sign me up

with cousin wendy true at the baby shower

i didn't even touch my january lovely finish pick. yes, "paris daydreams" is still languishing on the family room floor in a pile of other wips. some other baby quilts which were required at the last minute got in the way, like the one i got 90% finished for the baby shower. so to make things even more doable for myself in february, this simple strips quilt for baby weston, due mid-month, is my lovely finish pick for february.

i have several wips going at the moment, but because my plate wasn't full enough or orderly enough or whatever enough, i have organized my quilting time to include a few new "to do's". this weekend after the baby shower, i took a quilting break for some blogland inspiration. and found two new quilt alongs that i want to join. yes, i still need to actually get started on sarah's barn door qal and finish penny patch, but here's why the others are different: they are block of the month quilt alongs that will use up my stash and will push me to skill build, one little bit at a time.

this one will produce one nice, large block a month. i love the idea of having just one block to try out a new skill with. it'll be a nice break from any other projects i have going to do just the one block. at least that's my thinking. I'm thinking of diving into my liberty stash for it, but am hesitant to commit my most precious pieces to skill building experimentation. maybe i'll give a practice block a go first. goodness, i have a harder time committing that liberty to a project than i did committing to my husband for eternity. (mormons don't just marry for time, it's for after death and the whole rest of eternity, too. he's stuck with me!)

 

i completely hesitated to add myself to this group, but the truth is i already have the pattern and some fabrics in mind, so why not pace myself with a few bits a month? and i'm pushing myself to full disclosure and complete honesty on this space as a way to hold myself accountable, which is why i'm fessing up about this project. no closet hiding here.

i'm actually thinking of using my first fabric purchase stack for this gypsy lady. i was going to do a plus quilt with it, but i've stopped liking that idea so much and now think it'd be great for the "gypsy wife". i think it will need a few additions of red and more solid medium- or high-volume prints, but it's a good start. I'm still thinking of a huge section of meadowdot for the back. yum.

additionally, i have a lot of leftovers from my headband stash and i don't make headbands anymore. looks good to me!

to be honest, this pattern rather scares me, but i think it will be a good skill builder that isn't too complicated just yet. it's going to fill my need for more complex/less simple designs, that's for sure.

there is no pressure here to get either of these quilts done right away. they are just filler projects. have i justified myself enough?

oh, yeah, and i'm also enrolled for color intensive with rachel at stitched in color. this is light on projects and heavy on theory/ideas, which appealed to me. it's actually going to help with my other projects, or so i tell myself.

it may seem like all i've done lately is rack up projects for myself, but this week i actually got most of that baby quilt done, finished another top, and made some good headway on my detachable color card. naturally, that meant i had to find more to do so my plate stays over-full rather than just getting on with my wips.

full disclosure, ladies. keeping it real and my insanity in the open.