#BFTPqal & WIPs

Well... I've been kind of a slacker when it comes to letting you know about the #BFTPqal posts.  When I started this blog, I did it with the intention that I wouldn't post anything without really making the content great. I don't like looking at blogs where the author has all advertising all the time. But things have been SLOOOW around here, what with making a bazillion apple wall hangings (more on that Thursday!) and working on my very first ever t-shirt quilt. As a result, I haven't been posting about the #BFTPqal posts either.  I'm sorry -- I'm scheduling them out as we speak, so you can read all about it from now until the middle of June.

So... to recap, the #BFTPqal posts I've missed are:

Katie at Lady Fortune's Wheel
Marion at My Quilt Diet
Barbie at The Quilting Mill
Konda at Moose on the Porch Quilts

and today's post is at Marion's, but it's from Machelle at Cherry Tree Cottage Quilts.

Whew! I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted about these! I solemnly swear to do better!


And what else have I been working on? I am in charge of a local quilting bee we call QBX (for Quilt Block Exchange), and last month I needed a quick project that got rid of a bunch of scraps. I was inspired by my friend Emily's cute son's quilt, but used the tutorial from Ellison Lane as a jumping-off point.  So far, I've only collected 6 blocks, but here they are:

And I'm part of the Beehive #21, sponsored by Blossom Heart Quilts. I think I might have heard about it from Gnome Angel, though -- she's super cute too, and was a finalist for Sewvivor last year!  I was in charge for the month of March, and asked for the Wanta Fanta block. I'm not sure what that means, but I love the secondary pattern this pretty block makes! I'd gotten all my blocks but one at this point (one poor lady found the envelope completely empty and battered on her front porch one day -- I guess it didn't quite make it to the post office!), and I'm so surprised -- close up, I don't really love this quilt... but just a few feet away, and it's one of my FAVORITES!

So, my plan is to update each #BFTPqal post with a little something I've been working on -- but I've learned the hard way not to promise more than I can do!

Keeping It Real

I bet you thought I was going to show you my super messy laundry room, didn't you? Fooled you! I'm talking today about seasons (as in, the seasons of our lives) and my goals. So, here's a little piece of what I've been working on lately...

When I had my babies, I really wanted to make them baby quilts.  And that's as far as I went. I made them quilts because that's just what you do -- at least, if you're in my family, you do. (Or you might buy a quilt or have one made by a family member - but you get the picture.) It's just something that happens when there's a baby, like getting a crib or a car seat.  Right? :) I just didn't know any better, so that's what I did. And I enjoyed the process -- until it got to the quilting. I learned to quilt by hand, in a time when NOBODY quilted by machine, not even a longarm. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't cool, it was too expensive -- if you really cared about someone, you would quilt it by hand.  If you were doing a quick project, you could tie it, but NOBODY quilted by machine. And I didn't even know there was another option with my first three children. So, I would find out the gender, make up a baby quilt, and at 8 1/2 months, hand quilt my baby's quilt. Let me tell you, it was NOT comfortable. But the baby needed that quilt!  And I got all of them done on time.  I think.  You forget a lot of things after you have that baby, but I don't remember feeling guilty about it, so I must have been done, right?

After I had my fourth baby (his baby quilt was taken to a quilt shop and machine quilted -- and I loved it so so much!), we had our biggest gap ever between babies.  I felt so liberated -- for a couple of months, we didn't have anyone in diapers!  My hands had never been so smooth -- and I had a little more time on my hands, so I really started to catch that quilting bug.  I wanted to join a quilt guild, or go to a quilt group, or something, but the only ones I could find were classes at the local quilt shop, and I couldn't afford classes AND fabric, so I started up my own little group.  It is so so so much fun!  The ladies who come are all fun and funny and we have a really fun time together.

I think part of the reason why quilting wasn't really my thing before I was almost done having kids was that it just wasn't the right season for it.  I come from a long line of crafters -- we can all do pretty much anything we set our minds to, we just have that mindset -- and I really didn't have the time when my children were teeny tiny and running around biting ankles to focus on much more than that.  Does that mean that a young mother who is also crazy about quilting can't be a good mother? No way -- that just means that I couldn't.  I had other crafty things that I would do occasionally, but as a young mom I really couldn't do anything as long-term as quilting.  And writing -- another of my passions -- was indefinitely set on the backburner.  I really do want to write fiction -- but for me, that day will have to come later.

