bee blocks swarming out...

So I've been making swarms of bee blocks lately to catch up for getting super behind over the holidays, and never really catching up from that set back.

For the Bliss circle of do. Good Stitches we had blocks to make from this tutorial, flag blocks (to be made today), scrappy blocks from this tutorial (way simple and cute), HST blocks from 7" squares (I really loved these...may need to make a quilt for myself out of them).  I can't even remember now if I forgot some...but be warned.  There's a lot more to come...

Finish it up Friday

Sometimes Fridays are just hard.  This was one of those.  I have so much I need to finish, that I have every intention of finishing, and that I want to finish...

Today my 2.5 year old has screamed at me almost nonstop all day long.  I've done surprisingly well not letting it get to me too much, but we had to have one of those days of "look, there are rules and you have to follow them."  That is hard when you're only 2.5 and today it required that I empty her room of all her things and required respect from her. 

As I write this she is almost done putting a stack of her books back into her room.  It's taken her 2 hours to do this because she's whined, cried, made excuses, and gotten distracted.  Her peanut butter and jelly is now 2 hours old because I told her she needed to clean up some of her books before she could eat. 

Some days being a mom is just plain difficult. 

In spite of that, I do have a couple things to show that I did get finished. 

-I got my directions posted for the three bees I'm in charge of this month.  More to see on those later.

-I mailed bee blocks that were overdue.

-I cut fabric and mailed fabric for the spinning stars blocks my Boo Bee friends will be making me this month.

-I also need to remind myself of the other things I've gotten done this week.  To prove to myself that I haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs.

 I finished Halloween costumes!

 Crossed off a long forgotten WIP and made 3 pillow covers!

Made 2 Wiksten Tova Shirts this week and plans for many more!

-I'm also planning a craft night (2 weeks from today) for the women at church and am really nervous that it'll be an epic failure.  Probably won't be, but I'm nervous about it and have a lot to do for it.

Perhaps best of all my husband bought me flowers and I got comments/emails that brought me smiles.  Smiles and reminders that you're not a horrible-mom-rule-monster-slacker person really make all the difference. 

Fingers crossed, the Mr. and I might get to have a date night tonight!!! 

*I hope this post doesn't seem like bragging or complaining.  I needed to remind myself a bit that I'm not horrible, and keep it real so you know it's not all smiles and sunshine here all the time.  I'm sure I'm not the only one with 2 year old's who scream and whine and throw tantrums with things to plan and deadlines to meet.  Heck, I'm sure most of you are much busier than I am!  So thank you for letting me get it out a little today.  I hope you all realize how much you each do for so many people!  

linking this up with Amanda Jean's Finish it up Friday and wishing you a happy weekend! 

WIP wednesday

I actually finished a heck of a lot this week!

And have only signed up for one more thing, you know you want to!  And...to be honest...I might just do anything Katy tells me to do.  She has good ideas. 

Finished!

On Sunday I finished this plus quilt from the book Simplify by Camille Roskelly.  I LOVE this pattern and I LOVE this quilt.

I've had it sitting around waiting to be quilted for quite a while, and I think I finished the top in April.  It'll get a separate picture overloaded post later, I promise ;)

Scrap Vomit is done!!  And I love it.  I know, I just said that about the last one, but I really love this one.  Sooo much! 

It is a wonderful beast of a quilt and am fondly looking forward to making another one!  And it's very warm.  I love me a warm quilt! 

Some bee blocks have also been done:

 

These two blocks were supposed to look like film.

This block was a pain.....We're not exactly friends. I dunno if anyone will get this reference, but in one episode of the Golden Girls, Dorothy and Sophia are playing Scrabble and Dorothy challenges a word.  Sophia claims it is a word so Dorothy has her use it in a sentence, "You're no good at disdam game!" Well, that's pretty much how I feel about disdam block!   I know.  I'm a dork.  Love that show.

