{WiP} Wednesday ~ 34/52

Holy Toledo, folks! Do you know what happened here? This last week I actually completed the things I wanted to complete this week!! Wow. Either I'm getting back on the horse, or I've finally lowered my standards to realistic levels.

(it's the second one, in case you didn't know)

I finished Alison's blocks, finished Des's blocks, and made the car seat cover. And if my children could better synchronize their nap schedule, I would have mailed them already!

You saw my "Melissa" block for Alison in the Bee Happy bee, but this one is new. It spells "woven.", which is very much what we are as a bee. Woven very tightly together. Best. Bee. Ever.

Here are the two very simple, yet very impactful blocks for Des in the {Faith} circle of the do.Good Stitches bee. She's using this technique from Moda BakeShop.

And I finished the car seat cover. I used this pattern from Georgia Leigh Designs for a friend expecting her first baby girl. I love this fabric SO much!! It's girlie, but super modern, and feels nice. :)  I backed it with Kona Navy so when the baby is sleeping, it'll be pitch black for her. Mama needs baby to sleep! I had planned to put buttons on the straps, but just wasn't gonna happen. It's really cute, though. And I'm reminded once again that I need to get one made for Buzz!! Poor kid. :-)

I also bought the fabric for my Grayson quilt and my Field Study quilts, though I can't start on them yet.

I'd like to deviate for a minute and talk about Field Study. Folks, I am not a die-hard AnnaMaria Horner fan. I mean, I am now, but wasn't in the past. Her fabric designs were pretty, but I didn't NEED to buy them. But, Field Study? 800 times more beautiful in person than on the web. I just keep taking them out of the bag and looking at them. Glorious. I can't wait till the voiles come out. Mmmmmm...dreamy. So if you're on the fence about it, I encourage you to somehow see it in person. You will want it, I almost guarantee it! :-)

But...before I can work on those, I need to make Mary's mod mosaic blocks, and Kelly's improv blocks. Then, I dare say it out loud, I'll be caught up for August!! I haven't been caught up in forever!!

And I need to write up the description because September is my month in the do.Good Stitches bee, and I've got a very special, very deserving, unknown-to-me recipient of this quilt, and I'm pretty psyched. I also need to make my sample blocks.

THEN I can work on my Fruit Stripe quilt, my Grayson quilt, and my Field Study quilt.

Oh, and I pulled out an old beauty. A multi-generational WiP. I'll tell you more about it later, but here's a sneak peek:

In other news, bunk bed training sucks. We are really struggling. My 2 year old just doesn't seem to know how to truly relax and settle down and go to sleep. We've tried quite a few techniques, and some help, but nothing works. And she wants to sleep in the bunk bed, but she just plays too much (even when she's notably tired), so we've been doing the bedtime routine as though she will stay in the bunk bed, but then, after 3 warnings, we remove her to her crib again. She just sleeps SO much better in her crib. SO much better. It's amazing how different her personality is when she's getting enough sleep. I'm so discouraged, though.

We'll keep trying, because somehow, she's gotta get outta that crib, but I just don't know how. Maybe we put the toddler bed in her room, and put the crib in the bunk bed room, and have the baby and the 4 year old share a room. I don't know the answer.  Any suggestions or books or websites would be great. She sleeps fine in her own room, but just not in the bunk bed, yet. She doesn't cry or play any of the manipulation games that other kids do, she just won't stop in the bunk bed. It's like Six Flags over Texas for her, and just as big!

She's adorable, though, even when she doesn't get enough sleep. :) When I wash her hair, it's curly, but when she sleeps, the curls fall out.

Have a great week!

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced, hosted by Michelle, and the weekly {WiP} Wednesday feature.

{WiP} Wednesday ~ 33/52

I think I should type this whole post backwards.

Sdrawkcab.

Yhw? Esuaceb ton ylno did I ton hsilpmocca gnihtyna, tub I dedda ot ym PiW tsil!!

(eh, too time-consuming!)

So why was I typing every word backward? Because not only did I not accomplish anything, but because I added to my WiP list!

