quarantine day 562

i'm here to update you of happenings since the conclusion of spring broke 2020

things i have not done:
finished an entire quilt (not counting madeline's hat in this)
restored a normal sleep schedule
completed my virtual 5k (it got too hot...OKAY?!)

things i have done:
booked a long arm date (and we all know i'll need more)
ate a lot of chocolate chip cookies
played a whole lot of disney emoji blitz. i should be their spokesperson now.
put on real pants.
got a job.

wait what... got a job?
you read that correctly!
after a few weeks of unemployment and the mental roller coaster THAT was, i just happened to be at the right place (on facebook) at the right time.
a local quilt shop put out a post that they were looking to hire on more people to help fill orders
today is the start of week 2 of working, and while it is exhausting to be getting up at 7:30 again, it feels nice to actually be working and doing something with my day.
yes, there are social distancing measures in place and very few other employees in there at the same time.  things are wiped down when people switch around, we're at the same station the whole time and don't have to worry about going and grabbing things.
6 hours a day cutting cutting cutting.
chiropractor is for sure going to be seeing me a lot while my body gets used to this.
just to clarify, i will be returning to my teaching jobs once they become ready and available for me to come back.  best case scenario, i'll be staying on at the shop one or two days a week as well to keep that slight extra income as well as the fun of being surrounded by fabric.
can you blame me?
unfortunately at the same time of this upswing of income, my productivity of sewing has taken a hit.
which is a little decieving by these photos on this post, that's for sure!
i wanted to sew something, but sitting and zoning out at the computer felt just as great.
the weekend helped jumpstart things, since i didn't have to get up and head to work.
i managed to complete two quilt backs saturday night, and still have SO MANY MORE to do.
hopefully, now that we're in to week 2 of being back on a schedule, my evening sewjo will return and i'll be able to finish my wonky stars top by the end of the month as well get a few more quilt backs figured out before i go in to long arm on the 6th.
i scheduled that date prior to working again, so i will very likely need to add on a few more in order to get everything done that i have planned.
bummer, right? ;)

madeline's hat - guild mini quilt challenge

in an old house in paris that was covered in vines
lives 12 little girls in two straight lines...
the smallest one was madeline.
back in the beginning of the year, which seems like 10 years ago at this rate, we were given our next mini quilt challenge for sacMQG, and it was one that i was determined to participate in.  i knew instantly which book i wanted to do, and a general idea of what aspect of the book i wanted to include.
madeline is a series that takes me back to elementary school, to my favorite teacher and her halloween costumes. each year mrs. blake would dress up in the same costume.  she would be a nun, specifically, miss clavel, and carry around a large madeline doll.  well, you can see for yourself here:)
most recent photo there on the right was from 2017, which was the last time a bunch of us got together in person.  she moved to the east coast after retirement to be with her granddaughters, but is now back on the west coast and not too far away!  because of her, and the amazing four years i had with her as my teacher, madeline has always held a special place in my heart.
after a pinterest search for minimalist madeline designs, i came across bookroo and a line of minimalist posters they had representing books.  the one for madeline was perfect, but i couldn't find a designer to reach out to.  i emailed the company and after a few back and forth responses, i was granted permission by the designer to create a personal mini quilt for this challenge using their design.  here's the link to the madeline poster that started this all.
and if you're a lover of children's books, you have got to check out all the posters here
and then life got in the way.  and covid-19.  and all the things.  so last wednesday night... yep.  DAYS before the meeting, i got down to work and made this happen!
i knew i wanted the background blue instead of red to represent the coats the girls wear, so it was perfect that i still had a chunk of this blue grunge from the hidden agenda quilt. and then after deciding on fabric in my stash for a baby quilt, this rejected yellow became exactly what i needed for madeline's hat.  of course, the bit of black grunge was just what was needed to finish off the bows ad the strings hanging down.
i appliqued the pieces on to the blue one layer at a time, and just did a basic stitch around the edge to keep things in place.  at first, i was going to attempt another new skill and use my free motion foot to quilt a squiggle pattern in the background, but i quickly learned (after practicing on a scrap) that i didn't want to dive in to that just yet without the complete proper set up... if ever.  i find that maneuvering on the long arm is much more my style instead of maneuvering the fabric.
so instead, i quilted the background with my walking foot.  in my original plans, i wanted to quilt an eiffel tower outline on one side, but nerves and time crunch got the best of me.  i opted for a design similar to the ninja turtle quilt but as time went on, i started getting more choppy and overlapping lines to make it more dense.  i also stitched around the hat detail to make it "pop" a little more, and left that unquilted.  since it is intended to be a wall hanging, it shall just hang.
also...
the backing is perfect.
i bought this fabric when i was making my 100 blocks quilt, and had just the right size for the backing.
i still have a little bit more, which will very likely be used with the quilt i intend to make for mrs. blake this year.  she loves to travel, so i have a perfect fat quarter bundle i purchased just to represent that.  it wouldn't be complete without a little madeline with it as well!
pattern information: madeline bookroo poster designed by jane tanner
quilt count: 131

