Next up in the finished quilt line…

Like yesterday’s quilt, this one was to use up the rest of a pile of coordinating prints. This time the space prints. Unlike yesterday’s quilt, I didn’t need to go searching for anything to add to this one. I still can’t believe I got three baby quilts from a fat quarter bundle, a panel, and a yard of the star fabric, a yard of grunge, and a couple solids mixed in. The other two are here and here

These fabrics are so fun. The other two space quilts found homes pretty quick, so I’m sure this one won’t be around long.

There’s more flannel for the back of this one, keeping with the space theme.

Like the sea quilt, it’s now in the shop, just waiting to blast off for its new home!

I spent the weekend at Mom’s and banged out the quilt tops I had piled up since November. It was just three small baby ones, but it feels good to have them finished.

First up is High Seas Baby

This one came from a desire to use up the rest of the prints from Ahoy Matey. I didn’t have quite enough to do the pattern, so I scrounged the stash and was able to add in a few more prints that worked (leftover from other quilts)

You all know how much I LOVE that crab fabric! This quilt pretty much used up the last of it (though I think there’s some in my scrap bins still) I was also able to use some fun seagull fabric as well as a few random red patterns.

You may recall that I was going to use some Whale flannel for the back. But then I came across these anchors….

They were flannel too, and just too perfect to pass up. But don’t worry, the whales will find a home on another project (already in the works).

But for now, this one is in the shop, and I’ve got two more to show… but that will wait until tomorrow.

As I mentioned yesterday, I did get the Harriet Bolero finished. It had a little soak, blocked and dried just beautifully:

Isn’t it sweet? It’s a very simple top-down design, but oh so classic. The only modification I made was to put long sleeves on it. I hope they are long enough for Miss Wren, because I had to take the length measurement from a different pattern. (This pattern only has short sleeves).

Adding the longer sleeves used almost all of the two skeins of Fat Cat I had. I searched the button stash for the perfect buttons. I didn’t have much in pink that was the right size, so I ended up taking a different tack.

I think it works!

Now, I have to decide on a dress to go with it. I’m torn between these two from old Navy

I may just watch for a good sale and get them both!

Although I’ve had the new longer needle for the Hemlock Ring blanket for a while now, I wanted to get Wren’s bolero out of the way first. It’s blocking now, so I finally picked up where I left off with Hemlock Ring.

It still doesn’t look like much – just a big pile of blue fluff.. but it is going to be beautiful when it’s all stretched out. Sadly, the rounds take FOREVER now. I’m not far from the finish line in terms of rounds, but there’s a lot of stitches between here and there, and every four rounds it increases! Still, I’m aiming to get this one off the needles by next weekend.

Then I have to find a floor big enough to block it on…. yikes!

Although I hate to wish the time away (seriously, January just flew by) you all know how much I’m longing for spring.

I can’t do ANYTHING outside right now. And though I’ve set up a pretty neat indoor grow station (more on that another day), it’s still too early to actually plant anything in it. But all is not lost…

Remember the Winter Sow method?

I’ve tried it three times already – here, here, and here. I didn’t do it last year, because I knew we’d be looking for a house in the spring, and I would be leaving my gardens behind.

But this year, we aren’t going anywhere, and I’ve got LOTS of seeds to work with!!!

My little tin seed holder is filled to the gills!!!

This year is a little bit of an experiment. You’re supposed to use milk jugs, pop bottles, things like that. But I don’t have any of those. I had a cider jug, and an empty windshield washer jug, but I’m also trying out a few other types of containers, including a couple jujube containers and a rostisserie chicken tub.

I planted up some scabiosa, oriental poppies, coneflowers, black-eyed susans, and delphiniums.

They are now out in the frosty fresh air, and with any luck, come spring, we’ll see some wee little sprouts!

If you’d like to learn more about winter sowing, here’s where I learned about it.

While nothing will ever beat my digital SLR camera (which I really do need to get repaired….), I have to say, phone cameras have come a long way, and it does make it easier to get some really unique shots.

I just love this one I took of Rupert while he was curled up in my lap. I never would have been able to get this angle with the SLR.

I know you’re probably suprised to see another round robin post so soon. And so am I! But I found myself with a free afternoon, and since they dont come along as often as they used to, I took advantage!

This time, the prompt was “stars”. I don’t need to tell you that stars are my favourite blocks. The hard part was deciding what kind of star I wanted to use.

In the end, I decided to stay in my comfort zone, and whip out some saw-tooth stars.

Eight of them, to be exact. Now, you’re probably wondering why they have peach bits going off in different directions….

Well it makes a lot more sense when you see them on the quilt.

They line up nicely with some other peach bits and make a fun border all the way around.

Now, I have a bit of a confession to make. After getting that first border done, I looked at the fabrics I pulled and got really worried it wasn’t enough to work with. So I ordered a few more pieces

Mostly fabrics that are from the same line as the centre panel. I’m glad I did, because it allowed me to introduce a little more colour into it.

So now, I’m all caught up, and Burton and I are patiently awaiting Monday for a new prompt.

The 30-day sketchbook challenge has come to and end.

That’s all 30 sketches for your viewing pleasure. Some are definitely better than others. But they are just sketches, not masterpieces, so that’s ok. I’m sure even Holbein had crap sketching days.

And I have to confess, I did not sketch one each day. There were several days too chaotic to take even 10 minutes to pick up the pencils. So, there were a few times I was playing catch up and doing several sketches at once. I limited myself to 10 minutes per sketch, as a reminder that this was just practice.

This exercise did reinforce one thing: Why I didn’t take up as a study/career: I HATE being told what to draw. There were days I really struggled with the prompt trying to come up with something that worked with the prompt that I would actually enjoy.

This was a struggle throughout my school years… if I didn’t like the subject matter, getting me to create a piece of art around it was like pulling teeth.

Still, this was mostly fun. But I think I need to find another way to get myself picking up the pencils more often.

Well those of you who thought I could finish my little sampler on the weekend were right.

I did the vines one night, and the letters the next. It was a fun little sampler that was very easy for me to customize, which I love.

There are a few mistakes: The top vine is actually up higher than it should be by a line or two, and the bottom letter spacing is off a little too. But it’s not noticeable, so I’m not fretting about it.

I haven’t framed it yet. I’m pretty sure I have a frame that will work, but it’s in a yet-to-be-unpacked box in my office closet. There’s no rush though. We don’t have much finished wall space yet anyway. It can wait.

And now I need to find a new TNT project!

Happy Monday! It’s time to check in on my Stay-At-Home-Round-Robin progress. The first prompt for this was curves.

Now… I’m not a fan of sewing curves. I really should give it more of a try, because it would be a good challenge, but I’ve got too much going on right now to step out of my comfort zone. But that’s the beauty of this sew-along. You can interpret the prompts how you want, and skip them if need be. So that’s what I did.

Next up was diamonds. Potentially, another tricky one. I took a few days to think about it, and finally decided to keep it simple with some square-in-a-square blocks.

They make pretty good diamonds, in my view! And using the solid fabric around them really highlights the fun prints!

Next, they needed to be sewn to the panel.

And voila! The panel only required minimal trimming to get it to work with my diamonds (which are 4.5″ unfinished) The trickiest part was making sure all those dapper black cats were pointing the right way.

Gah! They are just so darn cute!!!!

Of course, not as cute as the real thing!