Mixed Results and March OMG

I tried a few goals for February, of which I have mixed results.  I'll be back to a OMG for March. 

I didn't make masks for my nephew - but that was because in-person schooling has been postponed.  The fairings fix is  also on hold - it turns out my sister's kayak is in better shape than mine was.  I need different material to patch them, which is on order.

I have at least started the Sculpey project.  I may actually finish it today, too.  My biggest challenge will be how to prop it up to cure.  And, unfortunately, I won't publish the finished work until Christmas.  Sorry!  

I Like Thursday: Sewing, Baking and Outdoors

I continue to be obsessed with kite blocks.   I finished with the little flower kites mug rug - which I love.

Then I looked up at the string kites I have on my design wall and started to wonder what other patterns I could create with these.  I played with some of the little ones I have.  This has promise.  I also have an idea similar to the strings one.  So I at least have two more quilts I want to make with kites.  

Kite Flowers

 

I love how this mug rug turned out.  Even the border is pretty awesome.  Working with the mini kites with such tiny partial wasn't easy.  I'm not sure I'd want to tackle it again, but the results are stunning (at least I think so).

I free-motioned flowers over the colored bits.  I had intended to quilt the black with a walking foot - either straight line or zig-zag.  In the end I free-motioned zig-zag echos around the centers.  

Project Quilting 12.4: Kitty Corners

I have been really enjoying the Project Quilting challenges.  This week's challenge was to create a quilt that contained at least one snail's trail block.  I poked around and found a pattern I liked of four cats with their tails entwined.  

I didn't want primary-colored cats and found a set of grey scraps I liked.  The pattern was for 8-inch blocks, which was pretty big.  I shrunk it down to 6-inch blocks and set it on point - partly because I wasn't sure if I had enough pink background fabric and partly because it looked neat.

The rounded corners were a last minute addition.  I was squaring the quilt before adding the binding and the background fabric didn't quite cover the batting on one corner.  Oops.  Rounded corners fixed that!  (And I got a chance to use one of my new rulers.  Fun!)

I Like Thursday: Some Valentine's Love

A day off.  How nice!  I haven't had President's Day off in years.  (Unfortunately, I worked a chunk of the weekend... but we won't focus on that.)

The Richardson's chocolates I got last week were delicious!  Alas, by Tuesday they were all gone.  They tasted as good as they looked.

I was unable to see my mother and sister this weekend, but did spend some time playing Riven with my sister.  This has worked out really well, each of us playing the game on our computers, exploring and brainstorming solutions over the phone.  We squeeze in an hour here or there during the week.

Playing with Pieces

After losing a chunk of my weekend to being on-call (whoa - that was an adventure!), I was able to play on Monday.  I sewed. 

Last month I mucked about with the little kites and rather liked this layout.  This week I pulled out some black scrap (which oddly enough was used in another kite quilt) and decided there was just enough scrap to frame these little kites.  Oh, I love how this looks.  It's made from 12 blocks, each 3⅛" raw.  They had partial seams with that tiny ¾" middle square.  Right now it measures roughly 8x11".  I may trim it down, so the out blocks won't be full squares, to cut down on the black border.  We'll see what it looks like after I quilt it.

Lots of Little Scrappy Squares

I'm working on projects in between projects.  Here, on the left, is a pile of 2-inch squares; on the right, about 150 squares stitched together in pairs.  Since I took that photo I've stitched together over 600 squares and the bag they came from still has a lot left!  I can at least see I've put a dent in it.  

Digging through the squares has been fun.  There are a few scraps of fabric from my first quilts and all sorts of scraps in between. 

I Like Thursday: Winter Arrived

"Did you know your Thursday post hasn't appeared?" Rob commented this morning.

I thought:  of course it hasn't, I haven't written it.  Wait.  It's Thursday?!?

So let's see if I can write this in less than 15 minutes... 

Part of the reason I hadn't written it was because I payed Riven with my sister last night.  Each on the phone, our own copy of the game in front of us, and go exploring together.  It's worked better than I thought and we've been enjoying it.