Tuesday

Yes, that's the only title I could come up with for this post. I'm sick as a dog this morning and my brain is very, very fuzzy.

Before the bug assailed me, I managed to knit a pair of Fetching gloves for a friend.

And finish Block 11 of the quilt-a-long. Just one more to go. I can't believe how quickly this went by.

I'm off to go load up on some serious medication.

The view out the window

"The snow may fall but I don't mind at all because you keep me winter warm
It's cold and wet but I won't get upset - with you I'm always winter warm...

...It's ten below and there's no place to go so we'll just stay here winter warm
A fireplace and locked in your embrace I know that I'll be winter warm

The skies are grey but I'm not feeling blue in spite of never seeing such a storm
As long as I keep holding on to you I know that I'll be winter warm"

(Lyrics from the song in the new Jeep ad on TV, composed by John Cacavas, who also composed many of the James Bond movie theme songs.)

Reveal!

It happened again. I'm so very, very happy with my felted secret project that I'm now mass producing them. I tend to do this. If I make something I really like I feel like I have to keep doing it because it gives me so much joy every single time. Does anyone else have this problem or should I add that to my "weird" list?

I've put this one in my Etsy shop and, until I run out of felt, I'll probably put more up there.

Secrets

The "secret" Aran project is blocked. My blocking techniques leave much to be desired, but I'm hopeful that the end product will turn out OK.
In the spirit of secret projects, something else I'm working on.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
(Do you sometimes type a common word and it suddenly looks really weird? I actually had to check the spelling of "secret". It looks strange this morning...)

I'm in SO much trouble

What did you do yesterday?
I myself went out and spent a LOT of money. Most of it was on groceries but it included a trip to Costco (we all know how that turns out) and a trip to Trader Joe's (where things just randomly hop into my cart).

And...the local fabric store is closing down (big bummer!) and everything's on sale. When I got to the cutting table, I said "A yard of everything in the store please" and the cutting lady said, "Sure, come back at 4 and I'll have it all ready". Wouldn't that be great?

American Jane Potluck Dot in lime

and red

More from Moda

Modern Grace which may make a nice little summer frock

and even more

Some of this is part of my plan for my quilt-a-long quilt.

Did I mention that we're being frugal this year? I suppose I'm done shopping for the year then...

The next one

This is the next quilt from the Block/Quilt-a-Day calendar that I think I may make. It's called "Good Golly" and it's the January 21-23 quilt. Yes, that's right - 3 days! But of course, I've let go of all that.
Block 10 for the Quilt-a-long is done. Only two more to go. I can't believe how time flies.

I love this berry-and-butterfly fabric. It makes me think "Spring".

Where's Spring???

Remember when I said it was cold outside? I lied. It's freaking 20 degrees out there right now and this is SEATTLE!!!

A little project I'm working on...
Sunday:

Monday:

(I played with apples out in the cold yesterday, because it was sunny and I feel like I haven't take a proper photo in months, hence the totally unrelated apple photo.)

A little dotty

I bought a new purse last week, which called for a new make-up bag. Isn't she cute?
There was finally enough light outside to take half decent photos too.
I'm seriously working on figuring out how to make a zippered pouch without those tucked in corners at the zipper ends.

It's a full moon out there this morning, but I can see a little bit of light on the horizon. Spring is coming! (Well, soon-ish anyway)

Yay!

I made something. I really, really did!
I saw these on Denise's blog and knew I had to have them. She has a couple of tutorial links over there, but this is easy peasy to do.

To attach the ribbon at the top, I just slid it in between the two layers of paper and stitched it in.

Doubly Fetching

Pattern: Fetching from knitty.com
Yarn: Cascade 220

So you're thinking, "When are we going to see anything fun on this blog again?"
Here's my excuse:
Yesterday, as you may remember, was errand day.
I made a wonderful list of fabrics and yardages needed.
I went to the store (15 miles away, by the way).
I whipped out my list.
I realized I didn't bring any of the fabrics I had to match.
I went home.
No fabrics, no cool projects.

