Top Secret Project

I must admit, I love having "top secret" projects.  I am helping out Quilt Dad (aka John Adams) with something, and I am absolutly in LOVE with it.

He sent along these Joel Dewberry prints, and for the first time, I also get to work with Robert Kaufman linen!

I'm looking forward to sharing it with you when it's done, but this is what I can share now.

 

Aren't they beautiful?  Aren't you just dying to know what it's going to be???

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler - I did it!

I can't believe that it's been over two weeks already.  But I had to wait for the photos to arrive to properly describe my recent success story.  On April 7, I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run with my cousin in Washington, DC.  Not only did I run it, but I finished, and I ran across the finish line smiling. It felt absolutely amazing.

For those of you that have followed my blog, you know that I am not a very experienced runner.  I started running on December 2, 2011.  I started running because for my entire life, I told myself I COULDN'T run.  That I had a lung "thing" and I just couldn't get the breathing right.  I had some fabulous women, including my cousin (who is a tri-athlete by the way) encourage me, and support me through all of the whining and complaining as I slowly became a "runner" over the last 15 months.

I don't look like I'm suffering too much, do I?  (to be fair...I didn't include any of the photos where I look like I was about to die).

I knew this race was a HUGE accomplishment for me, so every time I saw the photographers along the route, I hammed it up like crazy.

We averaged just under an 11 minute mile.  Not a land speed record by any stretch...but I did it, and I felt, on that day, like I could set any goal and achieve it.  A most amazing feeling.

Here we are, crossing the finish line. Running AND smiling.  Not bad for a girl (who am I kidding, 42 year olds are not "girls") who could barely run 30 seconds at a time just last December.

Now, I LOVE running.  It's a permanent part of my life.  I feel better, I am significantly stronger, and I am in the best shape of my life.  The next time you tell yourself you "can't" do something, think again.  You can do anything you put your mind to.

Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Designer BOM #10

Can you believe it?  Ten months have gone by ALREADY?  How does this happen, the time flying by like that?  It is really fun to look back at the blocks as I add each new month to the pile.  Some I remember because of what else was going on in my life at the time.  Some for what the weather was like.  Some because I screwed them up and had to un-sew or completely re-cut parts.  A really nice way to mark the passing of a year.

This month's block is by Minick and Simpson called "Sunday Drive".  It uses this fabulous red houndstooth fabric that I LOVE.

I can also very clearly notice my improvement in technique as the months go by too.  I'm happy with my points, and how everything lines up, and most of all, that after a very tiny trim, I actually have a 12.5" square!

I've already started cutting my next big project.  It's a quilt for our new guest room from Quilts Made Modern by Weeks Ringle & Bill Kerr.  My first solids quilt.  I can't wait to show you all some progress.

Redemption! Amy Butler Origami Bags

After the Cosmo Bag debacle I bravely decided to try another pattern in Amy Butler's Style Stitches book.  I had to redeem myself, and I had a gift to make for a friend.  I used some of Violet Craft's Peacock Lane and some of my hoarded Tula Pink Neptune.  Loving the pink and black together, very 80's feeling.

My pictures are a funny color, it was actually really sunny outside, but these are the bags I made.

I made the "mini" size and the "medium" size.  The bags I use the most are one for pencils and eyeliners and such and the other to hold all of my other makeup.  I was very happy with the sizes I chose.

I used more of the upcycled sheets I got on Etsy for the insides.  They open up nice and wide, and I like to use light colors on the inside of bags so you can see what's inside.  I found that if you use dark colors it's hard to find stuff at the bottom of the bags.

I am SUPER happy with the way these came out.  The patterns were very well written, with lots of pictures that were helpful.  These I would agree, were "Easy".  I would guess they took me about 2 1/2 hours to make, including cutting time.

Swimming in my own ScrappyTripAlong Lane

It was only seven weeks ago...but it feels like so much longer than that.  I started my Scrappy Trip Along quilt  and did my first post in mid-January.  I started it on a whim on Sunday...when for whatever reason, I thought "what the heck, I've only got 4 million other things I'm supposed to be doing". 

But here it is, early March, and my top is done.  I did a nice, manageable 16 block version.  Not the amazing, giant 32 block ones I see in the Flickr group.  With this project, as with the rest of my life these days, I am working VERY hard at swimming in my own lane.  Competing with no one.  Comparing myself to no one.  Setting my own goals, and then going after them.

It's worked well for me so far.  I've finished tons of sewing already this year.  Stuff that I wanted to sew.  Stuff that makes me happy when I look at it.  The other huge benefit from moving through life this way, is that I tend to get much less stressed out, and actually enjoy what I'm doing.

Of course, even after all of my crazy moving and re-arranging of squares, now that I see it put together there are spots I would change.  I love it, though.  In all of it's scrappy imperfection.  Just like me.

Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Designer BOM #9

For those of you who were wondering...yes, I am still alive.  The new day job I took at the end of October has really heated up, I've had 2 sick kids and a few snow days thrown in for good measure.  My sewing time suffered terribly!

But last weekend I managed to squeeze in Block 9.  It's called Lakeside Retreat, but Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts.  It was one of, if not the most complicated piecing blocks so far.  I am very happy with my progress and the improved sharpness of my points.

My blocks are getting closer and closer to the target 12 1/2" square every month.  Progress is good!

Here is the best part!  As a treat to myself, for weeks of hard work, I broke down and bought both the finishing kit AND the backing kit for this quilt.

Scrappy Trip Along #2 - still not done

Two whole weeks have gone by and all I have to show for it is 6 more Scrappy Trip Along blocks.  Now, to be entirely fair, I cut and laid out all of my strips and realized I didn't have enough to even make the small 16 block quilt, so I ordered a scrap bag.

This was my first scrap bag purchase, and there a positive and a negative to that.  It's positive that I chose a recent line of fabric to use, and I could FIND the scrap bag I needed on Ebay.  The negative is that many of the strips inside were JUST barely 2", and not wide enough to use for this project.  Had I spent a lot of money (I spent $11),  I would have been very unhappy.  Thank god there was enough for what I needed.

Here are my twelve blocks laid out so far.  Of course, I'm sure I'll be rearranging them a 100 times before I sew them together.  This is the layout that was on the original tutorial, with the smaller diamond patterns.

This is the version with a large center diamond that grows wider towards the outside.  This version looks more like an optical illusion to me.  I've liked some others I've seen with this layout, but I think I'll stick to the original multi-diamond version.

Four blocks left...at this rate, one more week.  I'm going to know when to say when and do the lapsize 16 block size.  I can't wait to see it all together.


Which layout do you like better?