Primal urges

Ok, so I have no progress to report. I am really sad about this, as I have an almost constant urge to sew at the moment. I am so far resisting the siren call of the fabric store. Though I did start working on a dress that I'm making for The Girl. I took the dress I bought for her for Easter which is super-simple and tried to draft a pattern from it. We'll see how it turns out.

If it ever turns out.

And still all I've managed for the Round Robin/Block Exchange is washing two of my fabrics. I haven't even ironed it. I so do not want to be the loser that holds up the exchange, so I better get my behind in gear.

Also, I was quite surprised to receive a nice little postcard in the mail from my Secret Sister this week. No, not the one that buys me stuff...the one that I buy stuff for. Wait, you might say. She is not supposed to know who I am! But she apparently does. Am I that transparent? Hmm.

Progress on the Secret Quilt

I have actually made progress on the secret quilt! Can you believe it? I know, it's tough to imagine. I believe I described it before but the pattern I chose to base the quilt on was Trip Around the World. I have the center area cut out though I have to applique and I think probably embellish it still. But I have finished a nice portion of the patchwork. What is holding me up is the pictures. I have decided to include only one row of picture transfers on the quilt. I had thought I'd do four rows but I finally realized that was just too ambitious and probably was going to doom the quilt to failure. So eventually I'll get the photos done, and then major progress will move ahead.

I'm also involved in a round robin through Annie Smith's yahoo group. I think it is technically a block exchange and not a round robin but maybe I'm just being obtuse. Anyways, I got the fabric for my blocks. I've decided to use a block named "Blazing Trails" since the round robin (and also the block exchange) is a new endeavor for me. The second block that I'll make for it is called "Snail Trail". I chose that one because I'm pretty slow at moving along. Also I really like the pattern and I wanted to do one.

Have a great day!

In like a lion, out like a lamb

Happy March! As usual time is streaking by and I am caught unawares. I had better get to work on the in-laws secret project. I accumulated two more yards of fabric for it which I am not sure about but The Husband (who is an artist, partially color-blind though he may be, so he does have some sense of matching and such) says "They're fine, dear." in that husbandly way that lets you know you'd better stop asking.

We're getting ready to put our house on the market and, as usual when cleaning and organizing are involved, I am simultaneously feeling stressed, overwhelmed, energized (odd, I know), and ready for it to end.

On the crafty front - I finished the top from the class hand-piecing class I took. I am thinking that I might try to machine quilt it. I feel a little bad about that since I spent so much time carefully hand piecing it. However it is not of a size that will do me any good and so I have little incentive to finish it except the feeling of finality that comes with finishing. So I thought I might try to machine quilt it, so that it could serve the dual purpose of learning two new things. Am I way off base?

Also this past weekend I went to one of those places where you assemble and freeze a bunch of dinners ahead of time. I cannot even begin to describe how super-awesome it was. No trips to the grocery store, no chopping, washing, slicing, browning, etc, and NO CLEANUP! It doesn't get better than that, folks. I made six awesome-looking dishes (which I split 5 of them so I'll have 11 meals) for 109. Visit Simply Done Dinners to do the same for yourself. I actually received this as a gift certificate for Christmas. I have to admit to being a tad disappointed when I got it because I'd much rather spend gift money on quilty things. But wait! There is a hidden advantage. Now I won't have to make 11 meals...I've been given time to quilt! Heavenly!~