Because I'm using stash fabric for this, I could make the quilt-a-long block.

Let's see who knows what this traditional quilt block is called...

WIP Wednesday

Windswept Santa Part II. This guy may actually be done by Christmas 2008...

1/2 a pair of Fetching mitts

Taking a photo of your one hand while holding the (really heavy) camera with the other is a problem, which Chara can attest to. When the pair is done, I'll get someone to take a proper photo.

Today is errand day. I need to get backing fabric for two quilt tops that are done! I'm seriously contemplating sending one of them out to be quilted by someone who knows what they're doing.

It's c-c-c-c-cold outside

Who says it doesn't snow in Seattle? OK, this is not exactly Seattle - we're at 500 feet above sea level, which is pretty much in the mountains around here, but still...
The power went out at 8pm, which called for a nice warm bath, a hot toddy, a little reading by candlelight "a la camping", and an early night.
This morning everything was covered in white.

I wonder if the hummingbirds will find this?

It's a girl!

Finally! Dove at my Door is done and I like her. I quilted her very lightly since I wanted her to stay soft and snuggly. The back is flannel. She will be donated to Ronald McDonald House in Seattle.

My stash is tiny!

Thank you so much for all the wonderful advice and links for organizing my stash. Somehow I was convinced that I have an enormous amount of fabric, maybe because it was such a mess. After neatly folding everything, however, I realized that I've really been a good girl this past year. There is a little bit of fabric in the WIP bins, but still...

The method I ended up using was a combination of Happy Zombie's folding method and some of my own ideas. I measured the width and depth of my cubbies. To fit three rows of fabric in each cubby, they had to be 4" wide and 12" long. Since I don't have a 4" ruler, I cut a piece of cardboard to these dimensions for folding the fabric. Pieces 1/2 yd and bigger were folded into bigger squares and stored on their own shelves. Pieces that would fold around the cardboard got to be in the cubbies. Smaller pieces went into two scrap bins, one for bigger scraps and one for small scraps. Batiks are in their own little bin. This was not a very scientific process, so only time will tell.

In the WIP bins:
Quilt-a-long

Strawberry pincushions

The Granny-ghan

Spice Market Quilt

Stash Dash Quilt

Grandmother's Flower Garden

and a couple of other little things.
Oh, how I wish Spring would return so I can take proper photos again!
(By the way, I have several bins filled with non-quilting fabrics, batting, etc., so this is definitely not all my stuff.)

Advice and Inspiration

Advice (please):
I've put away the piles and piles of scrapbook paper cluttering my shelves and am moving my fabric stash from totes to the shelves.
I need fabric storage help from those people (you know who you are) who have their fabrics neatly lined up and color-coded in shelves.
1. When is a piece of fabric big enough to go on the shelf?
2. When is a piece of fabric too big to go on the shelf?
3. Do you put all your scraps together or sort them by size too?
4. What about fabrics that really don't have a dominant color?
Help please! I know I'm not the only one with this issue so hopefully this will be a fruitful post for quite a few people.

Inspiration:
As promised, a couple of projects I'd really like to get my hands on once the WIP's are under control.

Felt monogrammed pillows


Basket Style Bag

Marble Magnets

Sheldon

this quilt

and so many more.

It's a little windy today

It took some doing but I did manage to take a photo of Quilt-a-long Block 8.

Many people inquired about the source of the pattern for the mittens. It can be bought here and is totally worth the money in my opinion.
I am working hard on finishing my WIPs so I can move on to bigger and better fun new things. An update tomorrow.

Not yet

Christmas finally got completely put a way this weekend. The rest was pretty much spent in a "What do you mean you're going snowboarding on Wednesday and since you grew 5 inches in the last year nothing fits?" panic.

This means that nothing fun really happened and "Dove at my Door" is still not done. I have decided to give you a sneak peek since I have NOTHING else to show and my cutback in blogging is becoming a little more than I was planning on.

In other news...
...I have TWO mittens now!