a Light Bulb Moment (and dusting off the DSQAL fabric)

We get excited about projects, sign up for swaps and bees and quiltalongs and those quilt endorphines pump like crazy (or at least mine do).

And then real life happens...
.... you live a year with a partially re-covered couch

.... your halloween wall hanging gets shoved in a box unfinished around thanksgiving

.... your dead simple pallete sits teasing you in a corner

The word keeps turning and you wait for things to settle down.

Please tell me you know the feeling??

Then sometimes there are happy moments of epiphany that balance out those moments. Like this:

Moody Blues Bee member Cristina is having a 'life happens' month. She was having trouble getting a block and fabric ready for her month , and said she was thinking of skipping her month. 

That broke my heart! Skip a month? That's no fun!  

And then I had an a-ha moment.. 

...that out-of-sight but not out-of-mind Dead dimple pallete flashed in my brain.

 ..the quilt I have been having a flickr love affair with flashed in my brain.

"Fact or Fiction" quilt by Karen of Blooming Poppies

Cristina and I have swapped months, I am queen bee this month, and have recruited the fine ladies of MBBR2 to have a hand in making my first all-solids quilt and my first improv pieced quilt!

I've sent the ladies the following:

   

Quilt math hurts my brain, especially this improvisational stuff. So I've asked them to make 6.5" and 8.5" 'bricks' of  (almost) any length with the fabric they receive I will string the bricks together.

I'm literally shaking with excitement! I am trying something new, using my much adored dead simple QAL fabric and Cristina will have plenty of time to prep for her turn as Queen bee. WIN WIN WIN!!

And the cheesy side of me loves that this group of talented ladies will be making 'bricks' to help me build my quilt. It’s going to be great to see what they all come up with!

What are your thoughts on improv piecing? Love it or hate it? Never tried it or old news?

I've linked up.. hop on over (if you haven't already)!

WIP Wednesday 10/05/11

I skipped the last 2 WIPs (I was in the midst of an apartment cleaning,

 job searching and wiping boogery noses (my own and that of a 6 month old)).  

Stupid life getting all up in the way of my blogging, sheesh. 

Moving on, here is what I've been up to this week (and the 2 before it):

Finished Projects

1. It's not technically a project, but I didn't get to take a proper photo or thank Kati from the Blue Chair while I was in my sudafed haze.

So here is a belated but heartfelt THANK YOU to Kati! She did an a-maze-ing job of organizing the color wheel charm swap this summer! I received my envelope, did a happy dance and immediately started playing with them on the floor. 

Rainbow therapy. It works wonders :)

New Projects

My first swap was such a warm fuzzy success that I signed up for 2 swaps this week.

1. The first is the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap 2011 being hosted by Susan.

 

That's my inspiration mosaic (as posted on flickr). 

We find out who are partners are tomorrow or Friday, ahhh!!

2. The second is the Moody Blues Bee. It is a virtual bee with 12 quilters, spread over 6 months. Each month 2 member sends out fabric to the other 11 quilters along with information on what type of block to make. Those 11 quilters complete the block and return it by the end of the month. The theme this go around is scrap busting. It doesn't start until January 1, so I have plenty of time to get some other WIPs done before it starts.

3. Stockings for Kids - Okay. I have a confession. I can't resist sewing for a good cause. I've done Quilts for Kids, and recently made these 4 blocks for Sarah's endeavor, Quilting for Kids.

Lyanna is gathering volunteers to make a stockings for foster children to give them something they can call their own this holiday season. How sweet is that?  I'm jumping on board, are you?

You can read the story here.

Progress

1. Dead Simple QAL - Remember this pile of fabrics?

Well, as you may know, I picked a palette and after much deliberation, I have a game plan! 

2. Across the Sea QAL - I hit a major productive road block on this one.  I had a pile of blocks just waiting for their seams to be pressed open for longer than I care to admit.  
Now it has inner borders (pictured below) and 3 of the 4 outer borders. 

Did I make the deadline? Nope. Am I lovin' what is done though? BIG Yes! 
And that makes me happy inside :)

No Progress

1. Scrappy Friendship Quilt
2. Quilt with No Name
3. Sewing Room Pencil Holder
4. Thomas the Tank Train Bag
5. Log Cabin Flag Quilt (partially quilted)
6. Quilts for Kids (2 quilt kits) 
7. Needle Case
8. The Great Couch Re-cover

What have YOU been up to? 

Have you been thinking of holiday sewing projects lately?
 Have you gone on a fall cleaning frenzy? 

This week's stats:

New projects - 2

Completed projects - 1
Currently in progress -10

I Want to K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid!)

This post is part of a series related to the Dead Simple Quilt Along

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Now, with a name like the "Dead Simple QAL", you'd think I'd take a mental break and just roll with it.
Keep it, oh, I don't know, simple.

 But that just ain't my style.
It started off pretty simple. I've picked my pallette and pulled my fabric.


Simple. Sweet!

I seem to be in a "it's complicated" phase of my relationship with this thing though.
I am in a complete honeymoon phase with my pallete and my newly found love of pink.

I'm having trouble committing though.

To a plan that is.

I was talking to blog-buddy Rebecca from making rebecca lynne about how excited we are for this QAL.
She asked me a simple question, "am I going big or small" with this one.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Well, funny she should ask. I'm asking myself the same thing.   See, here's my problem.

I originally though it would be nice to do a mini quilt with just solids, totally in the spirit of dead simple.
Something like this maybe.

I dig it.

However, I don't have anywhere to hang said mini at the moment, and I am of the opinion that anything I make should be enjoyed, not shoved in a box and forgotten untill we move.  You with me?

So that leads me to doing a lap size quilt. Great. Easy.
Lynne has posted the fabric requirements. I should just use my solids, not think too hard.  Go with it. Right?

Wrong. Apparanty my brain just doesn't 'do' simple.
Here's the train of thought currently in my brain (hold on, it's a wild ride)!

•  Oooh! Lynne posted directions for 70x90 quilt. perfect! Let's see we need 22 fat quarters. crap. I have 6 half yards (equivalent of 12 FQs ) 
• Okay no biggie. I'll hunt through the stash to find some coordinating prints.
• Well If I am going to add some prints shoudn't I do something other than just plain squares? 
• No, bad annaliese. Keep it simple. Dead simple. Pretend the prints are solids and just follow along like a good blog QALer. 
• I could always try that wonky stack and whack block thing I've been itching to try...

So much for simple. I think I will sleep on this pull from the stash before I decide.