Latitude

I got a half a day of "my life" back today. My kids are ALL in school on Fridays as of two weeks ago. But some of these I am a parent chaperone for field trips so they don't count. In fact, I consider it "negative" time because even when it's over you are still exhausted. And if we balance the equation it means even less gets done. But I thought my down time could be used up this morning sharing a quilt I finished a while ago. I don't even know when - probably a few months but if it's been longer, please don't mention it, haha. The fabric strips of Latitude were sent to me by the fabulous Kate Spain. And gosh they are luscious.

This one wound up at 52" x 52" and is in the shop (because, let's face it, I'm nearly drowning in my quilting at this point - don't tell the husband, ha). 

L'Amour

The end of a long imprisonment.

Fabric jailed away for years waiting.

Waiting for the moment when it finally gets center stage.

And something happens in minutes! 

Okay, maybe hours. 

But it seems so much happier now.

One honeybun of L'Amour by Sandy Gervais for Moda. One wire wreath. Valentine rag wreath.

Love the texture and colors. And it even says love on it. 

In the shop. 

April Showers

Should we  ring in the New Year? 
Oh, that was bad. 
Really bad. 
Are quilt puns a thing? 
Probably not.
All the same, here it is. 
In April Showers by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.

I actually finished this quilt last year probably around March. 
And I've been so busy with the kids I haven't even posted about it.
Sad. So sad. 
And many others actually. 
But now I have a little extra motivation to get it done - reason may be soon to follow. 
There's always an adventure to be had in life. 
Wish me luck.
I don't want to jinx it. 
And it's in the shop.

A Very Colorful Quilt

Summer is HERE!!! 

Pretty much only pool days are in our foreseeable future. 

Houston got more than its fair share of the water in this country for the last month and a half. 

It's made life just that much crazier with four little kids that get SERIOUS cabin fever. 

And it just keeps raining and raining and raining. 

Even more showers are expected today. 

But you know what happens to a quilter that can't leave home? 

They sew and sew and sew some more.

Quilting makes such a great hobby. 

But all us quilters already know that. :) 

The mushrooms are popping out everywhere from all the moisture. 
The orange ones are my favorite. 
Or course. 

And my little project during the last few weeks of storms was this half square triangle quilt in about an hundred kona cotton colors. 

I used an orange striped binding.
Because if you can pick any color, it should be orange. :)
The backing circles fabric I found was a perfect geometric juxtaposition and compliment to the front - Juggling Summer by Zen Chic for Moda. 

To give this quilt the right balance of all the crazy colors, I actually laid out half of the blocks to my liking, then used rotational symmetry to make the second half feel balanced but not mirrored. 
And I'd be surprised if anyone even notices it.
I mean, I can't and I made it.

I'm calling it my "Stairway to HST (Half Square Triangle) Heaven" and it finished at 64.5" x 64.5." 

This one's going in the shop.

Baby Jane

Oh my goodness. I can't figure out how I survived my "downtime" without quilting, but I think I'm making up for it these days. I had the annual "New Year's Resolution: FINISH all WIPs" moment like I'm sure ALL quilters do... and then, I nearly have! I was looking around my sewing space today and realized that I barely have enough unfinished projects to cover my design wall and sit in my machine! **insert maniacal laughter here** Yes, that is an accomplishment around here. :)  

So up first to enter the blog-o-sphere is this little number in Cosmo Cricket's Baby Jane fabric line for Moda. Very gender neutral. Very vintage adorable fabric. I just need the baby to go with it. HA! 

I love the motion this quilting design gives it.

And this one is in the shop since I don't have the perfect baby for it. Then again, when did I have time to quilt with babies around?

Coasted out.

Back in September I broke my ankle playing volleyball. I came down on someone's foot which was well under the net. Sometimes in life you get punished for someone else's mistake. But I assume I'll eventually be fine. Though almost 4 months later I'm still limping. (On a side note, do not break your ankle. It takes 6-12 months to heal. No one has time for that. haha!)

But a broken ankle makes for little sewing (or anything else for that matter). I couldn't even leave it down sitting in a chair. But I'm slowly getting back to my usual self. Very, very slowly.

I can't even tell you how frustrated, bored, etc. I was as an invalid with four children. Especially the 2.5 year old twin boys. But grandma swooped in to save them and me so we survived. :) 

And for a couple of projects while out of commission, I managed to make some coasters. It's funny how just finishing something, anything, makes me feel better. So I took some pictures today of my tiny accomplishments.

Have a happy stitching day!!

New year, old projects.

It seems that each new year we take stock of life and evaluate our accomplishments and failures. Some decide to try to make changes with lists of resolutions. And the crafters? We have piles of unfinished projects that we look around at and realize it's been another YEAR and we still haven't gotten them out of the UFO pile. STILL!

Well, that list seems to be ever evolving but some of my projects have been on it for multiple years. Don't worry, I won't list them for you. Or even show them to you. That would take a LOT of photos.

So I'll start this year's blogging by sharing one project that I've been working on for the better part of a year already that hopefully will see a completion in the next few months. 

Hopefully. 

At this point in life you'd think I'd know better than to be hopeful about quilting projects getting finished. 

But I thought it deserved a share at the completion of over 200 blocks. 201 to be exact. Just need 41 more and I'll have enough for a king size quilt. It's all scrappy and happy and is the "rainbow rows" from the #apqquiltalong2015 pattern. So close to finishing. 

