Words

I spent most of the weekend making words.  Out of fabric, that is!  I will be helping to present at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild tomorrow.  We are doing a tutorial of wonky letters ala Tonya Ricucci.    I participated in her Lazy Gal Quilting Summer sew-along many years ago and had a blast.  I love creating wonky letters and words and have done most of the alphabet, some letters many times.  I now tend to just improvise and not even look at the pattern, but that usually results in letters in the same word that are extremely varied in size.

Step outs of E and A

We will be putting all our words together for some Project Nite Nite quilts we will be donating at our April meeting along with books and stuffed animals.  Here's what I have so far...

This one I made for my friend John while we had our artsy fartsy date on Friday at his studio.  This is one of his favorite sayings.  I've picked this phrase up from him and have gotten myself into trouble using it when it wasn't exactly appropriate!  
(Imagine this: We're on vacation at a lovely inn in Door County, WI.  Very sweet waitress: "Would you like your cherry pie now?"  Me: "Duh!" Everyone else at the table: Gasp! *looks of horror on their faces*)

Sweatshop Mode & Adulation

Once again, I overbooked myself and didn't give myself adequate time to finish projects I had started.  Granted, these deadlines for quilts are completely in my head and in no way imposed on me by anyone else.  So why do I beat myself up if I don't meet these deadlines?  Why do I torture myself trying to get things done by these self-imposed deadlines?  I have no idea.  Maybe I secretly crave stress in my life.

This past week I was in what I call "sweatshop"mode - coming home after a full day of work and meetings and evening classes to gobble some dinner and SEW SEW SEW SEW!  I realized last weekend that I had a baby shower for a good work friend in one week (today) and I had intended to sew her a baby quilt.  Oops!  I had been so focused on my other sewing that I spaced it out.  So I spent lots of late nights getting it done.  I picked a large scale pattern to make it a bit easier/simpler to and chose colors from her nursery theme. 

 At times I was so exhausted that I seriously doubted my construction and design.  But in the end, it turned out alright.  In fact, when my gift was opened at the baby shower, the attendees began to applaud!  Really?  I have never had that happen before - maybe some ooo-ing and ahh-ing, lots of thanking, but never applause.  Has this ever happened to you?

 

Stinky christening the quilt before I wrapped it up

 I was honored, shocked, humbled, embarrassed, and of course got a bit emotional (which I blame on the extreme lack of decent sleep this week).  It never ceases to amaze me how people view my quilts in such a different light than I do.  Most of the time I only see the crooked quilting lines or the uneven edges.  I'm glad to be reminded that folks appreciate my work. 

Inauguration Sewing

I had MLK Jr. Day off and go to spend most of it hanging out with my friend John at his studio in Chicago.  I worked mostly on my Madrona Rd. Challenge quilt.  It's always good to work with John - he's got a great eye for color and pattern.  His studio is the perfect size and has amazing light which is great for working on fabric projects.  Plus we get along so well we have great conversations and spend the majority of our time laughing!  We have another artsy fartsy day planned for February already and I can't wait!

Possible triangle layout for Orbs block

Strip pieced and ready for cutting

Settled on Octagonal Orbs

I've been putting off selecting a pattern for my Madrona Rd Challenge quilt until recently.   I was supposed to pick something that was "new to me" or something I hadn't done before.   I browsed the started and finished projects on the MRC Flicker page and was inspired to get started!

I finally settled on Oh, Fransson's Octagonal Orbs block pattern.  She posted a tutorial on the MQG website here.  She also just recently posted her finished quilt.  I adore her bold use of orange, since it is the best color, of course! 

 Here's what I've accomplished so far...

Strip pieced yellows and blues...

 Grays ready to cut and piece

 yellows waiting to be sewn

My planning page.  I was trying out several color combinations from the fabrics I received.  I chose the middle block. 

I have just begun to cut and piece the blocks, so hopefully with the holiday on Monday I can get some serious progress made on this.

The One Hour Before Dinner Mom's Scraps Challenge

I've signed up for several swaps and challenges this year already, and I think they may have been inspired by a recent challenge I participated in with my friend Krommama while I was down in FL visiting my folks.

Krommama (who lives a few hours north of my folks) drove down for a visit and my mom had several bags of fabric scraps for her to go through and take what she wanted.  After she picked what she wanted and we were waiting for dinner to be ready, I posed a challenge.....




The One Hour Before Dinner Mom's Scraps Challenge!

During the one hour before dinner, we had to use only the leftover fabric scraps from my mom to make a 10" x 10" block.  duh.

So we went to work... I chose my favorite colors orange and yellow (after getting these colors approved by Krommama's daughter, that is) and she chose holiday fabrics.  Here are our finished blocks:

Krommama's wonky house block with holiday angel cat

My wonky sunrise block with free motion stitching on Sun

We left these with my mom, of course, so we'll see if she ever does anything with them!  Mom's cat Nala seemed to like the blocks!

Starting Simply Solids!

I may have overbooked myself sewing-wise this year, but I couldn't help myself!  I've joined a year-long sewing bee - the Simply Solids: a modern {bee}.  We can only use quilting quality solid colored cotton fabrics.  Each member of the bee picks a month and a block pattern.  Then when it's your month,  you can either have the other members make your block by stash busting or you can send them fabrics to use. 

I cleaned up the sewing space and in the process consolidated my solid scraps.  The first block for February was a wonky log cabin.  I had fun making one so I didn't stop there and I made two!  I'm going to let my bee partner pick which one she likes the best and I'll keep the other for myself.

Finished February Wonky Log Cabin Block #1

Finished February Wonky Log Cabin Block #2

Hooray for sewing!

Belated Shameless Self Promotion

This is long overdue, but I'm really not very good at promoting or selling my work...  This is why I have Dawson at Pussies on Parade! 

If you hadn't heard yet, last summer I was sewing up a storm getting ready for the Renegade Craft Fair here in Chicago.  Dawson, who owns Pussies on Parade, an online gallery and shop showcasing feline art from around the world, had a booth and I created lots of cat quilty things for him to sell.

 There were lots of pillows and mini quilts with very cute cats thinking very snarky things.  The items that didn't sell at the craft fair are now on his website: pussiesonparade.com, so go check them out!