Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon...

Here's that baby quilt I told you about.

With the "Wheels" fabric? By Riley Blake?

'member?

So this is what I decided on.

Yes, those two oranges in the middle of the third row irritate me. Not enough to rip them out, but enough to make me twitch a little.

Just a little.

Here's the back.

If I sound "meh" about it, it's because I am. Not the back. I like the back. But the front is just sort of... sort of... meh.

I auditioned borders, and sashing, in all sorts of colors and sizes.

Nothing worked, so I've decided no border. No sashing.

I hope the baby likes it more than I do.

But then I started something that I like much better!

Remember me telling you about "FabFanatic"?

I love them, I really do. So I thought I'd mix all the fabrics they've sent me into one quilt to celebrate.

I picked the "Posh" pattern from Moda fabrics.

Just something that would showcase large pieces. And after that red and white beast, something quick and easy sounded good too.

The design wall (flannel backed Christmas tablecloth, bought on clearance and stapled to the wall next to my bed) isn't big enough to hold the whole thing, so I'll have to put it up in sections.

But I'm out of white fabric now, so I think it's time for a movie and some popcorn.

It's a good way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.

The Pup agrees.

Atreyuuuuu!! Atreyuuuu!!

DONE!!

Well, sort of.

I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes and powered through.

Two rows became four, and four rows became eight,

and before I knew it, (almost three weeks late) the whole top was done.

Ahhhhhhhh...

I've named it Atreyu, from the Neverending Story. It's the never ending quilt.

It still needs that border row, and then I have to think about borders, and backings, and binding, and bourbon.

But I'm calling it done for now.

I've gone to such extremes on this quilt.

I loved it, I hated it, I was indifferent to it.

I started out trying to pick fabrics that would look really nice next to each other, then graduated to not caring what went where. Then came the actively clashing stage. Maroon fabric? Clearly it wants to live next to the orangey one! And they both have apartments next to the pinky ones!

Mwahaahaahaa!

That's where the bourbon came in.

My dear friend asked what one does with a thing like this. Do you give it to charity? Or lock it in a closet for ten years, until you can look at it again?

I suggested wearing it as a dress, every single day.

It was a hard won victory.

This is my favorite block. No fussy cutting at all, this flower just ended up centered in there.

Dang, I didn't notice those two polka dots so close together... Maybe I should rip it out?

Nah. It looks perfect to me.

Here comes da bride...

WHAAAAT?!? A Non-Quilting post?

It could happen.

And I suppose it should every now and then.

So my friend and I went to the Bridal Expo a week or two ago, and I tried out my new camera! It's no secret that I hated my old camera. HATED IT! With an active sort of hatred that really should be reserved for nazis or people who park in handicapped spots, but no. I hate my camera just that much.

But no longer!

I now have a Canon PowerShot and it is da bom. Or, would be, if kids still said that. Which they don't. But it is. Really.

Check out these pics!

Don't you love this background? I so want to do this. Not for any particular occasion. Just for, you know, like a Tuesday.

It was at the Cocoanut Grove in Santa Cruz. Notice the glass ceiling please. When it gets hot, they can open it up.

I love the Cocoanut Grove.

Do you like your roses with a little bling?

But check out the handle! (Handle? Stems?)

GLAM, BABY!

Karyn? Here's your wedding cake! Isn't it gorgeous?

Here's the thing I fell in love with. In love. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Love. It.

Loved it so much that I took it home with me. The florist was a friend of my friend's, and we loitered until closing so that she would give it to us. Then my friend gave it to me, because she's a totally awesome, generous person, but also because I was licking it and petting it and wouldn't let go of the leaves.

I'm subtle like that.

The same florist made this woodsy beauty. I fell so much in love with the succulents in the arrangements that I went out and bought a couple and potted them. They're on my window sill at work.

This one too! EEE!!! (swoon!) Really, that's the one I'd have for my wedding.

I really liked this one too. You think I might have something for bright colors? Hmm.

These glowing 'coffee tables'??

Yeah, I could make those. Those are awesome.

And this chair? What does this chair have to do with anything?

Nothing.

It was in the bathroom.

I just loved it.

Thanks for coming along! I wish you could have tasted the cakes too!

Yum!

I'm still here!

And I'm still working on the Red and White Snowball quilt.

I have not quit, I WILL not quit! I will finish this thing if it kills me.

I was feeling so proud of myself, I had thirty blocks left. Then eighteen blocks left! An end was in site!

I could do this! I could finish!

Then I realized that I still have the little half, or rather; third blocks left for around the outside.

Ok, no problem, I can do this.

So it's only...

40 more blocks. five pieces each, that's only...

Eight thousand, three hundred and fifty pieces.

OH MY GOD!!

It's the never ending quilt!!

But I will prevail, I have been cutting and sewing and cutting... and sewing...

Sigh.

So did I tell you about this FabFanatic site?

It's like a Costco for fabric. You place orders for fabric lines, and when they have enough orders to fill a bolt, they order it, cut it, and send it to you! No overhead; so cheaper prices!

I signed up for the "Stash Builder's Club", and here's my first shipment!

A little Nicey Jane, a little Park Slope, a little Good Folks...

Love it!

I should make something just out of these fabrics, to commemorate.

I can't wait for my next shipment. February's fabrics are Amy Butler! Can't go wrong there!

And when I just couldn't look at red and white for one more minute, I started making a baby quilt with this "Riley Blake - Wheels" fabric.

Cute, right? It's boy, without being BOY.

I like that.

And then, just because I was high on making straight squares, I started this quilt, for a friend.

