Create! Days 24 & 25

A week ago Friday, my husband said he was looking forward to the three day weekend.  I just smiled and said that I was looking forward to my nine day weekend.  Yes, I've had the whole week off and tried to squeeze in as much sewing as possible. In fact, the more days off, the more time I've spent creating (at the expense of other things).  And my husband is such an enabler!  For example, early in the week I served him a lovely, home-cooked meal by candlelight.  Last night we had take out, bless his heart!  I promise when I post this I'll go do a little laundry, a little housework, and actually get that roast in the oven that I had planned on serving last night. 

We woke up to snow yesterday morning.

 

These first two photos were taken from my front door.

These last two photos were taken from the door leading to the back deck.

 

 I've always loved shots of quilts in the snow, but either we don't have any snow, I don't have a new quilt to photograph, or I just plain forget to take advantage of the photo op.  So -- I grabbed the quilt block I had finished on Tuesday, ran outside, and re-photographed it in the snow. 

 This block is a variation of a pillow made by Tacha in Issue 1 of Fat Quarterly.

 In between sewing, I can't help but fold more fabric (a la Jeni).

 Jeni even added me to her blog post showing neatly folded fabrics from reader's stashes.

 Here are a few peeks at another little project I've been working on today.

And I started making hexies for Megan's (Lucy and Norman) Bee Hexed In block.

Megan asked for jewel tones, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of these jewels in the snow.  I've been waiting all day for the sun to hit the back deck so I could take the shot, and I think it's been worth the wait.

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Create! Days 9 - 23

Oops!  I really meant to keep up with the blogging end of this month of daily creating....  And now the month is almost over!  At times I've found it really hard to sneak in even 15 minutes of sewing (and often feel that I should have made it 15 minutes of housework a day).  Other days, just getting started has led to hours of stitching.  Sometimes I've just worked on "creating" a more organized, functional, and attractive sewing space, and sometimes I've worked on a couple of special projects that I'm not able to share just now.  And then there's the wedding planning....

 

The wedding colors are gray and yellow and white, and I'm still collecting fabrics.  A few of these yellows actually read as fairly orange in this photo.  

I've been gathering pictures of sewing studio inspiration on Pinterest and am carefully considering creative  and functional ways of storing fabric.  Of course, this often starts with folding fabric properly.  Yesterday I came across this post by Jeni, with videos of fabric folding, which inspired me to give it a try.

So these piles

became these stacks.

I love it because all of the different sized cuts of fabric are folded into the same size/shape.  

This is the best folding I've even done, if I do say so myself.  

How do you fold/store your fabric?

Tonight I put the finishing stitches on this Bee Hexed In block for Brooke (april two eighty).

Hope you like it, Brooke!

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Create! Day 8

I've been working on a bee block to finish out one of my 2010 bees, but I think tomorrow night I will start all over from scratch.  I'm just not feeling it!  So besides spinning my wheels on that, I did some thinking about fabrics for the CHQ quilt-along and the Single Girl QAL.  I am trying to pull fabrics that I already own, but I have such odd sizes of Kona Cotton solids, I just can't get the right amounts of any grouping I think I want to make.  So -- I'll keep thinking about that....

For the Single Girl quilt, I think I will make use of my stash of Amy Butler fabrics.  

These two photos show the same stacks -- just from different angles, so don't think I have more than I do (although I do have plenty).  I'm more of a fan than a hoarder, as you can see, because I definitely use my beautiful Amy Butler fabrics.

 

Yes, I think a scrappy Amy Butler quilt will do nicely.  

Now -- I just have about 33 templates to cut....

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Create! Day 7

Today I accomplished little more than stitching a few hexies together and messing up my blog header so that I had to replace it.  

Note to self: if you can't find your thread, check out what the cat at your feet is playing with!  

Sammy can run, but she can't hide.

 At least not very well.

  But she stopped trying to lick my fingers while I was stitching!

See you tomorrow!

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Create! Day 6

Super Bowl? What Super Bowl?

Day 6 was very special because I got to go to Gabrien's house and sew with her and her mother, Linda.  Irene even showed up -- finally -- and it is always fun to have her around.

Gabrien has a cute (and very functional) sewing room!  I can't believe I didn't take any photos to share.  I guess she'll just have to have me over for another sew day!  I did manage to take this picture accidentally when I was looking for a photo on my camera, which shows that I did accomplish some hand sewing while I was gabbing with Gabrien.  

And yesterday and today I spent a little time pulling fabrics for the next Bee Hexed In block -- hexies in jewel tones with black and white corner squares.  I think this is what Megan has in mind....

Sewing tomorrow night will be a bit tricky since I have a class, but I'll find some creative time somewhere!

Hope your Super Bowl weekend was fun or productive or both!

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Create! Days 3, 4, & 5

On days 3 & 4, I accomplished little more than my 15 minutes of sewing, but on day 5 I was able to finish two bee blocks, with two more in progress.

Kelly's block

Solidia's block

 

It's a pleasure driving home from work knowing that I'll get at least 15 minutes of sewing in.  And I'm enjoying that the days are getting longer again.  This is 5:22 p.m. Thursday.

 

And tomorrow I get to sew with friends during the Super Bowl!

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Create! Day 2

When I got up this morning and got ready for work, I was really looking forward to sewing at the end of the day.  But I had a physical therapy appointment right after work, and I left feeling exhausted.  So I made dinner, mustered a second wind, and sewed this Twice Around the Block Bee block for Kim.

 

She sent these great fabrics and asked for a block with squares and rectangles.  

I love the blocks she has received so far and am looking forward to seeing how her quilt top comes together.  See you tomorrow!

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

Create! Day 1

I realized the other day that I used to make much better use of little moments.  Lately I tend to put off any sewing projects until I have several uninterrupted hours to dedicate (which does not happen nearly as often as I'd like).  Then I remembered how I used to have blocks cut and ready to go next to the sewing machine, so that whenever I found 10 minutes here or 15 minutes there, I would sew up a block or two. So I decided that for the month of February, I would try to work on a quilting/sewing project for a minimum of fifteen minutes a day.  Hopefully, I will log more time on many days, but at least I'll always get a little something done and feel that I'm moving forward.

Not long after I made that decision I read about Kelly's similar idea and joined her Create! flickr group.  The idea is to do something creative every day in February and post it to the group.  Check it out, and maybe you'll want to join in the fun. 

With bee blocks and wedding projects, I should have plenty to keep me busy this month.  And then I had to go and join two quilt-alongs!  I just couldn't help myself!

CHQ quilt-along, led by Cherri House

Single Girl Quilt-Along, led by Nova, Katy, and Megan.

And, since today is February 1st, I started off the month with a bee block finish.  Chris' (Izzy Inspired) block for Bee Hexed In is finally finished and ready to be mailed tomorrow!

And happiness is making the thread last until the very last little hexie had been sewn down!

Maybe another bee block finish for tomorrow night?  Come back and see!

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan