just puttering around...

20 Days until the next semester begins.  GACK!!!!

In the meantime, I've just been puttering around.  Reading a little, making some stabs at that bedroom that needs painting (today I washed the walls, with the help of Itty Bitty), had a meeting last night at school to plan the 3rd Year student orientation event, running errands.

In the quilt realm:

1.Pieced together the 36 Candy Kisses blocks.  It's cute.  I'd like to put a creamy shade of Minkee on the back to make a very pretty baby blanket.

2. Put the border on the Jelly Roll 9-patch quilt I whipped up last week.

3. Pin basted the School of Rock quilt, all ready to quilt on my Janome.

Gotta show you this quilt made from repurposed shirts.  I visited Zany Quilter for the first time today - - you might as well just add this link to you favourites: http://zanyquilter.blogspot.com/ 'cuz it's a very cool blog!

Cara of Cara Quilts recently reviewed "Alice's Tulips" by Sandra Dallas; I book I enjoyed too.  So, I took a look at some of this author's other titles when I was at the library on Friday, and am now deeply into:

The Diary of Mattie Spenser

Candy Kisses

I finished 36 blocks, and have 4 strips left over from the jelly roll (it was a 40 strip jelly roll).  I need to square these up (probably about 7.5" unfinished, I believe).

A Report: Friday Night Sew-In & Saturday Morning Yard Sale Finds

Well, considering I had the whole evening to me, myself, and I....I didn't get a whole lot accomplished.

For the record, I have THIRTY Kimono blocks done.  I've packed them away for the time being until I find something for the sashing. 

I went to Cherished Pieces yesterday with my SIL--a new quilter, but definitely bitten by the quilt bug, HARD! -- where owner Cynthia is having a sale (ends today).  I couldn't resist a clearance priced jelly roll: Candy Kisses by Sandy Gervais.  So that's what I tinkered with last night.

I have an idea of what I'm doing, but just plastered the finished blocks up on my design wall in order to sort them.  I'll put them in some semblance of a quilt top as I complete more blocks.

The yard sales were pretty good this morning, though I limited myself to only a few purchases: some school supplies, a shirt to repurpose, and these two tins of sewing treasures.

The seller let me have both tins for $3.  The round one seems to be mostly buttons.  Okay...so I didn't really NEED any of this stuff, but I was inspired by a podcast I listened to last night: GreenStitch, which Vesuviusmama referred to in her blog (thank you, Erin!).  Episode 3 featured an interview with Ginger Hendrix, of Weinerdog Tricks who recommended maintaining a 'stash' in order to promote creativity, but also stressed the necessity of "culling" the stash in order to prevent the stash from taking over!

In the realm of what has been inspiring me laterly, I made a trip to the public library last night, and found this book by Cassie Barden.

Not only did I find inspiration in some of the really sweet projects, including the "Birdwatcher Messenger Bag"...

and the "Novella Composition Book Cover"...

...but I also liked what the author had to say in her introduction, answering the question: what is the "new homemade"?

"...we're experiencing a resurgence of all things handmade.  You see it in food, in art, and especially in crafts like sewing, knitting, quilting, and embroidery. As the world gets larger and more complex, more plugged in and surrounded by automation and technology and gadgets, as we become more separated from the processes that create our food, our clothing, and our homes, we're starting to miss the connection to the things around us.  We want to feel like we took part in the process, whether it's making a meal from scratch or wearing a piece of clothing we constructed ourselves."

Doesn't that explain it exactly???  I had a conversation with my SIL on the drive to Tilsonburg yesterday, discussing this very idea: the immensely satisfying sense of accomplishment that one feels when able to give form to, and shape a part of her world independantly.

Just a few days left

WHAT?!?!?!

Yep, it's true. Just five more days of holidays left, then back to school!

Yesterday, I spent the day with a group of ladies who gather weekly to craft together, including my mother and one of my sisters. I'm often invited, but this is the first time I've been available to attend. I was the only quilter - - most of them were scrapbookers (who are just quilters in denial, right?)

I finished the last ten of my blocks for the Black & White quilt. I'll be rearranging the blocks before the final assembly, so that the blackest and the whitest are positioned in such a way that will highlight the secondary, and tertiary patterns formed by the blocks.

Unfortunately, what I wanted to work on was the blanket stitching on the ME jelly roll quilt I started on Christmas Day. But somewhere between home and the site of the crafting day, I LOST MY FOOT! Yes, the presser foot for blanket stitching fell off my machine, so that little job is going to have to wait until I find the foot in a snowbank somewhere, or I replace it....or talk someone else into finishing it! ;)

I could use some opinions...

No, I'm not wondering how to get Gibby to quit chewing on people's feet. He has so few vices, a litte toe nibbling should be allowed.

Such a nice kitty-kitty!

No, I've been working on another quilt top - (which I started about 24 hours ago!) - which is a near copy of THIS QUILT from Natalia Bonner's blog site Piece N Quilt. Take a look at the left hand column of her blog - - lots of inspiring tutorials to be found. "I'm Blushing" is featured on the Moda Bake Shop website, and definitely among my list of to-do quilts, except I think I will use Gypsy Rose rather than Blush.

So, I'm on to the applique part. I've got the flower parts in place, but I don't know whether to blind stitch the down, or use a blanket stitch - - maybe a chocolate brown thread, rather than traditional black? - - what do you think???

By the way, I used a Mary Engelbreit's Baskets of Flowers jelly roll. The applique flowers look soooooo M.E. -- and I used a 2.5" circle for the flower centres rather than 3" centres Natalia used in hers, and centred them, to make them even more M.E. like.