Made a market tote bag out of Heather Ross' Crafty Chloe fabrics.  I like the finished project but have in mind some edits to make to it and am working on making a tutorial for a kid sized tote bag (Abby thinks this one's hers). 

Up Next!

-Granny squares quilt for Sew. Quilt. Give. charity bee - I've got everyone's blocks now just need to finish it off (Actually, this should be for every charity bee I've been queen of so far, 3, as I've gotten the blocks back and now need to get my butt to finishing those quilts).
-Various Bee blocks
-Tutorial plans (I have 4 tutorials I think you might like.  The hardest part is getting good pictures...and remembering to write things down that I think of while I'm sewing!)


Other highlights from the week:
-Finishing all those quilts.  Seriously. And realizing that I can do things like make my kids a zip-pouch if they need a bag for their crayons so we can take them to church.  I know that sounds like a "duh" moment, but for me it's been a total door opener and helped me relax. 
-My kids know the song "Don't You Want Me" by the Human League and proved it by randomly singing "don't you want me baby," which freaked me out until I figured out what they were actually saying, and singing...
-The Mr. got a job in sports, which is really good.  It's nothing huge, but it's a foot in the door and since he's still in school, it's perfect for now.
-Disdam dog(s) on the other side of our fence!

I am a dog person, but these dogs need a talking to and they aren't very nice.  If they were cuddly fluff-butt dogs it wouldn't bother me so much.    

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced as usual.  You should really go see what everyone's done.  I know I say that every week, and you should check it out every week, but there are some really talented and inspiring things being done!

AND linking up to TGIFF (Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday!) here!

For even MORE pictures of everyday stuff follow me on Instagram @mgriffin87

Bee Blocks = lots of pictures

What a week!

Just a heads up.  I'm guest posting for Shorts On A Line tomorrow at Designs by Sessa and I'm pretty excited.  I'm reviewing a pattern and a tutorial that are both really beginner friendly.

 I've never sewn clothes before so if you're in that category, you're going to want to check it out.  Mark your calender!

Oh yeah!  It's Friday so head over to Katie's at There and Back for the Handmade Parade!!

I mailed a lot of stuff lately.  Enough that I went to an entirely different post office again to avoid looking crazy (though doing that is kindof crazy).

My Etsy shop (LadyFaceQuilts) had a couple sales (yay!), and I also mailed two different swaps of Christmas fabric in addition to all these bee blocks you're about to see...

Blocks for the 3x6 bee hive 7 (wonky blocks)

3x6 bee hive 11(sampler blocks - I chose Greek Cross blocks.  Tutorial here)

There is one more in this bunch that I didn't get a picture of.  I noticed in the morning light the corners looked green and they're supposed to be teal, so I had to fix that.

I've finally (fingers crossed) gotten all of my hexagons attatched to their papers!!!  Yay!!  Now for the flower making.  I'm attaching all to the connecting center first and then I'll do the petals.  This was the first one I did.

It's awesomeness is pretty high. And it wasn't on purpose.  I didn't notice until the day after when I got them out again.


I also discovered the scrap vomit quilt by Katy and have decided this would be fun to do with little Lady Face who loves to sort out my box of 2.5" squares.  So far I've got about 10 blocks ready to be sewn up for it, so I think that'll be some good sewing therapy and scrap use!  They're mostly covering my ironing board so I'll have to do them to use it, right?!

So that's what I've been doing.  I still have more blocks to make, and the usual list of to-do's that need to be done.

We also got the benefit (?) of free Direct TV this week because my husband works for them.  The owner of our house (we're renting) came over to check out the back fence that's almost falling over from uneven ground and lots of very heavy jumpy dogs.  I'm glad those two things are done.

I always feel on edge whenever someone comes to install electronics or something, or to inspect the house.  Just makes me nervous to have people in my space but not knowing when they're coming or how long, or what exactly they'll looking for.  You know? And I can't relax much it's over.

So now it'll be a fun weekend!!!

Hexagons Galore

Tonight I bring you a whole bunch of hexagons.

