Plus One, Minus One

... that's what I'd have to tally this week 

if I was keeping count of "on-going" quilt projects.

Starting a new project wasn't exactly intentional, 

but it was absolutely the right thing to do this week. 

Tomorrow is (was?) Saskia & Arne's official 40-week (gestational) due date ... 

I've been watching it slowly approach on the calendar. 

After tomorrow different kind of counting starts ...

I've used some of my nervous energy to create a special piece to honor Saskia & Arne. 

Each square represents something that relates to them. Our wishes, dreams and intentions all stitched up in a little 7-1/2" square sampler. Each square (including the t-shirt above) is 1-1/2" square.

You can read more about this project here and see detailed pictures of each square here. Be sure to visit Amy Power's blog Inspire Co. and check out her Happy Go Lucky Stitchalong.

On the finishing side of the column, I put the last stitches into 

the binding of this quilt last Friday and threw another party! 

More pictures and all the details are here.

 

I'd like to say that Axel's second sock is done .. but it's still waiting for me to turn the heel (again) ...

But TODAY, I drew the last and final block pattern for Nesting!

Now it's time to sit at the computer, scan, edit, write, re-edit and finalize all the patterns. 

This finished quilt design has been a long time in coming but I sure am loving the results.

This week is crazy busy. 

There is at least one major thing on my calendar every single day. 

I'm really not sure why it turned out to be this week. 

But maybe it's for the best 

... one thing is for sure ... 

it will mean for a whopper of a WAW list ... I hope you'll stop back by.

Be sure to stop by Freshly Pieced and see what every one else has been up to ...

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WiP Wednesday - Week 2

I tried to sleep in this morning. Hubby even said I should. It sounded so good. I'm still pretty sore after Monday ... which you'll hear about on Friday. After all it's not really blog-worthy but it definitely made an  impact on my week.

But I just couldn't do it. After all, it's WiP Wednesday!

So let's see .. first a look at how last WiP Wednesday went. I think I might have tanked. I was all fired up. Had grabbed Oma Lena and was headed into the garden. And then I answered the phone and got caught up / embroiled in a conversation that was worse than beating a dead horse. Honestly! I've thought about whether to blog specifically about the topic but it covered a lot of things and finally culminated in pearls of wisdom. There's more to the story but I'm pretty sure I won't blog about it. Time to just move on ...

So as I stepped into the garden my mind was spinning and couldn't relax. Instead of Oma Lena I tightly knit one very tiny wee little sock. I've tried to knit it's pair but there was a substantial difference in size. Guess I might need someone to wind me up again so I can get that second one to match.

On Friday Marleen came over to help me motivate me and organize my thoughts for launching Oma Lena as a BOM available world-wide. Yes! We are getting there. So as much as I would like to sew, today will probably be spent at the computer writing up the booklet and advertizing info. Marleen has the center of her Oma Lena put together and is ready to start filling in the edges. I can hardly wait. The colors are lovely! That's the great thing about this BOM .. you can do it in colors to suit you. Your quilt will be unique! More about it all - very soon.

That doesn't mean there hasn't been some sewing going on. Yesterday my friend Lili came over and I sewed a button on! Whooohooo! Instead of a trip to the store to buy ONE button. We went through my button chest again and chose to stack two. Haha ... only now we've decided my little purse needs a handle and that it should be orange! Maybe it will be ready to show you on Friday. I did manage to sort, fold and take stock of My Contemporary Jane while looking for the right orange. So that's progress too, right?

I am going to love those What a Week posts! Honestly, life does distract sometimes and it means that once in a while you'll get one of these long wordy posts with no action. What a Week posts on Friday is all about celebrating all the things that got in the way!

Tomorrow two other friends are coming to help get Nesting moving along. I LOVE this quilt. But I can't pick it up. I don't know why and it makes me sad. All the blocks are designed it's just a matter of stitching them up. I think I'm a bit overwhelmed with handwork right now.

So there you have it. Obviously I have WiPs enough on my hands. But right now I'm just concentrating on the ones that involves a commitment to someone else.

Oi vey .. that reminds me .. this is waiting to be quilted! Mary, do you still love me?

Time to crack that WiP and go create something!

Happy Sewing! xox


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My Heart went THUMP

Do you work from home? Ever work yourself into a complete tizzy and then crave the company of co-workers to talk you down? I had a Friday like that last week. Frustrated with so many things on so many levels I couldn't put a single thought together. By the time Axel came home I was a lost cause, I tried to explain and then ask him for ideas ... he was lost. Poor guy, he had no idea what I was talking about. Somehow I managed to talk myself down, but it was a rough, rough day.

Saturday was great and I made loads of progress on my white picket fence ... a small object that is beginning to represent so much.

So between Saturday and Sunday I woke in the middle of the night to thumping in my head. It wasn't a headache, but boy was it thumping, echoing my heartbeat which seemed to be a tad faster than usual. I finally got up and during the course of the day drank two huge cups of coffee (after giving it up and not liking the taste for over a year)! I sat down at my desk and drew up some plans: basic weekly to-do lists and a daily checklist. Some things are simple like make dinner plans and change the bedding. Other things were huge, like remember to eat a healthy lunch, clear my desk every night and make a plan for the next day before I finish "work" each evening.



This week has gone much better ... much! It feels better. That crazy heart / head thumping episode messed up my internal clock but last night I finally got a good solid nights sleep - long may they continue.

Yes, I'm still a tad bugged about the list of things that need doing .. all around really .. in the house, the shop, the studio. The list always seems to get longer rather than shorter. But that jolt of creativity I had a couple of weeks ago is still flowing strong in spite of the frustration.

Yesterday I finished hand-piecing the first twenty-five blocks of Got Dots together .. I am so in love with this project! Every dot, every heart, block, row .. it's lovely, it's satisfying and I'll keep going until it's big enough to nap under but for now it can hang on the wall of the shop, smiling on everyone that comes in.  It will also get a border but it's simple and sweet so I'll continue on that in the meantime.  On my list for this afternoon is to double-check the instructions for the Lollipop (formerly known as Bowl) block and get them posted on the blog.

I'm going great guns on Nesting as well ... I think I might even have the top completely appliqued and together by the beginning of September. The patterns are coming along well and I just have one or two that need a bit of tweaking here and there.



And then there's this .. finally .. in the midst of my panic on Friday I made myself a needlebook and took photographs step by step so I could finally put together packets, patterns and maybe even some finished product (etsy?).



So sometimes we put our panic and self doubt to good use - long may it continue!

Now I'm off to have a healthy lunch, play with Whisper, get a jump start on dinner and throw some laundry in the washing machine. This afternoon a fabric rep is coming and I'm hoping to find some new goodies for the shop. Pin It Now!