Time's UP! Bees, Swaps and Projects.

Hello friends. Where does the time go? How do some of the quilters and crafters get done in a week what takes me a month (or more) to complete. I think we all have a style. My style is circling the wagon. I get an idea and I drive myself crazy planning it. I can get quite carried away. By the way have you all seen Tula Pink's quilt Spacedust? Oh my. There are no words.

look at the quilting...geesh

 The reason I mentioned that is if you read how she came up with that design and the description of the drawing and layout you will kind of get the idea of how I do things. This is the drawing before the quilt.

Quote from Tula "  So this is the crazy map that was supposed to tell me what went where. I had this quilt idea pop into my head around three A.M. one morning. During this time of night my mind works a little differently than any other time of day. I remember this seeming extremely logical at the time."  

 The difference is obvious...hers turns into something awesome...mine turns into something less awesome that I sometimes have doubts about (see previous post which was ridiculous.)

So now I still have three more blocks to make because I had to pick the complicated block in the same months that i was leaving town and watching Mother in Law. I did manage to get the Mug Rug Adventure Swap 2 complete ON TIME! That is another thing. I had this idea and drew it out on paper and then spent days agonizing over the tiniest details.

Then if something could go wrong it did from thread issues to major mistakes. This mugrug has been ripped and reripped. In the end I think it turned out pretty cute although I should have appliqued the bubbles BEFORE I put the backing on. the bubbles are all different colors and although the bobbin thread was natural that much color cannot help coming through...oh well...character right?

Then there are always these lofty projects I see online. Angela at Cut to Pieces has an awesome tutorial for fabric organization here. I thought it was genius to use comic book backs to access your fabric. Let me tell you this is no small task for me. This is as far as I got with that.

I have another partial shelf but I went through 200 of these in a jiffy. This is some of what I have left..some. If you have a large stash I would suggest buying in bulk. I would start with at least 500. You can wrap everything from 1/2 yard up to...well..I did 3 on a few. Remember, a major destash awaits at the end and as I have missed any blogiversary I will be doing something special for my friends.

I am still trying to find a good scrap system. Any ideas? Seriously, I almost paid for a class. I may still if someone doesn't help me with a better system.

My poor daughter. Summer and pregnant. She had wanted an apron and I just love "The Pretty Ditty Apron" by Jamie Christina which I purchased here. 

What you see Hanging out of the sides is wide elastic which just sleeves through the waistband. I still need to add the waist ties which I will feed into the waistband several inches. Room to grow! I really love aprons. I kind of collect patterns...a few. I need to whip one out for me!

So that is what is going on at the moment. My reward for finishing is the beginning of what I think will be the largest quilt along ever.

Next post.

I hope all of you are caught up and have fabric that you love.

Leslie

Sunday Stash and a quick book review!

Two posts in one night. Must be the sun today. I need to grab Pink Chalks button. The girls at this store are amazing.  They will bend over backwards to help you find what you need. So, I wanted to mention the Monthly Solids Club. Has anyone else joined this but me? You can choose FQ, HY or FY and I suppose any amount that you want. I chose FQ because every month for a minimal price (like a pizza) you receive one of these lovelies.

No, you do not get the Perle Cotton or the Mason Jars but you do get eight beautifully coordinated colors with an awesome color card telling you exactly which company and color they are. I have a kona color card but with the little swatches sometimes it is not spot on. This is like having a large color card on file that you can use! Some of the colors I would never think of ordering but they are heaven in person.

They began this in March and I think it is worth the investment. 

THIS arrived today

I can honestly say where some lines there are a few prints you are not crazy about. This is not one of them. The colors are divine. Fussy cutting....get ready. Tula Pink has outdone herself with Prince Charming. I cannot wait to see what all will be created with this line.

No pic but I finally finished collecting all the voile in Little Folks 

Now I am on a stripe and polka dot kick

I am getting ready for major destash. I am tired of looking at quite a bit of what I have.

Finally, I received two books I have been interested in looking at. I am just as bad about buying quilting books. I have seen these patterns online most of the time so I do not know why I do it other than I cannot get enough of beautiful, creative quilts. I can waste a lot of time doing this instead of creating them.

One I love, the other I will be sending back. Block Party is a delight. I know of and follow most of the girls in it and it is not really a quilting book, although it is, just more like a story. A story that you and I and all the girls/guys we swap fabric with, blocks with, mugrugs with but mainly the way most, not all of us learned this new way of quilting. By reading blogs and finding inspiration. To me it is fascinating. The way we help each other, support each other, have our own language. We understand each others artistic abilities and struggles and inability to cut into that fabric. I loved the intro by Denyse, she was spot on. Anyway, definitely a book worthy of reading, the quilts are adorable and is generally a fun book. The second book, Fresh Fabric Treats,  I was really disappointed with. I thought Moda would put out a book with, I don't know, something I couldn't get off Moda Bakeshop? I mean no offense to any of the bakers. All the designs are good and the quilts pretty but I do better looking through them on my own on the website. If anyone wants to buy or swap this book I am in!

Have a great holiday weekend!

I hope everyone gets to sew!

Leslie