News From the Studio, Episode 1341

Posted on June 9, 2015 by prairiemoonquilts in Studio News

Lately, I’ve been just dabbling, and fizzling, and idling along . . . not much motivation. I darn near burnt myself out with an earlier slew of insane deadlines. When it was all over, I crashed for a bit.

I’m slowly getting back in motion, and as the fog is lifting, I can see that I’m even further behind than I was before. But I’m up for the challenge!

Here’s a little of what I’ve got going on . . .

A couple weeks ago, I drug my friend, Linda, and my sister, Katy, down to Quilt4U in Columbia, MO, to take a class on Locker Hooking. You can imagine how those conversations went:

Me: Hey, Linda, you wanna go Hooking with me?
Linda (without so much as batting an eye): Sure! When?
Me: Saturday. Katy might go, too.
Me (to Katy): You wanna go Hooking with me and Linda on Saturday?
Katy: Weellll, I’m not really sure I need lessons for that!
Me: Haha! You’re probly right, but . . .
Katy: I mean, how hard can it be?
Me: Um, this is for making rugs.
Katy: OK, sign me up.

So we went, and we had a lot of fun, and learned the technique, and now we’re all professional hookers started on our very own rugs. Here’s mine:

LHRug

I didn’t get a lot done in class, and I haven’t gotten much more done since I’ve been home, but I hope to keep at it, a little at a time, just as a break from quilting now and then. And, it uses up lots of fabric, and you can make great use of some of those “what was I thinking” bits in your stash. I have big plans, I tell you!

Speaking of scraps, do any of you have that one friend?

That one friend that just sucks you into stuff?

The one you can’t say no to, or look away from what she’s doing, so you just cave and join right in?

I have that friend. Her name is Amanda Jean, otherwise known as Crazy Mom Quilts, and she hosts the most fantastic quilt-alongs! I’ve jumped in on several of them. I have several tops I’ve made from them that still need to be quilted, but I love them all!

Well, she just started another one. It’s called Scrap Vortex. I’m doing it. Don’t even try to stop me. In fact, let me be that one friend for you — let me talk you into joining right in with me. You can get all the info HERE.

See? I’ve already started:

vortexpairs

Come on! You can, too. Don’t try to resist, just join me. It’ll be fun!

Because I’m starting this, it’s a good thing I recently went out and bought this:

newiron

In the aforementioned sewing marathon I put on, I killed two irons, and was down to using my spare iron. In an attempt to save the spare iron’s life, I went and got another Shark.

I love Shark irons. They’re heavy, and they make good steam, both of which save me effort. However, they still kick the bucket, just like any iron I’ve ever tried; so since I predict it will commit suicide within 9 months, I splurged on the $3 additional warranty. We’ll see how it goes. Since the warranty is for 2 years, this iron will probably live for 2 years and a day, which will still be a record!

During my dabbling phase, I decided that I may as well try to get caught up on my blocks for the Sew Sisters Quilting Bee. I did great the first month, then it all went straight downhill at lightning speed.

SewSistersQB-logo-Blog-200px

But I finally got my blocks for Terri finished.

She had us make her these giant Bear Paw blocks. And they were fun! As an extra added punishment bonus for myself, I decided up front that I’d make two of every block, so I could keep one for myself and send the other off, and then when the Bee is over, I could make a sampler quilt from all those extras.

I mean, if you’re already making one, it’s no hill to make a second one right along with it, right? (And that isn’t even why I’m behind!)

In this case, it was required for me to make two, because I made this one first:

TerriBlock2

And I didn’t like it, so I made this one for Terri:

TerriBlock1

I think the Bear’s Paw shows up better, and I can use the reject in my own quilt just fine. Now I’m only three months behind! Woohoo!

That’s my news for now! What have YOU been up to?

6 responses to “News From the Studio, Episode 1341”

  1. Judy Smith says:

    Love the scrappy bears paw.

  2. Kathy says:

    I like the second one better. Bear Paws are more defined.
    As for me I think I’m going to take some time off from quilting. I feel burnt out. Going to go to camp next week for the summer. Not taking my sewing with me. I need to just relax. It’s been a very long time since I have taken time for myself.
    I bought 4 interesting books I intend to read while sitting on the beach in a lounge chair. Oh just the thought of it makes me smile. Hey I’m getting old and need this very much.
    Quilting will be for fall and winter. Spring and summer will be for me and hubby.

  3. Karen says:

    That Locker Hooking looks interesting. I’ll have to look that up. What a great way to use up scraps. And I fell for the scrap vortex QAL too! I just couldn’t resist starting something new, while cleaning out some fabric bins for the studio organizing challenge!

  4. Rose Marie says:

    I gotta get me a better iron. I got a free one from my brother in law and when it died, this $store one is just not as good. Sharks, huh? Maybe.

  5. Cindy says:

    YOU are responsible for a large number of my UFOS. Either directly or indirectly. Apparently you just added another one. You know my weakness for scrappy quilts!!!!! It’s hopeless!! However I still want to finish a few before I officially start.

  6. I took a class a few years ago in locker hooking, and I love it. I admit though, that my rug is in the inactive state, but I’m going to get back to it soon….really! I have quite a bit done and I love that I can use up all those reject fabrics that just don’t go with anything. I saw the CrazyMom QAL and would have jumped into that one had I not just started a different QAL and have way too many irons in the fire. It’ll be fun to watch this one though 🙂

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