Skies are blue . . .

Just something pretty to look at while I'm burning the midnight oil getting quilts quilted.

Goals are great things. I need to be better about completing them earlier rather than later. Wish me luck - three quilts to quilt before next Friday (because who am I kidding - once my husband arrives next Friday night, the last thing I've got planned is quilting!).

Make-A-List Monday: rested and raring to go!

Am I the only one who misses her sewing machine? I mean, I don't lie awake dreaming of it or anything totally crazy like that. But when I find little bits of time to myself that I would normally fill with some sewing, I get to missing my Juki-girl.

But we're back together and she's not mad at me for being gone. She's good tempered that way.

So I'm back and ready to go. But I'm not super ambitious this week - catching up on laundry and grocery shopping will have to take priority.

But here's what I've got to do:

Sort this stack o' fabulousness that arrived from the brights color spectrum swap while I was gone:

Cut a gazillion triangles, because triangles are my new favorite thing. Equilateral ones.

And baste this quilt and git 'er done.

Oh, and get that backpack done. Tomorrow. That will be done tomorrow.

There. That's all. How's about you? What's on the agenda?

Make-A-List Monday Week 9: time for a vacation!

I promise, no complaints about single momhood.

I drowned those with a Dr. Pepper yesterday. The enemy was slaughtered.

How was last week? Mine was okay, although I think I forgot mid-week what my plans actually were and started working on whatever struck my fancy. Or had the soonest deadline.

Charms cut - check! Shipping those out this week when I feel brave enough to go to the post office with five kids, one of whom is two and exceptional at acting his age. Like, tantrums on the floor in the middle of the library. Super fun.

Quilt - finished! And since someone said they'd love to see all my red/aqua quilts together, i was determined to get some pictures.

Can I say that, today, I love where I live? Love the wheat fields in spring/early summer. Love the blue sky today.

I sewed together this stack o' lovelies for a quilt for our friends who are graciously hosting my husband for the summer. Did I mention she just had a baby? Her sixth baby? Like a month ago? Yeah, awesome people.

I ordered some of Lucy's Crabshack because, well, it's adorable. And the foodie side of me thought that it would be perfect for the Thimbleblossom pattern Piece of Cake 3. Crab cakes! And since I have a tendency to buy fabric and put it away and forget what it was intended for later, I went ahead and cut it. So my Crab Cakes quilt is ready to be pieced.

My daughter's backpack is cut out and I'm starting to sew it this week. My local JoAnn's is lacking in certain notions (seriously, it's what I don't love about where I live), so I'm getting what I need when I go to visit my mom. Because I get a vacation!


Okay, it's not a vacation. It's a change of scenery. I will still have five kids. But I will have grown-ups to talk to in the evenings. And I get to spend half the day on Thursday with one of my dearest friends. And I get to see my husband. For 2 whole days! And we're going to a combine demolition derby on Saturday. My six-year-old is so excited - crashing tractors, what could be better!

So, my list this week is short, because I'll be packing and cleaning and getting ready to go.

• Sew as much of daughter's backpack as possible - until I get the notions I need and get home 
• Ship charm swaps and giveaway prizes (sorry winners - they are coming soon!)
• Clean the sewing room

I might take something to my mom's to work on as well. She has a machine with some decorative stitches and I don't, so I might take advantage of that. We'll see.

What's on your list this week?

Make-A-List Monday Week 8 - Happy Memorial Day

 I am a total sucker for patriotic holidays. Blame my childhood. And my family. Here's the math:

2 grandpas who were career Marines
3 Marine Corps uncles
1 born-on-the-fourth-of-July dad
1 Air Force husband
2 Marine Corps brothers
= one flag-waving, tears-up during the national anthem every time, patriotic little me. And don't even get me started on God Bless America, God Bless the U.S.A., and America the Beautiful. My kids are partial to the Air Force song.

We started this tradition when we moved to Seattle. The Washelli cemetery in Seattle has a very large military section. They do a special afternoon Memorial Day ceremony each year. But before that, early in the morning before that,  a group of people, mostly Boy Scouts (love the scouts!) go and place the flags at the gravesites. And they let my little family participate.

See - here's my awesome husband showing my two oldest how it's done.

And my oldest boy doing it all by himself. So sad we couldn't find a local cemetery to do this at this year. It was a lovely tradition. We'll still go to the cemetery and see who's got flags out and talk about it. It's important to know and talk about.

Yes, this is a quilty blog. But it's my blog. And today, I'm thinking about the men and women who sacrificed so much for my freedom. One day a year isn't too much to ask of me.

But now I will move on to quilting matters.

Here's what I'm working on this week:

Finish quilting and binding this quilt:

(and there would be a picture if I could find my flippin' camera, but it seems to have sprouted little legs and wandered away)

Cut up my charms for the Boy/Girl I-Spy charm swap (pretty sure there are still spots available if you're interested) and the Yummy Sherbet charm swap (I'm in the lime/mango group). The fabric arrives tomorrow.

Clean/organize my sewing room. Again. For the eleventy billionth time.

Finish cutting and start sewing on my daughter's adventure backpack (needed more fabric for this one).

That's a decent little list. What are you all up to this week?

WIP Wednesday: a big quilt and a little obsession

I think there needs to be a support group called Charm Swappers Anonymous.