stashbust jelly roll race

so on the great quest of quarantine stash busting, i decided to see if i could task myself to come up with a 42 strip set equivalent to a jelly roll and complete a timed jelly roll race.  with our guild's 4 week long bingo, we've had quite a variety of different tasks to do, and this week we had a square to watch a jelly roll rug or race tutorial.  having done a jelly roll race in the past, i watched 3 of missouri star quilt company's jelly roll race videos on youtube and then decided to make it happen.
i went through my stash, generated a somewhat cohesive color palette of fabrics i already had (lots of stars... you can tell it's my fabric!) and got to chopping.  42 strips later, we had our faux jelly roll ready to go and i decided to film the entire thing.
first, here is the pull of fabrics.  also as proof that YES there are 42.  as i was zooming along sewing, it seemed like there wasn't 42 at some point... but once i got past a certain point with fabrics... i absolutely realized there most definitely was.
the last time i did a jelly roll race, it was just over an hour.  and that was even with all my mistakes using batiks and having to seam rip things because it got mixed around.  so this time, i also asked the internet what they would think it would take me.  i got responses from 55 minutes to upwards of 5 hours.  boy i cannot imagine sewing for 5 hours straight.
now the fun part.  since i recorded it all, you get to watch it!
don't worry, i sped up the sewing part like crazy
here it is!
in the end, as mentioned in the video, it took 1 hour and 10 minutes to sew.
since i had shut my door to reduce noise and pulled the blinds to eliminate weird outside light, i basically killed all air flow in to my room, which made it MUCH hotter in there.  ack. 
also... WHY DIDN'T I PUT MY HAIR UP?!?!
i feel like time was lost every moment i had to swish my bangs out of my face.
next time... all these details will be fixed.
this jelly roll race quilt will be donated once quilted, but in the meantime, here's a peek at what it looked like (beyond what you see in my lovely video skills)
do you feel challenged yet and ready to do your own jelly roll race?
I DARE YOU!
should i do another video post?
what kind of things should i record? more sewing? puzzle making? lego building? underwater basket weaving?  just kidding... the pool is closed, so i can't do that one.

spring broke 2020

wasn't much of a break over here... or probably anywhere for anyone.
same four walls in my room with the same four pairs of leggings in rotation.
i think i've forgotten what wearing jeans feels like.
right now, everyone is on the mask making train, and i wanted to have the energy to do it to the extent others did/do... but in all honesty, it was hard to bring myself to sew the 8 that i did for friends and family.  and it made me feel SO guilty, and a little ashamed i wasn't "using my talents" in the way that everyone else was.  so after personally struggling with it, i decided to just breathe a little bit, and in the words of a certain ice queen... try and "let it go" and release the guilt.
so here's a recount of how i did spend my spring broke... i mean break...  no, i think i do really mean broke.
being on unemployment but still technically having all my jobs is weird.
sunday:
sewed 5 masks for friends and family
cut out remaining festive fir quilt pieces (basically just the ornament balls remained)
i also looked at buying a nintendo switch lite so i could play animal crossing like the cool kids.
reality and unemployment quickly snapped that back to reality
monday:
ran to the post office to mail masks to TX.  that was an experience.
i finished the binding on one of my disney ispy quilts that has yet to be put up for adoption.
turned the ornament ball pieces in to "snowball blocks" as i restarted parks & rec from the first season for the 4367th time.
2 more masks made for my sister and her husband, since my mom ran out of appropriate themed fabric.
tuesday:
decided to download the strava app and go for a walk this morning.
i sure felt it after basically 3 weeks of sitting and confinement.
wait... it's only been 3 weeks?  oy
sewed more on the festive fir quilt and made chocolate chip cookie dough like i have been planning for since pre social isolation.
wednesday:
walked again, almost 3 miles in the morning and then drove to leatherby's to shop local and order curbside.  ice cream creations were half off... how could i resist??
sewed some masks.  so tired of masks...
thursday:
shins were achey.  no walking today.
sewed 2 more masks and cut a LOT of fabric for my wonky stars quilt that i started forever ago.
one quadrant was done after i took the class with some of my sacMQG members, so i cut the rest of the pieces needed for the 3 remaining quadrants to make this in to a final quilt top.  well, at least the background part.  the grunge stars will come later... this is also the reason why i haven't used up my grunge scraps.  once this project is complete, my grunge will be free range again.
also started another cross stitch... because why not?
friday:
today was also zoom day for sacMQG, which was nice to have something to look forward to at the end of the day.  one of my unemployment "jobs" has been demolishing my aunt's old photo albums ad putting the photos in to storage boxes.  because of the sound of tearing pages out and even running a hair dryer... i was mostly listening with my microphone on mute.
i also got jimboys for dinner... and that was easily the most satisfying take out meal of my entire week... or three weeks even.
ordered online, picked it up fresh and drove home.  still hot.  still delicious.
will do again.
saturday:
this was a mess up my sleep schedule kind of day (not that it isn't already messed up...)
stayed in bed FAR too long, did some laundry and then cut some fabric in to pieces.
at least 5 years ago, i bought 2 yards of big bang theory fabric for the reason of just to have it... i know, because that's exactly what my post online said about it.
tonight, it became 4 pillowcases to be donated to a children's hospital.  the more fabric i use up, the more i can buy post quarantine, right??
celebrated my pillowcase completion with a pizookie from the aforementioned cookie dough.
sunday:
my sleep schedule is SO OFF.
probably went to bed after 2am.  when i say probably, i mean that is exactly what happened, and i stayed in bed until nearly 12pm.  oy.
had to do some revising on the layout of my festive fir quilt top, since it ended up with some strong diagonal lines of similar colors.
now that it is all set and ready to go, it can hopefully become a quilt top by the end of the week.
it was also easter, so there's that.
monday:
well this was supposed to be the last day of spring break, and clearly that isn't the case.
i woke up at 9:30, and stayed awake... granted, i stayed in bed until 10:30 because i was playing emoji blitz... BUT I WAS AWAKE.
that's the moral of the story.
i spent the greater part of today completing the festive fir quilt top, which was a success in of itself.  i got on such a roll that i wasn't paying attention to the pattern and had to rip out and redo half my blocks that i sewed the piece to in the wrong order.  and then i sewed the row with the star block upside down.
that's what i get for blasting my music too loud.
also... i realized that i have played emoji blitz so much, some of the graphics are burned in to my screen... so that's cool.