This is my collection so far.  I swapped for the ones on the right, in sets for making flowers.  The others on the left are what I've made while watching Twin Peaks over the past few weeks.

Needless to say I got a little distracted with the show and wasn't very productive...

I got some good mail today though, more hexagon materials and some fabric for two other charm swaps.  The melon solid and polka dot on the bottom are for the matchy polka dot swap, and the two other fabrics are for the Sherbet colors charm swap.  I Instagramed this so the colors aren't very true to life.

This time I'm using 1 1/4 inch pieces to make hexagons for Chelsea for two of the bees that I'm in.  I whipped up a bunch watching Twin Peaks tonight and now just  need to piece them together.

 I think I like this size better than the 1 " pieces.  That 1/4 inch really adds up.  Chelsea's going to have a beautiful bunch of hexagons from everyone.

 I love this elephant.  He's from one of the Birch organic collections.  Great color and the fabric feels so good.  I am hoarding all my Birch fabrics and waiting for just the right project for them...

And these cute girls were from a layer cake swap.  I cut it into 5" charms and then used one to make this 3" square for the hexagon. 

I also got to do a bee block that had some handstitching.  This block is for the June Books and Blocks Bee Too.

I like this version of the pinwheel better than most.  mainly because most pinwheels make me thing immediately of swastikas and that's just not good.  The circle in the middle, and having the whole pinwheel inset into the block here softens the unfriendly look that most pinwheels have for me.

The middle circle is appliqued in place so that's where the stitching came in.  I wanted to secure it a bit more so I put some fusible stuff (can't remember it's real name right now) under it and then stitched it down.  Hopefully it will be durable.

Linking up this post with Katie at There and Back.  If you haven't already you should check out the other posts in the Handmade Parade this week!  And get out some of your handwork so you can share your projects too!

WIP Wednesday - last minute edition!

I went to sleep at 7:45 Monday night. 

I always have too many windows open in my browser and the hubs doesn't like that because it "pulls" at the internet.... (um, what?)....however, they each represent something important I need to make for a swap, or a bee, or I just need to have it open so I don't forget where it is!!  Does anyone else do this?

I also have too many tops sitting on the dryer and I need to do some basting. 

I use my iPhone for pictures so that's mostly why they usually suck.

This was my to-do pile for today.  In here are 2 bee blocks, 2 fabrics to turn into binding for my Made in Cherry quilt, and the rest of the fabrics for the Patchwork Prism QAL ready to cut.  I've already cut the purples and oranges (I got most of this pile taken care of...keep reading).

Here is the May block for Megan of City Stitches in We Bee Modern.  This was a fun one, as I haven't ever sewn with dark solids before.  Here I used Kona Charcoal and I really like it.  It's brighter in person.

I still have a few more bee blocks to make but it was great to get this one checked off.  It looked a lot more complex in the book and I was a little nervous to get started.

I also finished a long waiting WIP!  My Made in Cherry quilt is done!  I experimented with my new FMQ foot on this one and it was really fun.  I doodled all around the solid purple spots and went in wavy lines over the seams in the patchwork star.

I "finished" cutting out fabric for the Patchwork Prism QAL (I have quotes because I realized I miscut and am short a few green triangles...blah...) and laid the fabrics out.  It's a bit of a hot mess...I am pretty sure the second time I make this quilt will be much better.

 I think this will become a picnic quilt.  I've got some really nice blue fabric that I think is decorator weight.  It's heavier and I hope I'll love it more when it's done...

In other totally random news, we've discovered that my son is absolutely terrified of balloons being popped.  He freaks out big time (this was discovered at the birthday party last weekend).  Shaking, crying, screaming...it's terrible and I have no clue how to help him get over it, except by steering clear of balloons, or anything that could be popped.  Packing materials included.

I am still going to the gym and am dead tired but my biceps have grown so that's good (I've never had biceps before!).  I still look baffoon-ish in the classes I take, but it's growing on me :)

Happy (almost) Thursday!!

I'm last minute linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced!!