Travel Quilt #6 and some public crafting

I have been working steadily on Travel Quilt #6 since last fall and it is growing.  I got a chance to piece a few units while I was in Manhattan over the weekend and took this pic:

It is amazing how many fewer photos I am taking now that social media isn't a daily habit.  I have been peeking into Instagram lately because I miss my friends, but I don't yet feel the need to post regularly there again.

Travel Quilt 6 is interesting in that I am writing on the triangles but the fabric selection has gotten chaotic (as all my quilts do, I don't know why this surprises me) and I needed to reign it in a bit.  I added horizontal hexagon sashing between some of the rows and that helps but I'm envisioning a 60 degree diamond border and then a wide DSQ print to give it a straight edge.  I am antsy to get to the border stage but I know it's best to just keep piecing units and letting it grow as it will.  I am working with the local library to set up a drop in sewing session for May. Once things are finalized and I have a flyer to share I will post details.  I miss having a quilt group and I'm hoping to make it a regular occurrence if I can. I love having the input of quilters in real life for decisions like these.

I finished a huge quilt at the beginning of 2020 and have yet to post about it here.  I am wondering if I should try to submit it to any local or national shows.  Does anyone have suggestions or know of places taking submissions this spring? Please share.

Monday Morning Star Count, August 17, 2015

Sometimes life gets a little... life-y.
And all you can do is move forward.  Do what needs to be done.  You cling to the things that you know because there is so much all of the sudden that you don't know.
Last week I got a message from a very dear quilting friend that she was in the hospital.  Cancer.
It was my first time ever getting that call directly.  I was unprepared for my emotional reaction.  There was shock, and a need to be present for her.  So I did what I knew how to do-- I picked up my sewing kit and drove to the hospital..

She'll be in for a while.  Some infections delayed the chemo treatment but finally things got underway and seem to be doing well in the initial stages.  I can't say too much here, to protect her privacy, though she did say I can blog about our hospital room sit and sew sessions.  She even took a pic of me for this blog post..

I'm just plugging away at Travel Quilt #5.  I joined the sections that were left flapping and started  in on more small sashing strips so I can get another chunk of diamonds together.  I'm off to the hospital again tonight for a visit so if the lighting is good, we'll piece some more.  Piece calm.  Piece quiet.  Enjoy each other's company.

***********************************

Monday Morning Star Count 2015/2

I did something rather special this week.  Something I haven't done in a long time.
I got on a plane by myself.  No kids.  And I sewed.


Travel Quilt #5 is steadily growing.  Diamond #18 and part of 19, and lots of pieced sashing hexies.

Your turn~

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/41

Someone gave me puppy dog eyes at this weekend's NYC Metro Mod guild meeting and asked me to keep posting the star counts.  Of course I want to, but the weeks just get away from me.. but I'll try to be better, because there's a whole community of EPPers out there!  And you guys need a place to connect and be accountable :)

I've started taking my EPP box with me everywhere again and I've been lucky to find some stitching time at Tae Kwon Do.  This project has a deadline fast approaching, so it has been bumped up on the priority list.   Is anybody else working on something with a deadline?

So, who's been stitching?

Hello from under the pile..

of quilts?  of fabric?  of paperwork?

Thanks to everyone who checked up on me this week.  I've been in such a whirlwind I hardly even know when it's Monday anymore, and then it's Tuesday, and all the sudden it's after noon on Thursday.  I love that my friends miss me, and I'm sorry for missing the Star Count this week.  I did baste triangles..

but I think it's time to let you in on what's really going on down here, under the stacks and piles, the toppling fat quarters and the roll-away spools..
I've been working on something, a new project, a big project.  The kind that will have its own ISBN number.  I can't share details yet, but now you can understand why my relaxing EPP time is so limited.  This is what life looks like these days..
(Frantically binding project samples at the playground)

 (never ending stream of clutter and ideas across my desk) 

It is fun, thrilling, exciting, frustrating.  And it never ends.  Until it's done, the pressure is constantly there.  Everything else falls to the wayside-- eating, sleeping, emails, remembering to send birthday cards and call my mother.. I pop in on IG every once in a while and see things for quilt market, and I'm like, what?  that isn't until.. holy crap!  it's the middle of October already?!

So yeah.  Thanks for bearing with me.  I'll try to schedule MMSC posts for the rest of the Mondays in the year, but if I slack, know it's for a good reason.  Thanks for worrying.  I truly appreciate your support. 
I do have other new and exciting news too, but I'm waiting to get some details finalized.  If you're local (Long Island) there will be some events soon, and even if you're not, you'll hopefully be able to hear me talk about quilts via the internet in the coming weeks.  Details once they're available.  XOXO.

