Thursday, April 4, 2013

Still kickin'

Well, it's been real... lol.  I find that in the spring, I need a little more downtime than the rest of the year due to the season-shift and the migraine-related consequences that come with it.  This year, with its whack-tastic weather has proved to be a little more difficult than usual and results in the frequent disappearing act.  It's not that I don't miss reading blogs and keeping up on the haps but this last little while, I kinda skipped the glare of the internet - my laptop sat abandoned - and my sewing machine gathered more dust from disuse than lint from overuse.  It's Easter break so I've had the week off but while I had big plans, I crashed hard instead. My productivity was more of the passive kind - I cleared tons off the PVR and watched almost the entirety of Game of Thrones(I was also holding my breath approaching the NHL trade deadline... Phew! Dodged an unneeded goalie-sized bullet there!)
This was the first day of Spring 'round these parts.... Chest height snow. After the first two melts.  Yeah.
So, I'm a week behind on everyone's blogs if you've been missing my comments or hits on your site. Sorry, I'll get there. :-) (Oh, so very Canadian....)

I am working on a tutorial for the random piecing demo I did at the Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild at our last meeting and I'm hoping to get it up before the end of the weekend.

The guild has a couple of challenges going at all times.  The one we just finished was the Ugly Fat Quarter Challenge.  We all brought an ugly FQ, dropped it into a pillowcase and took turns pulling one out. What did I get? A green/brown floral monstrosity.  I went pouch because I was mentally blocked and after experimenting unsuccessfully with some FMQ and mock-trapunto, I was running out of fabric.  I did manage to quickly design my own gnome-y accent for it though and it makes me happy.  My sister thought the pouch was cute and it now lives with her.
'Scuze the shaky photos - took them months ago.

Our current challenge is a Two-Colour Crayon Challenge.  You pull two crayons from a magical toque and those are the colours you're stuck with.  You can use only those colours, and neutrals if you really feel you need them.  I pulled yellow and white.  And as much as I'm happy with how it's going, it will also be living at Seester's.

I managed to get my Simply Solids Bee block finished.  Karen @ BungalowBayQuilts asked for Scrap Jar Stars and I was thrilled that I had tons of scraps so I could make it really colourful for her. Hopefully, colour was what she wanted because, boy, there's a ton in there!

The major project I had planned for the break was the quilting on a quilt that's sat waiting, basted and ready, since the middle of January. Well, folks, it's already the end of Thursday and this is how far I got.
10 minutes in...
But when HotWheels interrupt your projects, it's really hard to be annoyed at a lack of progress.  Nephew's learning about why we don't keep pushing the button with the scissors on it...

And since you may have noticed this, I'm not on Crackbook, I don't pin anything, I don't use Twitter or Instagram, and am kinda lame and inept at using Flickr.  Therefore, please understand how very difficult it was for me to do the following.   I am resentfully claiming my blog on Bloglovin'. (I am a curmudgeon, yes, I get that.)


Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Yeah.  I have no plans to use it - I'm happy with Reeder - but I know that I keep a pretty low profile and thought it might make it easier to find me, if you're looking.

Now - I'm going to send some overdue emails and get back to reading.... Have a lovely one!

17 comments:

  1. Hi! Looks great except the snow! I do hope you get soon real spring! Crayon challenge looks exiting and your quilt is going to be beautiful! Have a rest and don't push you self to do something you don't feel right now.
    x Teje

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  2. PS. I follow you by e-mail, but changed now to Bloglovin as I have changed all the blogs I follow.

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  3. Ha! My 5-year-old is OBSESSED with the scissor button too. :) LOVE what is happening with that yellow project.

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  4. Too funny Carly. Your nephew and the button. Enjoy your down time.

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  5. Carly, that first paragraph. is. so. me. Feelin' your blues and lack of productivity, and the season change migraines can go to Hell! Glad your back and hoping you continue to do well. I switched to bloglovin' because I figured I need to get familiar with it before Google Reader goes away completely. I'm with you though, the internet holds no interest during the gray times.

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  6. Always happy to have you around and love your Canadianisms. Everything looks amazing! I love the yellow and white and can't wait to see your tutorial.

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  7. Okay, remind me of your hockey preferences? Boston?? Might you have gotten Luongo??? Hmmmmmmm????? haha I know you're not a Luongo lover! We get to keep him I guess. ha

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  8. Flying just a little under the radar, are we? I think this weather, for those of us who are smack dab in the middle of it, has become VERY WEARING! We're escaping to Kentucky for again for 4 days next week and I hope we'll be soaking up some sunshine and heat while there. And then, even better, maybe it will be more "seasonal" when we get back next Sunday. I hope ... I hope ... I hope ...

    By the way, I've switched to Feedly for my blog reading fix.

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  9. I can't see your photos/videos (?) for some reason - I'll check back next time!
    Sucks you get migraines - I've had a few and they are truly horrible. I have a good quilting story I'll share with you on email. I can't post it to my blog because it's a gift for a friend and she'll read it. More to come.....

    Hope you're feeling much better! And fingers crossed there's no flooding this year.

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  10. Wow that's some snow! Just had to say I couldn't face Bloglovin' but do like Feedly! Helped the migraines are short lived.

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  11. This "Spring" has been pretty hard on my morale, that's for sure. Hope your migraines settle down. They are no fun. Your ugly FQ project is adorable. And can't wait to see your 2-colour project all finished. And I love love your bright star block. Just what I needed with all this white hanging around. Take it easy!

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  12. I can't believe how much snow you have, and you're only a few hours away from me! That's amazing. You must be in the other Simply Solids Canadian group because I have to make a butterfly this month. The block you made is very scrappy. I love it. And I hear you on the little fingers by the sewing machine. My three year old loves to play with the tension dial on my machine. It's alright if I notice right away, but if I don't, that's a whole lot of re-sewing.

    beaniekins84(at)gmail(dot)com

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  13. I love those challenge ideas!!

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  14. Sure sorry to hear about the winter doldrums and migraines. Chest high snow would get anyone down... which is precisely why we moved from Iowa to Florida nine months ago! You did great with your challenges and block. Love the bright solid fabrics in the star block. As for Bloglovin' I don't need that to follow you. I've been using the Atom RSS Feed since day one. That way, all posts come into my email box and I don't have to go anywhere to find them. Hope you're feeling sunny again soon.

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  15. I hope you enjoyed your break. I love all the projects you've shown, especially the two color crayon challenge. I am hoping the end of Google reader won't affect the blogs listed in my Dashboard. Regardless, I also switched to Bloglovin and transferred the blogs I follow over there too.

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  16. You crack me up. Always. Migraines are no fun (son and my mother have them in spades), but I hope that your time off wasn't completely filled with horrid things. For someone who pulled an ugly fabric, you sure made it cute: the gnome is darling. And yes, I'd have a hard time with yellow and white as I'm definitely a high-contrast person, but good for you for perservering. The project looks interesting.

    Lastly, I hear you about Bloglovin'. I'm about to go and do that too, although I'm a Feedly lover. (Have heard about Reeder, and need to go and check it out.)

    Hang in there while the snow melts!
    Elizabeth E.
    opquilt.com

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  17. oooh, love that little gnome! We're having an ugly fabric swap at our next meeting and I'm scared! Love what you're doing with that yellow fabric, not sure what it is but it looks fab!

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