Get it While You Can

I can't believe I forgot to include this in yesterday's post, but holy cow there is an incredible sale on the  book Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown. It's only twelve dollars for a bargain book. I paid a loooot more for my copy and it was worth every penny, so believe me when I say it's a SERIOUS bargain now. I actually bought a second copy, couldn't pass it up.

I think this means that it's time for another Liberated Amish Get-Together. It was sooo wonderful the first time to see the amazing quilts that folks made. Really impressive. Maybe starting in February? But this time we'll use the UnRuly Blog so I don't have to make up another one. Sound fun? Maybe I'll actually make one this time!

You don't have to buy the book to participate, but I recommend it wholeheartedly nonetheless. You can see a bunch of the quilts on this website for the Browns Amish Quilt collection.

I figure I'll be more flexible this time about the guidelines so that folks can interpret it how they want, so that they push themselves - you all know where your own boundaries are. Can be any size that you want. I think it would be fun to make an Amish quilt as interpreted by a Gee's Bender. (Gee's Bendie? hee hee hee). But the goal is to still see the inspiration in there. For instance if they were ever hung in an exhibition together you'd want it to make sense...

Picture of Lily from awhile back, cuz I needed something to go in this post. I do still love this UFO - need to work on it some more. When I'm reunited with all the bits and pieces that is.

Oh, and I also can't believe I neglected to mention that I am thoroughly engrossed in the second season of Downton Abbey. I do so love that show!!!

p.s. You can click on the link for the book on sale here:

Stupid Brain

I have the attention span of a gnat these days, jumping jumping jumping from one thing to another, not getting much accomplished. aaaghhh.  To make matters worse, I'm not liking much of what I get done. For instance, in the last few months I tried putting a bunch of my bright-era orphans and experimental blocks together to see if I could get excited and work on something.

 

Nothing. No wheee, this is the direction to go. My stupid brain is sludgy and just won't play along. I'm slogging through mud.

I tried to narrow it down and do a "cathouse" quilt of cats and houses and maybe some joy blocks. [a "cathouse" is U.S./Canadian slang for bordello, brothel, house of ill repute...]

Fun but I just couldn't figure out how to work with them. Brain wouldn't cooperate.

Okay, how about the Crown of Thorn blocks I started ages ago? That should be easier since I just had to make blocks. I made a few more of them. Kinda funny, but quilting while taking muscle relaxants and pain pills? Let's just say it's a good thing that I like wonky and liberated and utility quilts. Some of these blocks came out crazier than I meant.

Looking at this now? I like it. At the time I pushed for sashing because I was worried about how they looked all mashed together.

This was an audition. I started sewing sashing onto them and then quit, not sure I liked the direction I was going. Unsure now too. Sashing or no sashing? And yes, I know I have a block split into two there. My sweetie, Mr. Symmetry, hates it but that's one of my favorite things about the quilt. Maybe what it needs is more blocks....

That's another thing my brain has been doing. Second-guessing. I start projects then rip them apart. For instance, last July I took a class, along with Nifty, with the Gee's Bend Quilters. I had a hard time in that class for all sorts of reasons (no instructions or quilt examples) and was unhappy with the blocks and bits I came home with. I added borders to one of the blocks, auditioned here with Pokey and Habibi's help:

But wasn't happy with that either. After a few days of living with it, I ripped it apart and started over, ending up with Something Nifty, shown in the last post. Which, thankfully, I love so it gets to stay as is. I'm even hand-quilting it now, despite the second worst basting job I've ever done...

Working with the same fabrics, I pushed myself to use big chunks and work big. (I do love little pieces - I'm much better at that approach.) Anyway, came up with this medallion quilt:

Not sure it's going to stay this way.  I like column quilts better, and eek, don't like that bottom border especially. But I don't trust myself at this point, so not taking the seam ripper to it. Not yet.

On the topic of quilting, check out the Gratitude Quilt that Nifty made with orphan blocks. I helped her by choosing blocks, but that's it - all the rest of the brilliance was hers. Why is it sooo much easier to put someone else's blocks into a cohesive group? Not that she needs much help. Did you see Nifty's Santa and the Orphans quilt?

Take a peek at this Skinny String quilt group project that Karen Griska is doing over on her Selvage blog. I am in love - I want to start cutting and sewing now. Besides the fact that I don't need to start on yet one more gnat brain quilt project, I don't have much of my fabric stash here.

