Still Distracted ...

But things are starting to slow down a bit and I've managed to get lights up over my work tables, a pressing mat ready to go ... to things are looking up. All I really need now is a power strip (I have too many things to plug in and not enough plugs!) and some time. I'm still checking the posts of my blogroll list on a daily basis and am so inspired. It just seems like I have a few too many projects going to find time to sew. Somehow I need to change that! I'm sure if I get working on one of the projects the time will find itself (and my OTHER projects will fall to the wayside!) Soon. Very soon.

So I've Been Distracted ...

I can't believe that the only progress I've made on my quilting projects in the past week has been to wash and iron my fabrics and move them downstairs. Whoop-te-doo huh? I honestly have no excuse except that I've had my nose in a couple of books and have been enjoying the sweetness of summer.

The problem I'm now facing is I only have a week until Delilah arrives for a visit and I sincerely doubt that I'll get the quilt finished by then. There's just too much organizing and such to be done before I can even start. And I need to do some refreshing on my machine, my quilting, etc.

So -- while I might get my projects started before the visit, I'm not expecting to get much accomplished. I know I'll have a couple of weeks after the visit to finish it up and deliver it when we visit over Labor Day weekend.

Now that I've written my confession -- back to my book :)

The Red Quilt -- Getting Started

In addition to getting started on Lilah's Quilt I'm also starting on another project -- one I'm calling The Red Quilt. It will go perfectly in the loft upstairs.

You've seen the design before -- it's simply squares made up of half triangles that have a consistent color pattern. I'm planning on doing reds and tans/creams. I was inspired by this quilt by Allison at Cluck Cluck Sew and what I see on the ironing board in this post by Amy at Diary Of A Quilter.

Yes, I'm looking for easy and scrappy. I want to use up some of the fabrics I've had hanging around for a while because -- well -- I have a hard time justifying going and maxing out my credit card buying MORE fabric when I still have piles of pretty stuff laying around. Need to remedy that huh?

So here are the reds I've chosen for this project. I'm hoping I can get busy cutting squares in the next couple days and get busy piecing some time next week.

The goal is to get several quilt tops ready before the snow flies so I can plan a trip to visit my friend Patty in New York and take advantage of her new longarm quilter! I'm so looking forward to the wine laughs that will go along with the quilting.

Lilah's Quilt -- Getting Started

Sweet Delilah -- she just makes my heart sing. I am totally over-the-moon in love with her.

It only seems right that she should have a quilt made in her honor. Right?

I've been putting off saying much about it until I had a design figured out and fabrics purchased. I've gone back and forth about whether to go with pastels or bright colors ... in the end I decided on bright colors that reflect summertime since she was born in June.

Here's the pattern I'm using as the basis for my quilt:

It's designed by Maria Wallin and called Summer Squares Quilt. I just love the squares and even though I love the fabrics she used in her design, I'm going with pinks, greens, and yellows. I'm hoping it turns out as pretty as Maria's! I do have a few changes in mind but not much ... Here's a link to the pattern -- which can be found at the Moda Bake Shop.

These are the fabrics I've chosen so far. The photo doesn't do the colors justice. They are actually brighter than they appear here.

I'm hoping to be able to cut out some of the quilt today and get started making the blocks over the next couple days. It will be sooo thrilling to hear the whirl of my sewing machine again!

I Have Not Abandoned This Blog :)

As is typical with a new blog -- I wrote a bunch of posts initially and then over the past couple weeks, not so much.

Fear not. I have not gone AWOL or deserted the blog already.

I've just been busy. As in, doing summer stuff like vacationing, getting ready for company, actually having the company, and then doing a little more vacationing.

And I'm not done yet :)

My sweet husband is off this week and we have a few days trips planned (tomorrow is our anniversary after all!) so about all I think I'll get done this week is a little more set up in my basement sewing area (I had no idea what a terrible job of packing I did! Disgraceful. LOL ... and what's worse is I have no memory of what I had so I don't know what I have yet to unpack. It's rather scary opening up a zillion boxes marked "MISCELLANEOUS" and finding stuff I'd long forgotten about.)

