Bee Busy

I've been busy sewing...I promise! I've been working on Bee Modern Too blocks. My friend Angela asked me to join the group when one of the original members left. I'm having fun, but I haven't spent too much time on my own projects lately. I'm not complaining - just sayin'. :)

Here are January's blocks - grey and wonky. Bran asked me if they were supposed to be "weird". lol. I said yes and he told me he really liked them and that I should make him a quilt of wonky blocks. :D

February's blocks are Greek mythology inspired. Don't tell Mary but this was the first time I paper pieced. eeek. You can probably tell I'm a paper piecing novice from the back - but really who's gonna see the back? I was surprised by the amount of seam bulk, I really shouldn't have been, but I was.


Besides the bee blocks I quilted and bound two lap quilts for my mom. Ya, the ones she sent me that she only did the piecing on. I'd charge her for the work, but she's my mom...how do you bill your own mom?

March is my month in the bee, so I'll have some time to work on my own projects. I'm currently making a hobo bag with Echino - oooooh, it's gonna be fab-O! I was frustrated cutting and didn't spend the time I should have to straighten the print for the lining. I figured it really wouldn't matter since it's the lining, but now I'm like wth was I thinking? And Robin's "Hello Pickles" quilt? I've got all the blocks done. All I've got to do is finish the top, then I can get it quilted up. :)

Merry Christmas Whiskers!

Well, I've finally finished my Christmas Mod Bento Box! Its scraptacular - and I think, under threat of pain, that I might keep it! Bwaaahahahahhhaaaaa. Kaelin might sic Sir Whiskers MacTavish on me if I kept it. (I sure hope I got Whiskers' name correct or he might sic me himself!) I had originally thought I might keep leading Kaelin on with, "no - the quilt isn't for you". Only to gift it to Whiskers when it was complete, but I can't keep those kinds of secrets...gift giving is WAY to exciting! :D

So, now that the Christmas quilt is complete - what's next? Well, I sat down earlier this morning and tried to list all the projects I've got to finish. First, I have to quilt and bind two quilts for my mom in the next two weeks. Mom sent me a couple lap sized quilt tops she wanted quilted. After calling her (I love you mom!) to review what she wanted I discovered that not only did she want me to quilt them but she also wanted me to add a border to one of the tops, supply the batting and backings, and bind them both. lol - I'm doing all the work! Good thing I like all the steps of quilting and not just the piecing part. She did do the one step I don't love so much - cutting. However, all this work is distracting me from getting my other projects completed. Good thing Robin's birthday is in April, I can gift "Hello Pickles" to her for her birthday!

Besides "Hello Pickles" and mom's "old lady quilts" I have a list of other quilts I need to complete. I may add a the list to my sidebar to help me keep on task. One of the other quilts I need to complete is my Munki Goodness quilt. It is too big to quilt on my little quilting frame so I've had the top sitting around. I've debated sending it out to be quilted, but I really wanted the satisfaction of doing all the work myself. Well, guess what?! There's a local sewing machine shop that is renting out time on their long arm! Yippee! I took the silly little class and am now "certified" (ya - in more ways than one) to rent their machine. Munki Goodness will be complete before the end of March! Yipeeeeee!

Oh, I almost forgot - I'd like to send a shout out to my friend Marika who loaned me some frakkin' awesome creeptastic cross-stitch charts! Halloween stitching will commence shortly! Marika, you're the bomb!

Productive Saturday

It's Saturday and I'm getting stuff done. Woohoo! :)

All the squares for Robin's quilt have been pieced. 88 squares total. I'm totally looking forward to getting this top completed. Can you see why? Look how fabulous it's going to be! All bright and ready for spring. I've nick-named this quilt the Hello Pickles quilt. Robin HATES pickles. The hate is so strong that I've chased her with pickles while she runs screaming in horror since we were six. Great fun for me - less fun for her.

Besides finishing the blocks for the Hello Pickles quilt, I got the Christmas quilt I've been working on since November on the quilting frame and started the quilting process. I love these Mod Bento Box Christmas quilts. I'm thinking about making a Halloween version.

This Saturday has been pretty productive, but not productive enough. I've got to work on some Bee Modern Too blocks, both this month's and last month's need to be completed. I'm still waiting on some fabric for January's blocks, that's a pretty good excuse for being late, right? OK, maybe not, but the fabric I'm waiting for is a linen blend that should give the blocks some great texture, so I'm still waiting. For this month's blocks I just haven't gotten the spur of inspiration I've been waiting for. I hate to start before the inspiration hits, but I can't wait too long...