Fabric for a new project:

(it's Kitchy Kitchen by Maude Asbury by Blend)

What I NEED to work on this week

• Alison's bee blocks
• Des's bee blocks
• A car seat cover for a friend's new baby.

What I WANT to work on this week:

• Kelly's bee blocks
• Mary's bee blocks

What I won't likely touch all week, but need to:

• Fruit Stripe quilt
• Grayson quilt
• Field Study quilt

We are entering Week 2 of getting the girls into bunk beds. It's especially challenging for the 2-year old. And the 40-year old. :-p. I know it will take time, and it's just the next level of sleep training, but I'm just really hoping to not go crazy before we get there. Here's a crappy picture I took of the video monitor. See her little head popping up above the protective gate? She's just got toooooo much energy!

I hope you have a wonderful, crafty, and productive week! :)

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced and Lee's weekly {WiP} Wednesday feature.

{WiP} Wednesday ~ 31/52...and 32/52

(I actually wrote this last week, but never uploaded the pictures, and here we are, a week later, just like that! Poof! So, I'm gonna cheat and just use the one from last week, and intersperse any changes or finishes or new starts. :) )

So...Anna Maria Horner.

AMAZING!!!

On SO many levels. She is personable, she is kind, she is whip smart, she is genuine, she is funny, she is fiercely talented, she is adorable, she is beautiful, she is hard-working. She is what we all want to be when we grow up.

I was blessed to spend some one-on-one time with her on Friday before her first event, and then she spoke to our guild on Friday night.

Let me just say. If you ever have the chance to hear her tell her story? GO! Run like the wind! Pay the money! You will NOT regret it. I'm cheap, and I'm not an artist, and I don't aspire to design fabric. But her talk? Was ridiculously inspiring. For pretty much everyone that came. SO worth every penny.

(and every exhausting minute put into getting her here!)

You can see the exhaustion in my face here on Saturday. I was SO tempted to crop in a better picture of my face, but that might take another week. Or a year. :)

So Friday night was her lecture/trunk show. We saw her creative process, we saw pictures of her as a kid, we saw (and touched) some of her most beautiful quilts, we got to know HER. She was exhausted, I know, but she never showed it. She's all class. :)  And Saturday she taught her multi-tasker tote class. Which, I am SO glad I took as a part of a class!! I'm s...l...o...w..., and I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to reading patterns, but, to me, it was SO worth it!! For one, Rocket Man and I got to hang out with my best gal pals ALL DAY. That was such a treat. And for another, Anna held him pretty much every time he made eye contact with her.

Lemme just pause right there. Just exactly HOW many people can say that Anna Maria Horner held their baby while they sewed??

And for another, it was so valuable to me to have the pattern designer right there at our beck and call. And she was so gentle and democratic when we asked dumb questions. :-) Well, it was mostly only me asking dumb questions, but still. :-)

I really and truly believe that everyone who attended both events found it to be well worth the time and money.

Sadly, I did not finish my tote. And I have not picked it up again, either. I am just now, 4 days later, starting to feel human again! That whole thing just wiped me out! Shattered! Knackered!!

I hope to work on it this week. Once I get my mojo back. :-)

*Update: I finished it this week! Here's a pic:

OH!! Before I forget! Her new line, Field Study, is beautiful and vibrant and fluid and full of character. I love it on MULTIPLE levels. I've already designed a quilt that will feature each print, now I just need to get my mitts on it! Fancy Tiger in Denver has it already, so I may drive up there and buy some. Or all. I usually don't go gaga for collections, but I'm going cuckoo for this one!

*Update: I went to Fancy Tiger and measured the repeat on each one so I know how to use it in my quilt. I also picked up an extra sales brochure of Field Study so I could cut it up. This isn't what the quilt is going to look like, merely a picture so I can remember what prints I want to use.

 

I didn't touch anything from Sunday to Tuesday when I cleaned off my sewing table hoping to kick-start my motivation.

*Update: It's a mess again.

But then I filled it back up again. I'm gonna start small by sewing a banner of little triangles for the girls' room. My friend Amy, of Stitchery Dickory Dock, suggested it as a way to use up wee scraps, and it's darling (just like she is, by the way!), so we're gonna give that a shot this week.