Right now, though, is my time and season for quilting on the side. Maybe it will last the rest of my life; maybe it will last for another couple of years. Who knows!  That's what's so exciting about this life -- you just never know what's around the corner!  I still can't go to every retreat I've ever wanted to attend (Oh, Quiltbliss, how I long for you!), for both financial and time reasons.  In a couple of years, my baby goes to Kindergarten, and the next year is first grade, so I'm planning on doing more then, but until that happens, I just don't feel like I can. But what I can do -- that I've not been able to do until recently -- is go to a sewing day for a couple of hours.  And blog (infrequently). And host a quilt group at my house. And sew at night after the kids are in bed. And every so often, I get a day or two off from my full-time mothering gig; Joel will take a day off work and let me go play with my quilty friends.  It's so much fun!  And I really use those days to recharge and relax from my day job -- and go back with a renewed spirit.

As for pattern design, I really really loved doing it for a year. And I'll love it again -- maybe sooner rather than later.  I plan on submitting some ideas to places like Moda Bakeshop and American Patchwork and Quilting -- and maybe some others -- in the new year. I'm really not afraid of failing -- I'm afraid of succeeding too early, when I really need to devote more time to my stay-at-home children. :)

And... just because I KNOW you want to see it... here's my messy laundry room.

Yikes, I've got to get on that straight away -- it's scarier than I thought!!

On the To Do List

To Do Today:

• Wake up early!
  
• Make stick horses for birthday party
  
• Make cake for birthday party
  
• Birthday party!
  
• Fix dress for Paige's baptism
  
• Make sure soccer stuff is clean for tomorrow
  
• Shopping for horse food & last-minute party stuff
  
• Freezer meal exchange
  
• Read through Sunday's lesson
  
• Make scripture bag
  
• Look longingly at quilting... maybe tomorrow!
  
  Photo: Round Robin Quilt, final border to be determined
  

I Swoon

I Swoon -- do you?  I bought this pattern as soon as I found out about Camille Roskelley, and it's probably one of my favorites EVER. I've made two one-block baby quilts, two one-block Christmas table toppers, and one four-block lap quilt -- and that's just about one whole Swoon quilt!

One week before Paige's birthday, I decided she needed a quilty present.  She chose the fabric and the pattern last year -- I had some, and some I ordered from Fat Quarter Shop -- but I never felt the need to make the quilt. Until a week before her birthday. I always get fabulous gift ideas just before they're "due" -- of course!

So, I was able to cut out all the fabric in one night, after the kids went to bed... which meant I had a little less than one week to complete a twin-sized Swoon quilt.  Luckily, I had already figured out that I could make a twin-sized quilt with only 6 blocks, sashing in between, and a 5" border all around. 

I worked so hard! Tuesday I made one block.

Wednesday I made one block.

Thursday I made two blocks.

And Friday I ALMOST made two blocks at once -- but I messed up. Can you tell what I did? Argh.

 

 

By the way, did you notice that some of the blocks are whole pieces of fabric? Check out the piecing on this block -- the squares are squares because that's how I pieced that part of the block, instead of having two rectangles. And the red parts that are NOT part of the center star are whole, too -- I even figured out how to cut out everything from one fat quarter each, just like the original pattern calls for.  I made it this way once when I needed to keep some polka dots intact. I love it this way, and I don't think I'll do it the other way again!

And Saturday I fixed the two "broken" blocks in just about an hour.

 

And then I finished the whole top -- just in time for Paige's birthday! (I didn't get a picture of the top finished, but this is the layout.)

Of course, I decided to do a pieced backing... Oh yeah, didn't I mention that I always planned the back to be pieced? Because the front is so plain...  So, when I got backing fabric, I simply order a half-yard here and a half-yard there. But the plan I made was pretty unimaginative. And, to be frank, a little bit ugly. So, this Monday (the day AFTER her birthday) I worked with the fabric I had, and came up with this little plan:

 

I think it's safe to say it's going to be amazing -- I can't wait to show my quilt group!

