Block Swap

This is what I worked on last night. I belong to a bee that swaps blocks once a quarter. This particular swap is easy because we are swapping a very simple block. The good ol' nine-patch. We are doing 1800's and Civil War reproduction fabrics. This one will be a great quilt because it is such a simple pattern, and might actually get done fairly quickly. When I say fairly quickly, I mean that it just might have binding on it within two years!

Isn't it funny how you can have 13 projects going on at the same time, forever; then comes a month when you get 7 of them to finishing stage, and your friends are thinking that you get all of these done in a week...lol. Not really. My friends throw a party every time I finish a quilt since it is such a rare occasion. Sometimes they even invite me.

This is what it will look like when it is done. This is a picture from the magazine that the pattern is in. The only thing that we are doing differently is we are making the block larger. Ours will be 8 inches, the one in the pattern is 6 inches. It will end up being the same size as the one shown with one less row across and down. I still cannot decide if I want to increase the size of the flying geese or not. We shall see.

This is the magazine that it was taken from. American Patchwork and Quilting, April, 2011.












The background that you see in the pattern is scrappy as well, but pretty uniform looking since it is mainly reproduction shirtings that are being used. These are the ones that I picked. We will be swapping some of these as well so there will be others added to this supply. Plus enough left over to do the geese in the border.

I really want to use this fabric as the sashing, but I may have to switch to a tone on tone or a more solid looking fabric. The only way that I will be able to get away with using this one is if I make the sashing wider. We shall see on that as well. Thank goodness math is my favorite thing about quilting...and the coffee...and (sometimes) a seam ripper.

What I Deserve

Well, I am back. I truly enjoyed June with Alannah. I decided that I wasn't going to be tied down to my computer during that time so that I could spend all of that extra non-Facebook time with her. I found out that if you miss an entire month of Facebook, you can get some serious quilting done, you can churn butter, wash your laundry by hand, and build Rome. I hope to God that I don't have ''had the best time on Facebook with all 15 of her friends'' on my tombstone. I hope that it would at least have ''actually got that binding done'' somewhere on it.

I keep my computer in the kitchen/living room area, so that I can put out fires, pull the children out of the furniture, or wipe up emergency kool-aid spills (which, for some reason only gets spilled on a cloth or rug-type surface...) The kids are at that ''magical'' age where you can't even turn your back on them for a second. I have been getting ALL (and any) quilting done during the dark hours. I love being a Mom (I capitalize ''Mom'', because, well, It is a much tougher job than ''President'', and damn it, deserves to be capitalized). My days are chaotic, but I think God knows how much I enjoy my life of craziness. I grew up this way. I know not of normal. He is getting back at me for throwing my dad's tools in the Mouse River in Minot, N.D. as a small child...or maybe it was for eating ALL of mom's chocolate that she purchased to make Christmas candy one year. Could be running back and forth across 4 lanes of highway with my little brother and sister just to see if we could get them to honk at us...naaaahhhh!

It kind of scares the hell out of me, because I think that my kids have their best stuff in store for me in the near future. I caught Connor running around our neighborhood without a stitch of clothing on yesterday. THAT, is going to be my mildest experience with him, I am sure of it.

I do want to share some of the things that happen in my quieter hours. I have gotten a few things done at least.

I got this quilt top done for the quilt shop to be used as a store sample during the Quilt Across Texas Shop Hop that will be going on the entire month of September.

I have been getting some serious work done on McKenna's gown (maybe some pictures tomorrow?)

and I have a block swap due in August that I am almost done on...I really need to get pictures that progress as well...

I suppose tomorrow you will see some of my projects...as long as Facebook crashes.