i've been drinking the kool-aid again

A few weeks ago, I "joined" a quilt along.  I signed up for the quilt along - gave them my e-mail address.  I purchased the pattern.

That pattern?  It was paper pieced.

How I missed that detail when looking at the blocks is beyond me.  But I did.

So I kinda hesitated to start.

I really don't like paper piecing.  All that backwards thinking gets my brain in a knot.  And THEN you have to pull all those papers out.  It doesn't matter how small you make your stitches.  They still fight.

But lately I've been floundering in the sewing room.  With no projects having deadlines - challenges, babies due, etc. - I've been finding myself playing games on my phone instead of sewing.  That's no good!

So I decided to make some blocks.

The first (yep, first) quilt along is called the Summer Book Club Quilt-Along and is hosted by a gal named Kate.  The quilt along is being shared on Instagram and can be found at the hashtag "summerbookclubqal"...among others...

Remember how I told you I bought a whole bolt of funkily-overdyed muslin in January?  Well, I used a little bit in my mini quilt, but decided it was time to dig into that yardage.  And what better way to use it than to make BOOKS!

The cover of the book lends itself well to large prints, so I pulled out my stack of leftover Tula Pink kitty fabrics that I am hoarding for special occasions...at the bottom of the stack I found this gem:

...I may or may not have squealed in delight.  I purchased this on impulse a while ago and wasn't sure what to do with it.

Well, now I know.  Make a book.

I'm trying to work with strings and scraps for the binding and "inside," but chose to use a white with silver dots for the pages.  It's kinda hard to see in this photo, but others might show it better.

With the first one under my belt, and the realization I needed to up my fussy cutting efforts, I dug into another.

Emma says this one is very nice, but why am I not feeding her these delicious-looking cans of delectable treats?  I'm pretty pleased with myself and those cats eyes that lined up perfectly.  Let me tell you, that was an effort, but mostly luck!

Onward!

That kitty was intentionally a little low, as the fabric piece was leftover and not well centered.  I think it's okay, though.  I mean, his whole head is there, right?!

At this point, I looked up and went "oh, it's raining?"!

But on to a fourth!

This was among the fabrics in the second stack I pulled out.  This was one of some fabrics Molly, over at The Objects of Design blog, picked out for me after my name was drawn when her servant was destashing.  That kitty doesn't look too happy, but maybe when she meets the psychedelic kitty above, she'll cheer up?

At this point, the hubby called to tell me he was on his way home.  Out of work early (he went in 3 hours early, so it was nice he got out 3 hours early, too - that doesn't usually happen!), so I needed to tidy up and finish dinner preparations.  I knew he'd be hungry when he got home, so if the burger was made into patties and the grill warming up, his dinner would be ready quickly.

But first, let's quickly see all four together!

That grey looks so very wrinkled, but I assure you it is not.  That's how it is dyed.

Today I had to work, and Tuesday is cleaning day, so I haven't touched the sewing machine yet.  (But I vacuumed around it!)  Once I'm done here and have some dinner, I'll head up and try to squeeze in a block or two before bedtime.  I do have to work tomorrow (filling in for a coworker on what would have been a day off), but that's okay.  A little extra money is never bad because I also drank some other Kool-Aid and it cost me a little penny to get the pattern...

As I was looking through Instagram (that place is nearly as bad as Pinterest lately!), I came across another quilt-along.  It starts July 1st, so just in time for me to make a quick decision and order the pattern.

What is it?  It's a 100 blocks in 100 days quilt-along hosted by Angie over at Gnome Angel.  The blocks are very modern, but that's okay.  I'm leaning that direction a lot lately anyways.  (But the traditional patterns also get a good look and are hard to pass up sometimes!)

I ordered the book yesterday and got notification it has already shipped!  That was fast.  And I've decided to do it semi-scrappy in hot pink and dark grey-black with maybe some light grey, too.

Why?

Well, in digging through my closet the other day, trying to find a missing flip-flop, I realized something...

...apparently I have a thing for pink and grey shoes!

These span a lot of years and some are old and worn out and great for weeding and doing dirty work.  (They look better than that because a trip through the washing machine does a lot of good!)  But the latest of these was bought maybe a month ago.

So, if I OBVIOUSLY like to wear this color scheme on my feet, wouldn't a quilt out of those colors make sense?!

(I do have other shoes in other colors...a turquoise pair, a neon yellow pair, a purple pair...hey, when you find a fun-looking pair of running shoes, you buy them, okay?  Because when you stand on your feet all day, whether as a lab tech or a cashier, you want good shoes.  And good-looking shoes that fit well don't come around as often as you'd think!  Well, maybe they do...)

Anyways, so that's how I came to my decision to make the quilt in those colors.

My friend, Colette, and I are going to do this together.  She's just as crazy as I am (maybe more!) about these kinds of challenges, so it should be fun, even if she moved two hours away from me a year ago.  Thank goodness for texting technology!  And unlimited data...

In other sewing, I did manage to make something up out of the remaining pink half square triangles...

I can't take credit for this layout.  I saw it over at Sew Me Something Good blog and thought it was perfect!  I added a border and it will finish about 18" square.  It's just a top right now, but I'll get there.

Other news, the Pantone challenge winners have been announced.  I didn't win anything (but thanks to all of you who voted for me...or for anyone!), but that's okay.  I'm a little disappointed, I'll admit, but I didn't make this quilt to win.  I made it because I wanted to.  And entered it because I thought I'd try to win.  But now, I have a really cool quilt to use.  And I don't have to feel like I can't use it because it won or something.

My hubby and I did end up going to the quilt show last Thursday.  I don't have any photos to share right now, but I did buy a few patterns.  I also visited a couple of quilt shops in the area, but bought nothing there!  There was a book I kinda wish I had picked up, but honestly?  I probably wouldn't have made anything from it.  At least not any time soon.  So it's probably best.  The patterns?  Well...we'll see!

And with that, I think you're caught up.

There's a storm blowing in...well, there was?  It was windy and thundering a minute ago, but looking out the window, I see sunshine.  That's never a good thing...thunder and sunshine?  Better make sure the flashlights are ready!  (But I sure do hope I can quilt!)

Happy quilting!

Katie

PS I forgot the cats!

I hadn't been up more than 30 seconds and Freddie claimed my chair.  Emma was in a cat bed on the floor, but apparently I STILL do not have enough cat beds in my sewing room to be allowed to use the chair for myself.

And Emma is a people.  Can't you tell?  She shoved her whole face, up to her ears, into that cup, but we only managed to get a photo of her face this far in.  The cup was empty (mostly), but she still managed to have ice cream on her eyebrows and whiskers and everywhere from the edges of the cup!