8.23.2009

D6 - Challenge

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Block: D6 - Challenge
Started Quilt: 07/02/08
Block Completed: 08/23/09
Number of Pieces: 9
Description: Rotery Cut, machine pieced

Blocks: 21
Triangles: 3
Kites: 0
Total Pieces: 248

And finally, I resurrected my Dear Jane from the dead and did one little block. I forgot how much a PITA these little tiny pieces are to work with! lol This is D-6 Challenge. I seriously should've paper pieced it but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, though it probably would've turned out nicer if I had. Ah well...

A chance to sew

Well, I've actually been *sewing*! And loving it. I think it has to do with being able to open the window to let some fresh air into the basement....

Anyway! I made another large block for the Single Girl. I guess that makes me a 1/18 of the way there. Doh. I know I feel kinda dumb for posting such feeble progress but I have to, otherwise I might stop sewing. I need to get motivated to stick with it. I'm excited though as I'm really loving working on this pattern especially with these fabrics. I can't remember who said they wanted to make this but it was sold out on the web site. I found it FOR SALE HERE. =D
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I also made something to send to Clumsy_Chord for the pay it forward craftiness meme that was going around. I think I can get these in the mail tomorrow.

I wish it was more but I haven't been so crafty lately. Anyway she's been working on a Shadow and Light quilt for a few years now and I know she needed some more blocks so I made a few for her.
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8.20.2009

Traveling, fabric and being single

Well, lookie there - two posts in the same month! I'm on a hot streak. lol

All sarcasim aside, our family recently took a little vacation out to the southern Washington State coast. The hardest time for me to resist buying fabric is when I'm on vacation. I'm a sucker for a new quilt shop or at least one I don't get to shop in but once or twice a year. While we were driving out to the beach last weekend we passed two shops. I made DH stop at both. The first one was in a little tiny town; the name escapes me. I also can't remember the name of the shop. I'm terrible! Anyway they were a very small shop and had a few interesting things. I bought a few fat quarters. I was thinking I might start stashing for a Christmas quilt but I really should just finish any one of a number of just regular ol quilts first, eh?
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When we got to Astoria we had to drive past the only quilt shop in town. DH tried to drive by it but I made him go back around the block. He's fights it but understands how giddy I get and so indulges me. He waited with our daughter in the car. I know they were bored so I tried to hurry - except this is a fun little shop. It was hard not to linger over every little bit and bolt.
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They had a nice collection of fabrics that would work with the Single Girl quilt I've been stashing for so I picked these up and tried not to buy more. ::g::
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Not too bad overall, I only stashed 2 1/4 yards total. Could've been much, much worse!

Also a sneak peak of the first block of the Single Girl quilt. If you look closely you can see a few of the above fabrics worked in already. I don't remember exactly but the four quarters sewn together as shown makes about a 20" square block. I've had a lovely time so far working on this. I might even be motivated to knock this top out. Then again... I know myself. 0.o Here's hoping I don't peter out.
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8.12.2009

Quilt Guild

Oh my poor blog here is flat-lining! I've been so busy with the garden and the kiddlet and baking and caning and volunteering I haven't had a second to do anything crafty. I've also been in a terrible slump too. I really needed a pick-me-up. Something inspiring and fun that was totally for me and totally craft. So on Monday night I went to the NW Quilter's Guild Meeting. I've never had a problem going off and doing things like that all alone. Though apparently it's not common as I was chatting with one of the ladies there and she remarked how *brave* I was to show up all on my own. I felt pleased at this but it also made me chuckle to myself. It's not like I'm marching off to war! What possibly could a roomful of grandma's DO to me? LOL...

So I found parking and the entrance and I tried to pay my $5 to be a guest but they didn't have change for a $20. Laura was taking the money at the door and I told her I'd find her at the end of the night and try to give her money and maybe by then she'd have change. She was very agreeable. I liked her immensely.

What really struck me was the number of women there. I think there were about 100. I don't know what I expected but I sure didn't expect that many! (I later found out that this was a poorly attended meeting too! 0.o) I think I was expecting a number closer to 30-40 people. So I tried unsuccessfully to pay, then I sat down in a chair by myself. I was having a grand time just taking it all in. There were tables and sewing machines and bits of quilts pinned to walls and lots and lots of old ladies happily chatting away. In fact (with one exception that a woman brought her 20 yo daughter) I was far and away the youngest person in the room. Is that the way it is then? Younger women connecting on-line and older women meeting up face to face? (Not to say there aren't exceptions) At any rate my solitude didn't last long. I was admonished (nicely) for sitting alone and dragged off to sit with Susan and Kathy. ::g:: Susan's been attending meetings for about a year while Kathy is one of the old guard. It was a perfect introduction as Kathy had all the answers to my many questions.

For example one of the reasons this meeting is poorly attended is that for years it was the "starter" meeting for new members (great timing eh?) and it's the end of summer and this is also one of the interactive meetings so I guess that turns off people as well. (?) Plus Kathy notified me of the wonderful refreshments and where they were located (I didn't have the heart to mention that I couldn't eat any of them!) Though later I did go back and make myself a cup of black tea and sniff the cupcakes (I'm celiac and can't eat wheat). I needed it to stay awake! Maybe I am old but by 9:30 I was pretty tired. (Meeting started at 7) I didn't get home till after 10 pm and was laughing to myself driving around in the dark thinking that in college we'd just be headed out the door to START our evening at 10! and here I was headed home at that time sooo ready for bed.

The meeting started off with a bit of business then they were going to divide us into groups so we could assemble a quilt top for charity with orphaned blocks people had donated. It took a long time for them to sort everyone into groups. I was really hoping to get into Laura or Kathy's group but it was not meant to be. I had a good time anyway...

This was the early stages of our design... it went though a lot of changes.
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Here are a few of the designated sewers for our group.
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Some of the other groups working away...
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The direction the quilt was headed at the end of the evening. I think our group leader took it home to finish it.
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Once we were asked to stop our project so we could clean up I noticed a table at the back of the room. It had baggies of fabric on it. Enough in fact, to make a Twin top. I asked one of the ladies what they were for and she told me you could just pick one up, take it home and follow the directions on the back to make a top. Bring it in whenever it was done and it would be quilted and donated to charity. I thought this would be a good challenge to kick myself back into gear. There was one that had *beautiful* fabric in it so I set it aside.

I then went to find Laura to try to pay. She'd nearly forgotten about it... but she went to ask if there was change and there wasn't so she told me not to worry about it and was gushingly nice about the whole thing. I was informed however that in lieu of payment I had to come back next month. =) Uh, maybe I shouldn't have posted that in a public place - I'd hate for her to get in trouble. I'll still pay if they want me to!

I returned to our work area to pick up my stuff before I left and apparently I did a terrible job of setting aside the bag of fabric well enough, for the top I wanted to work on was gone. Dang it! So now I have to make myself work on the projects I already have going. I just really need to work on SOMETHING. Anything.

I did really like the show and tell at the very end of the meeting, even if I was terribly tired. It was inspiring and overall a good experience.