WIP Wednesday

Yay, I'm so glad to be back on track with Lee at Freshly Pieced:

Good pics are tough in the winter, folks.

A couple of easy finishes this week: two blocks for my Block Party Bee. Mary has January and she chose this super sweet fabric with little bunnies. She thoughtfully included a strip of paper for piecing in her packet.

Normally when I put together wonky strips of fabric, I just eyeball it and trim up later. Using the paper made the piecing so much faster and easier, but when it came to peeling the paper off, I thought it made the stitches a bit uneven. I might try it with a lighter paper in the future.

I'm counting this one as a finish too. I put together all the HSTs for my brother's quilt.

Fabric self-portrait

I know, I know...how many times will I say I finished those blocks...I'm holding off on piecing them into criss-crosses because I might want to try this new basting method if it works out on Mumu.

In progress this week: my spelling. I realized with embarrassment that I've been calling my current quilt-in-progress "Mumu" (which, according to Wikipedia, is, among other things, a Nigerian word for 'idiot'...cruel irony...), where I meant to say "Muumuu" (a colorful Polynesian dress). Well, too late to change it now.

I'm eager to get the backing of Mumu done so I can snuggle up with this beauty. I sewed a bunch of leftover scraps together, then cut them up lengthwise.

Wish I could just throw the scraps on a wall and sew 'em where they stick. They look so lovely in a heap.

I'm determined not to throw away any scraps larger than these. Every bit of this fabric is going into the quilt.

Luckily "mumu" also means 'intelligent person' in Mexican slang. I don't feel like I've fully solved the puzzle yet, but I'm trying to use this opportunity to take risks and be less controlling.

And since we're talking progress...I have been doing AWESOME at getting up at 6am every weekday (weekends were ambitious. It's pointless to get up in the dark with nothing to do.). I get to see the sunrise every day, and I really enjoy it. My whole day is better. It's amazing how shifting of a couple hours can slide a whole new lens over the day. I haven't been sewing every evening, however. I'm usually way too tired to focus. Stretching has fared better; it's fitting into my routine daily. Yay for change!

No Progress
Spring Sampler (I have totally lost steam on this one. Scrappy mojo is lost.)

I'm considering jumping on the Swoon bandwagon. I've long since purchased the pattern, but still yet to settle on a set of fabrics. The truth is, this block looks amazing in basically every color and tone combo...mmm, indecision!

Gifts!

You know what I love about making gifts? You get to try new stuff. Stuff you would never otherwise attempt. And a deadline can be a good encouragement to make a decision and move on. I tend to grind to a halt if perfection gets in my gears. No so with Poppy's adorable doll quilt. Below is the back, which I actually made first. Those aren't polka dots in the upper right corner...they're raindrops! Love! Big thanks to my quilt model, Mr. Awesome ;o)

I whipped up this little envelope purse last week. Happy Birthday to my best friend! Yup, that's a hand-quilted "A" to hold to magnet in place. Magnet closures are so satisfying.

 

The perfect card holder for a note to my BFF. She's running the San Francisco Marathon tomorrow...amazing!

And a rear view...I followed this tutorial for the Scrappy Pouch on One Shabby Chic's blog. Super quick and easy.

My friend's mom is run/walking the half marathon. (Inspiring family, huh?) What better way to celebrate than with a mug rug for her post-race Gatorade and power bar? I saw this pentagonal mug rug over on Flickr and was inspired. My idea was to make an unfolding flower. Not sure if that happened, but I like the result nevertheless. I'm eager to try an improv pentagon again.

And the back. Seems like a good setting for a story about Anansi, the trickster spider.


















When making something quickly (like the mug rug, which took about 3 hours), I have a lingering consideration: Is it done? Without time to really sit with a project, I often wonder if I'm sending it out into the world incomplete.

But perhaps the answer is ultimately unknowable. Where is the line between overworked and underdone? It's like taking bread from the oven-- very difficult to tell at first glance. I wonder if certainty will come with time.

What with all the inspiring and the gifting, I decided to do a little something for myself and give my scraps a better home than that hideous plastic bag they've been living in. Lo and behold, Salvation Army had gobs of these beautiful glass containers. I took ten off their hands for only $15!! Score! (The other two hold ribbons and elastics.) They pretty up the room and I can see what I've got...which is a lot more scrap-busting to do. And I'm not complaining :o)