Hi!

FYI I have a temporary teaching job!! I am teaching sixth grade language arts in a maternity leave position!

Only four days in and life is a crazy crazy whirlwind right now. Hopefully it'll settle down a little as I get back in the lesson planning swing of things. I am just one long blind-stitching side of the quilt away from having a big quilt finished to show you and a few inches away from a finished Colour Affection...

So hopefully I'll be back soon!

Hope you're doing well!

It rained today.

It was pretty crazypants while it was happening but the aftermath was pretty.

Today's my last day at the two-week temp job. Hopefully I get hired for more assignments soon!

Hi there! Whatcha been doin'?

I've been...

Making pajama pants!

Quilting on a big monstrous beast of a thing (it's going SO SLOW)

Finishing a scarf!

Sewing another iPad stand

Makin' a crazy ruffle skirt!

(You can click through each picture to Flickr if you'd like to hear more details!)

I've also entered section 3 on my Colour Affection shawl.

Today I am doing some freelance writing and going to see the Hunger Games!!! I loved those books very dearly (I re-read book 1 last night!) so I hope the movie lives up to all the hype!!

Two posts in one day!

I just couldn't wait to show you the quilt I made Kate since she received it today!!

You might remember seeing a sneak peek of this last week.

At some point last year or maybe even longer ago than that, Kate and I decided to do a mini-quilt / wall-hanging exchange. And back in July she sent me this lovely quilt! Snowballs on my wall! I finally got around to doing my half of the swap and here it is!

I've been obsessed with the star-within-a-star idea for a looooong time, inspired by both this quilt I saw in 2008 as well as this one from 2005 as well as I'm sure many others. When I made the world's biggest Ohio Star as the back for another quilt, it was on my mind again.

100% scraps -- even the white! Scraps from a summer dress, from other quilts, from random projects.
100% stash

31 x 31

The inner star was paper pieced.

quilted in one-way diagonals which is becoming a look I really love as it just fades away to the eye / doesn't seem to interrupt the pattern, no matter what it is.

I tried to go for "Kate style colors" versus "Carolyn's Oversaturated Rainbow Bright World" and I think I succeeded in making something very pretty and yet subtle. She likes it anyway and that's all that matters!!

I lost a few points in the flying geese...but not as many as I feared. and honestly, I find my eye does not really see them unless I look specifically for that issue. I'm sure they will stand out blaringly to my critics, and we all know who they are right?

Regardless I am super happy with this and super happy that I have finally fulfilled my side of the swap!!!

Just a plain back this time around.

Kate is such a great friend, I'm so happy to have this living in her house now!

OK well I've got to get back to the sewing machine and finish today's pair of pajama pants. Cheers!

More anxiety crafting.

I finished one of the hedgehog quilt tops but I only got pictures of the sashing and borders for now. It'll be done soon enough and you can see the whole thing then! :)

I made the binding for my Bee quilt and started quilting it.

I made 9 pillowcases for my friend Rachel, of three different types

And I made a stand-up case/cover for my iPad!

Here's how it looks all folded up:

Technically I also finished something else but I'm waiting for it to arrive at its destination. Here's a sneak peek:

OK back to the miserable job hunt. I mean yeah I'd still love to get a teaching job but for right now I need even temp work to help tide me over. Both financially AND mentally, as I'm a bit over the edge of misery and stress right now. But so far no luck with temp agencies or temp-type jobs like coffee shops etc. GAAAAH. SEND $$$$. Or you know, good thoughts. WHICHEVER. :)

p.s. I AM JOKING. DON'T SEND $$.

While I am unemployed and pretty much in constant anxiety attack mode,

I am at least getting things done.

My Shiny Bee quilt is all basted up and ready to be quilted (obv this pic is from before I put the pins in):

My NewBee Green quilt top is finished and I just have to choose a backing:

My Interlocked/hedgehog quilt is laid out on the design wall, ready to piece:

And I have three more projects all cut out:

No job and I haven't gotten ANY reading done since the beginning of the month...but my quilting has gotten some serious attention. Ah well. :) At least there's SOMETHING productive going on around here!!!

Perhaps the cutest quilt I've ever made.

I've been calling this the cutest baby quilt in the world and now that it's done, I haven't changed my mind one iota!!! 100% from stash / scraps. (You may recognize that lovely green from this quilt and this quilt!.)

So I had seen this and this. So I had super shoo-flys on my brain. Then I saw this and this with the perfect quilting pattern. Then a super super beautiful new baby was announced as being on her way a little bit early AND I WAS OFF. Then the week after I had pieced the top I saw this. Lots of shoo-fly love going on right now!!

As you can see, I had a very limited amount of light pink sock monkey so a) used two different prints and b) therefore went with 6" finished squares (so 18" finished blocks so a 36" finished quilt). The other super shoo-fly I am making has 8" finished blocks so it'll be 48" instead (see pattern I drew Monica below!).

I cut the fabric on a Thursday night. Pieced the top on a Saturday afternoon. Made the back, and the long binding strip, and the sandwich on a Sunday. Quilted it on a Monday afternoon & put the binding on that night. The blindstitching took me a week, but I do tend to be quite slow at that. YAY. (What I'm saying is, could easily have been done in probably two days total if you worked on it straight through.)

As mentioned it's 36x36 which is the smallest baby quilt I've made. I generally go for larger b/c I want the baby to be able to use the quilt longer, further into their life as a toddler, young'un, etc. But I really wanted to get something off to this new beauty right away as her momma has done some very nice things for me. Plus she's gonna need some pink power to defend against her three older brothers! :) Heh.

Welcome to the world, Truly! You are so very loved.

RIP Bella Schmella Schmoo.

My friend Carrie's dog Bella died yesterday and I'm oh so so so very sad about this, I couldn't even express to you how much. I loved her very dearly.

She was super camera shy as you may have been able to tell but I'm so glad I took her picture anyway.

I'll miss you sweet sweet girl.

Mug Rug Madness!

Finally got the first three projects of the year finished, and there's a mini quilt and a baby quilt following close behind that I'm hoping will also be done in January! At least one or the other!!

One was for my mom and two were me finally doing my end of swaps from the Fall, so they're currently in the mail to friends. Still have a couple more swaps to work on (blocks for Kristy and kindle cover for Phoe) so at least I've got something to focus on while I mope miserably around my house.

Still no luck on the job front. Not even on the interview front. :(

Censorship is bogus. And once it starts, it steamrolls through your life.

Go here to read more. Among many other places.

Stop Start Stop Start GO

I'm finishing things... Five items to blindstitch!

Bee blocks for Sarah!

And starting new things!

I think the crafty bug has finally returned to my house!! At least until I find a job. If that ever happens.

There's nothing like a walk in falling snow to lift my spirits.

And Graceland cemetery looked especially lovely under its fresh bed of white.

Hey I'm back!

I went to visit my old stomping grounds in NYC and saw this awesome zip-tie installation

Do you think you can buy rainbow-colored zip ties somewhere? Or did they have to paint white ones? Is there some Earth Wind & Fire-stylin' police department somewhere that uses the rainbow ones?

I have so many questions. :) Heh.