Worthwhile diversions

     It is with much regret that I report that, for the first time in my adult life, I missed a deadline.  I dislike being late for anything.  I even had all three of my children early!  [Not on purpose- they all just decided to show up a few weeks earlier than expected.]  The Habitat Challenge is a different story altogether.  Here sits the quilt, hibernating on the hutch until I feel inspired to pick it up again:

I'll blog about the Habitat challenge in my next post... not feeling great about it at the moment.

    In the meantime, I'll post about something I do feel good about- helping others.  I came across a blog post where Kelsey of Kelsey Creates put out a call for help making blocks for a donation quilt.  The quilt will be made for an acquaintance of hers who not only lost his home last year in the San Bruno gas line explosion, but was recently involved in a car accident that put him in the hospital.  His wife is due to have a baby in December.  

    The block requested is a Mod Mosaic block, which I've been wanting to try.  I love it.  Here it is in the chosen color palette:

There's still time if anyone is interested in making a block.

     And because my family keep hounding me about finishing their quilts, of course I decided instead to answer Pat Bravo's call to make a charity quilt for Project Linus.  I received an email from her, and some of her beautiful studio scraps should be landing on my doorstep this week.  I'm looking forward to playing with her pretty fabric, and I hope to knock out a quilt before Christmas.

The quilt top

   
     The Habitat quilt top is finally done.  I think.  At 50" x 72", it's kind of a funky size- too narrow to be a throw, but too long to be a lap blanket.  I'm debating on whether to make it wider, but I'm running out of time (and fabric).

     I struggled last week to find time to piece the blocks.  Most of my sewing was done after the kids went to sleep.  I thought I was finished Friday night when all sixteen blocks were sewn together, but after pressing the top and spreading it out on the floor, it seemed smallish.  So I decided to add another row of blocks.  But where to find the time to cut and sew them? 

   
     Enter the hubby.  After the older kids' soccer games Saturday morning, he took all three kids to the park and let me have 3 hours of peace and quiet so I could sew.  He even brought home dinner so I wouldn't have to cook.  My hero!  

[Full disclosure:  In the spirit of true procrastination, not all 3 hours were spent sewing.  Some of it was spent playing around on Flickr and blog-stalking.]

     I'm mulling over whether to add a wide border on the sides and a narrow border along the top and bottom in a contrasting solid color.  Leaning towards no because I want to keep things simple.  And because I have to work on the back of the quilt- more piecing!

The plan

    
     Thank the gods, inspiration for the Habitat Challenge finally struck around 10:30 Monday night.   A plan was sketched, Habitat fabric was cut, a test block was sewn.  Things were looking up.  Until I was lured away by Parks and Recreation (damn you, Netflix!).  My project was dunzo for the evening.

     I fully intended on getting the rest of the fabric cut and all 16 blocks sewn yesterday.  After getting the older kids off to school, I built an elaborate train track for the little guy and let him go to town playing with Thomas, Salty and friends.  But I had conveniently forgotten about the planned power outage to upgrade a transformer in the neighborhood, so no sewing for me.  I couldn't even cut my Kona Moss into the 69 pieces required for this project because it hadn't been ironed yet!  I thought I might get to sew because the power came back on at 2:30 pm, but the transformer blew half an hour later.  On the bright side, I didn't have to make dinner.

     So now, with Kieran down for a nap, fabric mostly cut, and plan in hand, it's time to get down to business.  I'll be at my sewing table if you need me.

    
    

Habitat Challenged

     This Habitat challenge is not quite working out the way I planned.  My great idea was...well, was not so great.  The plan was to discharge color from half of each fat eighth we were given and choose a simple design to highlight the results. 

     Here's what the fabric looked like after 20 minutes in my washing machine with a weak bleach and water solution, then a spin in the dryer:

The moss color turned to amber, and the aqua faded a teeny bit.  Aside from that, there was no perceptible change.  I threw a few of the pieces into my kitchen sink with a much stronger bleach and water solution, swishing them around for about 10 minutes.

The colors faded a bit more, but not to the degree I was expecting.  Of course, had I accidentally spilled bleach in the washer while pre-washing the fabric, there would have been all kinds of discharging going on!   
 
     Either the colors weren't saturated enough before the discharging experiment, or the fabric was treated to hold color.  Whether one, the other, or both, I've got to think of something fast- there's less than 2 weeks before the next BAMQG meeting.

     Speaking of BAMQG, I've also got to make my blocks for the A-Z Quilt-along.  We're on "E" blocks, but I've fallen a little behind.  So it's "D" and "E" blocks, plus my Habitat Challenge project by next Saturday.  I'm hoping the quilting gods will smile down upon me this week.    

Mission (almost) accomplished

   It's such a nice feeling to have fulfilled all of my bee/swap blocks for this month early.   So different from my college days of all-nighters, pots of coffee, pleas for divine inspiration, and vows that the next paper would be started earlier than the night before it was due.

The blocks for Teal We Meet Again, Design Camp, and Piece Be With You sit on my hutch, ready to be packed up and posted.  And the Scrapbuster Swap blocks were mailed weeks ago. 

     It was such a relief to get those blocks done, because I had a commitment to this guy:

    
Yesterday was his 2nd birthday, and I promised to make him a birthday cake from scratch.  He talked all day about his birthday cake and being "2 old."  We celebrated by having our special occasion dinner (Pan-Roasted Pork Pork Loin with Leeks over rice), followed by an eggless vanilla and chocolate cake with ice-cream.  It's pretty amusing to watch a 2 year old open gifts. 

     The only other thing I've got with a hard and fast deadline is the Habitat Challenge through BAMQG.  We were given fat eighths of Jay McCarroll's Habitat in the Brights colorway .  Here they are in their uncut glory:

     There are a couple of ideas percolating in my head.  The first is one which involves a lot of applique which would be beyond my skill level and patience.  The second idea is much simpler.  Given the impending deadline, I think the second one is the way to go.  Could be cool, could be a disaster.