Inspiration a la Pinterest

Along with a large portion of the Internet, I have recently found myself wasting, I mean spending, a lot of time on Pinterest. And wow, there is so much to look at and be inspired by! One of my favorite quilt projects I've seen there are quilts that have blocks that look just like Polaroid photos. So cute!

Of course I didn't waste hardly any time at all before I started digging through my novelty prints. I have a ton of novelty prints, but don't use them as often as I should in "normal" projects. So far, picking prints out that would work as "photographs" has been fun.



I haven't worked too much on this quilt so far, but it has been nice to have a different project to pick up once in a while between my obligation projects and my ongoing handquilting spree.

New year, new project

After ogling the scrappy paintbox quilt featured on Oh, Fransson! for years, I've finally started to make one of my own. Actually I am making two (eek!) of them -- one for myself and one as a graduation gift for my niece.

I started them while at quilt camp last weekend, and so far they have been slow going. I'm trying to use as many scraps as humanly possible, so that is slowing me down a fair bit. With the help of my mom, we sorted through all my strip scraps and pulled out ones that go along with the solid colors that I have. None of them are cut to the right size though, so I am having to do that as I go along.

Here's the pile of 2.5-inch squares I am picking some of my centers from. Ahh, love the rainbows!



And my finished blocks so far. All I've done so far are pinks -- I need to get going! Still, I think it will be great when it's all finished.

Preview from quilt camp

I just returned from quilt camp today (and had a fabulous time) and don't feel like doing a complete rundown of all the projects I worked on, but here's a little preview of the main project I focused on over the weekend. I'm so thankful I was able to go!

Look familiar?

I have no clue how many times I've posted about this quilt, but heaven knows I've been working on it FOREVER. Like so long that I'm on my third sewing machine since I started this. I started it with my first machine that died way too young, then had an interim machine that a friend gave me when my first one went kaput. Now I'm on Buster, who so far has proved to be a very trustworthy companion. Knock on wood.





One of the reasons as to why it is taking me so long to finish (other than my obsession with hand quilting all these multicolor circles of different sizes on it) is that the strips aren't sewn together all that great. The tension on my first machine was off and a lot of the strips aren't very secure. So much so that I've been having to go back and hand sew a few of the seams together better so the white stitches are no longer visible.

You can kinda see it in this photo:



Anyway, it's been labor intensive to say the least. But I love it so much. I can't wait until it's finished and on my bed.

Yet another new project

I seem to have gotten over that slump I was in a couple weeks ago when I didn't feel like working on anything. The bad part of this equation is that I keep wanting to work on new projects instead of something I've already started.

Work on the shawl has been going great, but it's a lot of the same thing. The same colors and stitches, and since it's gotten so big, it takes a long time to even finish a couple rows. So of course it only made sense to start another pair of socks.

I wanted to use one of my own hand-painted skeins, so I pulled out the three that I was most drawn to at the moment.



(The colors in the photo are kind of washed out - all of the yarns are more vibrant in person.) After pondering this decision for quite a while, I decided to go with the yellow, pink and orange one, since it seemed the most summery to me. And I've been wanting a pair of yellow socks.



I started working on this pattern called Waterfall Socks. It's a pretty pattern, but really simple. That was key for me - I didn't really want to start anything that would require much concentration.



I don't think I'll get much of these done in the near future though. I was working on them this week while in the waiting room of my doctor's office, and a woman came by and asked me about them. We talked for a few minutes and she told me she loves knitted dishcloths, but hasn't found any for sale recently. I offered to make her some and turns out she wants 10! I won't get paid a whole lot for them, but it will help me use up some of the cotton yarn I've been stashing and make a few bucks. Works for me! (Ask me if I feel the same way after I've knit those 10 dishcloths.)

WIP - Shawl update

I've been working pretty steadily on the knitted shawl I started about two weeks ago. I'm about done with the striped portion and will have to do the border next. I know I will have to block this, but I have no idea how big it will end up or if it will be a good size for me and my mammoth shoulders. I am not really liking the idea of figuring out how to make it larger, so I'll probably just cross my fingers and hope for the best.



