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!

Typical me

Ha! I should have known that the goal to do something new everyday would be a stretch. I may have to scale that back to once a week or something.

I have been productive though, believe it or not. I finally(!!!) got through book 6 and 7 of Harry Potter. They've been on my to-read list forever and a day, but I never got to them. So bummed that I didn't read them sooner; they were rather awesome.

I've also joined a swap on craftster.com, which seriously is rather addictive. I've been saving 1.5" fabric squares for years and years, planning to make a postage stamp quilt. My goal is to have every block be different, but that is really hard! I have the pieces separated into baggies of each color, and that works fine, but after you collect so many it's hard to keep the baggies without having doubles.

Anyway, the swap I joined was to exchange 1.5" squares. I swapped with nine other people -- we each sent each other 60 pieces. It is so nice to check the mail and get something besides bills! I've gotten a ton of cool fabrics, but of course now I have the daunting task of sorting through all the pieces and compare them with what I have. I have no idea how many I need to make the quilt. I've never even counted what I have ... I may already have too many, who knows? I should make an effort to count though. I doubt I want to make multiple postage stamp quilts.

I have a ton of scraps, so I've been cutting my pieces for everyone else from those. Not only do I have scraps from my own projects, but other quilters I know know that I will save just about any little piece. I often get scrap hand-me-downs, which thrills me beyond measure. I just love to sort through all the pieces and see all the different fabrics.

I've been busy with projects as well. I've made a few things out of felt.

I made this cupcake to use as a pincushion:

And this felt doughnut just for fun:

I also have this quilt top completed and I've started working on the quilting. I've been lazy about taking new photos, but since I took this I added a black polka dot border around the outside and the quilting so far is really cool. I'm doing it in various circles of different sizes, with no specific pattern. I'm doing a ton of thread colors. So far I'm really happy with it.

Here's a few pictures of the top:

A fresh year

So yesterday was my birthday. I turned, well, old. Then I started thinking and wondering about the idea of New Year's resolutions ... why on Jan. 1 and not your birthday, when each person really is starting a fresh year? No good reason, other than the whole merchandising angle, I guess.

Well anyway, my resolution for my, ahem, next year is to try something new every day. Not saying that I'm going to be going all nuts and crazy, but I hope this will be a good opportunity and reason to branch out a little.

To be perfectly honest, I'm starting terribly slow.

Yesterday: I tried an Arby's fish sandwich. Which lead me to believe there was a reason why I hadn't been moved to try them before. Not the best.

Today: I'm starting this new blog, which I hope will give me a place to show off some of the miscellaneous oddities and creations I make. I am a sewing and crafting fool and love to spend my time doing just about anything that involves craft or art supplies. My main outlet is quilting, but I certainly like to keep my options open!

I'm taking a few days off work this week so I hope to get a lot accomplished. Lots of movies, napping and making stuff. I hope to have photos to post soon!