WIP Wednesday: Three

What can I say?  I've been busy.  We've been busy.  I haven't uploaded pictures.  

But today I did.  Because I have to start somewhere.  Or re-start as the case may be.  And since today is Wednesday, what better place to start than WIP Wednesday hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced. 

Accountability for all of these projects I start.

In another life, I worked for an accounting firm.  One of the acronyms we used was LIFO - Last In First Out.  Here are SOME of my unfinished, er WIPs, and in true LIFO fashion, they are newest to oldest.

My guild, ECMQG, okay, me really, instigated a small swap of Halloween themed items, or if you preferred, Fall themed items.  Small projects.

This is the just-in-case project because as you know if you've ever participated in an online swap, there always has to be a plan B.   My longtime friend who lives in VA wanted to play, and "just in case" her item didn't make it to Pensacola timely, I wanted a back up for her partner.

Luckily, Dee's item made it, but this was Plan B.  Just in case.  

  

Improv piecing + a mini modern maples block that wasn't turning out like I wanted + a really cool leaf selvage from a great fox print I found at JoAnn's.  Little bits of this and that.  It's going to be a pillow cover. 

The Barbie, is what I've been calling this baby girl quilt I began in late August (probably the day after the new school year began, ha!) because of this inspiring image.

Lots of little thin strips combined and sewn together and cut and arranged and rearranged again in color and value order.  Tons of little scraps being used. Yay!  It's spray basted and ready for quilting.

My third WIP has been sitting for far too long in the basket of quilt tops.  A good 17 months or so. What can I say?  I didn't have an ideal quilting design in mind, and the person to who was waiting for this said she'd wait "forever".  

While I had it laid out on the pool deck for spray basting, quilting inspiration came in the form of the shadows from the screen supports. 

  

Now it's quilted.  The binding is cut.  This one will be finished soon.

Three this week.  If only that Gulf of Mexico and perfect sailing weather weren't calling.

LOVe to Peggy

I grew up with two sisters, Julie (older by 11.5 months) and Tracy (younger by 11.5 months).  However, I've always known, if "always" is defined at age nine, that I had another sister, an older sister, who had been placed for adoption at birth.

The Hayes Girls 1968 or 1969.  Tracy, Cindy, Julie.

Not that I was told details at age nine as to why she didn't live with us.  Not that any details about where she was, or who she was, or who adopted her were available in 1972 when my Mom told me about Peggy, my other sister.  Mom told me her name - Peggy Sue - but that was all she knew.  Or maybe that was all she figured I needed to know.  Because I was nine.

Sometime in my adult life, maybe around 2002 or 2003, Mom & Peggy, connected.  In turn, Peggy & I corresponded, briefly, but as Peggy said, "she wasn't ready for all of us".  It wasn't really until Facebook and several years later that she and I began getting to know each other.

Fast forward to late September/early October 2010.  A weekend wedding in Vegas.  Mom flew from DC; we flew from FL to meet Peggy and her fiance  Richard, my niece Tracy, and Peggy's brother, Doug, and his family.

Peggy & Richard - Vows.

I can't say we did a lot of catching up.  I can't say we even began to fill in gaps.  I can say we learned that family is important, regardless of how, or when it comes about.  Because a family is about love.  

Mom, Peggy, Richard, me, Doug.

My February project from our ECMQG sew day.  The pattern, from KelbySews can be found here.  I knew right away I wanted to make something for Peggy. I brought my blue and brown batik scraps which, from previous Facebook conversations, I already knew she loved.

i

I believe the solid is Kona.  Maybe oatmeal?  I know I had it in my stash for another project that is still a WIP.  The quilting in each letter echoes the pieced shapes, or in the case of the L, the wavy patterned fabric.  Let me tell you how easy that was to do!

Above and below are my favorite organic wavy lines.  I figured they were appropriate for this, and for Peggy, as love is very much like water - it ebbs and flows; it comes in waves; it can be deep or shallow.  But like water, we can't live without it.

Naturally, I pieced the back with a strip of the scraps.  I really like how the quilting lines, especially the blue, show against the solid.  Still need to label it and send it on it's journey.

Love you Peggy.  

Motivated

As I've mentioned previously, I'm really good about starting projects.  Terrible about finishing them.  

Example:  These piles of 2.5" strips.  Halloween fabrics and coordinating others collected over MANY years.  Some from JoAnn's.  Some from Hancock's.  Some from Walmart.  Some good ones from A&E.  

I cut them because I was inspired by this:

Riel's Scrappy Strippy Halloween Quilt was simple.  It was colorful.  It was bright.  It used Halloween fabrics.  It was EARLY October 2011.  Sure, I could do this.  Sure, it would be finished by Halloween.  No problem.

However, my quilting world is never that neat or quick.  Those strips have lingered. 