Having so many works in progress means I have found a good use for some of those box bags I made! They are a perfect size for this type of project. I keep thinking I will post some of these to sell on etsy, but haven't gotten around to it yet. (Story of my life. I love making stuff to sell, but hate writing the little descriptions for the items on etsy. Must. Get. Motivated.)

Stashbusting update - February

I'm now two months into the Stashbusting Contest. I definitely fell off the wagon!

Finishes:
- The top of my Santorini by Lila Tueller layer cake top. I haven't even thought about what I'm doing on the back yet.

In progress:
- Postage stamp quilt
- Polka dot paper pieced quilt
- Wonky log cabin quilt-as-you-go scrap quilt

Purchases:
- Here's where I slipped: At the quilt camp I went to last weekend, it was a Nancy J. quilt shop weekend. It's been the first time I've been to a camp with her shop there -- I loved her fabric selection! So many beautiful brights! And obviously very tempting. Here's what I caved in and purchased.



I have not decided what I'm doing with these yet, but I love this color palette and all the patterns. I can't wait to pick others from my stash to mix with these for a project.

Other fabric in:
- A BUNCH of scraps from people at quilt camp, lots as birthday surprises. I didn't even check the trash cans this time! Here's hoping I get a lot done in March.

A sneak peak

Just a little sneak peak of what I've been working on this week ...



I cannot wait until this is finished. I just stupidly drank a diet Mountain Dew, so there's a chance I get it done tonight!

One down, one to go

I started these socks months ago, and just got going on them again a couple nights ago when I got the urge to do some knitting. I finally finished the first sock last night. And they fit perfectly. Yay!

I'm not normally into blue a lot, but I just love these socks so far! It is a pattern called Blackrose and is knitted in KnitPicks Stroll Hand Painted Sock Yarn in Lullaby.





And yes, my feet and ankles look really fat in these pictures. They are fat, but they look worse than normal here because I took these photos after I had sat up all day at work and they swelled up. I'm in one of those kinds of moods where having cankles is one of my lesser problems. I'm such a glutton for punishment right now: watching WE TV is one of the worst things to do when you've just gone through a divorce and are feeling shitty about being single. Way too many happy wedding shows! UGH. Just put me out of my misery already.

Oh, and I do have gnomes on my flannel sheets. They couldn't be any more awesome.

Stashbusting update - January

The first month of the Stashbusting Contest has passed pretty uneventfully.

Finishes:
- My "I dream in fuchsia" quilt. I still haven't finished cutting off all the threads yet (ha! there are soo many!) and have not washed it. But it's finished. I don't even have a photo of the completely finished project yet. Must get one soon!

In progress:
- Postage stamp quilt
- Wonky log cabin quilt-as-you-go scrap quilt

Purchases:
- Just that 1.5 yards of Purdue fabric (dang, I was doing so well!)

Other fabric in:
- I won a giveaway from blue elephant stitches! This is one of my new favorite blogs to visit. Great quilts with awesome fabric. And a quilt blog with elephants worked in? Couldn't help but love it. Anyway, here are the eight fat quarters that arrived for me a couple days ago.





Awesome, aren't they? Other than cutting the little 1.5-inch and 2.5-inch blocks for the charm quilt projects, I haven't made a decision on what to make with these. So much fabric, so little time.

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:



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.)

Moving right along ...

Thankfully, this quilt IS on my list of works in progress! So, so close to being done.

I could really use the Count about now ...

This Count, of course.



Anyway. I was browsing quilt blogs last night and came upon one that had a poll asking readers about how many quilts they had in progress. This spurred me to think about my own backlog of projects and, after making a list, was even surprised by the extent of my WIPs.

Here's a rundown of some of my current projects, including some that are on hold from a really, really long time ago.