Basically though, I'm hoping that since hubby is off we can get some overhead lights hung up and maybe some pegboard on the walls so I can at least hang my rulers. I'm hoping to get a few "before" pictures of some fabric selections for a few new projects that I want to get started on and maybe even get a few more piles of material washed.

And then there's Lilah's quilt. I picked up fabric for it last week (my son Daniel actually went with me and helped me pick colors -- he was a really big help!) and since I just found out we'll be blessed with a visit by the little princess in mid-August, I'm going to get busy with on that on Monday with hopes of getting it pieced by Friday.

Once the top is about done I'll have to make a few decisions -- do I send a block of fabric to Patty to have her embroider Delilah's name on it or skip that? Do I attempt to machine quilt it myself (since I have no experience) or send it to Patty to have her quilt on her longarm (knowing Patty may not have even gotten her new machine set up yet, let alone have any desire whatsoever to quilt it for me!) OR should I hand-quilt it myself (definitely my last choice.)

I will have to do a little thinking on that one.

Anyway, that's what I'm up to. A whole lot of nothing! However, I did manage to bookmark several future projects while looking through books on the drive to and from New York! That counts for something, right?

Right?

My Daily Reads and Inspiration

When I decided I wanted to get back into quilting, I turned to the internet to see what had changed in the quilting world since I last was stitching.

A lot.

I am truly amazed at the changes in fabric design, quilt designs in general, and in the people that are knee deep in fabric scraps. Wow. Times have changed and I'm loving what I see.

First off, there are so many fabric choices -- so many with bright colors and funky patterns. Gosh, where did the calico prints go? And the designs ... simple designs are so refreshing to see. While I still love all the traditional blocks, I'm seeing so many updated versions or twists on old favorites that I'm in awe.

And the people. I remember viewing quilting as an old ladies craft. I hate to admit that. I was pretty young when I became interested in quilts but most of the designers, teachers, and leaders in the quilting world were older or at least middle-age. That's no longer the case. I can't believe the number of young women (in their 20s and 30s) who are totally in love with quilting. I attribute the beautiful colors and prints available in fabric now and the fun designs to their youth, vitality, and influence.

And it's just incredible the difference technology has made to the quilting world. Digital cameras make it possible to document the steps taken in making a block or showing a technique. Patterns can be purchased and delivered almost instantaneously. Fabric can be ordered online ... and be on its way to you in a matter of hours. Knowledge can be shared via online video (QNN.TV for instance!) and quilters can blog about what they're doing, host and participate in quilt-a-longs ... the list goes on and on. It's simply amazing and wonderful to see how far quilting has come in the last 10 years.

I decided to add a blogroll to my blog (mostly for myself so that I can do a quick check every day to see what my favorite quilters are up to.) I'm sure I'll be adding to the list as time goes on ... but for now, this is a great start!

Quilter Acronyms!

Still working on washing and ironing all my fabric that was stored during our move (and since!) It's a bigger job than I thought it would be -- especially in this hot weather. I really don't have much of a stash and so wasn't expecting to be spending so much time on it.

And I still need to get my sewing area set up. I'm going to be down in the basement but my goal is to try to brighten the space up and everything organized so I have a good work flow. Thankfully I have a dehumidifier that I can run to keep everything nice and dry. I thought about setting up in one of our extra bedrooms but I need to have them available as guest rooms (and really don't want to have to pack everything up and put it away every time someone comes to visit!) Plus, I'd like to have a design wall, etc. I'm hoping the basement will be a good choice.

In the meantime -- I'm continuing to enjoy reading lots of different blogs and seeing what others are creating and working on. One thing that I find is that there are a lot of (apparently) standard acronyms used that I've felt a little clueless about. So -- I decided to started Googling them and this is what I came up with:


