Blah January

Blah.  Just blah. 

January has been nice (too nice) weather wise, so I've no real excuse for feeling so blah.  I think maybe I just have too many things going on, with nothing ending up like I envisioned.  And January has never been my favorite month.  I have been busy stitching, but am having a hard time getting motivated to post about it. Please bear with me. :)

January started with the temptation of Building Houses from Scraps, so I made a few of these:

They are making one a day, and I quickly decided that one a day isn't going to be feasible for me (since I have no discipline and skip from project to project).  Further complicating these is that when I printed out the foundation block to stitch, I didn't realize that it printed at a reduced size.  So they are an oddball measurement. While there may be a few more houses--they are definitely going to be a smaller wall quilt--someday.

Then I spent several days on the road, visiting Phoenix and then my parents, while I worked on this block from King George III:

Our springlike weather helped me finish these Flower Garden blocks which are all tilting to the left (which given the way my neck feels today, I am doing too!)

Then Just Takes Two offered more temptation.  I couldn't decide on just two fabric colors--I don't think I've ever made a non-scrap quilt, and definitely not a two fabric only quilt.  Since I need to use some of the fabric I already had on hand, after much digging around, I decided to do the blocks with scraps and pieces I have from Roberta Horton plaids(1990's) .  I already have a couple ancient UFOs from the fabrics in process, so hopefully I won't end up using up something I'll need for them, but since I couldn't find the UFOs, who knows. Here are some of the blocks that were finished when the photos were taken:

I managed to do all of the January blocks in January (hooray!) and have finished the first group of February ones too, although again I had the printer at less than 100% size and now have a 12" instead of 12.5" block. Not sure that I am going to redo it or just add a strip somewhere.  (Hopefully this lesson is learned now--as long as my memory works.)   I'm using more than two fabrics in some blocks--when using what's left, you use the pieces you have in the right size.

Sometime in January I also felt the need to do some mindless cutting and piecing, and when I ran into the Sparkle Punch quilt along at the Oh, Fransson! blog, yet another new project began.  Since I had leftover strips in many of these colors, cutting was easy (and I didn't feel quite so decadent in starting another new project--I am just using up the stash after all).

I finished all the cutting and the initial stitching of star points, but am at the point where they need to be laid out on the design wall.  Unfortunately my design wall is already occupied by a few layers:

Yes, that's Hugs & Kisses somewhere under there--a project I am tired of, and so obviously avoiding.  And yes, if you are counting, THREE new projects added in January.  (and I've already started another in February!)  Guess that explains the blah feeling!

Blah, Blah and Triple Blah--Happy Stitching!

Scatterbrained October

The Patchwork Times UFO Challenge for October was #5, a Roseville Block that I finished and posted about in early October.  Here it is again for the UFO Challenge followers:

The vase fabric is from a panel of Field Bouquet by Kaffe.  The block reads a bit dark, but I like how it turned out, although it had its moments of stress.  Partway through I managed to cut a hole in it, which led to a few days of depression, then a bit of moving around of the circles.  But it could have been so much worse, and ended up just fine.

With my UFO done so early in the month, you are probably wondering what I did the rest of the month.  Well, so am I--October was a very scatterbrained kind of month!

First, I worked on the King George, and finished this block (totally ignoring the other block already in process).  It probably wasn't the best fabric choices because they blend into each other, but sometimes you just have to try something, and I like that green fabric!

Then we found a new home for the kitty that had adopted us.  I still miss her though.  She would come out to say hello whenever I got the mail in or went outside.  But she'll be much happier--or at least warmer--in her new home.  (I'm afraid she is missing the ability to roam at will, but hopefully when snow comes she'll be happier to be inside.)

Next, I started work on the Roseville house panel--here's a sneak peak of it.  But soon I got distracted, and started the bottom panel too (no photo of that).  Neither are very far along.

And then (here's the confession) I started TWO new projects.  There isn't much to show, and I doubt they are going to move along much until after Christmas, but here's a preview.  The first group is strips for a pattern called Hugs & Kisses, and the second group is just some 2.5 inch squares I started sewing together, a bit of a leader/ender, but once I get started, there is no stopping for awhile, so it's hard to say which is the leader or ender.  Eventually they will likely be used in a quilt called Coming Up Roses, unless I get sidetracked again.  More on these when they're further along...

The UFO Challenge for November is #3 which is another Roseville block (also already finished, because I swapped it for #11 back in September).  Guess I will have to get to work on #11, which is now back from the quilter--before I start another new project! :)  Only two months to go!

Scoreboard for the Month/Year/Total Project:

Roseville Blocks – one finished in October -10/13 blocks, 1/4 panels, 0/4 borders completed

Flower Garden Blocks – none completed in October, 9/24 blocks completed

King George III - 2/12 completed, one in October

UFO Challenges Completed - 10/12, up to date (with the substitution)

Old projects Entirely Completed - 4

New Projects Started – 11, including Hugs & Kisses and Coming up Roses in October

Happy Stitching!