Wash and Dry

Got Jazzy's costume finished on Wednesday night.  Both he and Squiddle wore their witch costumes to the Mommy-Baby group yesterday, as well as to Squiddle's class this morning, where there was a costume party and trick-or-treating around the school's offices, and a potluck.  (I made candy corn jellos for both groups.  There are about ten left over. I know what we're having for dessert the next few days. I need to think of something different to make for the Tuesday class potluck.)  And of course both boys got food on their costumes.  Ah well, that's what the washing machine is for!

The Witching Hour Approaches

Ah, the costumer's favorite holiday: Halloween!  Approaching fast.  And thus my serger has been dragged out and I am making costumes for little boys and, if time, their daddy and myself as well.  The serger has never gotten a great deal of use, but most of what it has, has been in service of sewing for little boys.  Very handy to not have to finish seams!

Squiddle is now four and when asked what he wants to be for Halloween, declared "A witch!"  And he wants the same for Jazzy, who is one.  And Daddy and I should be wizards.  Apparently this is an age-based dichotomy rather than the usual gender divide?  But whatever.

I hit JoAnns when patterns were a dollar, and pulled some lightweight black probably-linen-and-cotton-blend off my shelves for the boys' costumes.  It's sixty inches wide and like three yards long and it's not enough for both.  Grr!  But I've got Squiddle's cut out and sewn - I am pinning the hems tonight, and then tomorrow he and his daddy can hot-glue stars onto the witch's hat Granny sent him, and that will be all good.

For Jazzy's costume, I've got a very-dark-navy-almost-black that I'll pull and press tomorrow...

Knowing When To Quit

Yesterday I proceeded to further deconstruct my sewing mess area and cull more stuff.  To the point where I was stressed out and near tears because no matter how much I pulled out to cull, there was no visible impact on the sheer amount of stuff I have.

So I gave up.

I threw in the towel and called it good for this month.  I have like six or seven big bags of stuff to haul to guild next month.  Maybe after that I'll do another round of culling to take in to the December meeting.  But for now I've reassembled my sewing area, and it is slightly cleaner and tidier and less stressful on me, which was the goal anyway.  And I rewarded myself by sewing!  I've finished another album block, moved a bit along on the final set of purple stars, and hemmed a precut length of canvas-weight fabric into a runner.  (And cleaned and organized the TV area and coffee table, and put the runner there.)

Lightening the Load

I finished those four pillowcases today and cut out another two.  But my big task has been a dive into a massive stash/projects cull.  I'm up to four paper grocery bags to drop on the freebies table at guild next month.  I'm also finding myself reminded of a quote that pops up (usually in connection to activism burnout and self-care) on my Tumblr once in a while: "You are not obliged to complete the work. But neither are you free to abandon it."  Well, I'm abandoning rather a lot.  But at least I'm abandoning it in the direction of other people who might be interested in completing it.

Now I just have to rediscover the dining table.

Stream of Sewishness

All 56 blue string blocks trimmed and depapered.  And the remaining blue things starting to get sorted out.  This project got rid of all my blue strings, left me very few blue 1.5" strips, took a not-insignificant bite out of my blue 2" strips, and also made a good dent in my blue chunks-and-scraps.

(In among all the sewing, Jazzy got into my 1.5" strip bin.  I let him, as it was keeping the baby quietly entertained while Mummy power-sewed.  Still, the upshot is that what had been a neatly folded and stacked color-coded bin is now all just stuffed back in willy-nilly. Sigh...)

The next step for this project is to cut the embroidered kitchen towels to 12.5" squares and find the right gold in my stash, cut some 1.5" strips, and border those squares.  Then I get to do the layout.

But I couldn't deal with that today, so I pulled fabric out of the dryer - last week's grand $4 thrift store grab bag haul, a large piece from the stash, and a couple yards of character fabric I'd bought on purpose.  Fold fold fold.  Iron the character fabric and a bit from the thrift store, cut them, pull out and piece a couple 1.5" strips and iron them in half to make a flange, and now to pin.  Pillowcases are easy and fast - not quite instant gratification, but not too far off.

