Back to Quilting

Been checking in on my goals for the quarter, just to see how I am doing.  A bit stalled in the past week, but ready to charge ahead: end of the school year is right around the corner.

Back to working on quilts!  Long-term projects that often have few landmarks.  No stressing out over "finished" when the timeframe is so long.

1.  Relaxing Robin

Ready to put the rays on the sun, piece a couple stars, and get that row attached to the top.


2.  T-shirt quilt

Just back from the long-arm quilter.  All it needs is a binding, and I've already auditioned fabric from my stash!


3.  Drama quilt

Does this say "Wizard of Oz" to you?

Limiting myself to only working on/thinking about a couple blocks at a time (who needs stress this time of year?)  Some paper-piecing and an applique mustache are first on the list.


4.  Barnyard play quilt

I think I need a hand-sewing project, as I've found myself wanting to hole up in the sewing room when it was more appropriate for me to be quietly stitching out with the family.  So, back to the Big Stitch quilting on this longer-term WIP.


Three weeks until school's out: this list ought to hold me.

Your Daily Rainbow

I pass by another high school on my way to work every day.  Don't know how long ago this was painted, but I finally noticed it last week.

You know how much I like a good rainbow, right?

I understand from the newspaper that the rainbow was the result of a geometry lesson.  (Probably surface area?  That's the chapter my geometry class is just finishing up.)

Perfect: math + rainbows.

Happy day!

Distractions Deflected

So... it's spring.  It's sunny out (more than it usually is in Oregon).  I am super-busy; have the endless ToDo list on full throttle.  Whew!

What's a poor ADD-afflicted brain to do?  Why, procrastinate by going off on flights of fancy, of course!

I vote wide-legged...

Sewing garments!  Yeah, that's a great plan (oh wait, where have I heard that plan before).  The ongoing sewing challenges listing over at Modern Vintage Cupcakes lists an indie pattern challenge for the month of June.  Hey, let me go look at some indie patterns... 

Gosh, I want to make pants (got several lengths of appropriate-weight fabric in my stash).  Wide-legged trousers (Maria Denmark patterns Winnie wide-leg) or straight-legged jeans style (Named patterns Alpi Chinos)?

Oh, wait... an infinity dress!  Wow, that looks amazing.  Wonder if I could whip one up for my trip to Europe this summer?  

Mmm, scrap quilts!  My blue scrap bin overfloweth.  I've wanted to dig into it for some time now.  And the blogger's quilt festival that is happening NOW has a category for scrap quilts.  Maybe I'll just take a short break and check out some of the designs there...

Rainbow-colored and flying-geese-adorned.  What's not to love about this quilt, from Quilting is More Fun than Housework?  (Seriously, you should click on the link just to see it.)

I actually succumbed to pawing through my blue scraps for a tiny bit of time.  How could I not?  I was so enamored of the quilt with the flying geese!  I just had to start making it: RIGHT. NOW.
Fortunately for me, it looks like my scraps fit better into a string quilt-making format.  So I had to look again at a scrap quilt called String Theory, from Crafts, Cavies and Cooking.

Save Me!

All that process took me away from reality for about three days.  Oh, my mind was reeling with the possibilities.  I pulled out my wallet (twice) to buy pants patterns.  I was a-sewin' and a-cuttin' and whatnot--all in my mind, thank goodness.

What saved me from the flights of fancy?  Having  a list of sewing goals for the quarter (which doesn't end until July 1st).  I can add any of these crazy projects and ideas to my sewing ToDo... next quarter.  For now, I'm full up.

For once, having a ToDo list has been a good thing.  Reign in the wayward brain, says I.

Fixed the sun

Plugging away on my Relaxing Robin project.  May's step is to reuse the inner border fabric in some way.  So I am making a pieced sun; it will sit on the pink background.

Here was the sun when I last checked in:

And here's what is sitting on my table now:

Oh yeah, so much better.  I envision using yellow thread to big-stitch quilt this (since when am I planning out my quilting step while I am still working on the piecing?!).  Plus, the sun has a ray portion that will be a brighter yellow.

I think I might get this step completed in May!

Relaxing Robin: Supersize

Finished off the April step for the Relaxing Robin quilt, and I must say that it is feeling LARGE.

56" wide by 68" tall (on temporary display in my classroom)

I think that means I only have one more border to add to the quilt!  (Going off of a suggested 72x90 twin size.)  My planned May step will only add a single row at the top, so I will have 3 more sides to tackle after that.

Received this full block-of-the-month pattern packet as a gift.  Planning to make the patchwork sun block, with a pink background and blue plaid stars.

Cute pattern!

Wish I had more yellow flannel...

Process confession: I don't love the way it is looking so far.  In fact, I rather dislike it.  Too loud.  Yuck.  Is there a way I can rescue this?

I will ask my stitch-n-bitch friends for opinions.  Sometimes it takes many hands to make a quilt.

Things I'll Never Do

Wedding table decor in progress

I love my sister.  She's a creative sort, like I am, and we are starting to put our heads together for crafty decorations for the wedding.


Since she doesn't have ADD, she participates in the Pinterest community.  (I know better.  I know that Pinterest only overwhelms me and leaves me feeling weak and winded.)

Her new discovery: Pinterest allows you to have more boards than it used to!


How she plans to use the bounty of boards to pin to: add a board for Things I'll Never Do

Reminds me of a card I got one time...

Also reminds me of the wild ideas label for some of my blog posts:

"I saw this cool thing"

"I have this idea for a way to combine these two/three/fourteen ideas into a project"

Most recent incarnation of a wild idea...

while running this race

No, I didn't stop running to take his picture; different worm here.

I saw a worm in a puddle


I thought about a children's story that featured a worm in a puddle (there's a scene in Ramona The Pest where she makes a worm into a ring for her finger; but that's not the scene that first came to mind)

I thought about a sewing technique involving putting items behind clear plastic in an "I spy" fashion

blogged about this idea here

Voila!  A wild idea is born: turn that children's story into a cloth book, and feature a "worm in a puddle" picture on one page where the worm is under clear plastic.

Yeah, not gonna do that anytime soon.  So here is my parking lot:

fun to look at, maybe even fun to think about, but probably not ever going to actually do this

See, Sis?  I have my own version of your Pinterest Board right here on my blog.