Finished bits...

Now that my tooth has finally stopped hurting, I've been trying to get stuff done.

I did finish my November ALYOF goal, my scrappy postage stamp quilt.

Not only did I finish the one I planned on getting done in November, I finished two!


I also completed:

my NY Beauty bag


Heal circle quilt


Pouch for Bama


Pouch for Trollop


Pouch for G


Pouch for mom (still need to take pic)

Pouch for Karen


Secret gift (pic coming once it's mailed)

Secret gift #2 (ditto)

Heal Circle blocks for Nov.



Space quilt  (OMG the drama, one of the stars had bleeding...washed it 4 times with like a dozen color catchers and the star is almost white now)  I love the quilting on this one! I'll try to take better pics in the morning light. Thank you, Katy, for the rocket block!


the back:


I washed the wonky star as well!  No drama on that one.  It's going to it's home on Monday at a baby shower!


Pic of my Octo pillow cover:


I'm plugging away on my Penny Sampler.  I anchor quilted it on the machine and am hand quilting the rest.  I'm also pattern testing and trying to make 2 more quilts for Christmas!


Also trying to finish one more Meridian and the sidekick bag for me for Xmas.

Total so far on my FAL list:  22/32

Meridian Cardi!

I like to be pattern tester.

It keeps me stretching my skillset, and it combines my love of editing (*cough* grades so many papers and keeps assigning them *cough*) with my love of sewing.

My amazing friend, Rachael,  over imaginegnats, makes such cool kid clothes designs that my first response when seeing her kid Meridian pattern emerge was, "PLEASE tell me you are making a lady version!"

Thankfully, she was.

I'm not a huge knit sewer.  I did this on my machine.  My only issue had NOTHING to do with her patterns.  She's lovely and clear in her directions.  My machine, however, decided to eat of the sleeves...of course, AFTER  I had almost finished sewing it.

I hit it with some fraycheck.  What can I say, I had a second version in the works (planned to sew on Thanksgiving break), and I was too lazy to take the whole dang thing apart.

I can only say that my frowny face was mostly because it was HOT the day I took the pic, and my hubs wasn't home until the sun was bright.  I had trouble finding a spot where the sun wasn't making weird shadows on my face...plus, um, he NEVER warns me when he takes a picture.

So, here it is:
Meridian #1





I even used a cool bunny pin from my awesomesauce mom to close it.  It's super comfy.  It's coming with me on all my holiday trips.  Frowny lines not included.

Check out Rachael's version (and other pattern testers' versions) by clicking here.

EDIT:  NO, I AM NOT SHOWING OFF A BABY BUMP OF ANY KIND.  SUGGEST SO AND AN ASSKICKING MAY COME YOUR WAY.  Ahem, you know who you are, MR. A.

So, it's been longer than I intended...

and I honestly haven't done much since the weekend.

It's been kind of sucko.  Since Halloween, I've been to the dentist 3 times, had a filling repaired, had the height altered, then been told I just had to wait.

Um, yeah.  So the week of the filling at the wrong height triggered a crapload of TMJ/muscular issues.  I just got to the chiro 2 weeks later.  I will be icing for a while.  I went to a new dentist on Thurs, as I thought it was ridiculous that the first dentist never checked an Xray and hadn't gotten the height right on two fillings in a row.  (This time is was so far off, even the assistant commented on it.)

Can I just say that I HATE going to the dentist in Atlanta?  I love love love the office I went to growing up, so much so that I book my cleanings for when I'm visiting my parents.  I trusted him enough to repair a significant filling issue the week of my wedding....and I had forgotten I'd gotten a filling less than 24 hours after it had happened.  *ponders trying to import him*
I'm rather anxious about teeth and eyeballs...so this is making my anxiety issues flare.  So. not. helping.

So, I haven't gotten much sewing done since Sat.  Almost none in fact.  To be fair, I got a crapload of sewing done on Sat when I had a lovely day with Al from AThousandNeedles.





