pintucks, here I come!

our february challenge chez beehive (yes, that would be *last* month's challenge) is to create a textured block. so i'm going to pintuck.

and, because i still needed ravelry pics for some mittens made AGES ago, and my blog is about 80% ridiculous animal photos, i present the animals minding their own business:



and then the one that gets me on the radar of the spca...

the best part of having too many projects started

is getting to see them all come together and be finished.

a bee block, which is quite nice looking, but only from a distance. this block was just awful for me, not too sure why, but i was nowhere near getting it to lay flat. :(



another bee block, which turned out much better, and had FABULOUS fabrics. i have to do something in gray and yellow!



two sets of maplelea doll blanket and pillow sets for my nieces, to go with the beds that we got them:





and i'm hoping that every day will bring something more done: a cowl, two pairs of socks, and a hat are still on the list for christmas, and are all in various stages of completion.

kind of quilting bee fail recovery...

SO, i'm not quite so behind on my bee blocks. although EVERY block that i tried today was some kind of fail. possibly something to do with being home sick for the last FIVE days, and still not being 100%. at least, that's the story i'm telling. i finally, FINALLY had some energy back, and thought that it would be good to catch up on some sewing. not catch up on laundry or house cleaning, no, no. the sewing machine. :)

first up was what i thought would be the easiest, a monkey wrench and a shoo-fly block:



if you notice, there's just one block there. yep. i managed to run out of fabric. and i swear that i followed the directions *exactly*! :( off to an excellent start.

on to an epic block fail. my genius...cut the fabric for paper piecing and THEN realised that i couldn't just mirror everything, because fabric has a right side and a wrong side. enter S,M,S and some more fabric, and the block FINALLY came together, althoguh not without some seam picking because i sewed the blocks together backwards. BUT, i REALLY like the block, and the fabrics Catherine picked were just gorgeous.



then on to what should not have been a block fail since all it consisted of was sewing scraps on a pre-cut template. but there was seam-picking here as well, and i'm not sure that i love the end result. i think that i didn't do a super job on the fabrics, but she wanted it to be scrappy, and no matter what i did, it won't match what everyone else did, and that's the point, right? or something. but i *do* love the spiderweb blocks, SO cute! i will definitely be doing this block for something. something small-ish, i think...



and then, since i was on a roll, i started cutting for some pillowcases for our throw pillows to go with our new couch. didn't get very far since i only had so much of our fabric pre-washed (since i wanted to test washing the upholstery fabric, and only wanted to possibly ruin some of it, not all of it). they're going to be cute!

and now for the best news: i think that i'm feeling well enough and sounding well enough that i can re-integrate with society tomorrow! :D my shadow will be sad, since she's spent the last 5 days napping with me and insisting that we dog park RIGHTNOW...hard life.

clever-like-a-fox-toberfest

today's post is brought to you by my hilarious incompetence! so i'm blogging from mister man's computer because he's in bed not feeling well watching a movie on my laptop. and blogging about my quilting bee blocks wouldn't really be that much fun without...pictures of my quilting bee blocks. hilarity ensues. long story short, i managed to set one of my bee blocks as his desktop photo. and i can't figure out how to change it back, so giggling, i changed it to me and him tiled across his screen. now to see how long until he notices/calls me out on it and i have to fess up to my crafty-nerdiness.

so my first block comes from belinda at the beehive. she was so organized, and her instructions were wonderful--she'd even made a pdf and emailed it and included a print copy in our packages. and i still think that i fucked it up. mind doesn't look at ALL like the others (well, it kind of does. i mean, i pieced it right, it just looks...off...)





i don't know why i had such a hard time piecing this, but i laid it out with different fabrics in different places like 10 times, and it just never looked quite right. i hope that it isn't terribly out of place with all the rest. :(

i also had enough left over for a 9.5" log cabin-y block, as requested.





and then i started on the wonky star block for brioni at bee addicted 3. this bad boy started out as one of those "seemed like a good idea at the time" ideas. Brioni had asked for wonky stars, and made the mistake of saying that she didn't care what the configuration was, so long as the block came out to 12.5"...so yeah. my block was ambitious, and looks great, but has a LOT of seams! which, in retrospect, i should have pressed all open, but i really wanted the ones IN the blocks to be perfectly matching, so i pressed them in opposite directions, but that made things quite bulky. ANYHOW. it'll be fine once it's quilted, it's just doing its own thing right now...as well, i feel bad because everyone here seemed more than able to make two blocks with the fabric bri sent, but i only managed to turn out one, with VERY little leftover. i'm not sure that i'm up to snuff with these bee ladies. next month, i suppose!





in other news: the man is sick, the dog has been limping and is a suckface, and i don't think that i've eaten a vegetable all day. sigh! better tomorrow, although with less crafting, i suppose.

blogtoberfest, lazy sunday edition

oh my. we had our thanksgiving dinner last night, and i ate far too much, and now i'm feeling bloated and lazy...still. but it IS sunday, and so a lazy day. except that i've got to clean a bit, and i'm going to get going on the blocks for my two bees. i've started on a HUGE block for belinda. they're going to be 18.5" square, which is by far the biggest block i've ever put together, and despite several explanations of the VERY SIMPLE directions for the block, i'm kind of confused. i've got it laid out and it's according to the pattern, but i feel like it still is different from everyone else's blocks....will post pics later, and see. :)

also, i just can't believe how lovely everyone at the quilt festival are with their nice comments. i can't wait to start checking out everyone else's and getting some more inspiration, which is just what i need!

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. :)

and so it begins.

a year of meeting new people, i have just heard, is on its way to me via the australian and canadian mail systems! (hopefully playing nicely with one another) and i just kind of had a heart attack. someone else is going to send me a set amount of precious fabric and i'm going to have to make something lovely out of it AND NOT SCREW IT UP. that's kind of pressure. but i've already kind of got an idea. kind of. maybe just an inkling.

also, i still have to twist a few arms or throw in a few more "ehhhh?"s cuz it IS a good idea, but i think that i might have a plan for a real live bee in real life. to make a blanket for a good cause. yes e, baby bro is a good cause! (i will be testing you on this post later, as previously discussed)

OH.MAI.GOD.

I HAVE TO TYPE THIS ALL IN CAPS, I'M SO EXCITED. k, not really cuz i find it kind of obnoxious, but for serious, i'm that excited. I'M IN AN ONLINE QUILTING BEE!!!! the lovely sheridan has opened her sanity to a quilting bee, and since i've been stalking her for sometime, i was in on the ground floor. well, not really, but i was in under the wire, and now i'm in a quilting bee! my first quilting bee. i'm excited and scared at the same time. hi future bee peeps (maybe if you're checking me out), i promise to not screw your blocks up and send it out on time, i swear. i'm hoping that at least some people will want some cute kicky little moderny blocks, and then even if i'm not stellar, it will look like i made it like that. but also, i swear i can sew a straight line. i promise. for reals. now i've got to go and try to sleep because yesterday was hell without having slept for more than 3-4 hours.

xo!