The Best Mail Ever!

The new phone books are here!

I received two, TWO quilts back from my fabulous long armer this week!Here they are spilling out of the box. How does she get them in there? Once I pull them out they seem to expand, and they're never going back in.
You might recognize the Sweet Baboo's Guitar Hero quilt!It's beautiful, and soft and drapey.
She quilted it with this star pattern, because he's such a SUPERSTAR!I might like the back even more than the front... I'll have better pictures after I get the bindings on.
And here's Atreyu, the never ending quilt!I think I'll change her name to Cherry Pie, because she's quilted with an adorable cherry pattern. I worried that the cherry pattern wasn't going to be as cute as I pictured in my head.
I have buyer's remorse over most decisions in my life. We'll talk about my commitment phobia at another time.
But I love it!
I just love it!
I do wish I hadn't cheaped out on the backing, because it's a polka dot flannel but it feels really stiff.
Oh well, live and learn.
It'll look fantastic hanging on my wall for Valentine's Day!
What's next?

What to do... What to do...

January was Krista's month in our quilting bee. She sent out an eclectic group of fabrics and requested wonky liberated log cabins.

This is what I'm sending her! It's not as easy as you might think to do random, wonky piecing. I tend to over- think things. My OCD comes back in spades.
She's going to be cutting them up into quarters, bento box style, like this: That should make for a very colorful quilt!
So that means that we have February, which is Skye's month, and then MINE!!!
My month is March!
Woo hoo!
I'm having the hardest time deciding what to have my hivemates make for me.
Again, I might be over-thinking it.
I'm definitely thinking about making a Day of the Dead quilt.
Why?
Because I have a plan to have quilts for every holiday, but I hate Halloween.
That makes sense, right?
So you see, I'd never make a Halloween quilt on my own, in fact I don't even really want to own a Halloween quilt. But a Day of the Dead quilt?
That's a different kettle of fish.
So I can get D of the D fabric easily enough, but what pattern?
There's the pickle.
I might be hungry, I'm talking a lot of food suddenly.
I could go with a liberated star...Or maybe a string quilt?I have less than a month to decide!
Any advice?

Zippers Are a Gateway Drug

Is this how it starts?

I've called myself a quilter for so long, and whenever someone says "Oh! You sew?" with that gleam in their eye that tells you that they're about to ask you for the most complicated dress/shirt/pants, I'm quick to correct them.
No! I don't SEW. I sew straight lines, putting straight pieces of fabric together.
I'm a quilter.
But my friend asked me for some pillow cases to match what she already had, so I made her some pillow cases.
WITH ZIPPERS!
And I was hooked.
Then my daughter-in-law got a Nook for Christmas, and needed a case for it.
So what's a girl to do?
I made her a case.
With, are you sitting down? With a ZIPPER!
Thaaaat's right.
Then I became OBSESSED with zippers.
Everything must have zippers!
I made a case with a zipper that went around the corner.
Yeah, it wasn't good.
Then I started with the bags.My friend Lisa and I bought this fabric to make totes and bags and coin purses and such.And damned if that leftover pillow fabric didn't match perfectly!
So yeah, it's a strange size, and it definitely isn't my best work, but check out those box corners! Yeah, Baby.
That's sexy!

Some Sewing Got Done!

So I've had this template for, like, EVER.

Never used it, but I saw it on someone's blog the other day, and that prompted me to bust it out and give it a try.I'm not going to say it's the easiest thing in the world, but I made this little baby quilt in ONE AFTERNOON.
So I guess it works ok!
Now, if you're afraid of bias edges, this might not be for you, but I ain't skerred of no biases, so I just starched the ever loving heck out of it and cut away. How starched is it? It can stand up on it's own.
See?That's a lot of starch.
Now, I know, this Hunky Dory fabric isn't the best choice. Something with more contrast would work better, but I had this charm pack and had never done anything with it, and I just wanted to play, so...
It's about 30" by 26. It shrinks up a lot in the cutting and resewing.Now I just need someone to have a baby girl, and I'm all set!

At Least I've Never Attacked a Rabbit With an Oar...

My name is Janice, and I have lusted in my heart.

