It's friday, everyone. Yayyyy.

Can you sense my enthusiasm? It may be a bit muted because I am beyond tired this morning. I had a surprise (okay, not really, but it was surprising because I forgot) from our hood cleaners and had to wait another three and a half hours for them to finish their work. So a 12.5 hour day became a 16 hour day, somehow, but at least I had a plethora of SNL videos to watch and my brother to keep me company.

Here's a picture of him huddling in the fetal position. Two words: Crystal Gravy.

I got these in. I think they're the bee's knees. Twenty-four different colors, all in stars, stars, stars! It's the Little Star Sampler from Connecting Threads, and at 35.76 it's not a bad deal, if you need some stash builders!

Cut up all my plaids! Those shirting materials are nothing but trouble. I guess I could have starched them, and if I work with plaid shirtings again (since I still have a bit left over) I think I might.

It did not help that I had a puppy sitting on my shoulder because I would not let her sit in my lap. She's persistent, that one!

Also, this happened. I pulled my Field Study by AMH and Cocoon by Valori Wells and put them in rainbow order, and all of a sudden I was in love! Funny how that works. All my moth-related fabrics in one place (this stack includes a few prints from Patty Young's Flora and Fauna and some solids in royal blue, teal, gold, fuchsia, and brown). I'm planning on cutting into these babies tonight when I figure exactly how I want the pattern to look!

I have a goal for my apartment this year, and it boils down to three words: more efficient storage. There's got to be a way to move everything around so that it works better! (At least, that's what I hope!) My first task is to get rid of the big, hulking dresser I currently own and get something smaller, possibly from Ikea, and then refigure the room so it better suits my needs. I'd love a sewing table, but that'll be a project for the future!

And now I need to clean my office. I like to think of it as currently "moreganized" - because it ain't there yet, but it's more organized than yesterday. It's a work in progress (and has been for awhile. My coworker says that it took us nine years to dirty the thing and it'll take more than a few days to clean it, and I'm inclined to agree).

So on that note, later days!

- Kait

A great weekend and some quilting progress.

But then, all weekends are great when you spend them with the right people!



I prefer to spend my weekends with this fool, with whom I have many ridiculous adventures.

(we couldn't resist the tiny chairs).

I bought this Hobbit pattern to cross-stitch from Gracie Cross Stitch on Etsy. I am pretty much in love with this movie and I was so, so happy to see something this awesome! I'm going to switch it around a bit, but she did a beautiful job of capturing these characters (with whom I am a little obsessed).

So I immediately went and bought thread (a lot of which I was missing, surprisingly) and cross-stitch material. I tea-dyed the cross-stitch material, since I wanted it to be an old-looking, parchment type color. To do so, I used a mix of Bigelow "Peppermint" and "Earl Grey".

I bought some more plaids in anticipation of my Weasley blanket. (Along with some cute DS Quilts prints).

And when I finished all of those blocks, and discovered that it wasn't quite as large as I wanted ...
(An idea that I think Sulli shares...)

I bought some MORE plaids.

It seems I have a bit of a thing for them. Personally I believe you can never have TOO many...

I also drew this picture of a Corgi, because God willing, I'll be bringing a little fellow home in less than two weeks, and I am unbelievably excited!

Sully knows nothing of my dastardly plan (or she is choosing to ignore me when I mention her little brother).

Dolmades were eaten (and they were delicious!)

I also worked a bit on my Outfoxed Quilt. My goal is to finish at least three quilt tops before I get our new little buddy, because I'll obviously be ridiculously occupied with the adorableness. Obviously.

And this quilt top has been mostly pieced, although there needs to be a border ... 

... although it is, again, Too Small by my standards. (I like big quilts and I cannot lie!)

So that's what I'm working on this week: finishing an Outfoxed top, some Weasley blocks, and a Floral top. 

And possibly getting started on a Hobbit cross stitch.

And now I leave you with THIS lovely image:

She's as cute as her Mom. (ahem).

Later Days!

- Katie

Works in Progress

We haven't seen "The Hobbit" for the fifth time yet. (YET.)

But we did buy these ridiculous ass Lord of the Rings Pez because we didn't think we could live without them. Dear Walmart: thank you for these!

