February Sewing

The month is almost over!  I'd actually been sewing a bit - mostly in 15 minute increments when I need a break from school-work.  I actually set a timer, I have to - otherwise I'd get lost in fabric and lose time.

Would you like to see what I've been working on?

Block Lotto for February

Quilter's choice of Heart Block is "winter sunset" colors.  Lovely blocks.  I made two and donated them.

Orca Bay
a mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.  The mystery's done now, but I'm still plugging away at the steps.  I love her quilts, but my-oh-my all the tiny pieces.

I even made up a song - sung to the melody of the chorus of "Elenor Rigby" by the Beatles. 

Ahhhh

look at all the tiny pieces, 

do-do-do-do-do -do -do

ah, look at all the tiny pieces,

where do they all belong?

yes, I know, I'm weird.

back to sewing

Liz's Baby

A quilt for my sister-in-law, who expecting her first baby.  She wanted a uninex (they're waiting to find out) quilt in grays, greens, yellows, blues...  It supposed to be a surprise, but here's a sneak peek.

Sew We Quilt tutorial -  I'm totally excited!  I'm going to be guest posting on Friday with a new Choose Your Own Adventure pattern.  I've never guest posted anywhere!  

Cotton Robin - No pictures, since it's a surprise.  I had a plan for the border I need to put on the block I was sent - drew it out, built a test mini-block and then realized that the math wasn't going to work without the block being bigger than it's supposed to be.  So, on to plan B.  

So, that's my month of sewing.
Looks like I accomplished quite a bit when I put it all together in one month.

Cultural Night

Yup, I'm still here.  Not a lot of crafting/sewing going on.
I'm pushing through my first term back at school and spending lots of time being a mom.

Last night was cultural night at the kids' school.  The whole family went and had a great time.

a few observations:

• paper bag crafts during a presentation are a bad idea.
• the later the evening gets, the less patient the parents get.
• When having a musical guest perform, preview their presentation. (we watched ten minutes of powerpoint slides on the different places he'd lived, complete with old pictures.)
• Middle-schoolers are obnoxious where ever they are, you just don't notice as much when there are only 15 in a school of 100.
• It bugs me to no-end when performers don't know their lyrics.  

Tonight I get to get all dressed up and help out at a fundraiser for the Eugene Ballet.

Whoo hoo - adults to talk to!

Have a good weekend! 

Whirlwind of a Week!

I survived my first week of school!

I managed to self-manage my time and get through the first week of classes.  Math won't be easy, but I don't think I'll struggle too much.  Wendy offered to help me if I need it, and she already help me a bit!  Thanks Wendy!

Not too much happened during the week, sewing wise - Before the week started I finished a few things -

 

I added a sleeve to the back of this beauty, which was a gift to my father-in-law for Christmas.  He's huge into scouts - and he loved his gift.  He asked for a sleeve on the back so he could show it off properly at the next scouting event.  It's a variation of the A Whole New World Tutorial, up-sized to a layer cake with an added skinny sashing.  I think adding the sashing turned it into a "grown-up" quilt.

I also whipped up two baby blankies - My nieces turned two and are at the stage were they love playing with babies and wrapping them up.

   

I added a bit of Velcro to two of the corners, so that they can wrap up their babies all by themselves.

They were a big hit.  Since they're two and really don't care if it's not perfect, I played with the Lotto pattern for the month, but pieced the arch.  I like how it turned out.  With the second one I played with building triangle units from pieced squares of fabric.  The fabric is from Connecting Threads.  I found a super sale and picked up the strips and a bit of yardage.  They washed beautifully - no bleeding at all.

I also put away all my works-in-progress.  I want to be able to focus on school.  The only "quilty things" I have going on is a round robin - The Cotton Robin, and the Block Lotto - I've actually turned down the opportunity to do swaps and challenges.  Can you believe it??

This year I'm limiting my fabric purchasing - I got a bit out of hand over the holidays - ordering fabric from just about everywhere.  I've told my Mr. Wonderful that I'm going to try not to have any fabric purchases show up on our account - which means - no credit/debit card purchases.  If I save my quarters and find a bit of fabric wonderfulness in town - I can buy it - cash only.  To help with that goal, before the start of the new year I ordered fabric to restock what I've used over the past year.

I ordered another 12 lb box of fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop and a bunch of clearance yardage from Connecting Threads. 

   

I was able to sort through, measure and pet all that fabric before the week started.  I'll do a more detailed post about the contents of the fabric boxes, later.

Saturday I got to go fabric shopping, picking out baby fabrics for my SIL - Liz - she's expecting her first in April - AND they've decided to be surpised, so my Mom-in-law and I had fun looking for unisex fabrics.  That's the only "project" I've got going right now.  I'm really trying to make this attempt at school work.

One final note - Winter finally came to the Pacific Northwest!
Over the weekend we recieved over 4 inches of snow!  It's so pretty, 29 degrees - cold!, and the kids are having a blast playing in it.




I'm hoping they will get to go to school tomorrow - I know I need the time to work!