Why is that? Because of the Move to America. Sweetie and I bought a house (after a lot of online looking and a house hunting trip) in Maryland.  Most of our belongings and my fabric stash are there now and Sweetie is taking care of all the arranging and unpacking while the cats and I live in the sunshine, out of the way, for a few months. Sometimes I think I'd rather be there too, but eek, they got snow today.

I have been watching some tv. Some tv? Who am I kidding. Lots of tv, as always. Can't believe that my favorite new/newish program is Revenge. My husband says it's just a soap opera but HA! it moves a zillion times faster than a daytime soap, which would probably take 5,000 episodes to equal what we've already gotten in a season.

I love that show more than Once Upon a Time, which I'm enjoying but not as much. Is it possible that the folks on Revenge are doing a better job of destroying lives than the wicked queen on the latter? Hmm, I think it is. I love the story of Snow White and Charming (both versions) and wish we'd focus on that a lot more. Stop introducing new characters already - the most recent ep with Hansel and Gretel? Boring....

I wanted to love Grimm but I'm only tolerating it, and that's just barely. So dull and the main characters are leaden (hate the actors). Except for Monroe, the Big Bad Wolf. Him I love and that's why I'm hanging in there. I keep hoping that they'll bump off whats-his-name and his girlfrend and his partner and all the police side of things. But would that help? Why am I watching this?

I watched Alcatraz, but didn't even make it through the second episode. Dull and I am sooo sick of shows that jump back and forth between timelines. It's okay on Once because at least that's an alternate fairytale reality. But hated the gimmick on the now departed PanAm and on this one. Stuff going on in prison? So don't care. And I refuse to watch serial killers at work so that's another point against Alcatraz.

Speaking of alternate timelines, I'm still hanging in with Fringe, although I dislike this season.

Loving Project Runway All Stars. I'm rooting for Mondo just because I love him, but so far? Don't care for his clothes. I might actually like Rami's clothes the best. The recent dress for Miss P? Fabulously fun and that polka dot fabric was wonderful.

Feeling sorry for the chefs on Top Chef: Texas. Should only have chosen chefs who work in Texas style of cooking. And twice they've had to stay up all night to barbeque? Agh, I'd be in a coma. The most recent ep Fit for an Evil Queen was sooooo fun with all the freaky ingredients. There's definitely an evil queen vibe going on in the culture these days.

Been watching stuff on Netflix Instant too. Did a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer rewatching. Season Six (what can I say, I'm a fan of The Trio) was better than I remembered but Seven? bleck. Not sure I'm gonna finish it even though it does have a lot of Spike. I do love me some Spike. Just finished reading the comic books for Season Eight and oh how I wish we had more Buffy.

Finally got into Breaking Bad which I resisted for so long (a high school teacher turned meth maker? too dark!) because I kept hearing how fabulous it is. Oh yeah. Amazing, especially when you can just mainline several seasons at once. I've watched them all through season three, but not four.  Such an example of how great characters are enthralling, even when not much is going on. I wish the producers/writers of The Killing and The Walking Dead would take a few lessons.

Sigh. okay, that's enough bloggy blog blog for now. See ya!

Love Anna Williams Style - woohoo!

I finished LAWS (aka Love Anna Williams Style) the other day. I love it!

I haven't been able to take a really good photo - this is a little dark. But you get the idea. I did a bonehead move and washed the quilt in warm water. I had two boxes worth of Color Catchers AND some Synthropol in the washing machine, so I figured it would get out the bit of bleeding I was worried about.

Well, it did that - the purple onto pink is gone. But I ended up with a brand new, far worse spot of evil. That bottom right corner? The thin line of blue bled. Here's Lily, turning around to look at me after inspecting the damage (it's in the gold up above her head):

I didn't realize I fabric had bled until after the quilt went through the dryer. I washed the quilt again, this time using a tip I'd heard from my friend Kathy. I thread-basted Color Catchers directly onto the quilt in all the places I was worried about. This is what the block looked like AFTER the second wash (again with free-floating Color Catchers and OxiClean gel and Synthrapol) and dry:

Look at how well that worked. I'd have been soooo much better off if I'd done this the first go round in the washer. And used cold water. Sometimes I'm an idiot. Anyway, I really recommend the Color Catcher baste method for fabrics that are a concern. I didn't like doing it - the smell and feel of the catchers is icky - but worth it.

