buy so many small pieces.

Anyway, here are a few projects that I've finished semi-recently, but pre-blog.

I made this wallhanging for my mom. She's been quilting for decades, but still doesn't have a single quilt that she made for herself! I am definitely not that selfless! I really liked this pattern ... I kind of saw something similar in a magazine then drafted my own pattern. I think the swirly pattern is called Indiana Puzzle. Kind of appropriate, no?

Speaking of seeing patterns in the backs of magazines then drafting my own version, this dog wallhanging was another one I had inspirational help on.

I also drafted these fire hydrant blocks, which were just insane ... like 18 separate pieces within a three-inch or so square. Sometimes I wonder about my ideas. 

I also quilted bones in the border, which I liked the effect of. 

This is a wallhanging I made for one of my friends for Christmas. I love this pattern, but it's really complicated. I have about five other of these blocks made (and of course plenty more black, white, purple and green material) but I haven't made any more progress on another project with them. Someday, I hope!