I'm getting ready to go back to work again in a few weeks, and after spending a couple hours the other day going through all the projects that I had planned to finish this summer (haha) something in my brain kicked into gear and told me to get sewing.

I started cutting triangles for this project back at the beginning of my time off. Whenever I had fabric out for something else that I was working on, I'd just hack off a triangle and stash it in my pile. It had been sitting on my desk with all of the other things I was working on for the show, and at that point was itching to start something with it. I held off, and then forgot about it for a few weeks.

As with all projects that I seem to start though, I've got dilemmas. I do love how it looks so far, but I'm just not sure that I'm up to par with the sewing skill to pull this one off. I'm going to have to be so precise with piecing, and I've already noticed that it's nearly impossible for me to make the edges line up completely. Where I could normally fudge it with squares, the edges of the triangles won't be perfect points if I don't line up my seams absolutely perfectly. Does that make sense?

I nearly threw in the towel after the first row. I seam ripped several pieces (several of those pieces were ripped more than once) and it still just didn't line up like I wanted them to. My argument to myself to keep going is that I LOVE the colors. And if I can squeak this out, I think it will look amazing. I'm just not so sure it's going to look amazing in the end. We'll see.

posted by Sarah | August 20, 2010 | Quilting | 4 comments | link

It's been at least three weeks since my craft show, but I figured I should at least make an effort to post about it. Especially since it ended up being an awesome show!

Despite rain the first morning and um, breaking the tent Saturday night before we left, (oh yes I did...and then I duct-taped it back together Sunday) I had a fantastic weekend. I was super pleased with my set-up, which included two nifty racks that I acquired for $1 at a garage sale a week before. One of them held patchwork journals and two of my pouch baskets and the other was a shoe rack that I used to hold my new slippers. They worked like a charm!

The rain mostly held off for the rest of the day on Saturday and we had perfect weather all day on Sunday. I had fantastic visitors (I'm looking at you, Rebekah, Allison and Heidi!) and got to spend the whole weekend with my favorite crafty friend, Amie.

It was a good weekend. Indeed.

posted by Sarah | August 17, 2010 | Crafting | 1 comments | link

Let's just pretend for a minute....

That it's only been a week (instead of a month) since I last posted.

That I've done tons of sewing over that last month.

That I've at least been keeping up with new blog posts on my Google reader so that I at least know what's going on in the quilting and craft blogging world.

Sigh. Thanks for indulging me. I promise I'll try a little harder again.

posted by Sarah | August 16, 2010 | Life | 2 comments | link

I just looked back at the date of my last post and am shocked that it's been over a week since I blogged last. This summer is flying by. It doesn't seem possible that we're already into July.

I'm gearing up for a craft show in a few weeks, and was looking to make some new things to take with me. Here's what I've been working on the past few days:

Shoes! Aren't they so much fun? I should probably call them slippers instead, since I'm not sure they'd completely hold up for wearing out and about. The pattern comes via I Think Sew. Her patterns are so cute and really reasonably priced. And the shoes....oh my goodness!

It took me a few days to figure out how to make them correctly, but now that I've got everything down, they're a lot of fun to make. I'd like to have a nice pile of them to take with me to the show in two weeks!

And speaking of which! If anyone is semi-local, I'll be at the I-Art Festival in Redford, Michigan July 24th and 25th. The show runs from 11-9pm on Saturday and from 10-4pm on Sunday. I'm hoping for great weather and a big turnout this year!

posted by Sarah | July 8, 2010 | Sewing | 12 comments | link

Oh nine patch quilt....you seemed to simple to make and yet you've given me such a bad headache. What to do with you?

I think the best thing for me to do is to be content where I'm at now. I spent another day today making blocks, and I think I've been able to achieve a better balance of color and pattern with some of my original blocks. That's a very good thing to me. There's still something though that I can't put my finger on that bugs me about it, but I can't really figure it out. That's why I'm going to call it good. At least, I think that's the plan right now. We'll see what happens in the next few days when I move onto sewing the top together.

And, to report--I ended up going to the Modern Quilt Guild meeting last night and was so glad to have gone. I had a really good time and I'm looking forward to going back next month! They're a really nice group of people and I don't think my awkwardness scared too many people away. (Although I won't know that until next month.)

posted by Sarah | June 29, 2010 | Quilting | 7 comments | link

Dang, my blog readers are hard core about giving opinions! I've really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts and I've been seriously considering what you all have to say about the both colors. Honestly though, I still haven't decided what I'm doing.

Here's what's new though:

I spent today making new blocks. I added pinks, grays and blacks and I think it's been helpful to see more colors added in. At first I wasn't thinking a whole lot about how they'd blend with the other blocks--instead I was just on a mission to make as many new ones as possible and edit from there.

This is what I had made by mid-afternoon. I put everything smooshed together on my cutting table and stood above, and just let the blocks sink in my brain for a while. I realized that there's some blocks that I really love....and there's some blocks that I really can't stand. I started by separating those into piles. Then I added what I thought would still look good with the "like" pile. I feel a lot better about the blocks now, but was depressed to see that instead of having at least what I started with this week when I first showed you this project (30 blocks) and then sewing more blocks today (20 blocks) I am now down to 25 blocks.

I hope no one is disappointed that I don't have a real answer yet. I'll be back with more progress on Tuesday.

Oh! One other thing. I'm thinking about stepping out of my comfort zone a little (Hi! I'm totally socially awkward! Yay!) tomorrow to go to a meeting of my (sort of) local Modern Quilt Guild in Brighton, Michigan. I'm very excited about it. Has anyone else joined up with a Modern Quilt Guild? I'm interested to hear how people like them.

posted by Sarah | June 27, 2010 | Quilting | 11 comments | link

Okay, I need opinions once again. I thought about the ideas that you all had from yesterday (thank you for pulling me out of my mini-meltdown with good ideas!), and decided to lay the blocks out again on Kona White and Charcoal. I also liked the idea of Navy as well, but I noticed that too many of the blocks have dark blue in them and it blended in too much. I thought the Charcoal provided a dark color with enough of a difference from the dark blues.

But, which to choose now? (Pretend you're at the eye doctor.)

Better A?

Better B?

Here's some important thoughts:

1. I'm not sold on the placement of the blocks. I'm not even sold on keeping all of these blocks in. Heck, I might add more blocks and turn it into a bigger quilt. I just kept them in the same placement as yesterday for consistency.

2. I'm still thinking about adding single 2 inch squares in the corner of the sashing. (Take a look at the picture in the Hip To Piece Squares banner--that's what I'm describing.) I'm thinking about this, but not completely sold yet.

I'm determined to make this thing work. I'm going to finish it.

posted by Sarah | June 25, 2010 | Quilting | 43 comments | link

I'm not sure, but I think I may have just spent the last two days on a big failure of a project.

I don't know what the deal is with it. Part of me thinks that I should have used prints and solids in each block, but I wanted it to be busy. I think it needs a sashing in between the blocks, but I'm not sold on the Kona Ash that the blocks are sitting on. Should it be white? Or cream colored? Or should I go darker?

But on the other hand, I'm wondering if I should actually add some more color to the blocks. Maybe it's too small?

I don't know. I need to put it away for the night because it's making me frustrated and angry. Any constructive criticism will be well appreciated!

posted by Sarah | June 24, 2010 | Quilting | 21 comments | link