This month has been a little on the slow side because I interjected another project into the mix. But first, more picks of my applique blocks. And before anyone asks no I did not do any of these in the last month, I am just catching up on the blocks hoping to motivate myself to complete this monstrosity of a quilt.

I have 10 done, each is 16.5 inches and is set on point in the quilt. I always cut my background squares a little large so these need to be cut down a bit.  Applique always shifts a bit, doesn't lie like you want it or warps a bit so hence the larger backgrounds.

Now on to the other project.....

I am redecorating and painting my craft room. It was just a boring room with shelves and a table and cream walls, but now.....

The garage shelves which are metal with particle board shelves got curtains and the tops got painted white. I found some awesome deals at Ross which included these 2 bulletin boards with beautiful black frames. The clipboards have patterns I REALLY want to make to keep them in the forefront of my mind. The walls have been freshened with a crisp white paint as well.

The window got a new valance and I am getting some white 2 inch wood blinds for the window, I may get some sheers to hang there as well.

Close up of another pair awesome Ross finds:

The black board contains inspirational quotes and scripture and this super-cool shelf thingy has a dozen or so skeins of sock yarn.They are not all destined for socks though, many are going to be cowls or scarves.

Yet to come is a shelf to go over the bulletin boards and some other accents. I have a collection of teddy bears I need to display.  These are all small bears, like the ones pictured above, gathered on trips. I write the trip the bear was acquired on as well as the date on the tag. Then these little friends are going up on the shelf. I also may do a little stenciling or paint a bright green stripe on the wall, we will see.

Until next time!

Where has February gone?

Boy, it seems like I just completed my last post but it has been nearly a month!

 I do have a picture of my January socks completed. They have been worn a couple of times  and are really comfy. They have been posted in Ravelry in a couple of the "personal sock challenges" going on. Two Tangled Skeins is doing a pair of socks a month challenge and then there are a couple of groups that always have ongoing challenges like SockKnitters Anonymous.  And, drum roll please, the February socks are nearly complete, just some knitting to do to get to the toe decreases on one left so I am optimistic that they will actually get done in February.

These are my simple sock pattern. 2x2 rib with the ribbing extended on the top of the sock until the toe decreases.  This is a Wisdom Yarns colorway Miami. This is a commercial yarn and feels a little more scratchy than the hand dyed yarns I have been using but I loved the colors so I figured I would give it a try.

Here is my sock yarn knitting bag that my lovely socks reside in. Made from stash!

 And this is the next installment on the BOM, i love the scrappiness of it. This actually look a little better in a photo - each block is 16 inches square so they are actually rather large and it is kind of hard to get a good perspective on them.  It will make for a massive quilt (what was I thinking!) because not only are the blocks large, they are set on point.

And finally, a few more blocks have been made for the Civil War reproduction quilt with no name. I just loved these triple nine patch blocks in another quilt and decided to make a bunch out of reproduction. So far I have 70 blocks with no repeats. Wow, that is a lot of fat Quarters! This quilt just keeps growing but these blocks are small at 6 1/2 inches. The layout has not yet been finalized and I think I will play around with it a bit, take some photos and see which I like best. I do plan on a simple border for this though. Something busier, maybe stripes?

Not alot of time to craft in the last week. Some sock progress was made, with one sock done and the other started. I also started a pair of self striping plain socks to keep in the car.

I did make an interesting acquisition this week, a 3D printed spindle from Turtle Made, an Etsy shop I saw advertised on the Must Stash podcast. You can pick the color and style and there were lots of choices. Shipping was really fast as this came from the East coast and I got it in 4 business days - I can't wait to spin on it!

and I want to record my other Christmas purchases. The first bought at the Simply Sock yarn sale - sorry they are all sold out-

Isn't it gorgeous! 500 yards, enough to make a large cowl or scarf, something fun.
And this surprise lovely of Ebay, opeing bid was $11 so I bid, not expecting to win of course, but I did!  It is a hand dye on a sparkle base, my first sprakley sock yarn. It will probably be my next cast on as I have joined several sock KALs on Ravelry, in one you have to use a yarn with red in it so I think this will qualify. Hopefully the KALs will help me stay motivated.

I know I will lose some mojo come the beginning of summer. I live on an acre and I do most of the work, the yard will need alot of attention in the spring once it starts growing again and the garden will need to be prepared and put in. Blackberries grow like weeds here and the are taking over the hillside so there is ton of cutting back to be done - a major pain. And inside I need to paint 3 rooms. It will be a busy summer for me. Anyway, sparkle sock yarn-

No progress made on the quilting front, I really need to pick a quilt top and pin it in prep for the quilting stage but I think the pinning is my least favorite part of the quilt process so I put it off. My calendar shows a couple of days next week where the family will be busy and I should have some evening time to quilt so I pushed it until then. But, I do have another Flourishes block to show:

Yea, gotta figure out the picture orientation thing. I flipped this right side up in Picassa but it isn't loading right side up.

Until next week, Happy Crafting!

Okay, so I am not one for New Year's Resolutions but this year I am resolving. I want to get more done which requires actually scheduling stuff. For some reason I have been really resistant to scheduling crafts, I felt like I was cheating or something. (As if my quilting and craft time wasn't as important as cleaning, laundry, etc.) But I have resolved to start putting me first and since these thing are important to me I am going to schedule some crafty stuff I want to do. I also really need to exercise- my cardio fitness is embarrassing - so that is going front and center as well.

1. So, the fitness goal is 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week. Simple. (LOL)

The crafty goals are SSSOOOOO much more fun!

2. BLOG. This is my crafty diary, I make stuff and send it off and forget photos, records, anything, then I look back at the year and wonder what did I do????  I made lots of fingerless gloves and cowls for gifts this year, all gone. No pics. yea.  I need to keep up my diary. Bi weekly goal.

3. Finish the BOM by Piece O'cake, to the top completed stage.

Block 1 done. There are actually several complete already this year but I am going to post them one at a time. The goal is to not just finish the blocks but complete the top and the original pattern has a pieced border.  The blocks are 16 inches so this quilt will be BIG.  This is Flourishes by Piece O'cake, a retired BOM a friend gifted to me because I loved hers.  Consisting of scraps from my bright fabrics collection and  background I purchased at Craft Warehouse. (I love this store!!!!)

4. Continue piecing my Civil War reproduction quilt

This is the Triple 4 patch block, I just love the block in CivilWar fabrics so I just started making them.  This is not the final lay out or even all the blocks - those are still being made. I am playing around with the design right now and making blocks. This happens sometimes, I just pick a block and make blocks until it "feels" big enough. It will probably end up about queen size depending on the border I put on. Each block is 6 1/2 inches and so far I have not repeated background scraps.


5. Quilt two quilts to completion. I have a stack of completed quilt tops, most pretty simple stuff I threw together for the fun of it. Pictures of these quilts will be posted when they are chosen.

6. Begin designing my own BOM - I have wanted to do this for a long time and if I don't schedule it, it won't happen so here it is, out there as a goal and on my list, even scheduled some time in the calendar. I love having Block of the Month in the works as a small take along project so why not design my own?

7. Knit 12 socks.  I probably won't make this goal but even if I miss a month or two I will have way more socks than if I set no goal at all. I have joined a couple Brown Bag/ Personal sock yarn groups on Ravelry to help me with this.

Zora has been cast on with Ella Rae Lace merino in a purple/grey color. It looks more fushia here but it is really a purple. The pattern is free on Ravelry and so far as been very understandable. I was a little nervous about this because I have only knit plain vanilla socks, this pattern has a twisted rib cuff and cables. I also had to decrease the number of stitches to cast on, I wear a size 5 shoe and I hate wearing socks that are too big ( I usually by children's socks). Hence the motivation to make my own - that and the hand dyed yarn of course.

8. Knit a sweater. - I bought the most beautiful yarn ......

This was on sale at Simply Sock yarn - half off!!! I couldn't resist! Now I just need a simple pattern. Off to Ravelry!

I have to laugh at my ambitions... Life once again interrupted. 2 deaths in the family, my kiddo broke his arm, major surgery for my father and aunt and painting the exterior and interior of the house blew all my plans for 2014 out of the water. No real crafting was done, and as I look back at my calendar for last year I am rather surprised my sanity is still here!  Enough said. No excuses and I am picking up where I left off. Maybe this year will go better.