After the second wash didn't get rid of the bleed, I'm just living with it. Bothers me less all the time.

Before you even ask: I pre-wash all my fabric - except for the hand-dyes. That will now change for blue, purple and red. The fabric that bled is from the 90's, definitely not one from Dye Candy. I have had some Cherrywood deep purples bleed on me, though none in this quilt.

Speaking of LAWS and Dye Candy... Watched The Quilt Show episode #907 this morning with my husband. I didn't torture him with the whole thing, just the bits I'm in. Here's the trailer for the show:



I'm relieved. There are a few things that bug me about my performance, but overall, okay. Fun to see me hand quilting on LAWS way back in August of last year when we taped and now I've just finished it.

Some of the hand-dyes in LAWS are from Chris Daly of Dye Candy. I love her fabric, so I asked her to do the giveaway to the audience on The Quilt Show. I wanted certain colors (turquoise and olive) and she created them for me, which is pretty awesome. Right now she's having a giveaway on her blog, ending October 2nd. Chris just finished "Night and Day," the wonderful quilt she made as part of the Liberated Amish challenge. 

I've pinned Night and Day on my Pinterest board Quilts with Words and Letters. I've got other great quilt boards (and Halloween!) on my Pinterest too. I've recently added a Quilts - Anna Williams -y board for Anna's quilts and those who've been inspired by her.

Have ya'all seen the Crumb Along at Jo's Country Junction? I really like how she's structured her "along." Great place to get started/motivated on crumb piecing.

Willy Wonky did a great post on Andrea Balosky, aka Nyima Llamo recently. Andrea's work is gorgeous.

There is a great quilt exhibition called Bits and Pieces going on in Salem, OR. There are some amazing quilts on exhibit including some by people I've met on the internet and in person. These are liberated unruly quilts, and boy, do I wish I could see them. Nifty's "Inspired by Anna" is amazing. Oh, and some of these fab quilters are HAND quilters, so definitely go see the show if you can. (through Oct 15th)

My husband is home for awhile. I'll be happy when he's not away this much. So will he.

Woohoo, the new tv season has started. Important to a tv addict like me. I enjoyed the premiere of Pan Am and the first Secret Circle held my interest. There were a few I couldn't force myself to watch after I recorded them including Persons of Interest and Free Agents. Yay, Fringe is back as are Community and Parks and Rec. I only started watching the latter two over the summer and am now all caught up.

Pokey says it's naptime

which reminds me, The Quilt Life magazine's October issue (with Rumspringa, halloween quilts, and Pokey) is available in all kinds of stores now. It's a fun issue!

Ya'all take care. Later.

UnRuly Blogger

Yes, I admit it. Bad blogger, bad. Sorry for the unannounced blog break, but I just wasn't feeling it. I've been sewing and working on secret projects - stuff that I can't share right now.  You'll see little hints here and there but that's it.

I've been playing with some of the fabric that The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild gifted me (I squealed when I opened the bag and found eyeballs):

The guild gave me a gift for the kitties too: a compressed catnip ball. Just like little kids, they had fun with the packaging:

Here's something new to show you. I discovered artist Len Peralta and had him create the UnRuly Quilter with Scissors (as shown with Pokey):

I got it through the Monster by Mail project. I've never worn a miniskirt in my life but the teeth are accurate. hee hee hee. You can see more monsters here including a couple of knitting zombies. So far I'm the only quilter!

Here's a teaser. Gwen Marston is really excited about this:

I'll tell you more when there's more to know.

I continue to handquilt LAWS. I'm getting closer to done but I'm really bummed out that a couple of the hand-dyes (purchased way back in the 90's) are ALREADY bleeding onto adjoining fabric. I think I might have to boil (okay, just wash with really hot water) this quilt with Synthrapol when it's finished. Anyone ever try that?

One thing I'm not working on? Anything for the Text and Textiles exhibition that I mentioned in the last blog post. Just not enough time. I hope some of ya'all are doing it though.

Obsessing about Doctor Who. I've watched and rewatched a number of episodes and had to hunt down and read theories on what the heck is going on. All so cool. woohoo! I was pretty sure of who River was, but totally nailed it at the beginning of "A Good Man Goes to War." I want a spin-off of the Silurian Detective Agency in 1880's England.

If you're sure you wouldn't like Doctor Who but are willing to give it a try (that was me back in January) watch the episode "Blink" and then decide if you're intrigued enough to watch more. Fabulous episode and it's a stand alone.

Ya'all take care and I'll try to be better about posting. I leave you with a photo of Bibi investigating:

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative Quilts

I've been admiring the work of Andrea Balosky for sometime now - seeing mentions of her on the blog Wonkyworld and elsewhere. Andrea made a series of small doll quilts, with hand quilting. I love them and even bought the Small Wonders catalog, even though I wasn't lucky enough to see the show.

So when I found out that Andrea had six quilts available at the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, I dithered a bit (almost too long) and then sprang into action and purchased Confetti Sandwich:

It's a win-win situation buying from AAQI. I donate to a worthy charity AND get a fabulous quilt in return. Woohoo. Okay, and the real reason I just had to get it? The Bart Simpson in me loves the name Mungpoo, which is where Andrea lives in India. Mungpoo, Mungpoo, Mungpoo. There is a wonderful article on the AAQI blog about what Andrea had to go through to send her donations.

Having it inspired me to make a quilt for the AAQI myself. I started with UnRuly 9-Patches but I ended up making it too big. So I added a border and I'm going to keep it for myself. Although now I'm wondering if that border is strong enough. That's my quilt on the right. I made my friend Kathy try one too and look at the fabulous job she did. This was all without rulers or measuring.

Kathy surprised herself by enjoying making this quilt. And wheee, look at the red she added - makes her quilt so much more dynamic than mine. That fabric is auditioning as the binding.

So since the 9-Patch was too big, I made a One Patch. What do you think? I've even got it quilted already.

It was all made ruler-free. It's a mix of Cherrywood, hand-dyes, and regular solids. looks very art quilty to me, so I wanted to see what a similar quilt would look like made with repros. I wanted it to look like a child's first quilt, made for her doll from many many years ago.

Whaddaya think of this one? Did I succeed in making it look antiquey? Would you ever have guessed I made this? Think it's worthy of donating to AAQI?

Would anyone be interested in doing something similar? I'll do a Playing with Scissors UnRuly Challenge for AAQI and give ya'all some guidelines etc (over on the UnRuly blog) if you are.

Ugh, I've run out of time to add anything more to this post. I'll try to get the next one done sooner!

 

Ya'all take care!

P.S. I've somehow turned into a crazed Doctor Who-phile (Whovian???) this year after forcing myself to watch episodes during the BBC America Who Year's marathon. I once read that you had to try a food nine times before you could say you hated it. I'm not willing to go that far (tuna casserole? anchovies? liver?) with food, but I know so many folks whose opinion I respect and have great geek creds that I just had to force myself with this show. I had it on in the background while I sewed and when I was really bored I didn't finish the episode (daleks, zzzzzzzz). Fell in love when I saw the episode "Voyage of the Damned," then "42" and "Blink" nailed it. It might just be my favorite ep ever.

Can't stand the first season of the reboot (except for the WWII creepy face mask children eps). I hate Rose, her mother and Mickey, really like Martha Jones but wish she weren't so mopey about the Doctor. Donna was great but I love love love the current Doctor and Amy and Rory. Anyone want to come and discuss the show with me, become my friend on Facebook! I don't want to give anything away here about the AWESOME latest episodes, The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon. The Silence? So darn creepy.

okay, that's really it this time. cheers!

Ah Oui, But of Course

I told ya'all that I was going to spread my fabric acquisition photos out over time. Too embarrassing otherwise. And you want to know what is worse? There's more out there. Must look away. Must look at pretty fabric I already own.

Here's Pokey modeling. You've seen bits of the buggy olive fabrics in previous posts, but not these two Paris prints. I'm a sucker for words anyway, and these are in French:

Definitely had to get this Paris map fabric. I love it, but it doesn't have my favorite area: Montmartre and the basilica.

Even more French-inspired fabric winged its way to me recently. The ever so sweet Jan of Be*Mused surprised me with Japanese fabric :

I get the feeling I need to put all the frenchiness into one quilt.

By the way, I didn't mean to make it look like my condition is so dire. I am not chair-bound, not by a long shot. Spending a whole day in the chair with Pokey? That was just indulgence and wanting to have her close by.