I'll be a founding member. I've only been a swapper for a couple of months, but I can see where this is headed. I'm headed to Hoarders: The Fabric Edition someday.

My first was a color spectrum swap. 5 yards.

Yah, that's 280 charms. It was fun and a great learning experience. One of the things I learned is that I definitely have different taste in fabric than others. I knew this, but when the ugly (according to me, of course) fabric is staring up at me and I'm wondering what on earth I'm ever going to use it for, I learned it more tangibly.

My second was an aqua/red charm swap. Just a 1/2 yard of each. I'm still waiting for this one to arrive. Soon though. These are the two I sent in:

Then I found a color wheel charm swap that was brights only. No batiks. No solids. No pastels. My kind o' swap. 5 yards again. This time, because there wasn't enough response, I signed up for two colors, so I'm going to be getting 560 charms. Think I'll have enough for a rainbow quilt for my daughter? Kidding. More like 3 or 4.

I'm on my last one. An I-spy swap. Two yards of two different fabrics. One boy, one girl. Here are the two I'm sending in for this one:

I want to make a big I-spy quilt (or two) for camping trips so we have something to do in the evenings inside the yurts. Yep, yurts. We're yurt campers. But I digress. I think I'll host an I-spy charm swap in June.

So that's my obsession.

But I'm okay with it.

On to fun things.

My string quilt top is done done done (but you get this picture because it's a Winds-day out there and I can't get a good picture inside).

I'll piece the back later and get batting next month for it.

I'm thinking of taking the rest of those scraps and making some scrappy triangles (for a throw pillow), or a few pillows like this, or this. Or what about a quilt like this one? Or a quilt like this one? I have to say I'm leaning towards the plain stripes as pillow shams.

I've also got plans for the big Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway coming up on the 21st.

 
It's such a fun week, visiting new blogs and crossing fingers I win something. I've got some fun stuff on order for it. Might look something like this:
 

I figured I ought to give away things I'd want to win. And no fiery hoops to jump through. Can I say that I dislike that intensely? Tweeting and following and liking and doing all that sort of thing should be voluntary. I love followers, but I love that my followers chose to be followers because they like my blog, not because they might win something. It's like bribing people to be your friends. Not for me.


Linking up!

See you on Friday!

Make-A-List Monday Week Four, the evening edition

Oh, the plans we make!

I didn't consult with this little missy when I made my over-the-top ambitious plans last week.

All six months of her cute self is currently miserably cutting two teeth, conquering crawling and not napping. Makes for an unhappy baby and an unhappy mama.

Who, me?

I did get a few things done. Mr. Law Student was kind enough to make sure I regained some sanity. He's awesome like that. And what time he couldn't give me I snuck in where I could. Even if it was 10 p.m. and I only finished one block. Still makes me feel good.

See, this is my list I post next to my sewing machine. So sewing one block means I get to "X" off one block. It's nice that way.

On to progress!

• Sew 16 Sew Cherry granny squares

More on this one below. But I love.

• Sew 17 PKM pinwheels

Yes indeedy, all done!

• Sew 10 Dresden plates

Um, if there were a stove in my sewing room, these would be on the back burner. Zippo progress on these girls. Like I said, I was distracted this week.

• Cut and sew sashing for granny squares top

Cut, sashed and CUTE! Had to enlist my 6 foot 2, eyes of blue Law Student to take a picture of this baby. She's big! With the borders, she'll be perfect for my bed. Now I have to come up with some pillow shams/cases.

• Cut and sew sashing for PKM pinwheels top - I've cut the sashing, but I'm debating on a few things - Should I put squares in there, or mini pinwheels (I'm just crazy enough to sew 20 of 'em) - thoughts are welcome!

• Plan border for granny squares top

If browsing around flickr counts as planning, then yes, yes I did plan. I like this border, this border, and this border. Equally. For different reasons. The second and third ones maybe just a smidgen more, only because I still have quite a few squares left, but those could always go to make a pillow shams. Thoughts? Votes?

I totally forgot to mention this, but this is another distraction that arrived on Friday afternoon:

That would be 280 color wheel charm squares, with some black, grey and white thrown in. I know, gorgeous, right?

So if you are interested in a stack of your own, I've just joined another one (because let's face it, two of those stacks would be so much better!). There's still quite a few spots. It's five yards of brights - no batiks or solids or pastels. My kind o' swap. Come and play. You will not regret it!

On to this week's goals. I'm keeping it simple:

• Sew together pinwheel top
• Cut fabric for pinwheel top and granny square borders
  

That's it. Just two this time!

What's on your list for this week?

Let's talk fabric swaps

Rather than a WIP Wednesday post, which would seem like a re-run of Monday's post, I thought I'd chat about fabric swaps.

I'm about to get my package in the mail from my first swap and I have to admit I think I'm addicted already. I keep imagining all sorts of swaps.

So I want to know what you think. I created a little poll over there on the side, but comments are awesome too.

Would you do one?

What about 2.5" strips?

Themes? I thought a Christmas one would be fun in September after all the new fabric comes out.

How big? The one I'm getting in the mail is a 5 yard color wheel swap, which means I'm about to come into 280 different charm squares. It's a little breathtaking, but so very cool.

So let me know.