growing some courage.

Earlier in the month, I made a list of quilty to-dos for July.

That list now looks like this:

• Finish Baby K's quilt (aka, quilt #4).
• Make placemats.
• Make another mini quilt. 
• July BOM from In Color Order.
• Finish purchasing Marie Quilt fabrics, get the cutting done, and decide on block placement.
• Write up my Blog Hop post.
• Maybe get brave and make a tote/purse?  

One placemat is done and another needs its binding hand-stitched to the back. The other two are basted and need quilting, but first I have to purchase some cream thread. Placemats will definitely be done this month. I'm waiting on fabric to arrive for my mini quilt, though I probably should sketch out the blocks and make sure my measurements are all accurate. Not sure that puppy will get done this month.

Today I spent an hour and a half laying out the Marie quilt. It was an incredibly nerve-wracking experience, and it threw me into a funk for a good four hours. (Yummy Thai food and an apple tart were enough to break the spell.) I kept thinking--this will be on my bed! Possibly for forever! My grandkids might one day inherit this, and I don't want them thinking, "What was Grammy thinking?" The husband kept telling me to take it slow and relax, but I wanted to smack him every time. What do you mean, relax?!?! I'm perfectly relaxed! Growl! When I was done, I felt kind of iffy about it, but looking back at the pictures, I'm feeling better, which is probably a good thing. Now, to soothe my aching back and knees....

I suppose I best get my courage on and start working on that bag. I'm thinking about this bag, though I also love this pattern. Tula Pink's The Birds and the Bees is now in stores, so I'm thinking I'll make a practice bag first and then buy some of that lovely lovely fabric for a for-realz bag.

I did play around with my scraps yesterday and made these two blocks for my picnic quilt. The top block is about the width of two of the smaller blocks I'm making. I've been trying to steer away from whites since the quilt's primary duty will be to save my derriere from making contact with the ground, but when I saw that turquoise leaf print up against the black and white, I knew it was meant to be. These are definitely my favorite two blocks. (For now.)

Finally, I picked up this hedgehog fabric for the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop I-Spy Charm Swap. Woo. That's a mouthful. I love me those hedgehogs! I need to get this cut up into charm squares--I think I might cry when I cut it since I seriously want to keep it for me--and get it shipped out. This week?

Now, about you. How was your Saturday? Lovely, I hope? Do you have fun plans for tomorrow? Are you getting your crafty-self on this weekend? Tell me about it!

I'm off, friends. There is a lovely piece of cake (cake?!?!?!) in the fridge, and it's calling to me. Aaaaaaudreeeeey! Aaaaaaudreeeey! 

WIP: Picnic quilt edition.

Happy Fourth, everyone! :) 

It's been a lovely sewing week so far, and it looks to only improve! Taking a short break today though for a picnic in the park with my boys--mac and cheese, fruit salad, and apple pie!--but I'll start back tomorrow.

I finished up my July block for In Color Order's BOM. I hadn't planned to devour it so soon, but I really loved the block and couldn't wait to make it. And if I'm adding in small pops of yellow to the gray monochromatic theme, why not add the occasional pop of crimson? I bought that crimson batik fabric for the Reunion quilt, but I had a bit left over, and I seriously heart the way it looks.

Speaking of the Reunion quilt, I'm nearly done with the first pass of quilting. I think another half an hour or so? I do have a question for you lovely readers. I had originally planned to diagonally quilt across the patchwork, then come back through with another set of perpendicular lines to form an "x" over each box. (Probably didn't explain that the best way, and I'm hoping you get what I mean!) But after I finished the first set of lines, I really kind of like the way it looks. So! Do I go with an "x" or keep it the way it is? Not making a second pass will shave lots of quilting time off, but I want the quilt to really look sharp since it's a gift.

My sewing room dining room currently looks like this. I pulled out all of my scraps yesterday and started randomly piecing some blocks. I had this idea that we should go on a lot of picnics this summer since the weather is so nice here, but we have no picnic blanket/quilt. Therefore, I should make one. And after starting Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking II, I thought I'd make some random blocks and just sew scraps together. I think if I had a perfect picnic blanket, I would get really upset when it received inevitable grass and food stains, but having one made out of scraps in whatever fashion I feel like? Well, why not?

The first block she talks about is a wonky log cabin, so I started there. I'm not in love with the block, but I'm saving my final critique until this baby really births itself.

 
The second block I finished is something that kind of put itself together. If you've been reading long, you know I love these dancing monkeys, so I started with that piece and looked for pieces with a similar length, then framed it with the green and gray on the sides. And I love it! I think blocks like this are more to my liking.

Both blocks are around 7" square. What do you think a good picnic quilt size is? Having never made one, I'm debating that. My husband asked on Monday if I was planning to have it done for our picnic today, and I laughed thoroughly. This is a project that will take a bit of time, and I'm hoping to put together blocks when I need a good break from other stuff. I had a lot of headaches last week, and I think they were from trying to make sure all of my quilting lines are straight and lovely on the Reunion quilt. It was lovely to take some time and piece together random scraps without worry of it looking perfect.



I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced. Love love love looking at all of those gorgeous projects! I feel like every week I get jealous because someone has posted a quilt that I wish I had made! (But it's a happy jealous.)