Craft-A-Little

Oh my goodness!!  I have been making so many things!  Sadly, I can’t show a few of them yet. (I am making some gifts and I am not sure if the recipients are readers or not!)  I have only a couple of things left to make for these gifts, and then hopefully I will get them in the mail next weekend.  In which case, I will be able to show you all of the goodies soon! 

In the mean time…I have some other things to show you.  And to be honest- they are much less interesting!  But I am thrilled- because I am totally caught up on my Bee blocks!!  I have NONE sitting here and waiting for me to sew them!  Yay!!

Log cabin for Sorrel- In Laker’s colors!

Christmas blocks for Frieda…

These Christmas blocks were a process!  I didn’t start them with the intention of them looking like this.  I started with one block that was supposed to be all 4 of the 9 patch sections.  But it felt too busy.  So I made trees.  I really like how they turned out!

And some ticker tape blocks for a Bee Friend. 

I have really been enjoying these small projects.  They come together quickly and I feel like I accomplished a lot this weekend.  However, I am really missing the larger project satisfaction finish that I get with the making of a quilt. 

So…I am making plans for my next quilt.  Little Helper is soon going to be a big sister.  The new baby will get her crib and she will get a new “Big Girl Bed”.  When she gets a new bed, she will (of course!!) need a new quilt for her bed.  My husband and I have been undecided about hat kind of bed she was going to move into, so I couldn’t make a quilt for her.  Well, we finally decided this weekend!  We bought a new KING sized bed for us parents to sleep on!  That means our old full size bed will be Little Helper’s.  (as a side note- I am SO EXCITED to get our new bed- it will be delivered on Thursday!!)

Ok- so I have these Mendocino fabrics that I purchased a while ago and I was thinking that I would use those for her quilt.  Others that I was considering was Far Far Away by Heather Ross, but I don’t have as many of those.  Plus, Little Helper likes pink.  And I have some pink Mendocino, so that will make her happy.  She likes Mermaids too- all good things!  Anyway- I am deciding on a pattern and I have 2 that I am considering.  Anyone want to weigh in with a vote???

Mixtape Quilt

OR

New Wave Quilt?

I am also knitting a blanket for this next baby.  I am really enjoying that! 

And since I am rambling about all sorts of nonsense today…I came across this blog post today-  http://r0ssie.blogspot.com/2010/05/process-pledge.html and the one that she links to on mutant quilting.  I have some other thoughts on this that I will share in a later post.  It is something that I have been thinking about for a while now. 

Have a great week!

Well, I posted that shirts and a dress were “coming soon” almost a month ago!  I am not sure that it is soon since they aren’t done yet!  I still have had some motivational/energy issues.  But, I made a commitment to myself this weekend to get my rear in gear!  I am tired of looking around online and seeing all the fun/cool stuff people are making while I sit around and do nothing! 

So, I did this…

It is a drunkard’s path block for the Bee Addictedquilting bee.   I was a little intimidated by it, but fortunately, Knitterleigh sent a template.  That helped a lot.  So, it isn’t perfect, but I think that it came together pretty well!  I might even be willing to try it again someday!    I did get MUCH better at the curves by the end!

So, I am hoping to get those shirts done, but I need some accent fabric for it and the stuff that I want is on order at my quilting store.  Hopefully it will come in soon!  In the mean time, I have started working on the dress for Little Helper, and I hope to finish it this weekend- so maybe you will see pictures by the end of the weekend!! 

I also got tired of waiting for my accent fabric, so I might have bought some other fabric to make another shirt for Little Helper!  I need to practice!  I really want to make a raincoat and maybe even a winter coat for Little Helper for next fall/winter.  And I am SO not ready for that yet.  So, I need to get sewing!

I am also trying to pick a blanket to knit for this baby in my belly.  I am deciding between 2.  One is the Circles and Stripes blanket (scroll down- there is a picture in this blog post)  from Susan B. Anderson’s Itty Bitty nursery.  The other is the mitered square blanket from Mason Dixon knitting.  I know that the mitered square one is a much more labor intensive pattern.  so I am a little nervous about that- I am halfway there already and I would REALLY like to have this blanket done by time this baby is born.  But I will not be finding out boy or girl before this baby arrives and I like the mitered square one in a more colorful pattern than I like the Circles and Stripes one.  Oh the decisions…Feel free to weigh in via the comment section!  And I would use different color schemes for either blanket than what is in the pictures!

Ok…I will stop rambling.    I think that I am going to go cut some fabric.  I am home sick today, and I think that I can manage the energy for that!

Oh- one more thing!!  I came across a sew along at another blog- Elemental Stitches this week.  Unfortunately, I don’t have to book (and neither does my library!), so I can’t participate.  But some really cute things are coming out of it!  You should venture over and check it out!

Ok- for real…no more rambling..for today!

The weekend is upon me.  And I am behind on things!  So it is time to catch up.  And I have a strategy!  I am doing start with a little list of the things that I need to do this weekend here on my blog.  Just as Krisitina did on a post a while ago, I will check things off with photos as I complete them.  The other part of my strategy is renegotiating my contracts.  My work offers Getting Things Done training by the David Allen company and I did that a couple of years ago.  One of the things that they teach is to renegotiate contracts.  So I am using that in some cases.  So here is my list…

• A Piece of Work B October block   Look at me go!  I already have 2 blocks done! Ok- I actually only made the first one today.  The other one has been done for a little while.   But now they are ready to mail!  I used up every last scrap that Jennie sent for these! 

• A Piece of Work B November block
• Bee Addicted October block (picture coming soon)
• Block #1 for Lorrin (and me!) (picture coming soon)
• Block #2 for Lorrin (and me!) (picture coming soon!)
• Order fabric for my mom’s Christmas Quilt (I renegotiated again and have some updates on this one)
• Choose polka dot fabric for Little Helper’s birthday dress (any suggestions??).
• MAIL ALL BLOCKS!!

Now I think that should be enough for now!  I am renegotiating a couple of contracts with myself.  The first- and biggest- is the advent calendar I wanted to do.  I really wanted to have it done for this year and I haven’t completely figured out what I want.  So, I think that I will wait until after Christmas (all the holiday fabric will be on sale then) and pick some up.  And then I will make if for next year.  Little Helper won’t know the difference.  And since I want it to be something that we keep for years, this is probably the better way to  do it.   I know that I renegotiated another, but I forget what it was.  And it isn’t in my to do list anymore,  so I guess I did a good job of renegotiating it! 

I just looked at my list- that is a lot of blocks!  And I don’t even know what I am going to do for most of them…

I am a bit behind on my quilting bees, but I set out to catch up this weekend and I am halfway there!  Here is what I made for Kyra for our Bee Addicted online Bee.

Here is my first wonky house.  Not all that wonky.  Except for the earthquake that shook the roof off.  It isn’t my favorite, but it isn’t terrible either.  Kyra shared a tutorial with us that gave me a good starting point for this one.

Then I was trying to figure out what else I could do.  Mendocino inspired me.

Do you like all the mermaids?  I love mermaids these days.  Mostly because Little Helper says “me-mer”.  It is so cute.  So I like my wonky underwater castle quite a bit more than the first one.   I like it more the more I look at it.  I should stop looking at it.  I have to send it to Kyra.