So many hobbies!

I've been hitting the fabric again

Last week, I discovered a fabric line called "Catkin" by Julie Paschkis.  I was smitten.

As a cat lover, I just couldn't resist.

Most of this fabric I'll use as quilt backs. 

Now I need to find to perfect quilts worthy of such gorgeous fabric.

Tyr approves of the new fabric line, too.  Actually, it's not new which is why I bought what I did.  I really wanted it and it's becoming very hard to find.  I now return to my former fabric diet and I promise to stop looking for fabric online.  At least for a while.

I switched to Firefox

Apparently, Typepad has some issues with Internet Explorer 9.  I don't get it and I'm not thrilled with Firefox (mostly because I don't know the program and can't find my favorites),  Let's see if I can do a proper post...

Yay!  A new paragraph!

I started a new quilt over the weekend.  I needed a color fix last week so I ordered some batik fabric online.  This was one of them.  The picture isn't that true to color.  Try this link.

This got combined with white and chartruese.  Ignore the cat:

Trust me, they look better together than the photos show.  I'll show you a pic when I'm a bit further along.

Two down

This pattern is called Disappearing Nine-patch and was finished Saturday night.  I know technically the old year has ended and my push to finish UFOs should end with it.  However, I have Monday off so I'm fudging the dates and anything I get done, until I go to bed Monday night, will count in the race to finish.  Yes, I know it's cheating but the point is to wrap up old projects so I'm giving myself two extra days.  Happy New Year everyone!

FO #1

One UFO down!  I love how this top came out.  Quilting is next but I'll have to think on this one for a bit.  It would be best quilted free-motion but I stink at that and the funding isn't available to send it out, sad to say.  This was my attempt at using up scraps.  There are a lot more seams, as you can see, amongst the white background and I have to say, I rather like it that way.  It gives it more character.  I learned alot while sewing this one.  The first few had the tips cut off the roofs.  Oops.  But I figured that one out after a few.  This whole quilt was a lot of fun.  I tried not to have much of a plan in mind while sewing the houses.  I started adding windows by the end, partially because my cousins requested them.  My favorite house is the one in the lower right hand corner.

Halloween quilt

My bed was the only spot in my condo big enough to lay out all of the squares.  This is the current placement.  Now the questions are:  1) do I make any adjustments and 2) do I need sashing between each square?  I'm on the fence about both.  (The color of this pic isn't quite right but we've already talked about my photography skills.)  I'm kind of leaning toward sashing but then comes deciding on what color.  White is out.  Too bright plus there's almost no white in the quilt.  Black maybe?  It is a Halloween quilt after all.   Yes, I think black will work.

I had some unsolicited help while doing my arranging.  I ended up booting her out and closing the door.  This pic is closer to the correct colors.

It's a beautiful thing

Taking a day off, that is.  The weather was nice, I got a haircut and I made big progress on my Halloween quilt.  Unfortunately, I also made mistakes and had to order more of some of the fabric.  You know that old saying "Measure twice, cut once?"  Well, an equally good one is "Don't cut fabric when you're tired."  <sigh>  Despite my miscuts, the quilt is coming along nicely:

 

Each of these squares has a twin making the total number of finished squares at 28 out of 36.  I'm still afraid it's going to be too busy but I'm holding my final judgement until the quilt is sewn, quilted and bound.

While I was quilting yesterday, Galen was auditioning sleeping poses:

 

 

He was very thorough.

Best laid plans...

Instead of freezing apples and making pumpkin butter, I spent most of my weekend with a girlfriend and my sister.  Much better than spending the weekend in solitary confinement in my condo.  Saturday morning I helped a girlfriend measure and cut fabric for some quilts she's making and in the afternoon, my sister and I went to Craft 2000.  Craft 2000 has EVERYTHING you might possibly need for any kind of crafty pursuit.  Oh, before Craft 2000, I picked up the solid fabrics I needed for my Halloween quilt:

 

I'm not too sure about the orangey one on the top right.  The one on the bottom right is actually a light gray but for some reason, it photographed blue.  I really need to take a class in photography.

One of my previous incarnations saw me doing rubber stamping, card making and altering books.  I got rid of nearly all my stuff for those hobbies a few months ago and I picked up just a few things at Craft 2000 for an altered book I hadn't finished.  Saturday night, I finally finished the book.  The last few pages aren't as elaborate as the earlier ones but I'm pleased with them all the same.  These are my favorite pages/spreads:

 

 

 

The cats spent their weekend doing pretty much what you'd expect them to:

 

 

Decisions, decisions

So, I've been in a funk lately, not really feeling like doing anything.  To get myself out of it, I decided to try some retail therapy.  I don't do it very often but I just couldn't resist this fabric:

 

Yes, I'm going to make myself a Halloween quilt.  Right now the hard part, besides waiting for my fabric to show up, is picking a pattern.  So far I've come up with something similar to this one or these two.  What I like about each pattern is they both have larger pieces so the fabric shows through in all it's glory (or should that be "gory"?  Bwahaha!)  (Sorry, it's been a long day.)  I'm open to any other suggestions.  Or tell me which is your favorite.

Once I get this quilt made, I'm going to bind it with this fabric:

 

I haven't been excited about Halloween since I stopped trick-or-treating and this fabric is making me want to go carve a pumpkin.  Those little bats are freaking adorable!  Hmm, I think I should make a different quilt for each month of the year.  (Really going to need Grandma's cedar chest, Mom.)  I've already got three done so hey, I'm on a roll.

So this weekend, the plan is for some quilting, some apple freezing, possibly a movie and, if I'm feeling really industrious, dyeing some roving.  Fortunately, the weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend here in Michigan.  What's on your agenda?

Oy!

 

This is pretty much what I've been doing this weekend.  Well, that and getting ready for the Mich. Fiber Festival.  I've gotten the groceries, assembled what I'll need for my classes, started packing and moved all the camping gear up from the basement:

 

The cats have been helping by chasing down the big ants that have decided to invade my kitchen:

 

The weather next week is supposed to be pretty good with minimal chances for rain.  I'm so excited about next week I can hardly stand myself.  I work tomorrow and I'm off the rest of the week.  I don't anticipate tomorrow being one of those days that passes quickly.

 

I started harvesting some potatoes from my garden.  They are yummy!  The tomatoes are still green (I really need to get earlier varieties) but I have hopes I'll get some tomato goodness before the end of the season.

Another camping trip

Next weekend is the Michigan Fiber Festival.  I'll be taking my happy little self to Allegan on Tuesday for some classes and 5 glorious nights of camping.  I'm taking two soap-making classes, spinning & dyeing silk and spinning bunny.  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.  The weather is supposed to be fairly cooperative with nice, cool temps at night.  I'm working on my menu for the week.

I'm also quilting.  I'm turning squares like this one:

 

Into squares like this:

 

I've got two squares completed.  Ten more to go.