It's from a pattern from Laurie Shiffrin's "Batik Beauties".

Me likee...

Now back to those (sob!) triangles...

We all have our demons...

So when my older brother was little, he loved hippos.

I don't know where it came from, maybe he had a book about a hippopotamus or saw one on TV, I don't know.

But he loooooved him some hippo.

Hippos, hippos, hippos, all about the hippos.

He would tell anyone who would listen,

"ME LOVE HIPPOPOTAMUS!"

So the circus came to town, and low and behold, they had ACTUAL HIPPOS there!

I can only imagine his excitement.

So plans were made, and tickets were bought, and he was going to see an actual, honest-to-God, live and in person hippo.

Eeeee! Can you feel the excitement?!

So the day finally arrives, and off they go.

There's clowns, and there's lions, and there's... I don't know, dancing poodles or something. I wasn't there. I'm MUCH younger. HA!

But the only thing my brother cared about was the hippo.

When it finally made it's appearance, my father took him down to the front to see the beast up close and personal.

I'm sure my brother wanted to wet himself from the thrill!

So down they go, and there they were, right in front of it...

And it opened it's huge maw and showed it's gigantic teeth.

My brother looked into that cavernous mouth and loudly proclaimed:

"ME NO LIKE HIPPOPOTAMUS."

Why do I bring this up, you ask?

Because I find myself saying very often these days:

"ME NO LIKE HALF SQUARE TRIANGLES."

This is what my work space looks like these days.

Other people's are neat and organized, mine have taken over the whole sewing cave. I have no idea how many of what I still have to make. I know I made way too many of the center strips, both red and white. I have triangles EVERYWHERE, squares EVERYWHERE, all sorts of the different components, in all stages of construction.

And every time I think, "Well, THAT was a lot of sewing! I must have made a HUGE dent!" I put them up and it doesn't look any different.

I am in AWE of the people who have finished!

Well done, ladies! Well done indeed!

I know why I took on this challenge. I thought it would be good for me to do something really structured. To have a project that I have to follow through on, instead of making five blocks and then getting bored and stuffing it away.

But come on!

I'm seeing half square triangles in my sleep!

And if you visit me in the cave, you can hear my muttered refrain:

"Me no like half square triangles."

And by the way, my brother?

Yeah, we still torture him about his hippo experience.

Cards, toys, "Me no like hippopotamus" whenever someone finds out they don't like something.

I think I'll email him this picture...

My Guitar Hero

So I finished the t-shirt quilt, and was all set to make the baby quilt for my co-worker.

All set.

But I couldn't find any fabric in my stash that I liked, and I couldn't decide on a pattern that I liked, and then things just snowballed and nothing was right, and nothing would ever be right again!

Auugghh!!

So what do you do in this situation? Do you ever HAVE these situations?

Is it just me?

It might just be me...

So what I did was pull out the guitar fabrics that I've collected for years and start hacking it up.

Let me explain.

If you had to buy a novelty fabric to signify me, you'd pick flamingos. If you were making something for The Princess, you'd pick dogs. Ok, not really. You'd pick dogs for me, but if you really wanted the Poodle's eyes to light up, you'd pick up something with pork chops on it.

Yum.

But if you met the Sweet Baboo, you'd nod and shrug and say

"Guitars. Of course."

So I've been collecting guitar fabrics forever, with no clear idea of what to do with it. Then the other day I was looking through Flickr, trying to get motivated for the baby quilt, and he commented, "Why are the zig-zags always going horizontally? Why don't people make vertical zig-zags?"

Good question!

Why don't they? And by "they" I mean "I". I've been thinking about working in series on things, doing the same pattern over and over until I really can say I'd mastered it, so why not start with the zig-zag?

So here it is.

The Sweet Baboo's guitar quilt.

This missing corner is where I ran out of orange fabric. Trip to Judy's is on the agenda for tomorrow.

Maybe some fret boards as a border?

He seems to like it.

And he deserves it.

He's a good guitar player, and an even better man.

Happy New Year Baby.

So Toasty And Warm...

I know, I know... It's been a while.

There were some holidays in there, and lots of work days, and some random laying on the couch in a semi-coma.

You know, the usual.

But I'm on vacation this week, so I've become reacquainted with the lovely Mr Pfaffey. He's so forgiving. Just takes me right back, no questions asked.

So what have I been working on?

Well, I got the kid's quilt back from the fabulous quilter...

It's gorgeous, right? They seemed to like it. They ooo'ed and ahh'ed appropriately.

Here's the back...

And some close ups of the quilting..

So that was good. We drove over and gave it to them on Christmas Eve and had a really, really nice time. I love those kids.

And then lately, I've been working on a t-shirt quilt for a friend.

Ok, it's for the Sweet Baboo's ex-wife, but people seem to think that's in the "strange" column, so I was trying to soften it for you.

She's a delightful woman, and we all go camping with shared friends each summer.

I think it's healthy.

So anyhoo, her mother passed away a month or two ago, and I said I would make her a memorial quilt. So I got that finished today.

Sort of finished. Are they ever really finished?

I haven't decided on a border or not yet.

Border of the same print? then the nine - patches seem to float.

That could be nice.

Little skinny black border, followed by the same print?

inch and a half black followed by the print?

Ahh... no. Ruled THAT one out.

What do you think? Any opinions? Maybe no border at all?

Next up is a baby quilt for a co-worker who's having a boy. I'm thinking zig-zag.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's! We've got a party to go to, but there's been a lot of this lately...

And this...

Soooooooo... we'll see if I can get dressed and out of the house.

Anything could happen.