Time Suck

There comes a time in a young engineer's life where she must venture into uncharted territory- professional licensure.  This involves several months of rigorous studying for an 8 hour exam covering all of the topics studied (and since forgotten) in college and her field of work in much greater depth than she even uses from day to day.

I have reached this point in my career and am now in the final stretch of studying.  My exam is April 16 and is approaching rapidly.  Also increasing rapidly is my anxiety about whether I have done enough studying.  So, for these next three weeks I have resolved to pour as much time as possible and energy into studying and prepping. 

A small fraction of my reading material for next few weeks.  Oh joy!

Unfortunately, this means a serious cut back on all non-required activities- including sewing and blogging.  I guess that means I'll see you April 17th.  In the meantime, please say a little prayer for me, ok?  I really want to pass this thing so I don't have to go through this again!

Settlers of Peacock Isle

And here it is.  The quilt for my niece is finally complete!  

For those of you who haven't been around this overly documented quilt creation, my sister-in-law asked me to make a quilt for her 5 year old daughter.  She wanted something in the colors of a peacock.  I thought Amy Butler's Love line fit the bill.  After an extensive amount of deliberation, I opted to use the half-hexagon pattern for the top.

Please ignore the wrinkles.  :)

The back is Kona Ice Frappe.  Now this is the second time I have used this for a quilt back and I still love it.  The color is so soft and versatile.  I should purchase an entire bolt.  Yes, I'm serious.

Par usual, the quilting is an all over stipple.  I like to keep it easy.  This is the largest quilt I have made.  Wrestling it through the machine definitely make me glad I purchased the quilting machine with the extra large neck and it came with a table.

It is a well known fact that my nieces loooooooves green.

See, I told you.  St.  Patty's Day was a dream come true.  In honor if this, I decided that the quilt needed a green binding.  The Love Sunspots in Olive were the perfect choice.

The finished size is 86"x90".  Interesting tidbit for you, this quilt shrunk 8" in width and 5" in length.  I don't prewash my fabrics so I knew there would be shrinkage, but I'm pretty surprised about how much!  After "finishing" the top I began second guessing myself that it would be too small after washing.  I wouldn't recommend doing this with the hexagon pattern, but I am so glad I made the extra effort.  The quilt would be too small otherwise! 

For maybe the one person out there who picked up on it, yes, the title of this post is a Settlers of Catan reference.  If only I had made an all blue border around the entire quit. 

Ready for the Road

This weekend Shawn and I are heading to Columbus, OH for a wedding.

I now have a binding to keep myself busy on the road. So close to finishing the number one thing on my to do list for the month!

P.S. I look these photos outside while wearing flip flips! Yay for warmer weather! Yes, I am in denial that the forecast says its going to be 39 on Monday.

Pinwheels: Week 3

Earlier this week I whipped up my pinwheel blocks for the quilt-a-long.  I think I have said this every week so far, but I'm really loving these blocks. 

I decided that I am going to hold off on week four.  Not only does it work out wonderfully for my schedule, I think it might be a wise decision in the long run.  This week's block only has one fabric used, so it may be a nice block to have at the end.  Since we're using layer cakes and I don't know what all of the blocks look like, I'm thinking it might be a nice way to use up stray squares or to even out some colors.  We'll see if it proves to be as wise as I am expecting.   

Not my Thing

I joined a new and exciting scrap busting quilting bee We are making two blocks for each person.

Leslie requested 15.5-inch wonky log cabins.  She sent some brightly colored fabrics and a bird fabric she wanted to have incorporated into the blocks.

It was a learning experience making these blocks. I have never (intentionally) made a wonky block until now. I was really surprised by the amount of waste created when making the wonky blocks. While making the first block, I just felt like it took forever and was really wasteful. After I moved past that, the second block came together much more quickly and it was more enjoyable. I think this second one turned out nicer as well.

All in all, I do like how they turned out. Better than I expected actually. However, I'd have to say the wonky log cabin is not my thing. And I'm ok with that.

March: The Month of Catch Up

As I was making a potential to do list for last month's Friday Night Sew-In I was somewhat alarmed by the number of unfinished projects and outstanding items I have.  In an attempt to get this list under control, I have declared March my catch up month.


Early this morning I finished the second craft exchange pillow cover.  Yes, it has taken me several months to complete this second pillow cover.  I am such a lousy exchange buddy.

Tonight I worked on my February block for the Quilter Bees.  Sharon sent us all two shades of grey with little bits of a colored solid.  She asked for a block using Denyse Schmidt's Drunk Love pattern with little pops of color.  Isn't this a great idea?  I really love how the block turned out.  You should head over to the Quilter Bee's blog and see some of the other ones.  They look great!  I am really looking forward to seeing the finished product for this one!

How's your project list?  Do you care to join me in this month of catching up on those unfinished things nagging you from the pile in the corner?