BOM -- Block of the Month
COC -- Cream on Cream
EQ -- Electric Quilting (software)
F8 -- Fat Eighth
FQ -- Fat Quarter
FWQAL -- Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long
HP -- Hand Piecing
HQ -- Hand Quilting
HST -- Half Square Triangle
LAQ -- Longarm Quilter
LAQM -- Longarm Quilting Machine
LQS -- Local Quilt Shop
PHD -- Project Half Done
QAYG -- Quilt As You Go
QOV -- Quilts of Valor (http://www.qovf.org/)
QST -- Quarter Square Triangles
RST -- Right Sides Together
RWB -- Red, White, and Blue
SABLE -- Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy
SEX -- Stash Enhancement EXperience (or Excursion)
SID -- Stitch in the Ditch
TOT -- Tone On Tone
TBQ -- To Be Quilted
UFO -- Unfinished Object
VQB -- Virtual Quilting Bee
WIP -- Work In Progress
WISP -- Work In Slow Progress
WIVSP -- Work In Very Slow Progress
WOF -- Width of Fabric
WOMBAT -- Waste of Money, Batting, and Time
WWIT -- What Was I Thinking?

Nickels -- 5" squares
Dimes -- 10" squares

I'll update this as I come across more!

I'm Taking The Process Pledge!

You've probably seen this badge on various quilting sites:



Even though I'm just starting this blog and am still in the process of getting my sewing area set up, I wanted to add this to my blog. I love what this "Process Pledge" is all about -- talking about the actual steps involved in making quilts, discussing the decisions that go into the design, sharing about inspiration and showing the project in its various stages along the way. I think it's a great way to blog!

AND if you click on the image above or in my sidebar, you can see the original post that explains it all and provides a list of all the quilt bloggers who have taken the pledge. I can't wait to start visiting some of these blogs to see what they're up to!

I'm Joining The Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long ...

Well, my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book arrived yesterday and ... oh. my. goodness. I'm so inspired!

There's just no way that I can't join the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long and make this quilt after looking through the book. The start up information about this group can be found at Fussycut (it's Angela's blog; she's one of the quilt-a-long hosts) and the group discussions and photos can be found at this Flickr site. I can't wait to get started! If nothing else, I think this is the kick in the pants I need to get my stash fabric ironed and sorted and my sewing area set up. Yahoo!

So I guess I should post the offical FWQAL button?

Let The Quilting Begin!

I've been wanting to get back into sewing since moving to New England about a year ago. But I've let a lot of things get in the way -- other interests, lack of a dedicated sewing area, the need to have my sewing machine cleaned and tuned up. But finally, the time has come.

I've been inspired by my friend Patty who has been having so much fun with her embroidery machine. She's done so many fun projects (purses, quilts, shirts ...) that I've caught the bug again.

So I took my machine to have it overhauled and recently got it back. I've slowly been washing and ironing all the material I brought with me to see what I've got in the way of stash (and I am really kicking myself for tossing the bags of scraps I had been saving ... what was I thinking? Argh!) I've been visiting lots of blogs and finding inspiration galore on the internet. I've even gone and checked out a few nearby quilt shops and ordered a few books from Amazon.

I've always loved scrappy quilts and that's where I plan to start. I would love to make a few cuddle-up size quilts that can be used up in our loft and I'd like to make some decorative ones to hang on the walls as well.

There will be no shortage of ways to enjoy the quilts I have bouncing around in my head -- of that much I'm certain.

I've got a few projects in mind for starters:

* a baby quilt for my new granddaughter Delilah
* a bullseye quilt inspired by the Quilts From Aunt Amy book and a few of AmandaJean's designs over at Crazy Mom Quilts
* a scrappy string quilt inspired by The Heartstrings Quilt Project. I just love the quilts Mary makes!

I figure that will be plenty to get me back into the swing of things and should keep me busy for quite a while.

I'm also thinking of joining The Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long ... I might be getting in a little bit over my head with that one, but I've ordered the Farmer's Wife Sampler Book that the quilt-a-long is based on and it's due to be delivered today! So we'll see ...

I'm working on getting my sewing area set up and even went and purchased new pins and machine needles (I really need to go through my boxes of supplies and see what else I need ... my husband is going to faint when he sees the bill I suspect I'll be racking up!)

I'm hoping this blog will serve as an ongoing journal of what I work on and the progress I make on each project and will encourage me to keep going. I've been following a few blogs that do daily (if not daily at least frequent) update posts and I love it ... accountability! LOL.

Now my next step is to actually get started. And on that note ...