It’s Wednesday?

Oops. I swear, you guys, I actually had planned on posting on Friday, and then work is insane and this weekend was insane and then it was today and I don’t know where the past week has gone. I’m sorry.

So, three posts in one? Here we go!

Last week’s running was kind of intense. I did 3.23 miles on Monday, and then 3.89 on Thursday. Monday’s run was our basic 3-ish miler, and we did our normal P&Q route. Thursday was track, which was ROUGH. You guys, it was hot. It was awful. But I pushed through. I did drop the last 200m sprint off my workout, but I’m blaming it on having not done track in forever and then it being so hot. No weekend runs yet. I’m planning on adding in the long-er easy run this weekend, and then by the middle of next month, I’ll be running Saturdays and Sundays. I missed Tuesday’s run last week due to a work dinner, but don’t worry. I’ll be back on track.

I don’t really have much to report as far as my normal rambly Monday post, so we’ll just dive right on in to the WiP Wednesday fun!

This week, I shipped out my Alison Glass Mini Swap, and it’s actually out for delivery right now! I seriously can’t wait for my partner to get it. I went a little crazy, but I refuse to feel bad about it. 🙂

That’s the big project that’s been eating my life for a while, so I’m getting prepped to move onto other things. The next big ship date I have is the SPD Fairy Tale Mini on July 6. I’ve been playing with part of the pattern, and I’m really not loving how it’s working, so I’m going to have to run back to the drawing board with it. It makes me sad, but I don’t know what else to do. I had planned on doing a two-sided mini for that one, so I may just make it one-sided with your standard backing, but we’ll see. If I do that, I probably need to get a better fabric option for it. Maybe something from Heather Ross’ “Far Far Away.”

Other ship dates that are looming? The DCMQG Bee block for June still needs to be started. It’s a challenging pattern, so I’ll be super honest and admit that I haven’t had the courage to even decide on fabric yet. And, I’m also planning on submitting two blocks for #FloodTexasWithLove. One from me, and one for one of my very good quilty friends. She’s actually from Houston, and she really wanted to submit one, but she’s so swamped with work that I’m going to make hers.

That’s where we are this week. I’ve also been sketching/doodling ideas for my Michael Miller Fabric Challenge Quilt entry. I made the horrible mistake of looking through previous winners, and I’m kind of super freaked out about putting together a good design. Since the challenge is focused on the “Celebration Glitz” line, I’ve been trying to really focus on the “celebration” aspect. I’ve thrown around the idea of a memorial quilt for my grandmother, but I’m not completely on board with it yet. I’ve also played a little bit with the whole “runner with a fabric problem” concept, and I’m kind of loving that direction, but it has the potential to get really busy if I’m not super careful.

I did also finish cutting out 118 hexie paper pieces, which are for a surprise selfish sewing project. I want to dig in HARD to it, but I’m trying to exercise some restraint. You know, because I have eight million other things to do. Points to anyone who can guess why I need exactly 118 hexies. It’s going to be epic.

And, since I need an actual picture of something that’s a work in progress in order to participate in the official link-up over at Freshly Pieced, here’s a new bag pattern I’m working on. This had been planned as an extra for my Alison Glass MQS, but it just did not work as it is. I don’t love the execution, but I do love the concept and I am definitely going to be continuing to play with it as I have time. Eventually, it’ll work and I’ll write a tutorial or a pattern. I couldn’t find either when the concept popped into my brain, and I think the world needs this.

I want it to work so badly!

So, as long as we’re all here, just a reminder that you can access my running calendar and my swap calendar by clicking on the coral menu button at the top of the page. In addition, I’m going to be adding my WiPs either on a new page up there, or in the sidebar. Look for it!

WiP-Wednesday

Oops. This was supposed to go up yesterday. I’m not going to be super wordy here, and unfortunately, I don’t have a ton of pictures.

This week has been insane. Today (Thursday) is my first and only day this week without meetings, and I’m still drowning in files at work. My desk is a disaster. And, since I’ve had meetings, I worked late yesterday, the day I didn’t have run club or an evening meeting, and got home at 8. By the time we had had dinner, M was off to bed, and I was basically only able to interface part of a project and then change the thread in my machine from red to the dove I use for normal piecing. I am exhausted.

So, there hasn’t been a ton of progress. I did finish up that AG mini, I pulled fabric and cut part of the back for the SPD Fairy Tale mini. That HAS to get pieced tonight. I’m thinking that if I drive in to the office today, I can drive home immediately after run club, which will be faster. I should be able to get home in time for the MQG Webinar, which I’ll watch while piecing, I think.

So, without further ado, here’s my (very small) submission to Freshly Pieced‘s WiP Wednesday!

WiPs:
AG Mini Extras – all cut
SPD Fairy Tale Mini – mostly cut
Broadway Mini – fabric pulled, pattern finalized
HP Mini – pattern finalized,
Nola’s Quilt – cut, partly pieced
DB’s Quilt – cut, needs interfacing, sashing fabric finalized
Superhero Quilt – partly pieced, no new work done
Supernova Quilt – partly pieced, no new work done
50 States – HA.
POD – LOL.

