OK, so I got impatient...

At a time when I really should be doing about five other things, I couldn't wait. Those batiks were taunting me, and the only way to make them stop was to start slicing them up.

I went through my batik stash (which isn't very large, but as it turns out, is pretty focused on the blue-green-purple side of the color wheel) and found a few more to use. Here's the final pull:

I started cutting this morning. The mix is probably a little too heavy on aqua/turquoise right now (lots of leftovers from this quilt), but I'll work with the balance later.

I have a very cool idea for these, trying a new technique and working more improvisationally than I've been doing these past few months. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it looks as good in execution as it does in my head!

Driven to distraction...

There's been a lot going on lately -- between drywalling and aruging with insurance adjustors and scheduling repairs and chasing down AWOL contractors, lots of freelance work and a whole bunch of other little take-care-of-this-NOW things, I haven't been quilting. At all. I've been sewing here and there, trying to rid my house of all the scarf samples draped over the furniture (and, in fact, am up to my ears in pillows and cat beds), but it's just not the same.

You know what I mean -- there's just something so satisfying about the whole process of picking fabrics and letting pattern ideas swim around in your head until one of them rises to the surface, and then slicing and piecing and arranging until it becomes a reality. I'm itching to get all this other stuff done and spend some quality time with my sewing machine -- but I'll have to wait just a little while longer, because there's one distraction I don't mind putting it off for:

My Monkey Girl, who's back in the country for Spring Break with her parents. We met up at the beach house for a cold, damp and drizzly visit, and she and I got to enjoy our one sunny afternoon playing among the mounds and trenches sculpted by Lake Michigan's winter winds.

Man, I miss this kid! I miss her bear hugs, her chatter, her sense of humor. She's getting taller and smarter and funnier half an ocean away. But they'll be back for two months this summer, and she already has a plan for our visit.

She apparently dragged her mother into a quilt shop in Gatlinburg, Tennessee to look at fabric (I know! I couldn't be more proud!). She picked out a bundle of gorgeous batik fat quarters for me, and a kit with an easy pattern and more Sock Monkey fabric (as if two quilts from the same line weren't enough, I made her this one in 2007 for Christmas and this one the year after that -- "but this has different colors!") for us to make together. She kind of lost steam the last time we tried quilting, but two years makes a lot of difference, and she's pretty stoked that she got to pick everything out herself and will have a chance to show off her sewing skills.

So my agenda for July and August is set, it seems. Who am I to argue?

On the way back to Chicago, I stopped at my little hidden gem of a shop and found some green batiks to go with the new ones. I'd like to make a throw to match last year's pillows and the new(ish) sofa, and I think these will work just fine.

Archie seems to like them, too.

I have a couple more things that HAVE to get done, but then I get to dig in. The ideas are already swirling around in my head, and I can't wait to get started!

A quilty video for a Friday...

The spinning Dresden plates were making me a little dizzy, but this is kinda cool!

Happy Friday, all!

Scrap collecting...

What do you do with your scraps? Not the ones you can put into another quilt, but the ones that are too small or funny-shaped to do anything with?

What about those long, thin pieces of batting you trim off your finished quilts? Do you save those?

I do. I can't help myself.

Not because I'm a hoarder (though I'm sure there are elements of that involved here) -- it's just that I totally believe they'll come in handy for something someday. I also don't like the idea of this kind of stuff going into landfill, where it's going to take years to decompose. So it fills up my closet (and designated "scrap can") instead.

Until today, when Archie got a new throne:

Or a temporary one, anyway. This pillow made from one of many scarf samples and stuffed with fabric and batting trimmings is headed to the local animal shelter. I think Archie's OK with not keeping it...

...because he's really much happier in the scarf box, anyway!

According to my calendar...

It's National Quilting Day!

Pillow talk...

I have recently come into possession of a great many scarf samples. Just what I needed -- more textiles in my house and more ideas buzzing around my already addled brain!

They range from cashmere to wool/cashmere blends to a few silks and knits, but they're mostly "cashmink," an ungodly soft synthetic that feels like butter against skin. These are high-end winter scarves for men and women that would probably end up at Nieman-Marcus, Saks or Nordstrom, five or six color ways in each pattern. I've started making pillows from the wider 14" ones because they're an easy flip-and-sew, and the fringe end adds a cute touch.

I've stitched most of the knits together to make full scarves to donate, and I'm finishing the raw end of the less attractive patterns to take to the Anti-Cruelty Society to comfort homeless kitties. I'm not sure stitching them together would result in the most attractive quilt, and I could probably make pillows until I'm blue in the face....but I need more ideas, folks! Keep in mind they're not stretchy, in a very wide range of colors and patterns, and mostly 12" x 36" in size.

What would you do with these?

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

Attempt #1...

My initial sketch was much larger than what I ended up cutting. I envisioned 2" finished squares, but rather than slice all that fabric up and find out I didn't like what was happening, I went with 3" strips and edited significantly just to see how the design would work out.

I think it needs to be wider, but otherwise, I'm liking the sort-of-random placement of the blues. I'll add solids to fill in the gaps and finish it up.

This one will probably end up as a charity quilt -- Lent, after all, is fast approaching, though I don't think I'm going to attempt six quilts again this year -- and I'll try another that's closer to the original idea.

Quite a few folks seemed surprised that I use PowerPoint to sketch out my projects. I've been working with that software pretty much since it came out in the late 80's, so using it to draw up quilt designs comes pretty easily to me. I have used EQ, which definitely has its advantages (calculating fabric requirements, for one) but I'm just more comfortable with PowerPoint.  If anybody has any specific questions about using it, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll be happy to help.