In the meantime...

While I'm still rearranging half-square triangles on my sewing table and in my head as I'm trying to fall asleep, I thought I'd post a recent finish.

These hexagons, begun a full two years ago, were fun to begin with, then got frustrating, then sat in a basket. I just couldn't rally my enthusiasm for them enough (or find the rest of the ones I'd cut) to make a decent-sized baby quilt until my sister called to see if I had any "girly" quilts in stock for a friend expecting her first grandchild. Turns out adding the white panels was just what this piece needed.  The backing is one of my favorite lavender/pink/gray/white Kaffe Fassett prints, also used liberally on the front.

In retrospect I probably should have quilted the hexagons a bit more (they got a little poofy in places after washing), but I kind of like the contrast between them and the denseness of the straight lines. It is what it is, and it's in North Carolina now, hopefully snuggling with a week-old baby girl.

Of course, The Inspector had to put it through its paces before I could send it off. No quilt escapes his quality control test for nap-ability!

This would move along much faster...

...if I weren't so indecisive about the layout.

I thought I had something in mind, and then started moving things around -- which made me question my original design. It's never a good idea to second-guess myself, it only leads to more questions and more rearranging, and more questions, and more rearranging...

Ack!

My weekend so far...

This is how I've spent a good part of my weekend:

Piles of tiny HST's, 20 in each.

Found my mojo!

It took a while, but I FINALLY found my quilt mojo! Turns out it was hibernating beneath the pile of UFO's in the corner of my kitchen, and it took a little spring cleaning (and a search for some lost hexagons) to uncover it.

A sneak peek at the little quilt I just finished this morning

You'd think it would have been a quilt-productive winter, what with the Polar Vortex and more snow than Chicago has seen in decades, but that wasn't the case. I swear I spent the past six months huddled under the down comforter with hot tea and Netflix, Archie snuggled somewhere close by for the extra body heat. On the upside, I'm up-to-date with "Mad Men," "Royal Pains," "Sherlock," "Parks and Recreation" and "The Tudors," and have relived the entirety of "Gray's Anatomy" and "30 Rock." On the downside, I have some serious catching up to do sewing-wise. Babies keep getting born, couples keep getting married, and folks are having monumental quilt-worthy birthdays.

I guess I have my aunt to thank for jump-starting the quilt mania that has ensued. By the way, I didn't make the deadline for her birthday quilt -- I realized that it wasn't worth the stress involved with trying to complete a quilt inside of a week. I sent a card, and her quilt will be waiting for her when she comes to visit in July. It's one for the FAIL column, but it's a little check mark, not a huge one.

Now I just have to find my blogging mojo. It has to be around here somewhere!

Ninety blocks for ninety years...

This one is for Aunt Helen, who turns 90 this coming weekend. And of course, I waited until last weekend to settle on a pattern I liked and start slicing up the stack of flannels I pulled three weeks ago...and then a client called with a two-day project that ate up all of Monday and Tuesday.

So now I'm in serious Crunch Mode, because it needs to be on its way to Cleveland in a car with my cousin on Friday afternoon. In two days.

This is what it looks like this morning:
 

It's not like I didn't know this occasion was coming. I just really wish the inspiration wouldn't hit so darn last-minute what seems like All. The. Time.

Someday I'm going to figure out why I do this to myself.

The best laid plans...

True to form, I finished 250+ batik flying geese, and wasn't crazy about them. For now. They have to sit for a while before I'm ready to finish them up -- fortunately, the cold weather is persisting, so I may get the quilt finished after all before the crocuses poke through the icy garden muck.

In the meantime, a friend's daughter had a baby, which allowed me to put the geese aside to percolate while I whipped up a simple little boy quilt. Fire up a season of "Doc Martin" on Netflix, and lo and behold, the top is done! I got half of it quilted and intended to do the rest yesterday morning, but someone else had a different agenda:

Sometimes a nap is just more important. At least I know the inspector approves.

(So much for more frequent blogging! I'm trying to get my mojo back, honest!)

Well, hello again!

I was such a bad blogger last year -- and not much better at quilting, either.  While a few projects were started, not many got finished, which means the stack of UFO's in the corner of the kitchen got even higher in 2013.

 The only project I sewed for Christmas this year -- a table runner for my sister (and yes, that is a Mr. Potato Head on my tree)

Penguins Afloat Redux -- a 2013 baby quilt you'd think was made for Archie

Last year was full of distractions -- both personal and work-related -- which didn't leave much energy (or will) for writing or sewing.  While I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions, I am at least hoping that I can give both a little more attention in 2014.

In that vein, when the Polar Vortex paid a visit to Chicago last week and temps dipped well below zero (minus 52 degrees with the wind chill! Yikes!), there wasn't much else to do but make soup, stay indoors and sew. Archie and I hunkered down to avoid freezing, and I decided a new project was in order because, as we all know, a new project is SO much more fun than finishing up an old one. Stack in the corner, be damned!

Three batik jelly rolls (navy, brown and amber/sand-ish) were waiting to be united with 1½ yards of cappuccino Minkee dot -- the thought of which sounded really snuggly in the face of the ice forming on the inside of my windows. So I began.

Here's the idea:

I'm starting to think all my quilts should match my floor

The pieces measure 4½" x 2½", and if my calculations are right, I need about three times this many geese to make a decent-sized throw for the sofa. I have some work ahead of me, but the snow outside is providing incentive.

And with a few more bone-chilling winter days (and much perseverance), I'll be able to use it once or twice before the daffodils spring up!

Hope everybody is staying warm! Happy 2014!