Update:  Saw new dentist on Thurs.  LOVED him.   Filling was *still* not at the right height, but he doesn't think I need a root canal.  I may have a sinus infection.
I have sewn bits of my Penny Sampler, but I still have to redo a block, do the diamond strip, and the two Dala horses.
Right now, my priorities are the Space quilt for a baby coming in a week or so, the Heal quilt, and the two postage stamp quilts.  If I can get those cleared off the deck, I'll have a lot of space cleared for other things....like finishing my Penny Sampler and some Christmas presents that need to be posted.
I *finally* have an Octo pillow case of my very own!  Lots of pictures, hopefully of finishes, coming soon.

Goal for Nov--ALYOF

I finally got a new travel machine!

Yay!

So nice to be able to move my sewing around the house.

I've spent the last weekend playing catch up on my Penny Sampler.  Pics will appear soon.

I also bellydanced today!  First time in a longer than it should have been.  Gonna be feeling it tomorrow.

I needed to choose a goal for November for ALYOF.

I want to baste, quilt, and bind my Postage Stamp Top (one of the two).  Twould be glorious if they both get done, but I'll settle for one.



Going to have a sewing weekend next weekend to try to get on top of Christmas presents, too!

Linking up!

Finally took pics!

Okay, so I had a bunch of finishes that needed to be photographed.

Let's just say yesterday was a mixed bag.

The day started with a run to the Mini Maker's Faire at Georgia Tech.  So. Full. Of. Awesome.
And free.

Then crepes with one of my BFFs, who I haven't gotten to see in weeks.

Then home to try to the photoshoot.  It all seemed to go well.  Until I got my Sisters 10 quilt back in the house...and noticed black on the binding.  Apparently the metal bench I put the quilt on transferred paint?  or dirt?  on the melon colored binding.  Three washes later, it was finally out.  But there was much angst...and it put me WAY behind on my laundry list.

So, I tried sewing.  I'm behind in the Penny Sampler.  I did the 9 of the penny square blocks....and my machine, my back up to the back up, started skipping.  I took both machines apart and cleaned then thoroughly.  Got the Brother to work for all of 5 minutes before it started skipping again.
Took the paper off the Octopi blocks I had done, only to learn that the seams I had sewed with the Janome were off in tension.  I tried to resew over them.  Not sure how it will work since I couldn't easily pull the old seams out and just gave up after a while.

There were tears.  Husband took me to get a blizzard, but the DQ was closed.  Quick run to CVS for ice cream instead.  Gotta a love a man who sees the healing power of chocolate and peanut butter.

So.....I'm trying to decide what machine to get.  Kind of ASAP.  Like, I almost impulsed bought at Target out of desperation.  Right now, I just want a cheaper one to be able to carry about, to school and so forth.

So, pretty much all my sewing plans over the weekend went to hell in a handbasket.

Here's my photo documentation of work completed:

Bess Top


Divided Basket


Sisters 10


Wellspring Quilt


Wonky Star (still needs washing)


Pixie Churn Dash


Meridian (coming soon)

Improv Malka


Not sure what I'm going to do about stress relief this week if I can't get a functioning machine.  Guess I could try to catch up on laundry.  *sigh*

Bloggers Quilt Festival...Throw quilt submission

Every year I look forward to the Bloggers' Quilt Festival sponsored by Amy over at Amy's Creative Side.   Last year was the first time I put my toe in the water and submitted a quilt entry.
It was a bit intimidating.  There are some phenomenal quilts out there.  Lots of eye candy and inspiration.

I'm putting my favorite recent finish into the throw quilt category.

I sewed this one as part of the Gen X's Sisters 10 block of month.  I jumped the gun and finished early.  Yup.  I love it that much.  It's very early 80s in its color scheme.













Details:
Name:  Like, Totally Awesome
Size:  78"x78"
Quilted using Aurifil.

If you're a first time visitor, please look around...I'm kind of a project-a-holic.

Mama needs a new machine....

Ok, so I debated whether or not to make this post.

The reality is I need a new machine.

The Walmart Brother doesn't cut it, and the Kenmore my lovely hubs got me keeps going out of whack.  It will cost more to get it serviced than the machine is really worth.

So, I'm on the hunt.  If I have to buy my own machine, my budget will not allow me to get this one.

I'm just throwing it out there for the fates to decide, since Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival is giving away a Baby Lock Melody.  I'm throwing my hat into the ring, and I'll keep hunting in the meantime.

*crosses fingers*