I keep meaning to get back to them, but something else always catches my attention.

I rifled through them numerous times this past September and October when I was making Trick-or-Eek! bags. 

I pulled some of them out for our guild's, ECMQG, 1 year anniversary scrap swap challenge.  Leslie made me a fantastic table runner!

I pulled from them again two weeks ago when I was creating this little presentation bag for the mini-quilt I entered in a quilt show.

Heck, they were my go to fabrics when I pieced those mini-quilts, Fright Night, for L, and Monste-Madness for Jean.

  
So they're being used.  Just not as I originally thought.

However, I am trying to get back to that original inspiration.  See? (Ok, I need to rotate that picture.)  

  
A little bit each week.  And maybe, just maybe, I'll have a large, bright, scrappy, strippy Halloween quilt this year.

We'll see.  

Playing

Now that I am the blogger for our guild, ECMQG, I feel the urge to put more here.  There's still something about putting my little world out there that unsettles me.  But, as I seem to keep pushing others to come out of their comfort zones, I have to do the same.  


Today I am pulling out my Halloween fabrics (not that they were ever really "put away") to make a bag for this little mini quilt I entered in a local show, the 2013 Emerald Coast Quilt Retreat and Show. 

Funny, when we were "challenged" to enter a quilt, I thought nothing of it.  Other quilt-y friends, found it uncomfortable. Not that I have any aspirations about winning.  Because I don't.  I'm just thrilled to have a chance to show what I love doing with others.  Others who may not be modern quilters.  Others who sew and quilt and who LOVE fabrics and color, but are not as apt to "play" like I do.  Others who may have taken a sewing class years ago, but haven't "played" with fabric in too long of a time.  Others, like me, who don't draw or paint, but can fill that creative desire, by "playing" with fabrics.  To me, it's all just play.

The little bag I'm making for this quilt to travel to the show in is none other than Jeni Baker's lined drawstring bag.  I love it (obviously).  It's super easy.

So while it's February and the predominant colors are white (snow), gray (clouds), brown (dead grass like where I grew up in Virginia), red (Valentine's), or pink (Valentine's again) I'm going to go play with orange, and black, and purple, and chartreuse, and gray.    

Convoy

I volunteered to help with administrative duties for our guild, ECMQG, during our last formal meeting of 2012.  Kelly S, who was doing everything - EMails, coordinating charity activities, writing our blog, posting pictures, communicating with the MQG, coordinating our meeting ideas, pretty much  every task necessary for a start-up - needed some help.  So now I'm the Secretary.  Which means I write the EMails and blog posts, take notes, and update our various social media sites.  Funny when I haven't written anything for my blog in months.  

In doing my duties this week, I happened upon a new friend in the quilting world.  A blogger.  A modern quilter.  And best of all, someone who lives in Pensacola!  So, we're driving to Crestview tomorrow.  Which is about an hour away from our side(s) of town.  I have this little song floating around in my head.  I remember when it was on the radio in the mid-1970's.    

'Cause we got a little ol' convoy 
Rockin' through the night. 
Yeah, we got a little ol' convoy, 
Ain't she a beautiful sight? 
Come on and join our convoy 
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way. '

It's going to be a good day.  

Busy, Busy, Busy

Stayed up way too late last night.  Pouring over the giveaways on SewMamaSew and finally subscribing to quilting blogs.  

I mean, I read some of them regularly, but I hadn't subscribed to most before.  Now I have.

What a week this has been. 

Lots of cleaning, organizing and clearing out; lots of cooking; a fair amount of sewing.  

After last weeks teaser with acrylic paints for cultural projects, I truly felt the need to sew, which means, play with color and fabrics!  That and the fact I'm missing our monthly meeting of the Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild because of my appointment with the orthopedic doc.  The ONLY available appointment until mid-June I might add.  Had to take it. 

This is Peace, Love & Happyness baby quilt, which, when I started it, was for a yet-to-be-born girl known as BabyBenson3, or B3.

The pale aqua center block that doesn't show so well :( is a scrap of fabric from a bag I made BabyBird that says "friend" "love" "hug" and has tiny, tiny hearts.  I wanted B3 to be surrounded by love and peace. 

  

Of course, the offset square-in-square layout I intended just wasn't working, so I rearranged, kept pieces up on my design wall, and let it be until ...  Well, until Wednesday.  And now this quilt has a 'heart line' leading to and right next to that most important block.

And these are raggedy square-in-square blocks for Margaret's Hope Chest.

All from my piles.  I NEVER, in a million years, would've thought red, yellow, and purple would look good together.  

But, here's the proof.  These are just random blocks for the good ladies in MI to assemble later this summer.

I like that they're big - 9.5".  I can easily see making more of these with BabyBird and BigP as our summer sewing project.    

Only 5 days left of school!!  Less time in the car means more time for sewing!