Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Birthday Spending

My birthday was around Thanksgiving last year. One of the gifts I received  was a gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop (which was on my list). "What took you so long?" - you might ask. Well, I become a little paralyzed when I receive gift certificates. Part of me wants to spend it right away and part of me wants to wait a little bit to see if any new fabric comes out. Anyone else feel that way?

Anyway, I did end up spending the gift certificate two weeks ago and got this package this week. Here's what I bought:


1) 4 yards of Bella Solid in Sand, 2) two pieces of Kate Spain fabrics, 3) a charm pack and a half yard of Paris Flea Market, 4) a charm pack each of Old Glory Gatherings and French General Favorites, 5 & 6) Blue Tavern Inn by Paula Barnes, 7) Jubilee pattern.


Sunday, March 10, 2013

My Oh My

Every semester I'm optimistic that I can do more, but I'm always mistaken. Last week, I had an exam that took every moment of my time to study for it. I believe I did well enough, but the course kind of terrifies me.  To reward myself for getting through it (and for all the time I devoted to it last week), I spent some serious time in the sweat shop over the last 48 hours.  I'll tell/show you what I've been up to, but first a little progress report.

I'm making a wall quilt for February (yes, I'm aware that the time has passed... but there's always next year!). I'm using a Miss Rosie pattern called Speck.  I'm making both X's and O's using a charm pack each of Chemistry and Always and Forever. Since I'm using two charm packs and the pattern only calls for one - so naturally, I cut twice as many little white blocks for the corner. Unfortunately, that was not nearly enough. As it happens, I had to cut four times as many!! I ended up becoming so frustrated that I had to set them aside for a bit (before I threw them somewhere they didn't deserve).  This is how far I've gotten on that project:


So, I'm very behind on my BOMs. There was a bit of a glitch on my Memories of Provence BOM deliveries which meant that I ended winter break behind where I had planned to be. In addition, I keep getting two blocks a month and I haven't worked on it since January! I'm feeling bad about that.

Then there's the Blogger Girls BOM. The third month was just posted last week and I'd only completed the first month. So after I cleaned up the shop and put away my birthday purchases (tell you about that in the next post), I got down to business to at least get month two's blocks completed.  I'm doing the full-sized option so making two versions of each block which also means that I'm four blocks behind. But four blocks is a whole lot less than 7 or 8 behind (as with Memories of Provence). So, that's what I tackled first. 

I had cut out the background fabric and the colors for the first block and was in the middle of piecing it when I turned back to my machine (from ironing) and found this:


I tried to move her, but she wouldn't budge until I got the camera out. The turkey!

Anyway, I love the first version of this block. It's pretty much perfect.  The second version went through some changes. I initially planned on using three fabrics, but after constructing the first three stripes and auditioning the third fabric, I decided to repeat the second fabric instead. I'm happy with the results.


Here's a close-up of the version 2 second fabric. I love the little stars in the check.


The hubs was on spring break this last week and finished the trim for the back door we put in. The travels for his job this week as well. The most important thing, though, is that I have spring break next week!! I can't wait for this week to be over.  We just got some icky weather topped off with lots of snow. So not only am I looking forward to the "break" (which isn't much of one because I have lots of homework to work on before the end of the semester), but I'm also not looking forward to travelling in this crud. Oh well, it's just one more week, right? :) I plan to at least finish catching up on the Blogger Girls BOM.  Hopefully, I'll start on a birthday gift for my mom and another for my sisters. 

Next time: what I bought with my bday money!