Fabric pull/cuts

This is going to be adorable once it’s done. Just wait.

Why I Swap

This post has been bouncing around my brain for about two weeks now, so it’s probably about time to let it out. If you found me through Instagram, you’re probably aware that I have a minor problem. Okay, I might eventually need rehab for this problem, but it’s not alcohol or drugs. I’ve become a swap-a-holic.

I signed up for my first swap ever in August 2014. It was the Stitch It Swap, and we made little pouches full of office supplies. I joined because I saw the post on FB and was like “huh, apparently people who sew hang out on social media together and that’s super cool because no one I know sews.” (Excepting, of course, my cool friend out in Texas.) I felt very isolated in my sewing. Sure, I was making baby quilts and a couple people were talking about paying me to do things, but for the most part, my sewing was something I did to give away part of me. Which is awesome. I love it. And I really love seeing my baby quilts that have homes (as opposed to the ones sitting half-pieced on my sewing room floor) in the wild, being played with and on and it’s fantastic.

zoe

Seriously, getting those kinds of pictures warms the cockles of my stone cold heart. Also, I love those kids. As a quick side note, 2015 is the year both of their moms are getting married, and I’ll have the honor of having been in both weddings. ❤

But, as you probably know, there’s something about a project when you’re in the middle of it. And you need to talk about it and share it and just let it keep living on its own without smothering it. Until I started swapping, the only person who ever lived a project with me is the same person who still lives them with me – M. He’s pretty phenomenal, and he does a great job of humoring my need to talk through projects in real time, but he’s not a creative type, and he’s fairly easily bored by my “well, what do you think about this vs this vs this?” I felt incredibly isolated in what I do.

And then, I had my first swap. It was magical. I had all of these people who cared about the fabrics I picked and what I was doing with them. So, I signed up for the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap (Round 3) and got addicted to swapping on Instagram. Since August, I’ve sent out six little projects to new homes, and I have another 13 due to ship before the end of the year. And I’m hoping to host one…more details coming in the next few months.

My point though, is that I started swapping because I felt so stinking isolated. Sewing and quilting wasn’t something I did for fun or to escape anymore, it was something I felt like I had to do because I had made quilts for a few people so I should probably make them for everyone. I don’t feel isolated anymore. I’m back to sewing to escape “real life” – the pressures of work, mostly. Swapping partially gave me the courage to join a guild. Our guild is awesome, btw.

Why do I keep swapping? I keep swapping because these swaps challenge me. They challenge my creativity, they challenge my skills, they make me a better quilter. They make me a better artist (I use that term loosely – my drawing skills are crap.) Do you know what I made for the IG Pincushion Swap? A fairy home. Out of felt and furniture sliders and clay, because wood wasn’t allowed based on customs rules for Australia. Six months ago, I would have looked at a similar project and been like “holy crap that’s the most amazing thing ever.” I conquered it this year.

I MADE THIS.

I swap because I love connecting with my partners. I love learning more about each of them over the course of whatever the timeframe is by interacting with them on IG, and I love how often those little interactions turn into inspiration. I’ve had/have a few partners that I can’t find a connection with, and putting an idea together is actual torture. I’ve spent almost four months banging my head against a wall for one of my partners because we have nothing in common, including the swap theme. I have another partner who has basically not been active at all on IG since signing up for the swap. For more on this, please check out KarriofBerries’ post here.

And about that, in case you’re making something for me and you’re irritated because I haven’t been super helpful. For starters, I’m sorry. I do try to stay ahead of the swaps, but I’m not always super successful. Work gets in the way kind of a lot lately. I am going to spend the next week or so catching back up, and then getting some selfish sewing projects back into my rotation, so that my IG feed isn’t full of things for everyone else. Be patient with me, I’m working on getting there!

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk a little about logistics around here. I’m going to try to post actual blogs on M/W/F. This was actually planned to go up yesterday, but I got stuck on the phone with Cox and then had to run to run club to make our run. (Thanks to mailfromcheekymonkey for getting my tucus back in gear!) And then I had to actually finish that LPS Disney Hoop Swap mosaic when I got home, instead of this. So, let’s run M/W/F. It seems most practical.

I’m also going to try to start linking my Wednesday posts to WiP Wednesday over with Freshly Pieced. I swear she used to have a button, but I can’t seem to find the code on her blog. I’m going to try to get it and add it over on the sidebar. And also a DCMQG one. Because why not?

For this week’s WiP Wednesday, I’m going to focus on the stuff that has to get done ASAP to get me caught up:

1. Finish quilting, then bind AG Mini Quilt.
2. Fabric pull and pattern finalization for SPD Fairy Tale Mini Quilt.
3. Finalize extras for AG Mini
4. First cuts for Broadway Mini Quilt
5. Fabric pull for Hogwarts, and quilt math.
6. Finish up exterior for mom’s Sew Together Bag, then finish assembly.

I think tonight is going to focus on finishing up my AG Mini to send out. I have one extra for that done, five others cut and ready to piece, and then I need to get myself to a couple places to pick up a few things.