Skill Builder

I couldn't resist this one: Pile O'Fabric's Skill Builder Block of the Month. I signed up, but I've already given myself permission to not do all the blocks since

A) Some of the blocks look like things I already know how to do, or don't really tickle my fancy
B) I've got a lot of WIPs going on (is this just the new-school term for UFO's?)
C) Sampler quilts don't really tickle my fancy
D) I'm on the verge (I HOPE!!!) of getting a new job, so I might be kind of busy soon.
E) I can't afford to buy a bunch of new fabric for now
 

I'm thinking I'll try most of them and make placemats or mini-quilts out of them individually, and if any of them are totally cool, I can make a quilt out of that. They're quilt-as-you-go, so that makes me feel like I won't be just making a new big pile of UFOs.

Some of the blocks look SO COOL, and I'm most excited about doing some practice with free-motion quilting, since I've only tried a few inches' worth, ever! Yay! I'll keep you posted :)

Meanwhile, in fabric bowl land...

I whipped up this bowl - my first try at one with a handle - to hold a bundle of Christmas gifts for a neighbor. One side of the handle got attached pretty crooked, but mostly I was happy with it. It was tough to line everything up since the handle was too short to let me happily nest the assembly in its inside out form. These things are just so darn cute! I'm hoping to avoid OD-ing on them so I'm going to put this pattern aside for a while :)

And these are some Design Seeds color schemes I want to play with some day. Some day.....

Pin Sink and Bowls

Here's the beast that ate all my pins. I finished this top in 2004, and started hand quilting it a couple of years ago. I didn't get that far before little B came along.  I recently dug it out to make sure there wasn't any rust. I guess I should finish off some other UFOs and get back to this one. I need my pins!

Here are some fabric bowls I put together from acuppaandacatchup. There are so many cute options in the pattern! Therese two were sort of trial runs.  I am proud of myself for finally cutting into this fat quarter of Christmas linen that I got in San Francisco years ago. The red one is pretty small and it was a little tougher than the bigger one. I'm going to have to hunt down some more interfacing if I want to make more. Then I'll try to get a bit more creative with handles, quilting, etc.

Just for my Crafty Stuff

Time to post my crafty thoughts and pictures on a separate blog...

Fastest quilt to piece. ever.  I think the quilting (straight line quilting only, thank you) will go quickly too. The basting, though, is going to be another story. All my pins are in use right now thanks to my silly idea of hand-quilting a king-sized quilt. I might have to hand sew the basting on this one. 

It's about 81" x 84"

Kona Papaya and Surf

from Alissa Haight-Carlton's Modern Minimal