So, no big surprise here….

I’ve not gotten anything done that I had meant to do.  What?  Are you in the same boat?  I’m going to pretend that you are just so that I don’t feel as bad.  I did make a decision on what colors I want to use for the Easy Street Quilt.  I just haven’t made it over to Lowe’s to get the paint samples.  I know you are all just dying to see what color scheme I’ve chosen.  Well, I’ll show you.    Ta-da!  I know, isn’t it amazing?  I love the orange.  Of course once I decided on that it drove me right back to Joen Wolfrom’s Color Play book and I now know that I would be working with a split complimentary.  How cool is that?  I know, probably more cool for me than for you.  But I still need to go get those paint chips so I can raid my scraps and stash and get to work.  After all the first set of instructions have come out.  Still thinking about joining me on this journey?  You should!  We’ll have so much fun and don’t forget to check out Bonnie Hunter’s website for all the great details.

Now, I’m sure you are wondering what else I have up my sleeve that I’m not getting anything done.  Well, aside from the visit from the flu or some other semi-related stomach bug over Thanksgiving (Boo!), I’ve decided that it is time for me to get started on my small blond boy’s quilt.  With all the great Star Wars fabric that had been coming out I thought for sure that he would want that.  However, I would be wrong.  Very very wrong.  The small blond person instead would like dinosaurs.  Hmm.  Dinosaurs.  Now, I don’t know about you, but that sent me off on a search through my binders of patterns and patterns that hadn’t made it into my binders yet and I discovered that I indeed had a pattern that would work!  Of course it is from my favorite magazine, Quiltmaker.  You can see the quilt that has inspired me here.  Cute isn’t it?  Of course it will need some modifications – such as taking the wheels off the dinosaurs and fabric choices will obviously be different.  The biggest modification will have to be lay out and size.  After all, the quilt in the inspiration is for a toddler bed while my small blond is now snuggly sleeping in his big boy bed which happens to be full-sized.    That is where my work truly lies.  And yet here I am while I should be measuring the applique patterns and designing a layout and calculating how many of each dinosaur I will need to make this quilt a reality.  I’m sure it won’t get done before Christmas, but will hopefully be done soon after.  Well, I suppose I should get the brain engaged and start thinking about those things so I can get started on it.  After all, applique is not my forte…and that alone means that the quilt will take longer to do….  Wish me luck!

Take care and stay warm out there.  Next time I PROMISE that I will wrap up retreat.  I just need to find my notes.  Don’t worry though, it all has a happy ending!

Time to start another project.

You’ll have to pardon me for how long it’s been since I got out here to write more about our retreat shenanigans.  The truth is that I need to find my notes.  I can hear the other monkeys cackling now, that I actually take notes at retreat from time to time.  Well, how else am I supposed to keep track of the goofy things we say?  I admit that I can’t keep track of everything.  I try, but I honestly have to keep notes.

Oh, yeah, time to start another project?  Like I don’t have enough going on and with Christmas around the corner I admittedly have lots of things I could be completely for gifts.  That being said, I’m still going to start something new.  I can hear you moaning from here.  Don’t worry, this will be something that goes slowly and should be a lot of fun.  Plus I learned a new and different way to pick colors.

Now that my brain is jumbling around a bunch of thoughts about what I should tell you next.  Can you tell I’m a little excited?  Or maybe it’s that I want to be sure that I don’t forget anything…  First, the project.  It is a mystery quilt.  Have you done one?  I’m sure you have at least thought about it.  The one I’m doing is this one, it is called Easy Street.  I know I’ve talked before about scrap quilts and Bonnie Hunter.  This mystery quilt is her latest quilt.  She will be posting the first set of instructions on 11/23 so please feel free to join me on this journey.  If you follow the link you will find her supply list for this quilt.  It’s going to be sizable at 96×96 finished.

On to that new way to pick out colors.  If you head to the link you’ll see some photos that Bonnie has posted with her fabric and then some pictures of paint chips.  Paint chips?  I know, I didn’t really think about it either.  But, if you are shopping from your scrap stash it would be handy to have something that is exactly what you are looking for so as you sort through your scraps so you would have something to use for comparison.    Pretty ingenious isn’t it?  I thought so.  If you are looking for more information about color, I really can’t stress this book enough – Joen Wolfrom Color Play.  It has to be one of my most favorite quilting books on the market.  She takes you through how the color wheel works and how you can get out of your rut when choosing colors for your next project.  She has gorgeous color photos throughout the book with color combinations directly from nature.  This book isn’t about quilting patterns or the latest and greatest methods.  It is a Bible for color, something that you will find yourself referring to again and again just to get a new point of view.  Okay, I’ll get off my soap box now, but you should know that sometimes I pull that book out just to look at all the pictures and hopefully absorb some more of the knowledge that it contains.  I plan on pulling it out now to make a decision on which colors I want to use for Easy Street so I can go pick up my paint chips and shop my stash.

I hope you’ll join me and do the same.