Watched The Bourne Identity last night. Oh, Matt Damon was so cute and young and I loved the interplay between him and Franke Potente. When the stars actually have charisma and the suspense stuff actually works? Heaven. So fun watching them race around Paris in the Mini Cooper - one of my favorite chase scenes ever.

Woohoo, Fringe has gotten renewed for a fourth season. Thrilled about that. It has gotten sooo good this season. But argh, now have to wait for new episodes. If you haven't tried it, read this and just give a recent episode a try.

Alright, I have to stop goofing off and do chores. Later.

twelve by twelve

I have a beautiful book to share with you. Twelve By Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge.

The book is about the 12 x 12 group and their challenges to make 12" square quilts. Rather than go into the details, I'll just send you to their blog to read more. As far as the book goes, it's published by Lark and they always do such a gorgeous job with their books. It's my favorite kind of quilt book = wordy. That is, there are stories to about how the challenge topics were chosen, how the quilters picked what to work on, their techniques for putting the quilts together. Plus, I LOVE pictures of quilters' studios and collections and the book even includes that, as well as biographical details. So much information packed in here.

Holy Cow, the Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge is actually 50% off at Amazon right now. I highly recommend the book anyway, but at this price? Go, go, go. 

My longtime blogging friend Kristin LaFlamme is a member of the 12 x 12 group. Kristin and I actually got to meet in Houston - woohoo! I was also lucky enough to meet her darling (but tired after the long flight from Hawaii and now we're at a quilt show) kids and her generous husband, who is known in Internetlandia as IBOL guy. IBOL = Iraqi Bundles of Love, in which quilters (knitters and anyone else who wants to help) send sewing products and fabric to share with Iraqis, to try and show some love and generosity. Read the IBOL blog to find out more.

So, this is me (on the left in my new Just Bobbin Along necklace that I bought at the show but you can buy here) and Kristin:

I have been working my way through the 12 x 12 book, savoring it slowly, but not doing much fiction reading. I go through booms and busts. Partly because once I get really hooked into a novel I can't put it down and I stay up until 3am reading it (just like I did all throughout my school years - not very bright).

TV has been really pathetic lately. When my sweetie was home we finally got to watch the rest of Burn Notice season 4. I hope he's not reading this, but I thought it was really disappointing. The whole Jesse thing just took too much time away from the main characters whom I all love. Not to mention that I am so tired of the whole Burn Notice thing. Let it go already.

Also finished The Closer's most recent season. (Can I just say how annoying it is for some of these summer programs to take a break in the middle of their already short season? gah). That show just doesn't intrigue me or make me laugh the way it used to. Always have too many kinda preachy episodes. But it did have one of my favorite episodes ever, The Layover, with Flynn and Provenza. I love those guys.

Hee hee hee. I was looking for a Closer clip to show you and came across this Sesame Street takeoff. It's short and a hoot:



Have ya'all seen Downton Abbey? Fantastic show. I had to order the dvd before the show even finished airing on Masterpiece Theater. Here is a quote from Jace Lacob's Daily Beast article on the show

Downton Abbey offers a lavish take on the period drama, depicting the lives of the wealthy Crawley family and their servants at an English stately home just prior to World War I. When the sinking of the Titanic takes the lives of the next two heirs to a vast estate, the Crawley family is left with a dilemma as the next in line to inherit is a distant cousin, a middle-class solicitor whom none of them know.

Whee, so looking forward to the sequel, filming soon in the U.K.  Man, it's gonna take forever to get here!

Okay, so not only do I have a thing for shows made from Jane Austen's books, but also for shows set in this later time. The writer of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellows, also did Gosford Park which I love and is set in the same time period. Edwardian, right? Speaking of which...

Has anyone else ever seen the U.K. series Flambards? It's about a teenage girl Christina who's been orphaned and sent off to live with her mean uncle and his two sons. The elder is very virile and horsey and the younger, William, is crippled and extremely intelligent (and of course despised by his father and brother). Oh, and the good looking stable boy. So there are horses, early motor cars and aeroplanes and it's just fabulous. And uh oh, World War I is looming...

The show aired on PBS when I was about 16 - the perfect age for the show. I sooo loved it. Taped it on the VCR and watched it over and over and over again. When it played ten years later, I watched it all over again, sucking a roommate right into it too. Just writing this makes me realize how much I loved this show and the books (starting with Flambards) it was based on. I had to go see if it was on DVD and it looks like there is an old crummy transfer available and a new dvd set is coming out next month. But has it been remastered?