- Purdue quilt
- Peanuts quilt
- Zachary's graduation quilt
- Old Red Barn Co. quilt-along v. 1
- Old Red Barn Co. quilt-along v. 2
- Christmas quilt
- Pink, black and white quilt
- Half-square triangle layer cake quilt
- Prism strip quilt
- Novelty stars
- Black and white bee blocks
- Blue and yellow stars
- Four patch quilt I started when I was a kid (my mom was nice enough to put these together into a top for me)
- Postage stamp quilt
- Batik coin quilt
- Polka dot paper-pieced circles
- Wonky log cabin
- Black, white, purple and lime green starred log cabin
- Baby circus quilt (haven't made progress on this for more than five years. Whoops.)
- Odd kids pinwheel quilt (another that is sooo old and stalled out)

To save you from having to count, that's 20. TWENTY. And that's nuts. My quilty friends and I are discussing having another stash-busting contest next year. I think that is an awesome idea, not only to save money but to get some works-in-progress moving forward again!

Do you have a lot of works in progress, or are you one of those enviable quilters that is able to finish a project before starting another one - or five?

Old school

Did I ever mention that the first two quilts I made - both around queen size - were done entirely by hand? My mom and I worked on the first one together, a Grandmother's Flower Garden, but the second one, a Seven Sisters pattern, was all me. It took FOREVER.

Anyway, I was a die-hard hand-piecer and hand-quilter. After a while, I finally got a sewing machine and started working with it. It was so hard to get used to! I finally did get acclimated, and now do a majority of my piecing and quilting on a sewing machine. I still have a few projects that I decide to hand quilt, but I hadn't hand pieced anything for a long time.

Until tonight. I'm not quite sure where the urge came from, but I was so in the mood to do some hand sewing. I busted out my template plastic, pencil, straight pins, needle and thread.

And here's the result:


I'm not sure if this will be a singular block (potholder, maybe?) or a small quilt or a big quilt, but it was nice to do things the old-fashioned way for a change.

In progress

In an effort to blog more often (did you notice it hasn't been over a month?), I'm going to try to post more projects that are in progress, rather than waiting until everything is finished. Heck, even if I posted all completed projects rather than posting about every fifth one it would help make my blog more interesting.

So anyway, in honor of Sock Saturday (ha, I love alliteration!), here's a pair of socks that are half-finished. These are Sheri's Posies Socks from the book "Socks From the Toe Up" and are made out of my own hand-painted yarn.

I had to temporarily put these aside because I misplaced my copy of the pattern. I have since started another pair of socks because I was in the mood to knit. And then I promptly found the pattern to these. Oh well. I hope to get back to these shortly and avoid the dreaded SSS (Second Sock Syndrome).







I love knitting socks! And wearing hand-knit socks is so awesome.

Wow, what a week! Now what?

I've had an amazing week so far: two concerts from two of my favorite performers - Owl City and Lady Gaga.

Owl City was in Indianapolis on Sunday and I was soooo happy to be able to go. I spent the evening with my friend Natalie, her exchange student Mia and two of her friends. Despite being pretty sick, Adam was all kinds of awesome. One thing I really enjoyed about the concert was the audience; it seemed like everyone there knew the words to all of his songs and proudly sang along. I love that about his music.

Another great thing about the concert was one of his opening acts: LIGHTS. Oh. My. God. How come it's taken me so long to discover her music? I downloaded almost all of her songs off iTunes on Monday and have been listening to it sooo much.

I haven't been listening to her solely though. Another musical obsession is Lady Gaga. Way back when the tickets for her show went on sale, I liked what I had heard from her, but really didn't know much about her and her music other than she dressed rather bizarrely. Since then though I have downloaded all her stuff on iTunes as well and love just about everything she has done. I find her weirdness fascinating - I don't ever know quite what to expect from her.

Her concert was such a great experience. My friend Amy went with me and we had the best seats! Like the first/secondish row on the left side of the stage. Lady Gaga's show was such a production and it was so fun to be in the middle of the crazy crowd that was so into her music and having a blast. It was a great night for people watching - a ton of people went to the extremes with their outfits. It would have been a perfect night except for the near-toxic levels of dry ice fumes rolling off the stage right at the level of my head. Yuck!

One thing I really admire about Lady Gaga is her self confidence in doing whatever the heck she wants. I can't imagine being able to withstand all the awful and horrible things that are said about her. I wish I was more like her in this regard. My worries about what people think of me and my actions sometimes feels nearly as suffocating as all that damn dry ice.

I'm kind of bummed that both concerts are over. Now what do I have to look forward to?

In a medical update, I had to go in for an MRI on Monday. The experience itself wasn't that bad; I'll have to come back and post about whether I can say the same thing about the results. I should have some kind of news about it Monday when I have another pain management appointment.

So far I've been feeling a bit better with the new medications, but I am so not happy about how much the new prescriptions are costing me. Not sure what I can do about it, but hopefully something. The whole medical money situation - from prescriptions, doctors' appointments, X-rays & MRIs and wheelchair repairs - is depressing as hell. I hate that a really stupid phase of my life is costing me so much. And it will likely to continue along the same path.

And now, for the obligatory quilt photo, is a picture of part of the disappearing nine-patch quilt top that I made at quilt camp. I'm really looking forward to finishing this, but I need to find a fabric for the back of it. It will end up being a lap size quilt.

You might think ...

... That my lack of posts indicate my lack of quilt- and craftiness lately. Definitely not true! I've been working on all kinds of projects (lots of knitting, especially.

You also might think that after spending the entire weekend at quilt camp that I'd be ready to take a quilting break. Not true either! There's just something about spending a weekend at camp that invigorates my creativity and urge to do more and more.

I am really happy with what I was able to do during my time. While it's not usually my style to be really organized and know exactly what I will do during quilt camp weekends, this time I made it easy on myself. UFOs ONLY! (My secret title was UFO No Mo' - just a tad different from their '60s theme). So challenging to only bring those items, especially when there are like 70 other quilters around with piles of fabric, new patterns and fresh projects. By packing strategically though, it really helped me focus. I only brought supplies needed for already started projects. No extra fabric whatsoever. That was tough! (Although a heck of lot easier to pack.)

My tally during the weekend:
- finished the machine quilting on this quilt. (This photo was taken at a previous weekend at quilt camp!) I was able to get the binding cut and sewn on. Working on hand stitching it to the back now. Yay!

- Was able to sew together version No. 2 of the quilt I made as part of the Old Red Barn Co. quilt-a-long in July. (I just went on a search to find a post about the first top and realized I've never posted about it. Great blogging there, Christy!)

Anyway, back when I decided to do the quilt-a-long, I wanted to use my jelly roll in the Charisma line.



I wanted the fabric to go a long way though, so I added some other fabrics that I found in my stash and a few that I got at Joann's. That, plus I like using a variety of sources and usually prefer to not use fabrics all from the same line. I'm also usually too cheap to buy "designer" fabrics! This gave me enough strips to make two lap-size tops with mostly the same fabrics, but with different color placement. I have two different fabrics for the backs of them and think I will piece the backs to use both kinds on each.

- And finished the top of the disappearing nine-patch that I am making with the four charm packs I bought a while back.



Go me! I hope to download some of the photos I took later this week.

In the meantime, however, I'm joining lots of other quilt bloggers and am going to pretend that I will do a Sunday Stash post every week. The stash isn't the problem at all, it's the me remembering/getting around to do the posts!

This is waiting for the "perfect" pattern. I adore these patterns and colors!

It's a Hoffman Bali Pops in Kiwiberry.



I also, ahem, added a teeny tiny little bit to my stash this weekend. More details on this later. :D

Reason 4875 why my life sucks

Ha. Kind of kidding about the title, but not completely. I'm spending my day tomorrow getting a root canal, hooray! In good news, however, I am going to a sedation dentist, who is giving me something that will hopefully knock me out so I am not aware of what my mouth is undergoing.

