Monsoon / Fabric Friday

This week is FULL of rain. I feel like I'm a scruffy kid again. I grew up in a house that sat on drained marshland in Southern Oregon, my feet were permanently wet, and more than once I lost my shoes to the sucking mud at the edges of the fields near our house. I haven't had wet feet for years, but this week...ugh.

I love the rain, but after four days of it, I would very much like it to STOP.

On a quick side note, last night I finished ALL OF THE BEAR CLAWS. Oh yes. You heard me right. ALL OF THEM.

I sat down at my machine last night and gritted my teeth. I would get those HST squares sewn together! Then, I finished the first step. So I pressed them, stacked them, and pinned the relief squares. This is the serpentine stack of ready-to-be-sewns.

After that, well, I couldn't stop, could I?! I finished at 1:36am and there they were, 81 perfectly pressed bear claws. Tomorrow at Modern Quilt Guild I'll take them along to square them up. But oh. Oh how I love them. I know it is true love, otherwise how else could I have sewn together 810 pieces of fabric without chucking the whole lot out the window? Haha.

My next order of business, though, is my Garden Fence quilt. I've done 15 blocks (of 49) and here are the rest. Check out these "fenceposts"!

I'm not looking forward to tackling that pile. But today I will grit my teeth and get 'er done! I'm excited to have these done to square up tomorrow as well.

Now, on to Fabric Friday.

I surprised myself this week by working mostly within my stash, and sewing down some projects. But I did get a few bits and pieces. This is my Kona solids collection. I snaffled up some orange and some blue this week, in addition to the Slate, Cerise, Peridot, and of course Snow that I already have. Somewhere in my stash I have some Turquoise and some Sky Blue, too.

I added to my Reece Scannell solids, too. I love how rich these colors are, and I admit, I'm collecting these while waiting for inspiration to strike.

And I found some pretty fabric for bindings (the stripe), added to my Lecien (the tan circle), found some green and blue motif I like, and picked up a purple as well!

The best part of my fabric week, however, was when my 3 yards of Kona Snow came in the mail along with my Kona Color Card! Yeah!!

Kona Snow is pretty boring to photograph, but if you look closely, it's the square of off-white just beneath the true white. Ahh. So perfect. (I'm such a huge nerd.)

Finally, yesterday I left the munchkin with her Nanna and Granddad and went off to learn more about my sewing machine. Christine at Hobbysew in Top Ryde walked me through several of the functions of my new Bernina, and I even did some stippling! It was only an hour lesson but I came home so inspired. Piper had fun too, with Nanna and Granddad. She always does!

It has been a sad week for Nanna and Granddad, as we farewelled the family dog. Spatz had gotten a tick and as a result gotten very sick. The Parents went to say goodbye and let us know late that night that he was gone.

Goodbye, little mate. You were a stubborn little dude and I can't believe you're gone. The backyard at the big house certainly won't be the same without you. And who's going to keep those pesky birds in line? Gah, I'm tearing up just thinking about it.

So a mixed week. But there is one thing that makes it all worthwhile. A sleepy saturday morning baby, all snuggled up in Daddy's arms.

Yep. This is the life.