Plugging Along

Happy Friday!

After a couple of very busy weeks, I've got little to actually show you.  No photos yet, but the corduroy quilt is all tied (finally!) and is now waiting on me getting to the hand-stitching of the binding.  Very slow progress, but still progress.

I had an idea the other day for a project that I started a while back, then lost my vision of what I was doing.  I've never shown it here, so here's a photo of where I started:

just blocks laid on a background

I had decided to work with what was left of two Scrap Bags from Cherrywood Fabrics.  I already used most of the blues, greens and purples in my "Snuggle" quilt. (You can see it here)  I just love these suede-look fabrics, and they had languished in the cupboard for far too long.  None of these pieces are bigger than 5 inch by 7 inch, so it can be challenging to come up with a project that they will work in.  I made these approximately 5 inch blocks of strata.  I also threw in some bits of hand-painted fabric from Barb's Elegant Designs for a little sparkle.  After I got this far, the project got set aside.

Then, the other day, I ran across a picture of a quilt by Odette Tolksdorf on Pinterest that reminded me of these blocks, and so I had to go do something with the idea that this sparked.  I've been working for a few days now, and finally am getting somewhere with these.

approx. 10 inch square blocks now

I need one or two more blocks (extra blocks are always good when undecided about what I'm doing) and then I'll start trying to put this together.  It doesn't look like much in the photo - it's hard to capture the true color and variations in the fabrics - but I'm excited and happy about how it's coming along. 

pin basted and ready to quilt

I've also pin basted the other baby quilt that I showed back in January. You can see it here.  (Really?  January?? Yikes! Time flies.)  I'm hoping to get it quilted this weekend, so that I have next week to do the binding.  I'd like to have it done to turn it at the guild meeting in a week.  I just need to finalize what/how I'm going to machine quilt.  I printed out some photos of the quilt in black and white and am sketching quilting designs on the photos to help me decide. Because that is much easier than ripping out something I don't like!  hee hee!

We're having a beautiful sunny spring day here, after a couple of days of lots of rain.  I finally got a chance to get out in the yard and get some photos of what's blooming.  The tulip at the top of this post is the ONLY tulip I got this year.  That darn squirrel dug up and ate all the rest of my bulbs.  I got one daffodil too (same reason), and it is disappearing a little bit every day.  I think the slugs are eating it.  Oh well, one is better than none.  They are both where I can see them every day and I'm making a point of enjoying them.  Next year I need to try something different, I think.  I'm open to suggestions!

Azalea

Forget Me Not

unfurling Hostas

Sweet Violets

Have a great weekend and I hope you have time to do some stitching this weekend!

Getting Back in the Saddle

Wow, a long but unintentional bloggy break for me!  I didn't mean to be gone for so long.  I just didn't really have anything to say or show.  I have had a hard time getting back into the quilt studio after that big push to be ready for the Quilt Show.  I couldn't focus on anything and therefore, nothing happened.  But I'm getting back into it, slowly.

My Treasure Bag

I took a class at our local art gallery on weaving these little "Treasure Bags".  The class was a very reasonable price and the teacher has a really good deal on the kits.  $5 pays for the little loom and all the yarn you need for a bag.  I augmented mine with some fibers that some friends gave me a few years ago (Thanks, Jeanne and Roberta!)  This bag fits my Smart Phone and the handle is long enough to allow me to wear it in front or over one shoulder.  I still need to add some beads to those yarns dangling from the handle and then it will be done.  I've already started another bag, smaller this time.  I can't show it to you yet, as it's going to be a Christmas gift.  This was a nice break from quilting, and a lot of fun!

This is the first sewing I've done in weeks.  I made some Disappearing 4-Patch blocks for Vesuviusmama over at My Patchwork Life blog.  She's put out a call for the D9P edited: oops! I meant to say D4P blocks and is making quilts for the Sandy victims in NY and NJ.  Go visit her - she just made a delivery of some quilts and is still making more.  

Yesterday I started a Low Volume quilt.  I missed out on the big sew-along this summer and really wanted to try one.  It's so different from what I usually do, and it intrigued me.  So here are my first 2 blocks.  I thought about doing it improv style, but I want something simple that is easy to cut and not too hard to put together for this one.  I'm not too sure about the darker tan fabrics in there, and may not do too many of them.  I think I want this one to be light and sweet.  I've been collecting inspiration pictures on my Pinterest page (see my side bar for the link) for a while now.  So, based on my calculations, I only need another 78 more blocks!  I've finished cutting my bin of light scraps, now on to the fat quarters!

 Last month The Kid and I took a trip to Ikea, and I found this tray there.  Doesn't it look like an improv quilt?  Hee hee!  It just shows that inspiration is everywhere!

Well, I'd better post this quickly.  The wind is blowing fiercely out there and the lights have flickered a time or two already.  I hope we don't lose power!

Happy quilting!