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/39

I sat with Christa as she stitched today after lunch.  I should have remembered to bring my sewing kit, but I haven't started carrying it with me to work daily yet.

This week I took lots of pictures of quilts, and did lots of hand stitching, but only made a little EPP progress.  My sewing kit is a mess..


Has your stitching been more focused than mine?

Monday Morning Star Count 2014/8

The highlight of my quilting week? (after Skyping my way into a Japanese quilting class, of course) Basting hexies in the car as Jack napped, parked at the beach.

We had beautiful weather this weekend and I really wanted to get out and run around with George and Costas, but the little guy was sleeping.  I got a few more in the pile and when he woke up, we went on a beach adventure.    We had to climb over a pile of snow to get there and once we were in the sand,  Jack didn't really know what to make of the place.

We had fun though, and now we're all anxiously awaiting the arrival of spring. 

Even though I basted a nice stack, I didn't manage to add anything to the finished pile this week.  I have several non-epp projects going, including the binding on Travel Quilt #2, which I hope to be able to show off in a few days.  The thing is mammoth though, don't know who I can bribe to help with a decent photo shoot.. 

So, for this week's Star Count, I have nothing new to show.. 3 down and 17 more to go til summer.  We had a great turn out for last week's linky party, so the giveaway will go off as promised.   I'll do a separate post congratulating the winners, hopefully later today.   A big thanks to all who linked up, especially friends of Ailyn (whose post on EPP was amazing!  If you missed it, go check it out!) I was surprised and happy to find so many German speaking quilters into EPP, and I'm excited to share that Quilting on the Go has been translated into German and will be published by Frechverlag this spring.  More details as soon as I get them.  

So now on to this week's link up!  Show us what you've got!

Monday Morning Star Count 6

It's been a slow week for EPP over here.. I did manage to finish my 3rd star, and baste about 40 more hexies, but I'm not feeling too bad about it.  I pulled out my sewing machine (!!!) and whipped up a comfy, girly, couch quilt for a very special friend and I hope to share pictures of that soon.

I am faithfully bringing my sewing kit with me everywhere still, you never know when someone will take a nap and you'll have a free minute.   This past week I got a lot of basting done at the local pool while George was at swimming lessons..

 

Have you been stitching anywhere fun lately?

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

I really wanted to be all removed and post just a photo today (which I already posted a few hours ago on Instagram), but then I read this really awesome post, and had to stay true to myself..

I brought my quilting to the beach today and stitched 4 hexies together.  That was enough, then I put it away and ate an entire piece of saganaki with a nice big horiatiki ("greek salad").  I even had some beer.  It was a good day.  I hope to have more of these in the future. 
(and hope that you have some too).

Fitting EPP into a life with kids

Last week Christina asked how I manage to get sewing done when the kids are awake. Yesterday was a perfect example.

I set the kids about coloring stained glass pictures (markers on vellum) and once they were set, they barely noticed that I was stitching next to them.  We were able to chat and comment on each other's artwork and everyone was happy and occupied for a while.

I think the key here is to be prepared.  Not only do I keep my travel sewing kit in my bag, but I usually have a project or game for George to occupy himself with should we find ourselves with time to kill.  If I don't plan ahead and bring something for him, he usually gets to play Angry Birds on my phone, but it's much nicer if we can do something separately but still be together.  (Give him that phone and he zones out pretty bad).

The blog tour continues with Ara Jane today, make sure you pop in and tell her what you've been stitching~

Beach sewing.

Finally!  the stars aligned, the baby was sleeping, and I got to relax and sew on the beach!  Now my vacation is perfect~
(the white thread is me holding the needle and the phone as I took the picture.  Had to act fast, it was windy..)

The blog tour is over at Katy's today, I hear she's got some music recommendations for us..

Hoping you get to do something that makes you happy today.

December Mod Meeting

Yesterday I trekked into the city for the December Metro Mod Guild meeting.  It was the first time in our new location and while we will definitely miss the huge artistic inspiration that comes from BEING in Victoria's loft, I must say that having TABLES was pretty cool. 

Christa and I worked on some EPP, I got to meet and chat with members I hadn't really talked to before, and I won the raffle prize, V's book!

Nice big space!

Here are some of the quilts I could get photos of..

Made by Bernadette

By Helen, from her bee blocks at Two's Company

A bee quilt by Margaret

An awesome scrap quilt by Tina

The one cool thing about the new space is that it has a balcony area, so I climbed up and asked Christa to take a picture of my SV quilt (top done!).  The lighting was off (must play around with this some more), but the space sure does have lots of potential.

Car quilting

We took a short drive yesterday to survey the damage to the neighborhood after Superstorm Sandy. By some miraculous feat, we escaped with minimal property damage and we still have electricity. Most others were not so lucky. Just driving around was a challenge because so many local roads were blocked or closed due to downed power lines or trees, that by the time we made it home again, G had fallen asleep in the car. I had nothing else to do (school has been canceled for 3 days), so I ran inside and grabbed by sewing kit, and sat and sewed in the car for a while. The sun came out, it was really nice.

Sandy forced everything to slow down for a while, and while I know the headaches and recovery will take a while for some people, I'm grateful for the time I got to spend at home with my family.

change of scenery

Since we got back from London I had been in a bit of a quilty rut-- I just couldn't find a comfortable place in the house to sew while George was at school.  Yes, we've been in the house for weeks on end (with no car.. I've felt "trapped" on more than one occasion) and I've tried to sew in a bunch of different places (thankfully, the house is quite big), but something was up with my subconcious comfort level and I just couldn't take it anymore..
so I left.
I took George to school and then walked to Starbucks, got a coffee, and sat and stitched there for 2 hours. 

Much better.  Much more "me".
Have you been stitching in public lately?

Rose Star Block Party

Although it wasn't completely obvious to me at the onset, a goal to "bust stash" really gives me free reign to start as many new quilts as I want, right?  win win!
When Clare first posted that she was going to share how she made her Rose Star quilt block, I knew I'd be up for whatever QAL she set up.  Lucky me, it turned into a block party with no overly demanding deadlines or expectations.. making just one block was fine, but.. can you really just stop with one?

I finished this one today, stitching up one of the sides during George's swimming lesson. 

Thank you, Clare, for giving me a handwork project to take with me.  As you know, I am no stranger to epp, but this block is so much different than the diamonds and hexies I've pieced in the past.  First off, the pieces are HUGE.

And surprisingly, they go together really fast.

(no, I did not stitch the whole thing at the pool, just one side [blue, green, green, print, blue] section.) 
And I have a new favorite shape-- the kite.  Yeah, it's a bit strange to baste with 90 degree angles, but it's sooo cute!  and versatile!  I can see myself getting sucked into an entire epp kite quilt, just you wait.
I have already cut and basted most of the templates for my second Rose Star block, let the block party continue~

Same old, same old.

It's been 10 days, I bet you're wondering how my trip to Athens is going..

Really, it's not as glamourous as it sounds.. a little food,

a little social unrest,

a lot of family,
(woops, guess I didn't upload those pics off the camera yet.)
and some quilting in the car during naptime. (yes, i forgot the tripod, sorry for the dusty dashboard)

Tomorrow though, we're headed to Paros.  I'm sure I'll get some good photos, but I won't have any internet access to share them!  Please check back in about a week when we'll be in Athens again..

Reunion

Thank you so much for all the thoughtful comments on my last few posts.  It seems that although the stress of school has ended, the hours of playtime on the internet still haven't materialized.  But they soon will.. Greek vacation is fast approaching :)

Today I want to share some moments from my 10 year college reunion.  From 1997-2001 I lived in a wonderfully beautiful haven of super-intellegent women.  It was a storybook garden of a setting (minus several months of snow and cold) and has impacted me in ways I probably still don't know of. 
Smith, I love you.

Ahh, naptime

Yes, naptime is wonderful, isn't it?

Since we've been in Chicago I've been sewing stars like a machine, my fingers move on their own, working over this pattern that they know so well.  The travel portion is growing (I've got 2 more to add on to what's in the pic) and I'm happy to have a chance to work on this again.

But when the little one naps and no one else is home.. it's soooo tempting just to fall alseep with him.. 

In my own house I have a million things to do once he's down for a nap, but here.. well, it's not really vacation, but nobody minded the other day when I took a nap too. :)

I've been doing a lot of quilting in public here as well-- one day at the OL library:

(On a side note, I love how diverse the neighborhood has become since I left home 14 years ago.. lack of tollerance and diversity is one of the reasons I wanted to get out of here as a teenager.  But look! now even the library has books and toys in Arabic!)

And yesterday I went to the EP library's monthly quilt group.  That was pretty nice too.  I took some pictures, if they're decent I may write a separate post for them.  But for now I've got to go make the most of naptime and attach the next two stars..