Wordless WIP

Linking up with Lee!

yes I know my seams are off...

Earth to Kim....

I want to apologize for the stark silence over here. Unfortunately, life got REAL BUSY real quick. Maybe by the end of March I will have some crafting to show you. It isn't looking likely. I get to play with fabric at the next meeting of the fledgling Birmingham Modern Quilt Guild - or BMQG as we like to acronym anything and everything. So that will be two Sundays from now. Then the next time I will get to do anything will be at the Stash Bash! But that isn't for another month plus some days.

My poor sewing machine. And no fabric touching has happened either. Or knitting. Crafting deprivation is occurring. I will see you amazing crafters on the other side of this hopefully short black hole of craftlessness...

Until then

k

A baby WIP

Remember how I said I was going to only use my Nubees quilt as my WIP post to hold me accountable? Well I am a liar. Old news there. I made no progress last week on that quilt but hope to finish it this weekend - I am so close! Then I can practice more FMQ which I am horrendous at...

So - what am I going to share you ask? Baby bibs! A good friend of mine - L - is having a little boy very VERY soon. We are having a little hand made shower tonight for her and I knew Walt would be getting tons of blankets so quilt was out. Knitting - I have way too much already on needles. So after scouring the interwebs I found this great bib tutorial by Jaime of Sew She Sews which looked pretty easy. Then I knew Walt was having a little bit of a transportation themed life for his early years so I started looking for some paper pieced vehicles! And lo and behold Kristy over at Quiet Play had these great transportation patterns - specifically this airplane - for sale at her Craftsy store! I went ahead and bought them and got to work. Here is the plane post piecing, pre-bibbing.

isn't he so damn cute?

And then I decided I wanted a boat. This one isn't so much paper pieced as I kind of just built it as I went. Hence he looks a little off. But aren't the anchors on his sails just the bee's knees?

Grab you flippy floppies!

Then I used a fun print I got while in OR at Sew Many Quilts, I don;t know the line or anything because I am lame like that. But I think paired with the plane and boat it looks good. Practiced a little FMQ which I really need to PRACTICE MORE. And flipped that baby, topstitched it, and tah-dah! A boat on a bib.

Don't peer to closely...

Mr Plane bib just needs to be top stitched closed. 

Almost ready to take off to see Walt!

I really enjoyed making these - although the paper piecing was pretty teeny at times! And I guess it is barely a WIP because without the top stitching left on the plane this project would be DONE. Linking up over at Lee's for WIP Wednesday and will be checking out everyone else's projects as the day goes on. Thanks for stopping by beautiful people!

-kim

Philosophical Pfriday

That wonderful time of the week again to wander through our little minds like lost snails and attempt to follow their oozey trickles of ideas. That was kind of gross but entertaining for me at least - thanks for still reading if you are! HA! Grab a button at Marla's and jump on the train of pondering!

First let me say HAPPY FUCKING FRIDAY! I don't know why I have felt the weight of the week bearing down on me but I am so glad tomorrow is Saturday even if I have to spend the day cleaning toilets. 

Second - I need a new iron folks! Right now I have a rather heavy iron that is large and I put water in and it is on the fritz. It doesn't seem to get quite hot enough either. So I am once again polling all you lovelies to hear your thoughts on irons.

- how important is the right iron to you? I really like to press my seams open and FLAT so I like a good iron

- do you add water or no? do you go back and forth adding water and not adding water? Marla doesn't and I leave water in there all the time. I think I do because of an irrational fear of scorching.

- do you have one iron for clothes and household goods and another for sewing or do you use the same one for both? I use the same - another reason I leave water in there.

- do you like a tiny iron for getting between all those little pieces or a more bulky fella? I have never used a tiny iron so I am interested to hear your thoughts.

and lastly - do you have an iron you swear by?

Please let me know what you think! I would be very appreciative of any advice/thoughts/stories etc.

Again happy Friday to you all and I will leave you with wishes for an enjoyable weekend and this picture of the beach I was at last weekend... can I please go back?

ciao bellas

k

WIP Wednesday

Hey Everyone! Sorry for the sporadic non fabric-y posting but life has unfortunately been sporadic and non fabric-y for the past few weeks. Anyhow remember all the Nubee quilt action/block making and my my last WIP post? I have updates for you!

I mentioned I had wanted to make a mod mosaic block like Elizabeth Hartman's. But i guess I wanted it a little more crazy, a little less structured? So I just kind of went for it and this is what I came up with:

I have to say I am in love :-)

Then I went ahead and spent about 30 minutes moving blocks around trying to come up with a layout. And I have to say I am horrible at this game. This will be my last sampler quilt for a long while. 

All the pretty blocks made for me from wonderful sewers from all over!

I spent a good chunk of time cutting some strips and then went to work adding the sashing! I have one row done, but I think this will come together very quick. I am excited to get the top done so I can practice some Angela Walters aided FMQ skills.

What are you working on? I am headed over to Lee's to check out everyone else's WIPs and you should too!

Ciao

Kim

Winner winner chicken dinner!

Mr Random has spoken! Jess of http://thecraftyroach.blogspot.com/ has won the fabric bundle from my birthday giveaway!

Her night of debauchery was amazing - she pilfered a street sign! Totally baller. Jess, I will be emailing you for your mailing address.

Thanks everyone for sharing such great stories. I love how we do and don't remember some of our moments which were not our finest :-)

Off to New Haven CT for the weekend. See you kids on the flipside.
k

Philosophical Pfridays

Yep it is that time again, the wrap up of the week, time for thinking about drinks with umbrellas in them, and pondering those thoughts you may not have time for in the week  Maybe enjoying your coffee a little more slowly this morning; or adding alcohol like I do every Friday, because DAG NABBIT, I made it to Friday and I deserve some special coffee! So head to Marla's and grab un button to add your weekly musings to our small but very deep linky party. This was Marla's ridiculously cool post last Friday.

What am I thinking this week? Well as MO and I go forth in our careers, we have to change locations. He is currently interviewing for residencies all over the US and has ended up liking quite a few places. The question for me is where do I want to live. The last time I moved I came from this:

PCH between Malibu and Ventura; Internet props to Alan

to this:

Birmingham AL

So my thoughts/questions are: what are your criteria for moving to a new city? I know a few of you just did this and very quickly I might add. MO has a really good opportunity in St Louis, Missouri but I can think of no reason I would ever want to move there. Someone please name a redeeming quality about it - PLEASE. We are going to visit New Haven, Connecticut this weekend to see if I may like it there. But I really have no quality to judge these things on. This is my list of important things:

OCEAN
MOUNTAINS
fabric/yarn/sewing people and things aplenty
great food!
being able to get alcohol wherever and whenever (i.e. CVS at 7 am on a Sunday)
walkable and fun to stroll in
good grocery stores

As you can see I may not have a very adult way of looking at where to move, but I don't have kids or a pet and that won't change any time soon. So I can be selfish.

Sorry for the long ramble but I would love to hear any input on how you prioritize your thoughts for moving! What do you look for? What's important to you?

Happy Friday you wonderful people!
k