6,000 Words, or, Design Countertop Monday

First and foremost, I must brag about my MOTU, who brought me flowers (and tomato paste) from the grocery store yesterday.  You would not believe the fear and hatred he has for grocery stores, so this was (is) a big deal.  Aren't they purdy?  :-D

OK down to business. I got a couple of plastic containers this weekend in hopes of organizing my scraps a little better.  Before, everything was in the big clear/red thing (bottom) and that shoebox (top left).  Now, crumbs are in that shoebox and the smaller clear container (I'm still sorting, but the smaller ones are in the plastic one and the bigger crumbs that aren't quite scraps are in the shoebox).  The bigger plastic box now houses leftover blocks.  In order to qualify for entry into that box, there must be at least one other piece of fabric stitched to you.  You and your fabricky partner can be any shape or size, but you must be inseparable without a seam ripper. Yup, I personify everything.  I'm gonna lose it completely once MOTU leaves.

The design countertop!  All the blocks for Alishia's string quilt are done.  Now I just need some real space to lay them out in a design I like...anyone wanna loan me some floor/wall space?  Anyone?  Well, I've been doodling anyways, so hopefully I'll remember to take a picture of the design I came up with, tomorrow.

Here's the rest of the design space. There's Fencing Matilda, Mom Read Us Paddington (for lack of a better name), and Alishia's string quilt in pieces.  Yes, that's olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a variety of other cooking liquids behind the design counter.  That's the space that I cut both fabric and cooking stuff on.  Not at the same time, of course.  But you get the point.  This is getting pretty sad.

And finally, last but CERTAINLY not least, it was the best mail day ever!!!

Not only did I get the fabrics I bought for MOTU's and my new bed quilt in the mail, but I got the sweetest thank you cards from Kris (the mom) and Abbey (whose name I spelled wrong apparently lol).  Apparently Abbey sleeps with my quilt every night and just loves it!  :-)  Warm fuzzies all around!  

So that's the news from Lake Woebegone.  Tonight is Chuck night, and I'm kinda beat from the gym so there probably won't be any sewing going on.  I need to get started on the Wrapped in Hope quilt and get cracking on Mai's quilt too.  Next week will be so nice...I'll get home 20 minutes after I leave work and WON'T be exhausted!  Huzzah!

Friday Night Sew In - March Edition

Last night wasn't quite as productive as February, but it was a good night.  I only got in about 3 hours of sewing, but I managed to make a second bag (this one we're calling a purse because I have no need for diapers, thankyouverymuch) and got about a quarter of Fencing Matilda done.

Here's the setup.  Sorry for the odd angle...it was hard to get the whole mess in.  What's that?  Why yes, that is a copy of Titanic ready to be played on my computer while I sew.  No, I haven't seen it in years.  No, it did not escape MOTU's notice or ridicule.  No, MOTU and I do not watch chick flicks together for that exact reason ("have they crashed yet? have they had sex in someone's car yet? she's wearing a dress, that means sexy time is soon, right?").  The one good thing about him leaving for 14 months is that I'll get to watch SO many chick flicks when he's gone.  It's a guilty pleasure of mine, don't judge.

Here are the two bags, finished and hanging for artistry.  I haven't decided which one is "better" so I can send it to Faith yet.

Like I said, 1/4th done with Fencing Matilda.  I'm hoping it doesn't look too much like an Italian flag lol.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do for quilting.  I'm definitely going to stitch between blocks, but I'm thinking of doing something pretty along the fences as well.  I'm nervous though because that means machine freemotion, which I'm not terribly good at yet.  We'll see, maybe I'll turn out to be a natural (last time I did it, I had my machine set up wrong).

I ended up with about 2 1/2 inches leftover on each strip of strips, so I played around with doing some disappearing 9-square stuff.

Here they are all in a real block.  I think it looks kinda nifty.

That got me to thinking.  I've been playing around a lot with little mini blocks from the scraps of real stuff I'm doing.  I think I'm going to start a collection of them and make a misfit blocks quilt when I have enough.  I have a few leftover 4-square blocks from the QFK quilts, a couple of 16-square blocks from Paddington, and some misc other attempts at creativity as well.  Maybe it'll turn out cool, maybe it'll be a trainwreck, who knows.

And since it's Saturday, and a sunny one at that, I've gotten a lot done today.  Here's my little indoor garden:

That's since become my window garden:

It's just not up in a window yet.  They all still look a little sad since they haven't realized where the sun's coming from yet, but they'll perk up.  Some of them are starting to look like the real thing...there are some textured sage leaves and some prickly cilantro and parsley leaves...I can't wait for them to really get going!

Of course, Grisgris knew it was nice out as well and was just BEGGING to get outside.

We might have tormented him just a little bit.  This is the kitchen window.  Eventually, he got out.

Later on, he was back inside and Shelby went outside.  I let him out again thinking that they could avoid each other just fine in that big ol' yard.  Next thing I know, I go outside to start my garden and what is that little brat doing??  He's STALKING SHELBY!  She has no idea and he's just creeping up on her!  I picked him up and he hissed at me!  I threw him (yes, he was airborne) back into the house and closed the door and Shelby ran under the neighbors' porch.  What a punk.

Now he's just chilling out on the plaid couch quilt we all love.

In addition to the garden, I also washed 3 cars, including Helen:

Phew!  All that, and we even slept in pretty late this morning, too!  What a day!