i'm [finally] learning patience!

because the bed quilt is making me its bitch. no joke. but i'm learning patience and actually found some zen in the quilting. but not after some REALLY un-zen. i started with a hot pink on the top to contrast with the white fabric (this would be a lovely colour i chose after changing the yarn twice) and white on the back against the deep purple backing. well, the pink looked TERRIBLE, and the lines weren't straight, and I didn't like the piecing. so i started another line with white top and bottom. it looked much better, but somehow my bobbin tension was WAY off, and the back was a huge tangle. so i spent an hour and a bit picking out three and a half times of 104" long stitching. YAY! anyhow, gave up, slept, gave the quilt some room, and now am doing white top and bottom, VERY slowly, and it's coming out beautifully. 4 rows down, 50 or so to go. :)

bought me some quilt basting spray, and it is THE SHIT. i'm not stellar at basting, and don't really have enough room to lay the quilt out on the floor like everyon says, especially for a queen+ quilt like i've got on the go. it took me a bit of forever, but my quilt is basted, pinned, and rolled, all ready to go for tomorrow.

AND, mister man and i managed to pick a new mattress! it's lovely, and we totally agreed on which one we liked without any major discussion--this would be a total first. our tastes kind of run a bit different. and, they're delivering it tomorrow, which is perfect because my neck is SO sore and now stinky of tiger balm.

oohoohooh!

sent of my packets for my bees. hopefully they won't be too long in getting home!

next up: i've been to the 50% off sale at the fabricland, since it's a really good time to get batting and thread, both of which i desperately need. i got a bright fuschia for the quilting of the kaffee fasset-y quilt, so:




i'm making this quilt, but huge...with apple green centre squares, and white in between the squares, and then am using the fuschia thread for the plaid style quilting. on the back is going to be a royal purple with white thread. i'm hoping that it's going to be fabulous! :)

then we'll have a nice new quilt for the nice new bed we're (hopefully!) getting tomorrow. long story there, involving mold and sadness, and eventually, cricky necks...

so that's my plan for this weekend: quilting and running a 5k race that i keep forgetting about.

i just love my guild

my aunt, who encouraged me to join her guild, makes going to my monthly guild meeting just adorable! she's super encouraging and thinks that i should get started trying EVERYTHING that i express interest in, which i find VERY like me and my dad (her brother), which also amuses me. she's got some patterns for some lovely things that i can try (i could TOTALLY do *that*), and some hand frames, and is always like "well, if you want to learn to hand quilt, you've got the best hand quilter in the guild sitting two seats down from you" and stuff like that, then makes me little notes about their names and stuff. it's adorable. and now i have several more projects lined up, including learning to hand quilt some things on some small frames she's going to give me. :)

bees, staples and a whole lot of chocolate

today was a day for odds and ends, in addition to naps. i just love lazy sundays.

started off with some bee blocks. for mel, from the beehive, i made these three:











and then, for becca from bee addicted 3, i made some houses. becca made the mistake of telling us that we could do whatever we wanted, that she wanted any size we wanted and that we didn't need to square up the blocks because she wanted to see about putting them together. hopefully she isn't terribly annoyed when she finds these from me:







took a bit of a break for a nap and some homework from my upholstery class. i just cannot believe how many freaking staples are in this freaking chair. but it's coming along, as you can tell from the photo, probably. doesn't it look great? and i'll be all ready for next week, hopefully!





next up was a bit of gearing up for the fall. we had been given a hand-me-down full-body raincoat for the dogfink, but it needed to be pinned up a little bit because she's got stumpy little legs. she was THRILLED with the whole pinning and trying on process.





that about sums up my day today, except that i'm going to have to get back to the last of the chocolate, and maybe try to clean up around a bit, since i have no clean clothes.

this weekend is going to be bee-tastic! i got my two fabric packets, and have cabins and houses to make. i've started drawing up some log cabin ideas for the beehive and i'm going to have to really think about how is best to make some little houses for bee addicted 3. happy!

also, the upholstery class has started, and what a start. emily and i have managed to have the most ambitious projects. the dog was very sad to watch her chair disappear and has been wandering the spot where it was all sadfaced. the lazyboy was extremely disgusting, but is now in pieces getting ready to be beautiful. hopefully the dog likes it when it's ready. :)

yay!

i refuse to let the whole day get me down, so i'm going to post about tomorrow's excitement: e and i are embarking on a 12 week journey into the world of upholstery! i shall try to remember to snap a "before" pic of the projects in question so that the after will see all the more fab. :)

dear jane!

i've started on a dear jane! i'm paper piecing it, which is going pretty well except for a few minor major setbacks last night which involved seam ripping on paper piecing. not that fun. but the blocks turned out super well:

A-1, Pinwheel gone awry





A-6, Uncle Homer





J-6, Granny weaver





working at it in no particular order and with no particular plan for colours. it's going to be scrappy and colourful with white kona cotton for the background and sashing. best part: the blocks are the same size! YAY!

ahhhhh!

home again. although a long weekend, it's going to be a busy one. family affairs this friday and saturday, and a bit more tomorrow, and then monday, free as a bird. so far, so good. got some good crafting in on thursday night (a secret project for a housewarming gift), and some group knitting with mister man's family last night, which was cute, and productive!

tonight, finishing up the housewarming project and sleeping.