i went shopping and now i'm in deep trouble

Last week I mentioned a few new quilt ideas.

And then there was a sale.

I knew it was coming, so I planned ahead.

But let's do things in order of my imaginary importance, okay?

First up, tiger parts.

I'm down to 18 sections left to go and yesterday cut out #18, but then had to go do other things.  I never got to sewing.

In my purchases, I picked up more of the darker and the lime-y green you see here because I was running low.  I have about a yard extra of orange, though, so I don't know what's going on.  I bought what the pattern said.  Thankfully they still had both.  Hopefully I'm done purchasing for the interior of this quilt.  (We'll decide on borders later.)

Next up, the birds.

Another nine completed this week, as per schedule.  I had a little more seam ripping to do this week, as I managed to sew the front half of the heads backwards.  It actually required new pieces, too, but I had enough, thankfully.  All is well (obviously) and these guys are looking good!

The Radical Cassettes quilt along sewing starts today, and I was glad that my pattern finally showed up last week Friday.  I had the fabric needs from the photos the designer provided with the pattern info online, but I wanted to see how it all parsed out and possibly consolidate colors.

The pattern calls for eleven colors, plus background.  You can see here there are not that many.  I'll supplement a white solid from my stash for a few small pieces, but otherwise, this is it.  This week we're to cut everything and sew the first block (because she forgot a week of cutting - she admitted it - oops), so this will be first up this week for me.

Since I knew the sale was coming, I also went looking for the other ideas.  You know, for the half dozen quilts I decided last week I might need to make.

First up is the housewarming quilt for coworker/former coworker (which technically is geared towards the former coworker, a woman, because boys just aren't that interested usually).  In my perusing through the interwebs, I found the Woodland Wonderland quilt, knew it was perfect and also knew I had bought the pattern recently!

Since it is fairly scrappy, I pulled from my stash and got everything but the background.  The grey with dots (on the far right) will be the background and I think it's perfectly cute to go with this quilt.  (I hope I'm right!)

The baby quilt was a bit of a conundrum.  I have been giving increasingly complicated quilts to people and didn't want to disappoint, but just wasn't coming up with anything I loved.  But this Tidal Crossing pattern kept drawing my attention.  I decided to make the blocks smaller and make a few more so the diagonal effect hits all four corners, but I needed a consistent background.

It may be hard to see here, but it's a white-on-white with a woven/grid pattern on it.  I bought a bit more while I was out because I don't want to run out halfway through the project!  She is due in June, so this one will need to be completed before a few of the others, but it honestly has the least appeal.

Next, in my perusing of patterns, this Goldie quilt has been haunting me.  I can't exactly explain why, but probably just the bright saturated colors of one of the versions.  In my searches, it turns out a quilt along for this pattern is just ending, but that's okay.  I really don't need any more commitments that have such quick deadlines.

I kept telling myself no, I don't need this.

And then I remembered the fat quarter bundle I'd gotten for my birthday a while back and it was done.

It has exactly the number I need and the colors (though you can't see them all very well here) are wonderful.  And the white confetti dots?  In my stash and I believe will be just enough for the background of this quilt.  (It was not purchased at the same place as the sale, so I'll have to venture elsewhere if I run out, but also have a contingency plan.)

This one has no timeline, but may end up going to the couple that got "promised" (not engaged)?  We'll see how that shakes out.

Finally, while I was shopping, I decided to get backs for two quilts.

On the left I have a back for Tiny Stars.  I'm scared to quilt it with all the seams, but it needs to be done.  It should not just be sitting on a shelf after all that effort.

On the right is the back for Rise Above (I cannot find a link to the pattern designer - sorry), a quilt top I raced through a while back and then stalled out on.  It needs to be finished also.  And the butterflies seem perfect to complement the bright on the front.

All of this has been washed and pressed and neatly folded and is ready for cutting and sewing.  I thought I'd be headed to the nearest Bass Pro Shop with the hubby today for his annual birthday pilgrimage, but the weather is sketchy and he has learned that the bigger ticket items he often wants (like a new reel) aren't in the store anyways.  So he will wrestle with the gift cards he has received and order it online.  And I get to spend hours and hours less in a car going a place I'm not terribly excited about!

In cat hammock news, I turned in the last pile from the fabrics I had last week Thursday and she had another tub for me.  It was less than I anticipated, but holy cow was it packed in there!  Six loads of laundry later (some were smaller towards the end, but I was grouping by colors to minimize the need for color catchers), I have a huge stack to work with again.  Not as bad as the last one that didn't quite fit on my shelf, but a lot. (No photos - sorry - I'll try to remember for next week.)

This batch had a lot of fat quarters in it.  The gal who donated it had been making masks and I can tell you she is either very wealthy or a newer seamstress.  One fat quarter literally had two mask pieces cut out of the very center.  Imagine a fat quarter with the center gone - about 2" around the outside and nothing more.  Many of the fabrics that she had cut into were nearly as bad, as she had done things like cutting two mask pieces at the fold.  But also many of the fat quarters had not even been unfolded!

So hammock making will commence.  I'll figure out a routine that works for me again with all these quilts and hammocks and be sewing along like a fiend in no time.  I might have to sleep less.

Today's agenda is the cassette tapes quilt first.  Then maybe tiger parts.  If I get there.  (With the hubby home, very little seems to get done because as soon as I settle into something he decides he is hungry or wants to go to the bigger city 30 minutes away and I go along because maybe I'll stop for fabric or new shoes and often he feeds me something different than the places we have in our own town, so I'm game!)

Happy quilting!

Katie