After deciding to downsize the amount of blocks I was going to have on the first tea-dyed quilt, I finished them last Monday night!

This pic is a little blurry, but this is my favorite block. Mad props to Joann's for having such pretty white-on-white prints! 

Sometime these next few weeks, I plan on piecing these (should be easy enough) and then figuring out where I want to appliqué the doilies, etc. I'm thinking perhaps some flowers, too, but I'm undecided about that at the moment.

Saw these patterns in a McCall's quilting magazine and I'm kind of psyched to try them out! I'm thinking AMH Field Study for "Saddle Tramp", which seems rather easy to do (or so I hope).

I dragged out all of my Denyse Schmidt prints and got a wild idea for a sawtooth star quilt. I'll be picking up a few more tomorrow for a total of an even hundred! I can't wait to get started on this one.

This area was clean (once upon a time)...

... but I did manage to make some progress on this front! I've got about 80 more triangles to do (which is about 640 more selvedges) (and 160 more pieces of scrap fabric) to have a complete quilt top. I'm pretty sure I'm going to exhaust my selvedge collection by then (which is the whole point!)

I'm off tomorrow, and we're headed to Joann's so I can blow my gift card! After that, I have some crafty plans for January:

1. Piece my first tea-dyed quilt.

2. Piece the rest of the Weasley blocks!

3. Cut out all the pieces from the DS Quilts sawtooth star.

5. Double check my stash for selvedges. I get a feeling I'm going to run out ...

6. Finish as many selvedge spiderweb blocks as I can! 

7. Piece Outfoxed blocks quilt top.

That's a pretty ambitious list, but I plan on staying up late late tonight to finish a little bit of something. Right now it's back to the grindstone ... so later days!

- Kait

Tea-Dyed

When I learned you could tea-dye fabrics, the prospect interested me. I initially saw it on a post from Craftzine, and kept that post bookmarked for future reference. When I started the Fruit of the Month club sampler, I knew I wanted to tea-dye the aida fabric so that I'd get the best result possible.

I've mentioned before that I find the process very simple, clean and straightforward. It's a lot easier for me to boil a pot of water, throw in some tea-bags, enjoy the scent in the air and get to work than it is to pull out tubs I'm not afraid to dye blue or green. 

When I started this project, I initially wanted only one quilt. Something with floral accents, a delicate nature. Believe it or not, my inspiration was - oddly enough - the Hobbit. "Because a hobbit hole means good food, good cheer, and most of all, comfort." It was a favorite book of mine as a kid, and I loved the cartoon by Rankin and Bass. Watching the feature film this past week only cemented my need to create something rustic and sweet. A quilt you could crawl in, all the while imagining a warm hearth and all the smells of wood and home. 

But I had another idea, too. There's a pin on Pinterest featuring a "Weasley Blanket" - a blanket featuring different plaids and stripes. Suddenly I wanted one, too - but mine would be different. After grabbing plaid shirts from my stash (thrifted from the local Good Will) and some at Joann's, I settled on a pattern called the Ribbon Star. I previously used it for my nephew's quilt, so I knew it was easy. And after a lot of cutting - 

- which this little lady is never very pleased with - 

I began sewing it up! So far, I think the Weasley quilt is coming along nicely. Tea really only comes in a few types - herbal, black, white - and so the colors you get are limited. Browns, pinks, purples, yellows. But I'm kind of in love with the muted effect it has.

Here are my first three blocks! (All untrimmed). I did have a bit of a problem with the flannel shirtings - either I cut them on the bias, or something, but they do have a bit of stretch to them, which necessitates precision in sewing. The middle block is a DS quilts plaid that I had to include - who doesn't need a yellow plaid in their life?

This is the second quilt. Simple log cabin blocks with pretty floral lawn from Regent Street, and miscellaneous florals from my stash (some bright, others muted). I have a thing - despite my tomboyishness - for dainty florals. Those doilies in the background are for embellishment when I'm done, and they are tea-dyed as well. 

I actually can't wait to start on these again tonight. The blocks are so quickly made that it's impossible not to make five or six at a time! I'm going to do eighty total and then piece them together. I can't wait to see what it turns out to be!

Later days!

- Kait