Back when I was getting my wisdom teeth removed, (which were impacted, which made the process even more fun) they put me under. For some reason or another, it didn't completely work and I woke up before they were done. It was pretty creepy to be awake during mouth surgery. And not something I especially want to re-enact. I am going to take my iPhone though, and if nothing else, hope to drone out the dental sounds with music, particularly my current obsession, Owl City. The awesome Adam Young (Owl City himself) has even written a song called "Dental Care." How can you not love a musical artist that can write a cool tune about going to the dentist? Exactly!

In craft news, I've been working on a daisy applique quilt that a friend of mine asked (and is paying!) me to make. I just finished all the blocks and now am trying to figure out what fabric to use for the sashing and borders. It's fun to try out new techniques.

I've been slacking on photos (or downloading them at least) since my card reader stopped working. Here are the flower pieces before they were stitched on the background. I love the colors!



And my other current obsession?









I wish it would stay autumn forever!

Quilting pile up

Oy, my pile of unfinished projects is growing rapidly! I have a big stack of UFOs on my spare bed ... probably a good five or six projects that range from almost finished tops to some that are partially hand quilted. This doesn't even take into account all the other quilts that are in progress, with blocks here and there.

Normally I am much better about finishing projects, but with the stashbusting contest last year, I started churning out quilt tops (because I could do those on the machine) and not getting them quilted, since a) I kinda suck at machine quilting and b) hand quilting takes forever and a day.

For the last week or so I have not done any quilting, but have been working on a variety of knitted dish cloths. I know they are a good project for me, since I am FINALLY making myself learn how to do something beyond scarves with a basic knit, purl pattern. So far I made one a heart design, one with a Snoopy design and have started one that has a lacy mock cable design. While these are fun, I don't really get the same sense of accomplishment as I do when I quilt. Sigh.

I know I need to get back on the wagon. My small group of quilting friends is getting together on Sunday ... I definitely have to be back in the groove by then.

Until I actually do some quilting, here's a few inspirational pictures. I heart this quilt so much, and I love, love, love how I'm quilting it. It's just such a pain to do!

Random bits and pieces

I got stuck on the short bus for longer tonight than usual, which left me plenty of time to browse my People and People Stylewatch magazines, look out the windows and wince over too many potholes to count.

While looking at People magazine, I was thrilled to see a little feature about Tim Gunn from Project Runway, one of my all-time favorite shows. It was a look into his closet, and it was so surprising. Lots of wire hangers, a really ugly Hawaiian shirt and not much room at all. Since he was without a dresser, he even had to keep his socks in a cardboard box! Even though I am often wistful about moving to the NYC area, I guess I should be realistic about the chances I'd be able to afford a place that would hold all my clothes, not to mention the rest of my crap!

I got my hair colored last week - to red. And it turned out really red. Since then, I've been called Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone and Red at work. haha ... It is bright - I hope it fades a bit so I don't look so cartoon-y.

I'm hoping to get a lot of quilting and other miscellaneous crafting done this weekend. I don't have any concrete plans. I hope to watch lots of movies (I just got "Nadia" from NetFlix ... I can't wait to watch that. It's probably been at least 20 years since I've seen it) and I have some others around to watch. I also got some cool scrapbooking supplies, so ideally I'll actually use them for a project for myself. I recently finished a Craftster swap that involved scrapbooking, and I enjoyed working on it so much! But seriously, another craft? So much for "saving" all that money by embarking on a stashbusting year!

Here are some pictures of some of my projects in progress:

This is a dog quilt I am working on. So loud! I have added a couple of borders and am trying to piece the back (which is turning out harder than I thought!


Here's a closer shot to see some of the cute fabrics.


Love, love, love this! I know exactly how I want this to look when I am done and already have a quilting pattern in mind. Also trying to piece this back, but was deterred from the project a bit after running into issues with the dog quilt.