ho.ly.hell.

that's how i'm feeling. i've been traveling a lot for my new job (as if a new job wasn't busy enough, but i've been on three trips in the last month and a half, and have another one coming up in june), and i'm tired. not to mention unkepmt and not-at-all crafty.

PLUS, it's wedding central here, and frankly, that's tiring me out too. i don't feel like i've had any time to just be at home. and we got a new kitten (who is freaking ADORABLE, even when i want to kill him at 5.30 this morning when he was trying to play with my hand. with his claws.), and he didn't want to come say hello when i got home last night, and he's gotten bigger, and the dog is all freaked out that i've been gone so much (maybe this time she won't come home...? every time i leave the front door), and i haven't been seeing the boy, and the sewing machine is WAY at the bottom of the list, which makes me sad.

but, not to be too whiny: i've seen some amazing stuff, and my job is challenging and great, and i'm thinking that i might even like owning a cat. once he learns to sleep through the night, and i train the boy to not get mad at me when i tell the cat to shut up in the middle of the night.

i think that i might have some pictures to post tomorrow. because i will have time tomorrow to craft a bit (YAY!) and also to FINALLY upload pictures from my camera. :)

thanks for listening to my whining, internets.

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.

spring to finish...?

jacquie's hosting another "blank-to-finish", and i'm usually pretty enthusiastic. but i'm not today. i should be, but i'm sick, and i haven't been sewing much, and i'm behind in my bees, and yeah. i have one top that needs to be sandwiched and quilted, one wedding quilt that needs to be start-to-finished, a baby blanket ditto, and now two sets of quilting bee blocks from my lovely bee'ers that need to have something done with them. i'm not sure why i'm not just independently wealthy so that i can spend all day at my sewing machine, srsly.

plus, my little blog is terribly neglected.

also...

i accidentally effed up the stupid formatting for my stupid blog, and that's at least half the reason why i haven't been here at all. SO.ANNOYED.

oh.mai.hell.

so i've been ages. and i haven't really been present here at all. or a lot present in craftiness. but i'm here for the moment. i've had a bit of crafting sucess. i'm at least monstly caught up with my bees:















and i've been getting some baby stuffs done...




these bibs are SO tiny! i can't believe that i know people who are going to be in charge of people who are going to be small enough to fit into these bibs.





and i'm getting some wedding stuff done for my bride. and i just realised that next month is my month for one of my bees, so i'm going to have to start cutting up fabric and making out instructions. exciting, but scary!

and so ends another weekend.

and we're a week closer to christmas. and i didn't get "enough" done on my gifts, whatever that magic total would be. BUT, i did get blocks done for my bee!



*untrimmed because i didn't want to screw it up by accident*


not so sure i love this one


and i got the bias tape onto the baby quilts, and some of the edging sewn down.



the preemie quilts


another baby quilt made up of the same blocks.


and i even had a bit of help from the dog.




yes, that would be old polyfill batting that she is sleeping in. :|

still no pictures!

i'm so boring lately. no, really, i am. almost all the crafting i've been doing has been gift-related, which necessitates a lack of blogging pictures. :( but never fear, tonight i sew, and that can definitely have pictures. i've got the baby quilt and the three preemie quilts basted, and lots of bias tape to bind with all ready to go. the holdup: i have to wind bobbins again. bleh! and, i've also got some blocks to make for my bee, so that should keep me out of trouble tonight. and, i've got LOTS of time to craft, since i have to be up until at least 1 to pick up mister man and his mummers from the airport. not ideal timing, but i'll take any chance i can to get more crafting done, really. and, tomorrow is gloriously all mine for crafting, minus a bit of time to be spent putting snow tires on the car, with the (hopefully!) gracious help of my brother. :)