WIP

It's been a while- I need to organize myself. 

This week I finally finished my Sisters' Ten Modern BOM quilt:

I also had enough time yesterday to FMQ 2 of the Building Blocks, so I'm only 1 block behind now:

Block 1

Block 2

Next up - a baby boy quilt.  (I technically have 2 baby girl quilts & 3 baby boy quilts I need to do, but I'm focusing on one at a time, so I don't get overwhelmed).  I figure if I go in order of due date I should be fine.  :)

Other projects

do.Good Stitches- up to date

Christmas quilt - don't ask- it still hasn't been touched...

Upcoming projects

Madrid Temple Wholecloth Quilt- one of these days!


Stats for the Week:
New projects - 0
Completed projects - 1
WIP- 3

Linkin' up to WIP Wednesday.

Sister's BOM Finish

I'm a couple of months late, but it's finished and that's all that matters, right?  Here is the Sister's Modern Block of the Month 2013 quilt using all Kona Solids for the blocks:

This quilt is going to a young lady who I used to teach in Activity Days at church.  She turned 12 last week and is graduating into the Young Women's program. 

 Her favorite color is pink, so the choice of back was a personalization for her.

 I really enjoyed quilting this quilt.  I love the texture of it.  It makes me want to branch out even more with my quilting.  If only there were more hours in a day to accomplish everything that's on my list. 

Linkin' up to BOMs Away.

Hearts Galore

This is what's been on my sewing machine for most of the week:

 The two outer sections of the quilt are covered in Heart Flow and the inner section is a less dense English Ivy.  Both designs start with a heart shape, so even though they have very different textures they are related.  You can see it best from the back of the quilt.  It's not quite so in-your-face-pink in real life, but since the girl's favorite color is pink, who I'm making this for, it's not a big deal.  I guess it just makes for some bright viewing for everybody else. 

Spending most of my extra time on quilting has been calming for me.  I think I need to start a wholecloth project, because I had forgotten just how much I enjoy FMQ when done on a more regular basis. 

Fence Rails

This may be the easiest quilt block ever - I'm excited to add the quilting to each of these blocks to give them their own personality.

From Movie to Musical

Over the weekend I saw the musical production of 9 to 5.  I hadn't ever heard of it before, but my mom had - she had seen the movie.  It was what launched Dolly Parton into mainstream fame back in 1980 and also starred Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.  In 2009, Dolly Parton turned it into a Broadway musical.  It didn't last long on Broadway even though it got good reviews, so the musical is not very well known.

Source

This is a synopsis of the movie and the musical follows pretty closely:

Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda), a housewife whose husband has left her for his secretary, begins her own secretarial career at a huge corporation. Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), a feisty, veteran office manager, instructs her on the perils and procedures of office life -- and of working for Franklin Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman), their chauvinistic, sleazy boss, and his right-hand woman, the crisp, nosy Roz (Elizabeth Wilson). Meanwhile, Hart's endless attempts to seduce his happily married secretary, Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton), lead the entire office to think she's a trollop. When Hart unfairly passes Violet over for a promotion, she drowns her sorrows at a local bar with Judy and Doralee, who regales the others with tales of Hart's epic advances. Later, at Doralee's house, the women smoke pot, eat barbecue, and concoct hilarious revenge fantasies -- a rodeo hog-tie, a Wild West shootout, and a gothic Snow White scenario -- about killing their boss. When a mix-up leads the women to think they have accidentally poisoned Hart's coffee, they hatch a scheme to protect themselves by stealing Hart's body from the morgue. When he turns up alive, never having drunk the coffee, they must kidnap him to prevent him from blackmailing them or calling the police. The women then use the occasion of their boss' absence to effect some changes around the office. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

I have to say that it does have some show-stopping music, and it has a couple of really loveable and funny characters, so it was a pleasant evening.  It's not a must-see, but it was good.

Cheery Asterisks

I really liked the block we made this month for do.Good Stitches.  Erica asked us to to make 2 asterisk blocks from this tutorial using this color inspiration:

Isn't that pretty?  It's different than my usual color schemes.  Here are my 2 blocks:

Written on the Fabric

I've tried a couple of different fabric marking pencils/pens and I've never really been happy with any of them.  The pencil was so hard that I felt like I had to practically dig a grove in the fabric to see it.  My "disappearing" ink pen would sometimes disappear before I was done quilting.  When Valentine's Day rolled around I asked my husband if he would mind skipping the flowers and getting me a nice fabric pen and pencil instead.  I just have to say that I'm in love!  Yes, I love my husband for being a good sport, but I also love that the pen and pencil actually really work!  You can get them here.  I can't believe how much easier it is to use these.  I put them to work right away with the 3 Basic Blocks from February.  I quilted one block each day until I was caught up.

 I'm proud of myself for not using my walking foot.

Circles and I have a very tentative relationship, but we're trying to work through it.

The Wiggly Pasta is a lot of fun & easy to quilt.

I love how playing with the quilting design really changes the look of something so simple as a 9-patch.

Linking up to BOMs Away. 

It Keeps Rolling On

This Winter sure is having a hay-day.  We had church canceled today because of the latest snow storm.  I was downloading pictures off my phone and came upon another picture from the last ice storm.  This is the bush in front of our home the night of last month's Book Club.

Speaking of Book Club, we recently discussed John Kralik's  365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life

"One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose contact with his young daughter; he was living in a tiny apartment where he froze in the winter and baked in the summer; he was 40 pounds overweight; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and overall, his dearest life dreams--including hopes of upholding idealistic legal principles and of becoming a judge--seemed to have slipped beyond his reach. Then, during a desperate walk in the hills on New Year's Day, John was struck by the belief that his life might become at least tolerable if, instead of focusing on what he didn't have, he could find some way to be grateful for what he had. Inspired by a beautiful, simple note his ex-girlfriend had sent to thank him for his Christmas gift, John imagined that he might find a way to feel grateful by writing thank-you notes. To keep himself going, he set himself a goal--come what may--of writing 365 thank-you notes in the coming year. One by one, day after day, he began to handwrite thank yous--for gifts or kindnesses he'd received from loved ones and coworkers, from past business associates and current foes, from college friends and doctors and store clerks and handymen and neighbors, and anyone, really, absolutely anyone, who'd done him a good turn, however large or small. Immediately after he'd sent his very first notes, significant and surprising benefits began to come John's way--from financial gain to true friendship, from weight loss to inner peace. While John wrote his notes, the economy collapsed, the bank across the street from his office failed, but thank-you note by thank-you note, John's whole life turned around. 365 Thank Yous is a rare memoir: its touching, immediately accessible message--and benefits--come to readers from the plainspoken storytelling of an ordinary man. Kralik sets a believable, doable example of how to live a miraculously good life." 

Kralik's attempt to turn around his life by completing 365 thank you notes in a year was a very intriguing concept to me.  I found the change in his perception of his life as he began to be grateful to be really interesting.  It makes me think about people I need to thank more often.  I really enjoyed this book.  Maybe I should be more grateful for the weather.  :)