Attack of the "Blahs"

Yesterday was a day of the "blahs". I woke up with a headache, and a bad kink in my neck that wouldn't go away no matter what I did. Spent most of the day on the couch with Advil and a heating pad. I hate it when I have stuff I really want to do, but my body tells me that there is no way it is going to happen. Finally, by the evening I was feeling better, so decided to come upstairs to do something, but still had a really hard time settling down to focus on any one thing. I've been going through my new books, and have decided on a project for my bin of 2 1/2 inch strips. I managed to get all of the lights cut into the 2 1/2 inch by 3 1/2 inch rectangles, but I think I'm going to cut the darks a few strips at a time as I sew. I'm kind of regretting cutting all the lights at once into that size, no opportunity to change my mind. I also, by deciding to cut for the length of my Hillsong album, got my pile of odds and ends fabric cut down into various sizes, which topped up my 2 1/2 inch bin even more than it was. I think I'm going to do the same thing today with my large drawer of odd sized batiks. I got my "Crazy Curves" templates in the mail, so that is what I'll be doing with the batiks. I'm going to try and focus on doing a project for the length of time it takes to go through a playlist of songs on my i-tunes, and see if that will help with getting various things done. So, first task for today, cutting up, and sorting out that bin of batiks. Second, sew up some more for those 2 1/2 inch scrap blocks for the "Kitchen Sink" project. Third, do some more endless chain blocks. Then.......... oh yes, figuring out income tax. (sigh) My dear husband, Scott, actually does the income tax, but I have to figure out all my income and expenses for my quilting. That is his goal for today, so somewhere in here, I will have to do that as well. Yuck. Hmmmmm, I think I still have that case of the blahs. Time to go play, and maybe it will go away.

"DogEar Star" done

I've finished my block for Shannon's BOM. It's called "DogEar Star" I think it's pretty, and plays well with all the others i've done up to now. I have spent my alloted time cutting fabric up from my scraps, though there are still a lot left. I think, though, rather than starting something new, I'm going to use some self discipline, and continue to work on the Endless Chain quilt. Here's a sneak peak. The holes in the centres of the squares will eventually be covered with circles of the navy fabric.

Books in the mail

What a beautiful day. It is warm enough for a long walk, and then a sit down with a cup of tea, and my new books, on the front porch. Pure bliss. I received 4 new books in the mail, all ordered because of quilts, or posts I've seen in blogs recently. Wanna see? So many choices, so many lovely quilts just waiting to be made. Do I need any more ideas? probably not, but it sure is fun browsing through these books for ideas to use up some of this fabric I have here. The problem is, now I confronted with over abundance of choice. Which one should I do? Which one do I like best? I don't know. Maybe I should just decide on a book, then decide on one of the quilts in it. Hmmmmm, what to do, what to do? I think the first step is going to be getting off the computer, and digging into my fabric. Then, maybe a decision will come out and hit me on the head, gently, I hope. (giggle). Right now, I'm leaning towards cutting up some of the pile of fabric on my cutting table, into 2 1/2 inch strips, and then digging into the scrap basket surprises book. To be really efficient, and also have an excuse to start something else, I'll grab my baskets of 2 1/2 inch squares and start a leaders and enders for a split nine patch. There, partial decision made, at least, and so far nothing has hit me over the head.

Pleasant surprise

I got up this morning, and, as usual, checked out the various blogs I follow, as well as checking out the comments on my own. Imagine my surprise to find that the author of the Endless Chain book had commented on my post. Wow!!! It's easy to forget just how far reaching this internet thing is. It has kind of given me some incentive to take it from a work on every now and then project, to a work on more consistently project. I'm now up to having 94 of the wedges pieced up. If I allow 15 inches of approximately 2 inch fabric for each wedge, it adds up to roughly 2 yards of fabric used up. So, why doesn't that pile look any smaller?  (sigh) I think the are fabric gremlins who come in the night and multiply fabric. Or, maybe rumpelstiltskin comes in and weaves straw into fabric, instead of gold. (giggle). I have a lot of a navy fabric here that I think might work for the wedges in between the wedges. I think I'll go and try it out, and will post a pic when done.

Endless Chain

A number of months ago I found a really good series of books by Emilie Richards. If you've never read her stuff, I recommend it highly. The Shenandoah Series follows a group of friends in  small community, and, of course, quilting figures strongly in the books. All of the books in this series are named after quilts. One of them, named "Endless Chain", caught my eye, and added to the list of quilts I have fallen in love with, and had to make. So, I sent away for the instruction book, and got to work. The quilt in the book uses a stripe fabric in the wedges, and I really like the effect, but didn't want to use a stripe, so I decided to make my own by piecing the wedges. Whenever I feel like sewing, but without thinking about it, I pull out my odds and ends scraps and piece up a bunch of wedges, on paper, kind of like string piecing, or crumb piecing, but with a regulated shape and size. Today is one of that kind of days. It is going to be a long term project. The quilt needs approximately 336 on these wedges, and I have 67 done. I'm not sure, yet, what I'll use as the background colour of the rest of the blocks, but there is lots of time before I have to decide. I made a spider web quilt, once, using this technique, and one of Bonnie Hunter's, that ended up with 8 point stars, the points being made out of the string pieced units, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment. It is a great way to use up all the odd shaped leftovers that accumulate. Funny how the pile never seems to get smaller, though.  :)

Messed up address again

So, I tried linking up to Judy's Design wall Monday, only to mess up the address again. Then, I tried to fix the address, once I found the mistake, only to have it post to her list a second time. So, the question is, can I remove the original post so that people aren't directed to my site twice, which could be rather annoying, I would think.

Design wall Monday March 1

On my design wall today is my continuing work on "Cactus Rose". She's to the point of hand work, so she's coming off the wall today. Replacing her, is a block of the month I'm doing from the website Burning the Midnight Oil.  The link is in the blogs that I follow, if you are interested. There isn't going to be a whole lot of quilting going on in the next few days, though. Nicole, Rebecca's Maid of Honour, is coming today so that I can get her measurements, and get started on her dress.