And now back to our regular schedule

After taking a hiatus from crafting and quilting in 2013 the quilty mojo is back. I purchased Edyta Sitars book "Scrappy Firework Quilts" and loved the Candy Necklace Quilt. (I just could not get the pic to flip the right way!)

Then I recieved my copy of American Patchwork and Quilting February 2014 and the quilt is in there too! AP&Q is offering it as a quilt along. Their version, called Tone It Down (page 55), is equally beautiful and I am now off and running on my own version: here is a completed block

and here is another on the design wall

so far I have 8 done and 4 in progress.

On the knitting front I completed by sockhead hat (pattern by Boho knits) in Manos De Uraguay sock.  My goal in knitting this year is to complete one small project a month. This hat is January and February is a pair of super simple slippers in chunky yarn. March I need to complete the socks which are currently on the needles.  So on track for now.

On acquisitions my big deal was an Accuquilt Go Baby! a very big surprise gift from my spouse.  I purchased the die that cuts 1 inch, 1.5 inch and 2 inch strips, all at once.  I then cut strips from nearly my complete collection of batiks.  I cut 250 fabrics giving me a total of 750 strips ( I didn't know I had collected that many batiks) in about 5 hours! AMAZING! And each one is so precise. No misreading the measurements and cutting the wrong size strip here!  I then dumped them all into 3 gallon size bags and I just pull out the strip sizes I need for this quilt.  Easy Peasy!  I did have to make some adjustments because I wanted to use the strips I cut with the cutter.  The AP&Q quilt blocks are 15 and the Sitar quilt blocks are 14 1/4.  Mine are 17.  The adjustments were easy, I just used my precut 1.5 inch strips, made a nine patch and then based everything off this 3.5 inch block.  No problem.  Although each block has 120 pieces it is going together really quickly with all my precut strips.

I got bit! Bit by the Scrappy Trip Along bug. Check out Sheri's tutorial at A Quilter's Life blog. These quilts have gone crazy on Flicker and some other blogs and I just couldn't resist.  I started with my Gypsy Bandana line and pulled coordinates from my stash.  I have these 16 done and another 9 cut and ready to sew!  This is really fun because each block is a kind of surprise, is super easy to sew, and I can do a couple when I have a few moments.

The melon colorway is really fresh and I like all the white I added, it gives the eye a place to rest.

Have a great quilty day! M

Okay, so things got crazy.....

So what I thought I was done with, ended up being extended. plus we got the brilliant idea to add a brick border to all of our flowerbeds AND paint trim in my house. 350 feet of flowerbed border -  My back ached, my head hurt, my hands blistered.   While it looks really great now I got NOTHING QUILTY done.  Half the time I was too tired to join my quilting group on Fridays and when I did go, I sat. Hey, I was just thankful to not be moving!  The trim project got pushed to the fall and while it is now underway, it is not half as painful as the bricks.  So I am back (I think) to blogging. I'll be back soon with pics of WIPs until later.....

Clark County Quilters Show

As evidenced by my lack of blogging, nothing much quilty has been going on here. I got a temp job which consumed most of my quilt time. But the job is now over and I am back! 

To kick off my renewed blog I am posting a lot of awesome pictures from the Clark County Quilt Guild show.  This guild is one of the larger ones on the west coast and has some amazing quilters!  We even have a couple that are regularly accepted at Paducah.  Anyway..... on to the pics!

These are just a few - more to come later as I work at getting into a "blogging groove".  Have a great quilty day!

Northwest Quilt Expo

Another great show! This is a different kind of show more like, as the title states, an Expo than a show.  Most of the quilts were by invitation, which meant that your group had to be invited to show or you had to enter their challenge for that year. A small group  which reads a book and then makes a quilt from what they read were invited as well as one of the last challenge winners was invited to display. The Hoffman challenge had some quilts and there was a display of historical quilts.  Then there are tons of vendors, nearly every longarm company had a booth and you could try out their machines. Lots of new gadgets and oodles of fabric to drool over!  And... I won a door prize drawing!  I need to buy a lottery ticket!  I won a couple patterns from one of the vendors. Now that things have settled into a routine of sorts I am actually able to get back into quilting so I am off to quilt a gift for my Aunt - Happy Quilting!