Spring and Christmas (Quilts)

I'm starting a new quilt top! It's going to be a gift for and old friend. Not that the friend is old - because if I call her old then I'm calling myself old and I know I'm not old. lol. No, old as in we've known each other since we were six. She and I have had our ups and downs - actually recently we had a pretty serious down. I came to my own realization recently that I did want her in my life as a friend. Not only because she'd do anything for a friend, but also because she's one of a very small group of people that know just about everything there is to know about me. Despite that, she still calls me a friend. That alone speaks volumes.

So enough mushy crap.

I pulled the fabric for the new quilt on Monday and just started cutting last night. I've got all the small pieces cut. Now I've got to cut the larger pieces and the sashing. The plan is to have all my cutting done today so that I can sit down and start in on the sewing part. :)



Before I start cutting the rest of the fabric this afternoon though, I'm going to get my quilting frame set up so that I can quilt the Christmas Bento top I just completed. I'd really like to get the Christmas Bento quilted up by tomorrow evening. If that happens then I can work on the binding during the Super Bowl. :)

Oh, and today is my daddy's birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy!

Quilt Top Complete

My second Mod Bento Box quilt top is complete. I'll get it on the frame this week and get it quilted.

Next I'm planning on making a spring quilt. I've promised an old friend that I'd make her a quilt and I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. The only plan of action so far is to use a rainbow of bright happy colors - and to make a quilt that I love and hope she loves it too. :)

Back to "Real Life"

So here I am trying to get back into the swing of "real life". I love everything about the Christmas season. Everything. But, it's always a struggle for me to get back to my usual routines. However, this year has been better than most.

Tonight I go back to rehearsals for the New Orleans Civic Symphony and Tulane Symphony rehearsals begin again Sunday. Rehearsal schedules are how I define "real life". It's when the rehearsal schedules start up again that my time seems to just slip away from me. In preparation for the upcoming time suck I got a couple more squares completed for the Christmas Mod Bento Box that I'm making for a friend. Two more squares and then I've just got to cut them up and put them back together as a quilt top. I'm so close to done with the quilt top I can taste it. In fact I'm so close to done that I may finish up the last two squares before I go to rehearsal this evening.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm going to spend some time finishing up other projects...maybe even start projects that are not quilting related. But first I've got one more quilt that I need to make for another good friend and I joined a bee. So, I'm still quilting after all. :) Ya, I'm a mess. :D

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's been a whole month since I blogged. Where did the time go?

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that the new year brings you all health, wealth, and happiness. :)

So, I've been doing some thinking the last month. I had more time on my hands since I decided to put up the sewing machine for December...that won't last long though - it's coming back out today or tomorrow.

About the thinking though. I've got a ton of interests. A TON. And, I seem to be pretty good at the things I am interested in. In the next year I'm going to try to focus a little less on the quilting (not stopping by any means) but to try to finish up some long standing other projects and maybe get the porcelain slip back out and fire up the kiln. Oh, I'm excited! So, if antique reproduction dolls aren't your thing and you're following my blog, then I apologize in advance. But I promise even if it's not your thing it's still interesting stuff and I'm a total nut job about the costuming part. Go figure - it's sewing!

To give you a little idea about how different my own personal tastes are here's a little sample of what came in the mail for me today.


Bran's not all that excited that all these things came for me today. One - because it's just 2 weeks after Christmas and Two - it's only 4 days before my birthday. lmao. I'm a mess.

Here's the deal - that fabulous fabric is from Starlit Nest on Etsy - she has a cute little scrap bag of the month thing going on. Cute, right? More scrap quilts coming your way with that. The glasses are vintage Ruby flashed, old fashioned right? Maybe - but I love it and it's perfect in my dining room at Christmas. With these three I finally have a full 12 of those goblets. Ya, I've got more than that though - I've got wine glasses and sherbet dishes and serving pieces and salt and pepper shakers and...oh never mind, I've got a butt load. And the Star Trek soundtrack? I'm a big old sucker for science fiction and kick ass soundtracks. Must be my own personal wiring of nerd and classical musician. If you're a big science fiction/kick ass soundtrack kind of person too check out Bear McCreary's soundtrack for the new Battle Star Galactica. Season 3 is my favorite - he's frakkin' awesome.

Enough of that though. I'm gonna go finish another load of laundry, get more Christmas stuff packed up and in the attic, and then drag out the sewing machine.

Woohoo!