Getting Things Done...Kinda

Orange Wonky Wedge Quilt

On Tuesday I was whining to my husband that I "never get anything done."  He pointed out all of the things that I had gotten done that morning and reminded me that when our first child was this old I was lucky to get dressed by dinner time - sad, but oh so true.

And I had had a fairly productive morning - I even listened to the presidential debate while feeding the baby and making lunches (was it just me or was it pretty lame?).  I realized that when I said, "I never get anything done" I really was saying, "I haven't had any time to sew and I am stressed that I won't be able to finish the two quilts that I want to enter in the QuiltCon Show and the deadline is November 1st!!  Augh!!"

Neutral Prism Quilt

(Oops....I paused here in the writing process to load some pictures and put the kids in the bathtub and while the pictures were loading, I browsed the QuiltCon site and saw that the entry deadline is Nov. 30.  So no worries, although I would like to get the quilts finished and move on to other things.  Plus I just like to sew and regular sewing time is always a good thing, right?  And now that I know the date is farther away maybe I could finish a third quilt?  Got to make my life stressful, right?  Are you planning to go to QuiltCon?)

Anyway...the original point of this story was that we all get things done, they just might not be what we want to get done or they might not get done as fast as we would like, or they may have to be done over and over again (like dishes) but that is the human condition.  It is just a fact of life that work comes before quilting - so sad but so true.  

And yeah, I know I will miss these times with my little ones when they are all grown up and I have more sewing time.  But right now I keep telling Becca-Babe that I need her to print me out a daily schedule of nap/fussy times so I can plan my life/naps/sewing around her better.  But so far she hasn't provided me with one.  Sigh...a girl can dream, right.  :)

WIP Wednesday

I have been cutting a lot this week.  I decided to jump into the Patchwork Prism QAL and this is what I have on my design wall so far.  I think I need a bigger wall...  ;)  I was originally going to have the quilt be dark in the center and fade out to light, but it just didn't look good when I laid it out.  I am rather nervous about starting to sew this one.  I have a huge mix of fabrics: 100% cotton, cotton/poly blends, linens and muslins and some of them are going to be hard to sew with, esp. as they are cut on the bias and prone to distortion.  Let's not even mention the fact that I used a template to cut them and template cutting is notoriously inaccurate (well, at least when I am doing the cutting).

Last night I also cut out a huge pile of white squares to alternate with my vintage eye-spy charms.  I have discovered that I need to be listening to something if I am doing a lot of cutting and I have been listening to the Harry Potter series this week while I cut fabric, do laundry, wash the stacks of pots and pans that have built up...  Somehow, listening to Harry Potter makes everything more enjoyable.

 I also finished these improv. fans last week (tutorial here) and sewed them together.  At last!  Do you think it needs a narrow white border on the sides or should I just quilt it up?  I am very tempted just to quilt it and get it done with at this point.  :)

What have you been working on this week?

Waiting for Inspiration and Design Walls

Last year I participated in two rounds of a Japanese Fabric Charm swap hosted by AnneMarie of Gen X Quilters.  Ever since then I have been on the look out for the perfect project to use them in.  I didn't want to cut down the 5 inch squares, but I didn't want to make a simple eye spy quilt with them either (I have another stack of fabric set aside for that!).

Then last week I saw a jumbo granny square block made out of 4 inch squares and made into a pillow.   I feel awful that I can't find the link to it now - but it totally inspired me.  Edited:  It was Elena's pillow for the Modern Mini Challenge I saw!  Thanks!!!

I would use my Japanese Charms to make a jumbo granny square quilt!   I started playing around...this was my first layout.  I ran out of space on the bottom of my design wall but just use your imagination.  Not great. I kept on playing....

...and this is how my wall looks this morning.  Much better, but I might try switching the position of the red and green granny blocks.  What do you think?

I also have a stack of My Folklore dala horse fabric by Leicen that I have been trying to find the perfect quilt for.  I want something somewhat simple with largish blocks that would show off the fabric.   Perhaps something that would be a good Christmas quilt.  This quilt by baileygirl might be the ticket.  I might just use the red and black fabric for the quilt so it has more of a Christmas-y feel.  Or I might keep looking for awhile...goodness knows that I have enough other projects going on right now without cutting into more fabric.  ;)

Do you have a stack of fabric that you are trying to find the perfect pattern for?  How do you decide what to make?

 Before I started laying out granny squares, this was up on my design wall.  It was suppose to be my entry in the Tangerine Tango Challenge, but then I got sick and it got put on the back burner.  I used the same process for these squiggles as I did for the wonky fan block.  The wedges are 5 inches tall and I will machine applique the squiggles onto white fabric.  Then I want to do some fun free motion quilting that echos the squiggles.

I usually lay out my bee blocks on the design wall as I get them, but as it was otherwise occupied, here are the blocks that I received for the first quarter of the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee.  Thanks ladies!  I signed up to be in a paper piecing group for next quarter.  It should be fun!