Saturday, June 9, 2012

Working hard, or hardly working?



Well, I've been doing both. I have to be working hard to get so many quilt tops done! I've been cutting back on my hours at work which means (drumroll!) Progress! A lot of it too! I now have three, yes THREE, quilt tops that are ready to be basted and quilted. I am very close to having five. One just has a little more hand work and the other just needs sashing:) I am SO excited to see all of them done. They all are made out of such beautiful fabric. And of course all of these almost finished projects mean more new fabric! Like a FQ bundle of Alpine Wonderland. (I am in love with Riley Blake fabric!) I got more of Little Apples by Aneela Hoey, it was so cute the first time I got some I couldn't resist more; especially because it was on sale. As you probably know, on my original list of quilts in progress, there was not a Whoville one. But, the second I pulled this fabric out of the box, I fell in love and  knew that my life would not be complete until something is made out of it. This sent me on an all day sewing spree. After about 12 hours, all I have left is a little border with the extra fabric I have:) Nothing excites me more than knowing that all of these will be quilted soon.

Also on my time off I used some of my scraps and made a cute Library bag for a child I tutored last year. He is the sweetest thing in the world and I told him I would send him books to read all the time. Lately I've been slacking so I had to find a way to make it up to him. You see, last semester as part of a minority education class i was taking, we had to go to a school and tutor for a whole semester. I was assigned a child, we'll call him "M", that was really far behind in his reading level. M was diagnosed with ADD when he was first learning how to read and sadly when the teacher hear about this, she gave up on him completely. As a result, he never got the help he needed to learn how to read. Growing up, I was always stuck in a book so I knew this was a great match for me. Like I said before, he is the SWEETEST. We immediately became close and he trusted me to help him. By the time the semester was over, he was a confident reader. The only problem: it was going to be summer time and he has no books at home. NONE. Can you believe that? I knew he had to read all summer or else his reading level would surely drop again, so I told him I would send him books every month. And that's exactly what I have been doing. I really hope he likes this bag. I used some of my favorite scraps on the front pocket.









 Last but not least here is an update on my To Do list:
 #4. Little apples fabric: I finally cut it! Found the best idea for this fabric ever. Once i finish cutting the solid color, this baby is going to piece fast. Hopefully, it will turn out very very cute:)
#5. Tradewinds: in the pile to get finished!
#6. Good Fortune: Top almost finished!:)
#7. Fly A Kite: Did one granny square, decided it was more of a quilt to make in the winter time, when there is WAY more time for this tedious work. This one has been pushed back on the expected timeline of finishing. sorry granny squares, you are not my thing.
#8.  Vintage Modern: In the pile to be finished:)
#9. Costume Clubhouse: I decided on some hand stitching to give this one a more detailed look. Some of the fabrics were too plain for me. It needed more. As soon as the hand stitching is done, it just needs a tiny bit of piecing, some sashing and a lot of quilted spider webs:)

I'll see you soon with lots of finished quilts!:)