*Update: Here's my oldest girlie helping Mama sew a banner for her room:

And I've got some bee blocks to finish. And others to start. :-)

*Update: I finished my Melissa block. Well, almost finished. I still have to put a strip of aqua across the top and the bottom, and then I've got to do a word that describes our Bee Happy bee. Hopefully I'll get that done this week.

We are going to be putting the girls in the same room soon, and little Buzz will go into the nursery, so I've got some domestic labor in my near future. Blending two closets is not my idea of fun. :-(. And I'm really scared about how they'll do in a shared room!! I anticipate very little sleep for us all in the near future. But it has to be done, so I will go bravely toward the challenge. :-)

*Update: The bunk beds went into their room yesterday, and last night was a "trial run"...that turned into a Papa Left The Room dance party, and ended with a Mama Found Out pity party. :-)  I'm praying tonight goes better.

That's all I can think of for now. Have a great week, and good luck getting some WiPs done!

(I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced's WiP Wednesday spot, hosted by Cindy, this week.)

{WiP} Wednesday ~ 30/52

I had some really productive sewing time this week. So much so that on Sunday I actually felt like I was getting on top of a few things.

That lasted for about 27 seconds. :-/

I almost got caught up on my bee blocks!!

Almost. :-)

I finished Shelley's black and white blocks for the Mod Mosaic bee. She asked for black on white prints with black for the grout. And she wanted one block to have an aqua tile, and one block to have a lime green tile. I hope my green goes! :)

I finished the Scattered Jewels blocks for Rachel for the {Faith} Circle of the do.Good Stitches bee. These simple blocks really make a big impact when put together in a quilt.

I finished my Project 10-4 Threesies for a friend's new little boy baby. I made them big so he can wear them when it gets colder. I just put fusible interfacing on the back of each cut-out, fused the cut out to the onesie, and then did a bit of raw-edge applique around each one. The red frog wraps around the back a bit, and the guitar has quilted strings. The whale seems to have a bit of a skin condition...must get that checked out...

I almost finished my bee blocks for Alison. She wanted us to piece one block with our name, and one block with a word that reminds us of the Bee Happy bee, or the LA MQG, or of her. I haven't started that one, yet, and I am halfway through my name. All I have left in this one is a, s, and s...which pretty much sums up what kind of parent I feel like lately (GaRUMP!)

I made probably the biggest fabric purchase of the year on Friday. My LQS was having a pretty major sale on solids and also had some discounted fabric, so I bought about 10 yards, I think. BUT...I didn't buy a single inch for my stash! I bought it all for projects I intend to complete in the very near future.

I bought Kona Carnation for Mookie's Summer Quilt that we're working on together.

I bought solids to go with prints I already have for 2 of the Multi-tasker totes that I'll be making this weekend when ANNA MARIA HORNER COMES TO TOWN!!!! (no, I'm not excited about that at all!)  And I bought a print/solid combo for one more tote. So it is possible that I complete 3 totes this weekend. Not probable, mind you, just possible. :)

I also bought fabric for another car seat cover like I made for Peg. That went together really quickly, and it's just so cute. And HANDY!!And I really love the fabric combination I picked this time. I hope the new mama does too. :)

This week, I need to finish Alison's blocks, and make at least one Multi-tasker tote at the class on Saturday. I'm going to cut enough fabric to make 2, but I only expect to get one fully completed. There's just SO much to still get done in preparation for her visit! A couple of the members of the guild are going to be staying with me since they live rather far away, and it's a Friday night/Saturday combo event, so I need to clean the guest room (that bathroom hasn't seen this much cleaning in all it's life! Such a busy summer!), and the rest of the house, frankly! And prepare my fabric for the totes. And practice talking like a normal person so that once I meet Anna, I won't sound like a complete dork! :)

I hope you have a wonderful and crafty week! I hope to have a zillion photos next week! :)

I'm linking up with Lee's regular {WiP} Wednesday post, hosted by Katie of Katie's Korner this week.