I have wanted this fabric, "Flower Sugar" for over a year. When the Fat Quarter Shop sent me that email that it had finally arrived, I bought every single speck of it that very day. Love.

Love, love, love.It came out a while back, and I loved it then, but it had a weird stripe, and a multi-colored polka dot that I wasn't crazy about. Then they re-released it without the very prints that I didn't like!They read my mind.
So I have it all, and I can't wait to turn it into the most beautiful quilt ever. Something a little old fashioned, but still jaw dropping.
Isn't it gorgeous?
It's 40's fabulous. I'm thinking it might need a touch of black in there, to cut the sweetness.
We'll see.
And the following will only make sense if your name is Lisa.
See Lisa?How cool is that?
We're on our way, Sista!

And Another Thing...

What's new? It's been a while, here's what I've been up to.

I made some pillows, that match a quilt made with "Fandango" that a friend made.

I made some Bee blocks, here's September, based on "Map of the States" by Oh Fransson.

I love the screen printed bird fabric that Lauree sent!

And here's a house block that Heather requested.

Houses are hard!

I have been humbled by the house block. They are definitely harder than they look. This is about my sixth attempt. There were a lot of remodels before the final result.

She wanted bright, and I would absolutely live in a hot pink house. With a flower petal roof. And a pink flamingo in the yard.

Who wouldn't?

What else? I saw Kathy Griffin.

She's a tiny little pocket person, and never took a breath the whole time she was on stage.

Fabulous.

And I went to the Pacific International Quilt Festival with my dear, dear friend.

I fell in love with this one, by Carol Taylor.

I seem to remember falling in love with another of her quilts last year at the show. I think I might be in love with Carol Taylor. I just Googled her and found out that she's going to be teaching locally in January. I need to take me some classes! I don't think it's stalking if you pay to see someone, right?

I didn't catch who made this quilt, but it's awe inspiring.

I can't begin to imagine how someone made it.

My brain doesn't work that way.

And what else?

I finished the binding on the Sultry quilt.

And I started a triangle quilt out of Origins.

I love me some Origins. It looks really yellow in this picture, but it is a yellow background, so maybe it's closer than I think.

I used the very scientific "SIAH" process to pick the background of Bella Butter fabric; Stuff I Already Had. I think it works.

You'd think I'd have more things to share, it's been so long, but I don't. I'm a pretty boring person at heart. I watch a lot of TV, I try to make my dog snuggle with me, I work full time. Today IS the Sweet Baboo's birthday though, THAT'S exciting! We're meeting friends at a Fondue restaurant tonight. Should be tons of fun.

I'll let you know.

Hellllllllo August!

Where did July go?

I swear, I'm going to blink and be 95. I have no idea how the time gets away from me so easily.

July was filled with working and vacationing, and searching for the perfect fish tacos, and camping and napping and panic attacks and a small bit of sewing and cleaning and movie watching and lunching on the wharf and more work.

This is one of the only pictures I took while camping in Pismo Beach, showing just how cold it was the whole time we were there.

And this is a Christmas quilt I'm making for my sister-in-law (I don't think she reads my blog...) from the Old Red Barn Co quilt along.

I'm not in love with it yet. It's made with "At Home for the Holidays" fabric, which I think will suit my SIL just fine. I deliberately don't have any red pieces on the outside edges so that I can add on a red border and then maybe a piano key border of all the leftover fabrics. I'm not sure though, it's pretty big already. I'd like to find a nice flannel for the back, without spending a fortune. Don't you hate when you get to the backing and it costs more than the whole top? Or maybe it just because we don't buy a giant four yard piece all at once. It's easier to ignore the cost if only see it in small bites.

"$2 for a fat quarter? I'll take five! $10 a yard? Ridiculous!"

The fabrics are nice though.

I added in a couple others just because.

I had to order one more yard for the border, and also a border for this quilt...

I've got it all pieced together now, and I'm waiting (searching? pining?) for inspiration for a border. I don't want to just slap a plain piece of fabric on it, but it should be something that reflects what's going on in the quilt. You know? You know? I know you know. This woman ruined me. I LOVED her quilt as it was, and then she went and added on the most amazing border!

Dang it! Always someone upping the ante!

Any ideas?