Molly thinking about what she can make from these fabric strings

Took a few days off from sewing.  I could say it was spring break, but it was more like a bad case of spring fever!

The weather here in the Upper Peninsula has been unseasonably spring-like, with temperatures reaching into the 50′s nearly every day this past week.  The snow is melting fast, leaving behind icky-looking piles of dirt and leaves on the sidewalks and streets.  I’m almost ready for it to snow again to cover up the mess.

I found myself at loose ends for a few days.  With all the warm weather, what I really wanted to do was to go out and start working in the yard, cutting brush and  cleaning up for spring.  But since there’s still over a foot of snow on the ground,  it’s just not possible yet.

I wanted to start a new project, but couldn’t seem to settle on what to do.  Somebody on the Heartstrings Yahoo Group had suggested looking at these Project Improv quilts on Flickr.  Project Improv is a charity quilt project started by Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio over a year ago.

These strip quilts are bright and snappy, as well as being inspiring.  In fact, they’ve inspired me to sort out my fabric strips by color, and also by value–lights, mediums, and darks.  So far I’ve done the 2″ and the 2-1/2″ strips.  Tomorrow I need to continue with the 1-1/2″ strips and also the five or six bags of crumbs that have been lurking in the closet for years.  The picture shows Molly surrounded by fabric strips.  Actually she curled up in a box and went to sleep while I was sorting strips, which was probably a good thing.

This sorting project has been very enlightening.  I thought I didn’t have very many lights, but I discovered that I had a lot more than I had thought!  A lot of the mediums could go either light or dark, too, depending on whether I pair them with lights or darks.

So I’m starting to get jazzed about my next project.  Instead of a scrappy look, my focus will be on just two or three colors at a time.

I’m also considering donating finished tops, and letting someone with a long-arm do the quilting.  Machine quilting is hard on my wrists, so I’d rather avoid it when I can.

It’s been said that a messy studio is a sign of a creative mind.  Think I qualify?  Ah well, things will be tidied up tomorrow.

You may remember my post about my quilting disaster.  Well, the Quilt From Hell is no longer from hell!  In fact, now I love it!

Yesterday I squared up my blocks and trimmed them so that they’re the same size.  They finished at five-and-three-quarters inches, so will sew up to five-and-a-quarter.  It will finish up as a lap quilt, and I’ll have four blocks left over.  Who knows what they’ll end up in?

In the afternoon, I laid them out in the floor, and tried some different configurations.

Zigzags was my first try. It was OK, but I didn't really care for it.

I liked the diagonal set a little better...

And the winner is...an off-center barn raising set!

The barn-raising set was the one that I liked the best.  The quilt is eight blocks tall, by seven blocks wide, so there’s no way to really center it, which I didn’t want to do anyway.  I like the off-center look.  It has a lot more visual interest.

So today I hope to get it sewed together.  I was raring to go yesterday, but my driveway desperately needed to be shoveled!  Real life always calls, doesn’t it?  But there may be a break in the snow for a few days, as the forecast is calling for highs in the 30′s through the weekend, with maybe even some sun peeking out.  Warm enough to enjoy a few walks, too!  I feel like I’ve been cooped up in the house forever!

On the baby quilt front:  I mailed Sarah’s quilt out last Friday.  I called and let her know it was on the way, and extracted a promise that she would call me before she opened it so I could hear her reaction.  The Post Office came through, and the quilt arrived safely yesterday.  She had just gotten back from shopping, and had to put away the cold stuff before she could call me!  I praised her for her self-restraint.

She loved it!  Of course I knew she would, but it’s always great to hear it.  The older boys were at school, but Kieran, who is two, loved it, too.  He saw it, and said, “ooooh, kitties!”  Sarah’s telling him that it’s for the new baby, so hopefully he won’t glom onto it!  He has his own kitty “kilt” from Granny that I made for him when he was born.  Sarah’s probably going to hang this one on the wall above the changing table so they can enjoy it until the new baby comes.

In spite of the snow shoveling, I managed to do some more handquilting on my AAQI Challenge Quilt, too.  I was afraid my hands would be too tired, but such was not the case.  I made myself quit after an hour or so, which was hard.  But the quilting is nearly done now, and I should finish it tonight.  Then I just need to do the wolf applique, and bind it, along with the hanging corners.  Can’t wait to finish it so I can get started on the next one!  I have ideas for a couple more.

Molly, Quilting Supervisor-In-Chief

I’ll finish up today with a picture of Molly.  She was watching me lay my quilt blocks out in the floor yesterday afternoon, and looked so cute sitting on her stool that I couldn’t resist snapping her picture.  She sat next to me on that stool while I was sitting at the ironing board trimming quilt blocks yesterday morning.

How sweet, you say?  Don’t be fooled.  She wanted me to feed her, and was trying to get me to give in and do it by patting me on the arm with her paw.  When that didn’t work, she resorted to knocking things in the floor.  But I held firm, and made her wait til I was done.  Life is so hard for a cat!

Well, here I was, trying to figure out how to use my new digital camera to take pictures of some wristlets so I can list them. I’ve even gotten a light box, which is a cube covered with white fabric that you put your stuff into so you can take a picture of it and have it look halfway decent.

Now how long do you think a self-respecting cat can ignore something cool like a lightbox?

You’re right, not long!

What a cool place to hang out! What, you don't want pictures of me?

Well, guess I'll check out something more interesting...

I'll show you, I'll just walk off.

Hey, check out the neat place to hide back here!

I'm gonna bite that hand that's trying to haul me outta here!

Molly is named for the statue of the woman Marine at the USMC boot camp at Parris Island, SC. All I can say is that she lives up to her name.

Actually, I stole her sunny spot on the kitchen table, so she was just claiming her space.  It wasn’t HER fault that I stuck a lightbox there and tried to take pictures!