 

5 Ways to Get Your Mojo Back

So, I have been gone for a while.  First, it was Teacher Appreciation Week (our school did it March 24th-28th and I was in charge of the whole shebang).  Then I got pneumonia - again.  But now I'm back with a vengeance!  I'll do a quick recap of Teacher Appreciation Week tomorrow and talk about quilting on Friday -- unless I get sick again!

My last post, I'm so sorry to say, talked about how I was avoiding doing any sewing -- and it stayed up for more than a month.  How embarrassing!  I found my mojo within a week of writing that post, and I'm sad I haven't been able to share until now.  Here's how:

 

1. I gave myself a break.

After writing that post, I realized I really needed to stop feeling guilty about not wanting to sew.  I had so much going on, I really felt stressed – and I am NOT a huge fan of organizing parties, so Teacher Appreciation Week was really stressing me out!  I told myself that I didn’t have to do anything until after that week of craziness was over – and I didn’t!  It was amazing how much more motivated I felt after that week was over, too.  I wanted to sew again!  But before the week was over, I participated in a Rainbow Flashmob on Instagram. I was accidentally assigned two different colors - blue and orange - so I did both. It was so fun!

2. I organized some areas in my sewing room. 

I know it might not look any different to anyone else, but I completely organized my little bins, wrote down every single project I'm working on, and found some room for my kids' projects.  I don't know if I'm slightly OCD or what (and really, who isn't?), but I really can't focus on any project until I have a clean space to work.  I’ve discussed it with my sisters, and we all have the same problem.  We’ve decided that maybe it’s because we get overwhelmed by too much work, so we just don’t start.  I think it’s a perfectionist thing – if you can’t do it perfectly, why even try?  So, cleaning up the things that didn’t need to be there really helped me to focus on what I needed to do.

 

3. I started eating right & exercising.

I know this doesn’t necessarily correlate with quilting, but I really noticed a difference in my motivation when I started eating really healthy and exercising.  My sister’s sister-in-law had a health challenge, and it REALLY was a challenge!  We got a point or two for everything we did perfectly each day, and the points were for things like eating no sugary treats, no fried foods, and 5 fruits & veggies each day.  To get a perfect score you had to exercise FOUR HOURS a week!  It was so hard for me – but I was killing it until I got pneumonia!  Now I’m back to my sedentary ways (I’m still in recovery and don’t want to do too much too soon), but tomorrow I’m going running with a friend and have high hopes of being healthy again.

4. I made a design wall.

I used ideas from a couple of different tutorials (from Oh, Fransson! and Ellison Lane, mostly), but basically I got some foam insulation and taped batting around it.  I just used tape because I don’t have a staple gun – we are very basic on the tools around here – and I thought it would work out okay.  It looks so good, I think!  There was a cute little photobomber in this picture – I asked him to look tough with his “sword” and this is what I got!

5. I have a deadline.

There’s nothing like a deadline to really make you go go GO!  I am going to International Quilt Market in May, and my goal of four new patterns just can’t happen – since I lost a week and a half to pneumonia, I really can’t do one more thing.  But I do think I can get three new patterns done.  I really need to focus and work hard, but now that things are tidy and I’ve got my mojo back, I really think I can do it!  I'll have an update on Friday -- we'll see how I do!

A List Person

 

I think it's safe to say, I'm a list person.   I have lists for each day, week, and month of the year, lists of all the fun we're going to have as a family, lists of projects to do around the house ... and lists and lists of projects and ideas.  Joel always jokes about it, but I think it really helps me stay organized -- and besides, if I don't have a list, I might forget something I REALLY want to do! (or buy. or read. :)

This is a little snapshot of the list I made for February -- it's ambitious, and I think I might be behind already (is it Tuesday ALREADY?!), but if I can work on MOST of this list, I think February might be a pretty good month for all I want to accomplish!

One more thing... I made this list on Saturday, which was the end of Week 3-9... isn't it amazing I checked everything off that week? :) Do you ever make a list with things you've already done, just so you have something to check off? I know my sisters and I do!