Got the Blues

Miracle of miracles, the boys actually took a nap at the same time this afternoon!  Which meant sewing time for Mummy, which meant I got to finish the last of the 56 blue string-pieced blocks I need for Aunt Debi's quilt!

On the right are a couple more 5" Album blocks, the bottom one scrappy but more controlled, and the top one truly monochrome.

Now I just need to trim the string blocks square and then start depapering them.

Tiny Piecer

I got through both guild meetings okay, though yesterday morning's included a five-minute intense coughing session where two different people asked me if I needed water.  I waved them off, unable to answer.  Hard to talk, let alone drink, when you're having trouble getting enough air to breathe.  Fortunately, that's the worst that this lingering whatever has been.

So at the Tuesday night guild I dropped a great big bag of stuff on the freebies table and came home with a much smaller assortment of someone else's scraps.  (If they're not picked up by the end of the evening, they either go in the trash or to Goodwill, depending on what they are.)  Last night I sorted through the bits and bobs and pulled out those pieces that will go to the blue string blocks, the ones that will go into my general stash, and the bits that I don't like which will become Nine-Patches for the last month of the Ugly Fabrics Nine-Patch Exchange.  I also sorted out the pieces that I thought might work for American Civil War period reproductions.  And I pulled out Treasury of Quilts and opened it to the Album block.  And I took a few of the smallest scraps and cut them up and sewed them together into this:

(my hand included for scale)

My previous limit for too-small-to-keep was anything less than one and a half inches square.  I now may have to revise that slightly - the square blocks in this are one and three-eighths inches before sewing!  I want to make another in two fabrics, not scrappy, to see what it comes out like.  But the three fabrics in this were literally the last scraps I could eke out of what I got.  The green rectangle in the upper left is made up of two pieces, as is the goose turd green square in the lower right corner!  I'm actually rather proud of that latter one - it's hard to tell even in person.

There's a fine line between thrifty and insanity.  I may be flirting with it....

Cough Cough Thud

Guild tonight, guild tomorrow morning.  And I have a nagging tickle-in-my-throat cough I can't shake that's making life and sleep difficult.  Also, at times, breathing.  Blargh.

In among last night's bout of insomnia I tried to figure out who and what I need to be sewing things for.  I... need to consult Wonderful Husband about this, and nail down a holiday gift sewing list.

On the plus side, I have a big bag of donations to drop on the guild tonight!

Block By Block

Tuesday was the officer's meeting for the Orange County Quilters Guild.  It looks like, barring anyone else wanting the position, I'll probably be secretary again next year.  Which I am good with!  The real problem is going to be finding someone with the proper skill set to be treasurer.  Probably something I should learn - it would be a good resume skill for when I go back to work.

And since then I've been working furiously on guild blocks.  I finished the five pumpkin blocks for Orange Grove's block-of-the-month, and have just today finished my half-a-dozen samples and instructions writeup for Orange County's.  I decided to eschew anything seasonal for November, and just went with what I'm calling "Vintage Twist":

And, having finished those, I'm back to work on the 7" blue string-pieced blocks for the quilt my aunt commissioned for her mother's birthday (November 24th).  I need 56 blocks.  I had 22 done and pressed and trimmed and ready to depaper.  I've sewn 4 more today.  30 to go!

ETA: 14 blocks done tonight.  20 to go.  Bed now.

Piccy time!

There, got the Round Robin complete and took a picture of it~! The center Hunter's Star block that I was given is twelve inches.  I added the black borders with 3" stars and running stitch embroidery and brought it up to 22" square for the next person to add their own touch to.

And since I was pulling pictures off my camera, here's the animal baby quilt I made from scrubs offcuts.  Busy fabrics!

And my first round robin quilt as displayed at the OC Fair this year: