Helping Others

There's a new badge on my sidebar. This one is for the Bushfire Quilt Project. It can be a quickie project for those of us who want to do something to help out the Aussies who have lost so much to the fires. Campfollower has organized an effort for quilters to make 12.5" maverick or liberated star blocks which will then get made into quilts of varying sizes. Hopefully the quilts will provide comfort and a bit of color to the lives of the survivors. The blocks need to be in Campfollower's hands by the end of March so don't waste any time hopping over to her blog or the Flickr site to get all the details. There's a tutorial for the 12.5" version of this star over at The Silly Boo Dilly.

I haven't made any of these stars yet but that will be next. I surprised myself earlier in the week by making a preemie quilt top. This is what I created:


It didn't turn out quite the way I had envisioned (partly because my brain wasn't fully functional at the time) so I had another go and came up with this version:

Sorry the photos aren't great. I will never be a really good photographer.

You should be able to click on them to make them bigger and have a better look.

I started with a yard of this print:

and still have half of it left. I braved the fabric store the yesterday to find something else that would work with it (I just don't have pastels in my stash!) and came home with pink stars:

If I use the same layout I could make two more preemie tops! Right now I can only make tops as I don't have enough of any one flannel to back even these small quilts. Not to worry though, there's some coming ;- )

Time's Fun When You're Having Flies... ?

It's been practically a week since my last post. I can hardly believe it. At the same time, however, it's not that hard to believe. Not because I've been busy or productive. There's been down time during which the old computer was swapped out for the new computer. So far I haven't had to learn too many new ways of doing things, but Picassa 3 isn't behaving the way it used to and that has thrown me. What's a blog without pictures?! A lot less interesting in my opinion. So until we get this worked out I may not be posting as often (not that I posted that often to begin with!). The other part of the problem is me. Since I finished up my birds I haven't done much stitching. I finally got to see "Mama Mia!" and thoroughly enjoyed that. It was almost like being at a party. :- ) Over the weekend I read this book and was delighted by it. I do have some ideas percolating in the back of my mind, and a couple of commitments to fulfill this month, so hopefully it won't be too long before I'll have something fun to share again.

Seasonal Stitching

I'm finally feeling better again. At least until the next exposure comes along. I have a few things to catch up on, and to catch you up on, but I'm not going to try to do that all at one time. For now let me just tell you that the quilt I made for Ami Simms' Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative is now up for auction. You can see it and bid on it here.

I haven't been doing much (besides playing solitaire on the computer) lately, but I have made some progress on my little hearts wall hanging. Remember this?


This is what the back looks like at the moment:

And part of the front:

A real close up shot:

This is mindless stitching that sometimes fits the bill in terms of my energy level. I'm using two strands of a silk floss and one of rayon in my needle to get a varigated effect and a bit of sparkle. Before I started stitching I seriously considered using seed beads to quilt the background areas. Now I think beading the background would have involved less stitching and been quicker to do!

Not Much to Report On...

I've had so many run-ins with toxins this week that I haven't been able to accomplish much. I find it interesting that I can go along for a period of time without much trouble and then suddenly I spend a whole week practically incapacitated. It does help when I can just stay home, but that's not always possible. Nor is it a guarantee against exposures. It looks like DH is going to have to change his clothes before coming into the house after attending church services on Sundays. Last Sunday he inadvertently made me sick when he came in and greeted me while still wearing his overcoat and suit. The worst part is that I didn't even smell anything on him! Fortunately we have an attached garage - our toxic zone - that he can use for this purpose.

I have managed to make two more birds though. This first one I think I'll keep for myself.



And this one may go to a local friend:



I've also been struggling with the exercises for Jump Start January. Well, working with them. There's a lot of journaling and thinking and trying out new ways of approaching things. It's refreshing and frightening at the same time. I doubt any of this is going to show up in my work in a noticeable way. What I'm hoping for is that the stuff I do behind the scenes will come more easily and in a more organized fashion. I've got to do whatever I can to offset this annoying tendency of chemical intolerance to get in the way!

And the Winners Are...

I'd say my first-ever give away was a success. Partly because I enjoyed making the little birds so much, and partly because of the warm reception they've had. A sincere "Thank you!" to everyone who participated by visiting my blog and leaving such nice comments.

I considered several options for selecting the winners of the two birds. Because there were so many entries I finally decided to use this random number generator. Saved me from having to copy over a bunch of names or numbers on little scraps of paper!

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...

This little bird will be winging its way to Stacysews:



And this one will be flying off to live with Quiltdivajulie!

Now I've got to catch the other birds and get them into their shipping container for their trip to CreativeKismet, the originator of this exchange and give-away. I meant to do that a couple of days ago but got waylaid by chemical exposures. Getting these little guys to the post office may be an adventure in and of itself. This affliction is teaching me how to ask for help, that's for sure.