frustration

I haven't posted in a long time it seems. Mostly I am frustrated with myself. Ahh...it is who I am... I have these ups and downs. I cannot seem to get motivated with sewing anything, however there are lots of things I want to finish up and lots of new projects I want to start. And so I am frustrated. I know that I really need to sit down and prioritize. Perhaps I will make a list of 5 WIPS and start there.

For 2016 I decided I wanted to do a Smash Book. If you aren't familiar, a Smash Book is kind of a "no rules scrapbook" basically. I did a little scrapbooking several years ago, but got bored with that and got rid of a lot of my stuff. I don't want to do all the fancy scrapping stuff...just want to keep it simple, thus the Smash Book. However, it takes me so long to do just one page, even though it is super simple. I do enjoy the process though. I am just making pages with stuff I do. I made a page about taking my new dog to the vet, a page about the snow, pages about my recent trip to the beach, etc. I am keeping up so far, but we'll see for how long. I know if I get too far behind I will get frustrated and give it up.

I mentioned my new dog. Well, he just appeared, and I am guessing he came from wherever the cat that appeared on Halloween night 2015, Squishy, came from, because the two of them seem to know each other and get along well. My new dog, Jack, does not get along very well with my cat that I've had since 2010, Tangerine. Or maybe it is that she doesn't appreciate him, or Squishy. So yes, I now have 4 pets. 2 cats and 2 dogs. I am not taking in any more strays!!! We tried to find Jack's owners but no one will claim him. I love that dog though, so since I have taken him to the vet I am officially declaring him mine. No one claimed Squishy the cat either, and he was also taken to the vet and officially a member of our family now. We believe someone near by must have moved and left them behind, although we have no proof of that. They are both very loyal and don't seem to want to leave. Anyway, having that many pets is quite a handful and keeps me busy, but they are all good pets and good company.

January is almost over. Maybe February will pull me out of this slump I am in.....let's hope so!

Goodnight Moon

Finally, I took a little time to work on the quilt I am making for my great niece for Chistmas....yes, it is December 1st. Still plenty of time to finish, right?! Eekkk! 

Here is the top:

For some reason it looks very busy in the pictures. It is very bright but not as busy as it appears in these photos. At least I don't think so...

And here is the back:

Maybe I like the back better? I just pieced some fabrics I had in my stash, an extra wonky star, and a strip of goodnight moon fabric to tie it to the front theme. I like it!

 

And I have the binding made! Yea!! I can't wait to attach it to the quilt. I love the stripes ❤️

Maybe over the weekend I can get it sandwiched and start quilting. I am planning to quilt it myself on my little sewing machine. I haven't decided if I will stitch in the ditch or free motion quilt or do some wavy lines. 

I saved a bit of the goodnight moon fabric to make a dolly quilt and I also have enough of that sweet striped fabric to use for binding a doll quilt too!     

I hope that Goodnight Moon is not to young for an almost three year old, and also that it isn't too boy-ish. It would have been perfect for a little boy and I am kind of wishing I would have figured out a way to make it a little more girlie. But I like the colors and Goodnight Moon so hopefully so will my great niece. And yes, she will be getting the book to go with her quilt! 

Wonky Stars

A little bit of sewing accomplished today and 12 wonky stars to show for it! I'll be using these stars in a Goodnight Moon quilt. Maybe I will get the top pieced together tomorrow. I want to make one little moon block using a small piece of minky fabric and then I can get the top finished! Yea!!

Pillowcases and Dolls

Today I spent the day sewing. I should have taken a nap because I work tonight and I know that by one or two o'clock in the morning I am going to totally regret my decision. And I definitely will when I have been up for 24 hours by 6 in the morning. Oh well....

I was having fun sewing! My niece's birthday is this week and I wanted to make her a pillowcase. I have discovered it is easier to make several at a time so I also made Christmas pillowcases for my daughter and her roommate. Hooray for getting something done early!!

