Insanity

I discovered this book today. Yes, it is a little insane. It is even in the title of the book. But they are bigger blocks than the Dear Janes, so it isn't SOOOO crazy. Ok, maybe it is.

I went exploring to try to find it, but ended up with this pile of fabric instead. I am pondering doing the insane quilt with greys with little bits of various colors sprinkled in the blocks as pops of color.



I also made this top yesterday and today.



I was looking at this pattern. And I pulled out a bag of 2 1/2" squares that were mostly leftover from some over cutting on a project several years ago. I wanted to use them up and changed the pattern, because I didn't want sashing and didn't want to have two different strips. This is what I came up with, not sure yet if I am in love with how it turned out.

Two more down (or how bad I really suck at sewing on binding)

Two more quilt projects are finished and off my list. Of course this will illustrate how bad I am at hand sewing on binding and why I con people to do it for me at every opportunity.

This is the Western Washington Shop Hop Quilt I made from 2007. I tend to toss out block patterns that annoy me or I don't like, so I only ended up with 8 blocks. But that is ok, it is a nice little quilt. I quilted it this week and then sewed on the binding myself. Not too bad you may say...



However I also quilted this one. Aunt Alicia sewed the binding on for me. It took the same amount of time for her to sew this binding as for me to sew the first. If I did the math right that means she is 209% faster than me. Awesome.



This is for Cammy's wedding, which I should really go get ready for, as it is in an hour.

Thanks Mom :)

So, thanks to my mom I have some things actually finished. She is the binding queen. This weekend I went to Idaho and while I was there, Mom hand stitched the binding on 5 quilts (ok, two were mini, but still, would have taken me forever...) She has another one that she is working on, but here are some FINISHED quilts!!!

For a friend's baby... nursery theme is pink and brown and elephants. And done almost a month before the baby is due!



One of these will be for my classroom. One is yet to be determined where it will go.




A co-worker requested a dark brown, red, and green quilt for her living room.



This one is for a while, it doesn't have a home yet. I'm sure I'll come up with something.




Of course the one with the nearest deadline isn't done yet, there was a little dilemma waiting for the back to arrive. Off to quilt it tomorrow (it got bordered and basted tonight so we are ready to go...) and it should be ready for the wedding on Saturday.



Close up...



Here are some more of those 1 1/2 strips used up. I divided them in to a boy and a girl quilt. Most of these are fabrics from Alissa's scrub tops. There are still enough blocks done for probably parts of 3 more quilts, but don't worry, I am sure more strips will appear.

Progress

Today is one of those days that looks quite productive because several projects got to the point of looking close to done. I got the borders on two quilts:



I also got binding made for 4 quilts (of course two of those are the mini conductor ones which only require one strip of fabric, but still) and then the binding sewn on one of those, so it is just waiting for the hand work to be finished.

Quilting ADHD

It is hard to get any one thing done when you have so many others running through your brain. From my quilting to do list I have a minimum of 28 quilts that I am currently working on... gotta love organization as a procrastination tactic. It doesn't quite feel like it is procrastination when you are creating to do lists of the things you should really be working on. Way to go google calendar for making this a possibility in my life... and to have it broken down with sub tasks under the other tasks, not only that I should finish that quilt, but the sub-steps involved, finish borders, sandwich, quilt, machine sew binding on, and that evil last step that is hanging over my head on so many of them, hand sewing the binding down. Some of them have 'gredients added to my shopping google list that is conveniently divided by store...

I have been starting this and thinking about doing that back and forth, back and forth. The weekend I spent in Olalla. I played and was "helped" much in everything I did by my good buddies Layden and Clara. Clara is actually starting to tolerate me. She no longer runs screaming to wrap herself around Mommy or Grammy's necks when I try to talk to her, so that is progress. I have not ascended to the ranks of people-with-whom-she-is-willing-to-receive-her-bedtime-snuggle-from but I am now tolerated as a reader-of-bedtime-stories. Had a fun cooking experiment with both kids. Clara and I made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch one day because we were the only ones who got the hand washing in before Papa turned off the water to the house. Some of them were less than perfect when it came to getting the bread out of the bag without breaking it front, but she had fun. Layden and I made cookies (Spice Bars) when he really need to be helping with something. We also got a chance to go down to the beach at Al's. Almost got sucked down into the muddy glop a couple times (amazing how much the sand and glop look the same...) but ended up with a ice cream treat at Al's, so it was worth it. Then I helped Aunt Alicia with a couple of projects. I hear I am quite the slave driver. But as her 1 1/2" strip scrap bin is emptier than it has been in a long time, she needs not complain.

Before I left, I had spent a little time getting my own scraps caught up. emptying out the bags of less than 1 1/2" scraps in string blocks. I sewed some log cabin blocks together that come out of the scrub scraps. I also finished the elephant baby quilt top.



I started two musical conductor quilts



I FINALLY FINISHED a project this summer! Ok, so it is only 12"x14", but it is done!



I also got the conductor quiltlet tops done, more pieces in a 8x12" quilt than should be possible:



And in the last two days I started...



...and finished...



...the blocks for a friend's wedding quilt. The sashing will be white with green triangles that make little leaves. I have a million little triangles left over which will become yet another project. Really? Do they ever end? I should go put that one on my to do list too. Because, clearly, it is helping me focus!