So funny thinking about this show as an adult because there is all this romantic tension between Christina and her cousins. Kinda icky. Hmmm, maybe it was a step-uncle or something. It appears I don't remember the ENTIRE thing as well as I thought. I could certainly tell you all the plot points though and about the adventurous Dorothy in her motor car....

Okay, that's enough of a novel to write for today. Oh wait. If I forget to put kitty pics in a blog post (again) my husband will kill me (with his sadness). While he was home, he managed to get some rare shots of all four kitties in the same place. Of course there was sunshine:

ah sunshine

Starburst center

Whee, V of Bumble Beans Inc sent back my String Lone Star. Here is Pokey holding it down:

I made all the small stringed diamonds and assembled the big diamonds in 2008 while I was living in Paris. They sat and sat because I just wasn't sure how to put them together. While V was visiting, we got the pieces out and auditioned these orange shades. V, who loves making Y-seams, then made all the background pieces and then joined it all together for me. Huge thank you - she did a smashing job.

I tried to think of a name that had a star connotation as well as brightness. I came up with Starburst after the candy (which I bought just to give you this image):

And to give you a better perspective of the size:

Too bad I don't have fun Halloween pedicured toes like Barb.

I learned a lesson about paper-pieced diamonds - remove the paper before putting them together:

It's much harder to remove because of the angles, as compared to straightforward paper-pieced squares.

I think I'm going to add a border to this, although it's strong enough to stand on its own. I'll do some components assembly and then decide.

For a complete change of topic, I'm so disappointed in this fall tv season. Pretty bleah on the networks. Tried and disliked so many, including:

• Hawaii Five-0 - so tired of cop shows
• Undercovers - the leads are pretty, but oh so dull
• Detroit 1-8-7 - love Michael Imperioli and the soundtrack, but ugh, so predictable. I'm watching it thinking how is it that the newbie who's wife is expecting a baby didn't get shot during the hostage crisis and then blammo. Yep, definitely called it...
• The Defenders - loved Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell but man, I hate shows that take place in a courtroom. If they could have down more behind the scenes (ala Damages) I'd have been all for it.
• Law and Order: Los Angeles - that whole ho hum cops and lawyers thing
• The Event - completely unappealing. trying so hard to be Lost (look, we even have a plane!)

What I am actually watching:

• Project Runway - of course!!! can I just say what a bleah runway show that was this week? black black black black. there are other colors people!!! I thought the judges chose the right person to go home (that really was the third time we saw the same outfit!)
• Top Chef: Just Desserts - incredibly watchable. Who knew pastry chefs could be such divas, not to mention you shouldn't cast someone who is actually unhinged. The only bad thing about the show is that it makes me crave sweets.
• Terriers on FX. Terrible name since it sounds like a show about the Westminster Dog Show, but it has nothing to do with dogs.  Instead the title refers to the two down-and-out unlicensed private investigators getting into all sorts of trouble. It's got lots of heart, pathos, running stories, but you really can just jump in. Donal Logue has been my sweetie ever since the Tao of Steve  - he's wonderful to watch. In some ways the show reminds me of Veronica Mars - highly recommend you try this one out.
• Castle - I've really surprised at just how much I like this one, it's so grown on me. Fun mystery and it's lighthearted. Doesn't count as a cop show since it has the marvelous Richard Castle mystery writer as one of the leads (Woohoo, Nathan Fillion!)  [note: I'd send you to the official website but it has an ad that starts up automatically and can't be stopped - how obnoxious is that!]
• Chuck - I've been really disappointed this season. I want a fun, light-hearted show and it's determinded to be more serious. I want more Buy More and less relationship whining! More Jeffster and Casey paired up with Morgan. oh, and fill in Ellie already so that a great character isn't always in the dark whining.
• Mad Men - truly been some series high points this season. The penultimate episode had too much Betty and Sally (I so don't care) - here's hoping they move really far away!
• Fringe - the show is never quite as good as I want it to be, but still lots of fun.