I discovered the website www.shinyhappyworld.com recently. I just love all of her stuff! I have ordered a couple of kits and patterns but thought I'd start with a free pattern for a little dolly. This dolly is designed to be a doll for another doll pattern that I have ordered! So adorable! A doll with a dolly, who can resist?! So I cut one of my pieces backwards and I didn't want to waste it so I made a second one. I still have to stuff them and sew up their backs. But aren't they sweet?!? One will probably go to my great niece for Christmas. Not sure where the other one will wind up. If she stays with me, I'll be ok with that ;) 

PS--I am super proud of my embroidered faces!!!

Make It Monday

I needed to sew today but I don't have time (or the desire) to work on a big project. I was inspired by my daughter. I worked Friday night and Saturday night. I ended up leaving work late both mornings and was exhausted so I pretty much slept all day Sunday. I didn't get to spend much time with my daughter. On one of those days while I was sleeping she got out our Tula Pink blocks. We've been working on these blocks slowly, when we just feel like it, and it has been stress free and fun! We draw a number when we've finished a block to determine which block we will work on next. Here is the block my daughter made this weekend:

I love it!! 

So today I needed to do laundry, I have to work again tonight, but I wanted something quick to sew. I made my next Tula Pink block. I like how fast these blocks work up and they come together nicely. We are just using scraps. These fabrics looked kind of fall-ish to me so I think they were a good choice for today. Here is my block:

Here is the lovely book we are using to make our blocks:

And now I can say I made something today and that makes me HAPPY!! Did you get to make anything on this Monday?

Pineapple Blossom & Guild Project

I finally settled on borders for my pineapple blossom. As you can see the wind kept blowing my top around so I finally just snapped a couple of pictures. Anyway, the top is done!! Woohoo! It will go in the pile with the rest of my tops for now. I need a break from it AND I have other projects I need to work on! 

And I have a FINISH! Yea! In our guild this year we had an opportunity to participate in a project called "it's all in the bag". We were given a gallon size zip lock bag to put fabric and embellishments in. We returned the bags and they were swapped and given back out anonymously. With the bag we received we were supposed to make a wallhanging at least 24 X 24 inches using the fabrics & embellishments. We could add our own fabrics if we choose to but the idea is to make the wallhanging using the items given to us. Here is the one I made:

I was so happy to get a bag filled with bright fabrics! My bag also had lots of buttons, sequins, jewels, pearls and ribbon! Eeekkkk!!! That part scared me! My initial thought was to make a crazy quilt of sorts, but I let time slip away and doubted my embroidery skills. I had purchased a Spare Change ruler which uses 5 inch squares and 2.5 inch squares recently and wanted to try it out. I added ribbon and ricrac around each little square. The only thing on the entire quilt that I used that wasn't in the bag was that blue/torquoise ribbon. I added buttons in the centers. I didn't have enough red to go all the way around so I glued on some jewels. I opted not to use the sequins or the pearls. All the leftover fabrics and embellishments go back to the owner as well as the wallhanging. Thus wallhanging measures 27 X 27 inches. I hope my person will like it! I was pleased with it. I free motion quilted it in a meander with a torquoise thread. The only part I don't care for is the machine stitched binding. I have tried this method twice and haven't been pleased. I know others that machine stitch their bindings beautifully, so I know it can be done. Oh well... I decided not to take it out and redo it. We get to do a special show and tell at our upcoming guild meeting and find out who we made our wallhangings for and who made ours! It will be fun!

Too many choices

So I am pulling possibilities for my final border:

I don't really like any of the above choices. The brown one matches alright but it looks too harsh to me. The blue one is pretty but there is something about it I am not liking. I am not sure what?

 I am leaning towards one of these three below.

I like green. There is a lot of green in this quilt which just happened by chance. I like the shade of the first green one but I am afraid those flowers will make my border way too busy. 

I like the polka dot fabric because it looks cheery and this is a cheerful quilt. 

The solid green seems like a safe choice. There are some solid green pieces in this quilt already so it goes ok. But I am still not sure... I keep thinking that a solid border, or one that reads solid, or a dark border is going to take away from the center of the quilt. I think that is why I kind of like the sage green with the flowers. It isn't really bright or dark and it is still busy so it goes with the busy-ness of the quilt top BUT is it too much busy???. Maybe I would be better off skipping the final border and calling it done? But I think it needs a final border...