Catching up...

(Let me start out by saying that you may want to read to the end of this post...  Just sayin'!)  

It's been quite awhile since I did a blog post, hasn't it?  Well, first I had a little mishap with my machine.  I hit a pin, which has happened a million times, but somehow this one went down into the bobbin case and created all kinds of havoc.  I've hit pins before, but never with such a devastating result.  In the process of becoming accordion pleated itself, said pin dislodged the bobbin case, nicked the shield to the bobbin case, and generally prevented the machine from stitching.  Hence, Penelope made a quick visit to the doctor.  Thankfully, the repairman was able to fix her and get her up and running for only the cost of a service call (despite the up to $250 estimate I received - whew!).  And truly, she's been used hard this year, so a service call was sorely needed anyway.

And the other reason I haven't posted lately is that I've become totally obsessed with my GMFG quilt top.  It seems to consume all my spare time.  For some reason, I seem to work on it compulsively.  My friend made me 100-or-so yellow hexies for the fences, and so I was able to get to this point...

And I couldn't rest until I made about 100 more...

And so it progresses.

And it's a perfect project to do when you can't do anything else...

So, while I was following all the commenting on Flickr about my Waterfall pillow, I got the feeling that I was on the wrong track for my partner.  (But on the right track for my son, apparently - this is the only one of  my projects he has faved on Flickr!)

So I made another, which I hope is more to my partner's taste.  I love that I was able to use up some binding I had left over from my Outfoxed quilt, and lots of other scraps.  I've been wanting to make a plus pillow.  It was really fun.  There may be more plus projects in my future!

So that's what's been going on around here.  What have you been up to?  I'd love to hear!  Leave a comment and tell me about your latest project.  There may be a little something in it for you.  (Hint!)

TTFN

Waterfall

I feel like I've been procrastinating in this swap forever, but I suppose that is because it started before Thanksgiving and doesn't end til the end of January.  Seriously, my mother always said I work better out of desperation than inspiration, and I'm not one to start a project too early.  In this swap, you make your partner a large item and a small item.  My partner suggested several things she might like, among them was a pillow.

This shape has been haunting me lately, and I just had to do something with it.  So the other day I sat down and drew it, cut it out, added a seam allowance and cut it out again.

When I was at the Drug Store the other day, I found these three fabrics and they just sang to me, so I had to bring them home.

I really had a lot of fun making this pillow.  The quilting was fun too.  I used a teal print on the back with a little of the square tiles fabric, then used the leftover for the piping.  It's got a matching invisible zipper in the back - part of my $25-for-100-zippers purchase awhile ago.  I'm never at a loss for zippers any more, at least!

A really fun and fairly quick little project. 

I hope she likes it!