Life is good!

The summer is rapidly winding down!  School for Gunner starts on Friday, and Isadora's homeschool classes start on Monday.  Hopefully those will help provide us with a bit more structure.  I've had luck finally getting some progress made.  I'm back to working out in the mornings (which is oh-so-painful while I'm doing it, but so nice have out of the way) and that gives me a small block of time in the afternoon to get 10 or 15 minutes of sewing in. I finished the quilting on the Guild sampler quilt - it went pretty quickly.  I wanted just some overall texture, and I love how it turned out.  Christina Camelli's book is full of great designs that can quilt up quickly but are more interesting than your standard stipple.  I actually won this round of thread chicken!  Superior is definitely my go-to thread for quilting.  I'll need to order another spool of this color soon! I'm going to get Rows of bricks ripped out, but in the mean time...

Made some updates to the list, to reflect some other projects that have jumped on there, mostly non-quilt projects.  I had an itch to cut out some clothing, so I got a couple of pieces cut out.  I finished a couple of tops, and have some dresses in progress.  It's challenging going back to 3-D sewing, but it's also refreshing. Priorities for now: 1. Finish piecing Hexology - it shouldn't take long, I just need to get a chunk of time (although that's easier said than done) 2. Add the borders to Moda Love; that would get it off the piecing pile. 3. Finish piecing A New View; it's in the house so I should be working it when I have 10 minutes here and there, instead of trolling Reddit. 4.  Finish piecing the Guild mystery quilt; see comment on #3! Once Natalie finishes her current quilt on the long-arm, I'll load up Rows of bricks.  That should be another quick finish (and one more thing to add to the binding pile...) Had a little fun with the custom qui...

Summer is well underway, and flying by as usual.  We spent the Fourth of July in Alabama for a wedding.  Two days driving and two days there made for a loooonng weekend.  I did get a little bit of cross stitch done in the car, but otherwise it was a definite break from productivity and workouts.  It's 4-H time again, and Izzy finished this adorable outfit for the clothing event.  I was quite disappointed in the judge, however.  She went in full Cosplay, and the judge was visibly bothered by it.  She practically scowled at Isadora the entire time, while she smiled at the rest of the kids.  This outfit involved pleats, and invisible zipper, darts, set in sleeves and some MAJOR pattern hacking.  We changed it from a button down front with a separate collar to no buttons with an integrated collar.  There were only two girls in the judging class, and the other girl got the purple.  She made a fleece robe.  Seriously.  I was i...

The retreat allowed me to make a fair amount of progress and actually notch up some finishes.  I finished bitter almond and the Frond quilt while there.  I finished piecing Prism Star, and I also got the center of Barb's quilt done.  I still need to add borders to size it up to a king-sized for her.  I also spent a chunk of time putting together the blocks that the guild finished. I finished Bev's quilt shortly after, in time for Mom to take it off to Denver.  I'm still waiting for mom to send me pictures!  I got Quill done to give to a co-worker of mine who's retiring.  She's a fellow quilter, so I hope she appreciates it!  I delayed enough that I didn't get a good picture of it, either. I dropped off the Frond quilt with them, and gave them another pattern suggestion, so we'll see if anything comes of that. Since I have a whole pile of tops to be quilted and Natalie is using the long-arm, I've been working on sewing some clothing for m...

I keep plugging away on things, but little by little, and time seems to be moving faster than ever before.  Less time is spent quilting, more time is spent working with Isadora on school, just hanging out with Gunner, and the past two weeks, sick and miserable. We had a trip to Chicago last weekend, and despite the bug and the non-stop coughing, it was a great trip. Me and my girl at Adler Planetarium  Lots of sister/cousin time, fabulous museums.  The trip back, however, was a bit hair-raising.  There was a late season snowstorm, and it dumped four inches of heavy, wet, sticky snow on the interstate.  It was definitely NOT a fun drive. Only today have I started to feel at least a bit better, although the cough and congestion are definitely lingering.  I finished the Frond top and started loading it.  I've started another top to work on indoors, and am making a bit of progress here and there.  I need to figure out what I'm going to tak...

I made up this list prior to the weekend:  Weekend TO DO - in order of priority Finish piecing Frond Kit from Marc Binding for Marisa's baby quilt  Cut Frond quilt #2 Piece top of Bitter Almond   Finish piecing Prism Cut strips for Four Square   Find or piece backings for everything that needs long-armed  Also - hit up the sale at Fern Hill Gifts.  Alternate list with one long-arm row on Bev's quilt.   So how did I do?  Well, I finished piecing the Frond Kit, so that's being added to the ready-to-quilt list.  I got the binding added, so Marisa's baby quilt is finished!  I did finish the cutting for the new Frond quilt, as well, so that's ready to piece.  I finished Bitter Almond, and Layer Cake Quilt #2 as well. I didn't get 5 or 6 done, but I did start matching up the backings. Finished Baby Quilt! This one is actually finished, no thanks to Ophelia! Sadly, the problem came with Bev's qui...