Pretty Pinwheels

Well, I took about every shortcut possible quilting up Pinwheels, but it still took a while to get it all done.  

I just used diagonal wavy-lines for the pinwheel portion, stripes for the inner border and I was *not* about to outline-quilt each and every one of the 'piano-keys' so I just stitched a few lines on each side - just enough to tack it down.  Then machine stitched the binding.  Finished size is a bit under 45"x60"... a good lap size / baby quilt.

The backing - ugh.  I'm so lazy sometimes.  I didn't even check to see if it was all lined up properly before I started quilting it.   Oh well, maybe slanty quilt backings are the new 'modern' technique. ;)

Cannon Beach

I've been feeling rather drained lately, and have really needed to get away to recharge.  I managed to pick the absolutely most perfect day to head to the beach.  The weather was amazing - sunny and warm with only a little wind.  Gorgeous!

Pinwheels in progress

Believe it or not I have been trying to squeeze in working on some quilts between work and taking Spanish classes.  I'd hoped to finish one up over spring break... but I'm not quite there yet.

Back well before 2008 I had decided to make a flower-basket type quilt for my niece.  This was the general plan:

 

And here were the first few fabrics I'd cut out :

But... it sat in a box for a good long time.  Finally last year I opened it up and did a test block.  I didn't like it and made a vague decision to just make a bunch of half-square triangles and then see what else I could do with them.  

HSTs are a bit addictive though... once you start it's hard to stop. 

Anytime I was bored (aka procrastinating to avoid writing a Spanish paper) I'd just cut up some 3 1/2" squares and spend an hour sewing them up.  I've probably got enough for a full sized quilt... but I don't like making big quilts so I'll probably make two smaller quilts.

First up - pinwheels!

That pink is not the background or anything - it's just the back of another quilt I'm using as a 'design wall' of sorts.  

I've actually added a 'piano keys' scrap border... and am about to start the quilting.  Hopefully I'll manage to finish this one up before I get swamped with homework from my next class!!

Dos anos de Espanol

Y todavilla, no puedo hablar muy bien.

(Two years of Spanish and I still can't speak very well.)

There's a quote from Winston Churchill about WW2 which I find fitting my life quite often:  "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

I'm one class and one final presentation away from completing the 6 terms of foreign language classes required by the graduate program I will be attending in the fall.  I can barely grasp what this means.

I've taken 29 credits of Spanish classes over the past two years!  With the exception of the summer term I took off, I've had classes two nights a week since June of 2010.  I've spent my commutes reviewing flash cards, weeknights completing seemingly endless homework assignments and weekends writing essays.  There have been skits and dialogues and group projects that make me want to tear my hair out.  There have been conjugations up the ying-yang and irregular verbs a plenty.  There have also been a few laughs and I made at least one friend in my classes.

Frankly, I'm exhausted.  

And it's not the end yet, it's not even the beginning of the end.  And in fact it's not even really the end of the beginning.  I'm just inching closer to the starting line of the marathon that will be graduate school.  I have two more per-requisites (Intro to Linguistics and a Grammar class) that I will need to complete before officially beginning classes for my Master's degree in Applied Linguistics.  

But this is the end of my Spanish classes.  After next week all of my studying, all of my homework, and all of my essays will be in my beloved native language!  Which I hope will be at least a bit easier.

Craft Storage

I've been enjoying a few discussion threads on how people store their crafting stashes, so I thought I'd share mine.

Since I live alone, I have the freedom to use the entire living room as my 'craft room' which suits me just fine.  I do like to keep things tidy so that if I wanted to have people over, I wouldn't have to spend a week hiding all my projects.

Knitting:
Knitting is really my travel-hobby so my stash is pretty small, and honestly I don't have that many projects in the works.

The top two hat boxes contain misc. quilting and sewing tools. The box on the bottom contains all my embroidery thread, hoops and patterns.  The pink striped hat boxes contain my yarn stash, the blue wine-box contains my sock yarn, and I try to limit my WIPs to what will fit in the bag.

Official 'stash' yarn... no projects in mind for any of it.

Current knitting WIPs - a mindless scarf to go with a hat I made a few years ago, Shedir cabled hat, and well, not really in progress yet, but I was going to cast on for a new pair of ankle socks.

Quilting:
I've got a lot more quilt projects in progress / in mind than knitting.... but my fabric stash is still fairly small.  It's kind of surprising because I feel like I'm forever picking stuff up at Fabric Depot... but I guess I've also made & given away quite a few quilts, so there you go.

The fabric stash is divided into the following categories: batik, non-batik, holiday, character prints.  From there I group the fabrics by dominant color - more or less.  I've also got a box of scraps that have been cut down into 2x2 or 3x3 or 1x3 pieces.  Although I have many specific ideas for what to do with these fabrics... they're not really in the 'active' phase yet.  There's sewing fabric in the purple rubbermaid bin... and I keep my batting in another bin in the closet.

These are the quilts in progress... or in some cases quilts in hibernation.  This is also where I keep my box of real scrap scraps.  On the top shelf are all my crafting books and magazines. 

Finally... my 'craft table' where all the magic happens... is just my dining room table.  But I also have a folding table (in the back) I bring out for cutting sometimes. 

Overall I'm pretty happy with my 'craft room' and stashes.  I like having everything easily accessible... but also neat enough that I can put it all away pretty quickly.  I'd love to have a ton more fabric... but realistically I know I don't have nearly enough time to make all the quilts I'd like to... so it's good to keep the stash somewhat lean. 

So how do you organize your crafts?  Do you limit your stash to materials for specific projects or do you have a 'stash of possibilities'?  I'd love to see everyone else's craft rooms. 

I-Spy once again

My friends are all on round two of the baby-making process.  I've vowed not to make any second-quilts... 'cause good lord, my friends are fertile & I'd never keep up.  But one friend had her first baby while I was abroad, so I felt like making something for her baby #2.

Over the summer I'd participated in a character-print swap on the quilting board of Ravelry.   And I found the bright bright colors in a fat quarter pack at the Fabric Depot outdoor sale.  It was 8 fat quarters for something insane like $10.  I couldn't pass that up! 

It actually took me a while to figure out the best way to put together this I-spy.  There are so many different ways to do an I-spy, but since the pieces were already cut for the swap, I was a little limited in my options.  Also - I was trying to get the quilt done on my Christmas break between Spanish classes, so I couldn't do anything too labor intensive.

Here's what I came up with.  Bright, colorful, not too fussy.

The backing is a solid piece of green fabric that I found on sale in the new Fabric Depot 'indoor sale' room.  Good lord I love that place!!!

I just love making I-spy quilts, you can use them for a matching game, or to tell a story.... it *almost* makes me want to spend some time with an actual kid.

So many cute fabrics!!

Pop Rocks Socks

I knit up another pair of ankle-socks over my recent trip to Nashville.  I finished up one of them while on the plane and kinda guessed (incorrectly) at when to start the toe decreases.... figured it out it was too short when I got home and kinda fudged it until it was long enough. 

I can't remember what kind of yarn this is... I'm sure it was a gift, but I lost the tag when I wound it up into a ball.  The black and pink remind me of a pack of strawberry pop rocks... so there you go!

Pop Rocks Socks!