So close. So far. Still a lot of work before this one is ON MY BED! Can you imagine? I've never made myself a bed quilt. My kids all have quilts. But a king still seemed like a lot of work and time and commitment. Good thing I picked a super quick project. HA! not. 

Wish me luck finding some time to finish this one! 
I love it even from this picture. :) 

Texas Hill Country Quilt

One jelly roll of Cotton and Steel Basics, a bit of yardage, some time, a lot of deliberation, and a "few" stitches later...

You get a quilt that belongs in the Texas Hill Country! 

This one is being gifted to a wonderful family we have been friends with for a long time. And they just bought a "ranchette" a few minutes west of Austin. We just spent the weekend out there with them and seriously, "Ahhh, beautiful." is all that I can say.

The shadows highlighting the quilting from the back.  

Rattlesnake print backing. Appropriate, no? Stitches, and more stitches.

I opted for a medallion like quilt again on this one. 

One more picture.

"Figuring" it out as I went.

I'm convinced I'm not the only quilter that purchases precuts without a plan. 

Case in point: I picked up a charm pack of "Figures" by Zen Chic for Moda at Quilt Festival.

And I would love to know how many start the quilt without an end game. 

I did this time. 

I made nine-patch blocks with white centers.

Then I stared at them on the floor all lined up in a grid (I like to create obstacle courses for people trying to get in and out of the room... ha.).

And I stared. It just didn't do anything for me. 

I kept staring for weeks. 

And weeks.

And I found something else to work on. (Lots of other things.)

And then after a while it just smacked me. 

Set it around a hexagon in a squares and equilateral triangles layout.

Easier said than done. 

I'd never calculated anything like this. 

And I've not done much with Y-seams in general. 

They are a bit time consuming and little more tedious than lining up the usual points in a quilt, but it was exciting to try something that stretched me a bit. 

 And the centered "medallion" aspect makes it particularly pleasant to me. 

I didn't want the middle to be a "boring piece" with too large a gap in the design and no focal point so I re-engineered a star into it. 

The center star actually required me to rip apart two of the nine-patch blocks, but the whole thing required 40 charm squares and some background yardage. 

And to further accent the medallion aspect, I did irregularly spaced concentric circles for the quilting. 

Pretty sure I traced every circular object in my house... to get it started in the right direction. All of the lines past the first circle of blocks had to be echoed around the inner circle using the markings on the walking foot because I couldn't find any larger circles to trace. 

And of course I chose a large scale print for the back like I always do... well, almost always. 

No absolutes here. 

It finished at about 39" x 39". 

Daydream

The only goal for most people in doing anything is to find more time to spend doing things that make them happy. Quilters neeeeeeed more time to quilt. There will never be enough hours in the day or years in a life for most of us fabric addicts. Maybe some people have their addictions under control. 

I do not. 

I like diet coke. 

And fabric. 

And apparently books and gardening and volleyball and piano and kids. 

Oh and science. ANYTHING nerdy and genetics/physics/chemistry related totally gets me going. 

I fully admit it. I'm an addict of MANY things. 

But if I could combine enough of them together and multitask my enjoyment I could create the most productive and efficient enjoyment machine for my life. I could sit in a garden drawing molecular models in my quilt designs sipping diet coke watching volleyball on television (no volume) while the children frolic through the plants nibbling berries and licking popsicles to classical music. It'd be awesome. And then maybe I could find time for the mundane cleaning and laundry type activities that seem to fill up entirely too much of my life at present. Hello sippee cups. And trips to the potty (Potty-training twins is a blast... said no one ever.). And endless dishes full of food that wasn't even touched. (No wonder my parents just took us to McDonald's.)

But constantly trying to whittle a little time from each of the necessary activities of life to make a little time for a hobby has kind of turned into a game. For instance, if I can get these dishes done while making dinner, flipping a load of laundry, and helping a kid get their homework done, I can free up at least 30-60 min that night for something else. If I do them sequentially I won't even finish today. One day when the kids are all grown I will probably find myself multitasking my hobbies. And then I'll miss the sippee cups and everything else. :)

So I'm sure a few loads of laundry and dishes have had to sit a few extra hours so that I would even have quilts to share on my blog. 

How do you find time for quilting? 

This little baby quilt is in Kate Spain's Daydream fabric line for Moda. 

I quilted a different texture pattern in each of the continuous negative space sections. Quilting multiple designs in a single quilt is so much more entertaining. I highly recommend you try it. You could get a new addiction! 

It could really use a name. I was thinking something along the lines of "party streamers." Any thoughts?

It measures 32" x 36" and is in the shop. 

Horizon

Every year I try to go to Quilt Festival. 

Simply amazing.

Everywhere you look.

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Inspirational on every level.

And every time I think up something new I want to try.

And it's less than an hour's drive. 

This year I left dreaming of quilting fabulousness.

(Not a word, I know.)

"Horizon" (Kate Spain for Moda) was the next fabric on the cutting table.

I went with a very simple modern design with lots of negative space for the quilting to share the spotlight.

I highly recommend this sort of quilting. 

VERY fun.

I didn't want this project to end. 

At 36" x 37", I felt like this project ended too soon. 

I need to just start another one. 

It has a random assortment of free motion feathers, flowers, vines, paisleys, swirls, and any other design I could think of to quilt doodle. 

Granted it did take a lot of hours. 

But they were some happy hours! 

And more pics of the quilting.