From A - Mixed Bag Monday

I had a thing for mood rings as a kid. The novelty of wearing something that changed colours AND conveyed my emotional state of mind to others was irresistible. As I entered my teen years this turned into an obsession with the Fortune Telling Miracle Fish. Naturally, I had to adapt as an adult. Now I have a craft-based emotional barometer where a quick glance around the house will tell you everything you need to know about how it's all going.

• A tidy home with only one project on the coffee table means that there is either company coming in the next 10 minutes or I've managed to find a whole lot of zen.
• A project in the bedroom and living room is indicative of a normal and sustainable level of chaos.
• A few projects strewn about on the couch, dining room table and next to the bed with a stack of yarn or fabric on the floor in the spare bedroom means usually means contact with a stressful patch over the last week or so.
• Barely started projects on every surface with stacks of yarn and fabric "cued up" in the spare bedroom are a bad sign...a really bad sign.

Two guesses on where things are this week.

We have bits of fabric that I've been cutting for my On a Whim Quilt on the TV stand.

The couch is home to my rigid heddle loom and some weaving on a gradient shawl that I started more than 3 years ago.

My school bag is home to the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Halloween Sampler that I fell hard for a few weeks back.

The dining room table has a half-finished version of Noodlehead's Open Wide pouch, complete with rainbow zipper.

Oh and that's not even mentioning the partly-finished satchel in my craft cupboard, the TWO lap duvets that are pressed and ready to be basted hanging over a dining room chair, the nursing cover on the coffee table that's been cut out and is waiting to be sewn, the two charm packs that are stacked on my nightstand waiting to become a baby quilt and the multiple piles of yarn in the spare bedroom divided into projects...plural.

Time to reset me thinks. Any other craft barometers out there?

From K - Salt Water Swoon Quilt Top

I have been admiring Swoon quilts since the pattern first came out. This summer I decided to get my feet wet by slicing up some prints from Tula Pink's Salt Water line.

I cut and assembled each block over the last two months as I was able to carve out a bit of time in the odd weekend here and there. My previous posts on this Swoon quilt give more detailed pictures of each of the blocks.

Last weekend I managed to polish off the sashing so my hubby helped me to take some pictures in a beautiful fall coloured park.

I'm on a tight deadline to finish up this quilt so I was thrilled we had such a beautiful day for photos before putting this project in the mail. This massive queen sized quilt top is on its way to a long armer and I'm seriously excited to see how it turns out in a few weeks.

I think the stars aligned just perfectly as I met a very talented long armer just as I was fretting about how to finish this up in time. This will mark the first quilt that I've sent off to be quilted rather than doing it myself and I'm looking forward to seeing her take on how it should be quilted. In a few short weeks I'll find out!

 

Linking up to Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

 

From K - Swap, Stash and Swag

Since returning from Sewing Summit, three things have been on my mind: Swaps, Stash and Swag.

I have never participated in a sewing swap before so I was really excited to join in on the secret pouch swap before arriving at the Summit.

Since it was my first swap, I figured I might as well take the opportunity to try my hand at QAYG for the first time. While it took longer than expected, I absolutely love the result and I think my partner liked it too.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to *ahem* finally unpack my Sewing Summit suitcase. While I'd like to say that I hang my head in shame with that sentence, honestly I'm glad I waited. Opening that suitcase after a long week of work was like a mini summit in my livingroom (dance party included). Let's just say I brought home more than 50 lbs of fabric...

 

Here's a lovely stack of FQs that I picked up during the Shop Hop and have since added to my stash.

I also picked up three echino canvas linen prints on the shop hop, and two Malabrigo skeins of yarn for a future scarf.

Since I was meeting up with Amanda at Sewing Summit, I took the liberty of shipping her a few things before hand to take advantage of cheap US shipping - so I ordered some Nani Iro yardage and a few skeins of sock yarn.

I picked up a yard of a random fleur de lis burlap print without a specific project in mind, but gosh it was so pretty and for $5.99, I knew I'd never find something this unique for such a great price at home. 7 yards of this gray crown print also came home with me, enough for a dress and baby quilt back. I was thrilled to come across this ezy-hem tool as well, I'm really hoping this speed up my future garment projects.

Lastly, I brought home nearly enough yardage for a future winter/Christmas quilt. I'm considering a gray on white snowflake on the top, and this tone-on-tone holiday raspberry coloured print for the backing. I'm looking forward to slicing into this stack next month!

The third topic in this post is all about the Sewing Summit swag. I bring this up because I felt it was important to say a huge thank you to the supporters and sponsors behind our awesome weekend. I feel incredibly blown away and completely spoiled by the generosity of so many sponsors.

A huge thank you to: Omnigrid, Pellon, Coats and Clark, Heather Bailey, Art Gallery Fabrics, Pine Needles, Material Girls, Quilter's Haven, and the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild.

 

Three looming quilt finish deadlines are standing in my way of slicing into that holiday stack so I better get back at it! I hope I'm not the only one who brought home a ridiculous Sewing Summit haul!