So I should really think about getting chores done now. Here's another Pokey pic to hold you over until the next blog post:

Buglies

Bugly is a term that stands for really ugly or "b--- ugly." Ugly fabric helps a quilt, lifting it out of the expected. I'm all for that, but I think these particular buglies would overwhelm my current quilt:

Smaller pieces than I'm showing here wouldn't be so overwhelming

but would lose their zing! I got these in an exchange with Nifty Quilts, whose blog I absolutely adore. Nifty sent me these buglies:

and in exchange all she got was bright plaid fabrics--positively boring in comparison--and labels. Anyway, I love looking at Nifty's quilts, such as this one, and this one and these ones (Heck, just go read her whole blog.) made with lots of uglies. So I want to do something big scale with the buglies she sent me, and not just use slivers...

Meanwhile, making slow progress on the hope and stars quilt, as you can see in the top pic. I've auditioned backgrounds. I thought this yellow check would work:

 

but it looks boring, especially in comparison to this:

Speaking of string stars... Years ago I started a string lone star, but bogged down after completing the big pieces. V aka Bumble Beans, who is a crazy woman and loves sewing Y-seams, took it home with her along with some fabric. She's pieced some amazing giant crumb blocks to be the star background. It looks so awesome, go check the star in progress. That link will take you over to 15 Minutes Play, a great blog with lots of fun going on - everyone is welcome to join in.

 

Sujata posted a pic of her current project there and it's amazing! Sujata, V, and Nifty--as well as several other fun quilters--post pics of their work to the Rebels! blog, which I also recommend. Great stuff out there in blogland.

Complete change of topic. This is such a great season of Project Runway. Without getting into any spoilers, I was sooo happy last week at who went home, but this week I would have gone with the other choice. Meanwhile, love Mondo and the fabric pattern he made this week totally rocks.

Cat photo time. I remember the days when I would put down fabric and instantly attract kitty attention. Now, Habibi would rather sleep:

And just because I'm afraid of rebellion (from you lot - not her) if I don't include Pokey too:

that's all for me today. take care!

BumbleBeans and Halloween Fabric

I had a great visit this last week with V (of Bumble Beans Inc and 15 Minutes Play):

We did a bit of hand quilting and talked a bunch. We ate out at one of my favorite restaurants: Seasons 52, which focuses on healthy, fresh food. We sat at a table overlooking the Intercoastal Waterway at dusk and it wasn't humid and not too hot. Very lovely, until the next day when I realized I was covered in mosquito bites. No kidding, I stopped counting after I hit the 23rd bite on just one leg. Eek. I was obviously attracting all the mosquitos in the area - V came out unscathed!

V did a bit of sewing, playing with my Halloween novelty prints. Even better, she enjoyed it!

I admit I have been completely sucked into Halloween fabric this year. V contributed to my stash with this really funny Edward Goreyesque orange print and the great lime green spider print:

Which added to the fabric I bought in Lyons, Colorado at Quilting Hands. The owner said she'd bought something like 150(??? - did I really hear that right?) Halloween prints this year. Not only that, but she had three books by Gwen Marston - my kinda shop. My favorite is the hearse print, which has a casket falling out the back. Doesn't it look like Mr Munster should be driving?

okay, and I'd already bought some Halloween fabric at a couple of local shops, one during their special Christmas in July celebration (and no, I didn't buy any Christmas fabric):

A few quick words about tv and then you can have your Pokey pictures. I am so completely and totally loving the new season of Eureka on Syfy. Well, maybe not completely. I do have a quibble with the actor who's joined this year and his "American" accent - why couldn't they just have let him be British? Anyway, Eureka is a wonderful sci-fi romp that has a lot of emotional depth. Love it, love it, love it and woohoo it's been renewed for another season. Even if you haven't watched before, try it. 

I surprised myself by enjoying The Glades on A&E as much as I have. I'm so burned out on cop procedurals, but the cast has great chemistry and it isn't too intense. Fun. As compared to the horrible Rizolli and Isles. Hated it. Had to fast forward through the beginning of the episode (never ever want to see the victims' last moments) and couldn't even make it through the second episode (hmm, this whole plotline happened last year on The Closer). Speaking of which, The Closer continues to be uneven, but had an excellent episode this month. All I need to say is: Provenza and Flynn. Woohoo.

Covert Affairs? Watchable in a geeky way, but it's no Alias.

Ack, Pokey is nipping at me to get attention. So here are your Pokey pictures:

this was of course while I was trying to sew the binding on Slither Eek Boo (which I don't actually have a photo of. ridiculous, isn't it)