and now here we are...
tuesday.
should have been going back to work today, but instead...
i sit and wait and hope to get called in for emergency childcare services.
and if not... hope that summer camp doesn't get cancelled.
i fully understand the precautions, but i need life to start moving forwards again.

throwback thursday - pj quilt club?

2006 vs. 2020
some things never change.

like that i'm PRETTY SURE my dad still has that blue cutting mat and rotary cutter.
i am pretty sure that is NOT the same blade in it though!

i've got a tripod, a handful of cameras and plenty of time on my hands. 
consider yourself warned.

emily's catasaurus quilt - fussy cut sampler finale

i'm finally here to share this beast of a project!
the photos have been loaded, and time just got away from me, but here we are at the grand finale of the catasaurus quilt adventure.
well... at least this rendition of it.
the project started back in 2018, sat around for most of 2019, but was quilted on the friday after thanksgiving and eventually bound this year!
 there isn't much more i can say to hype up this post without actually posting the quilt... so here it is!
i mean... i might be biased... but it's perfect.
two things you wouldn't anticipate seeing together along with a very specific color scheme was absolutely a challenge, but a challenge i was willing to take on nonetheless.
enough talk... more photos.
that final signature block was an experience all of its own.
yes, those letters are ALL INDIVIDUALLY CUT.
team fussy cat is the shout out to the lone 3 of us that stuck out actually coming to the class the entire year long and not just dropping off and coming back at the end.
here's a better look at the signature block
i may have not done the best job getting my width correct with some things, but it all worked out in the end!
also, because something that drives me crazy is when dots don't line up when backs are pieced together... i went a little extra and pieced an ENTIRE strip down the back.
it starts and ends with footprint fabrics, because i didn't want something more important to get the chop, but yes, it alternates cats and dinosaur down the entire strip.  sorry, i don't have any up close photos of that part...
this quilt currently resides as top of the bed pile (i have multiple quilts on my bed right now.  5 to be exact) and it is so nice to see every day it in all its cheery glory.
some day, i'm not quite sure when, i will definitely make another one of these quilts.  I currently plan to use one of the blocks to make a baby quilt... but i haven't decided which one just yet!
and for fun, here's a little peek at a certain photobomber who couldn't quite understand what was going on.
pattern: the fussy cut sampler
quilt count: 130

15 minute march recap

so here we are, at the end of the week and checking in for the results of 15 minutes a day in march.
granted, 15 minutes a day may sounds much better, and who knows... we might bring it back next month if april doesn't prove to create any quilty results.
so to recap:
the goal was to sew at minimum 15 minutes a day in march.
this plan was put in place before i was scheduled to work from home and then ultimately put on unemployment on march 27.
so the majority of the month was also spent sewing around a daily work schedule.
number of days in march: 31, despite what april ludgate thinks
number of days sewn: 28 (+2 for days that were quilty related, but spent figuring out zoom for meetings)
i'd say that is quite a success rate, wouldn't you?
now, i know you're here for visuals... so i'll show you the FOUR quilt tops completed during this time frame.  okay, maybe not the entire quilt top, just a little sneaky peek and the pattern so you can see what is going to be coming your way in the future when i'm allowed to go out in the world again.
juniper berry - throw sized
i'm stoked with the result of this quilt, and ended up using the metallic grunge in the inner border of this quilt.  i thought i was going to love the glitter grunge more, but the tones in the metallic were just perfect.
katie's quilt - picnic size
this was one of two quilt tops that mid last year i was on a chopping spree and cut out an entire quilt top set so that it was ready to go.
i really REALLY like how this one turned out, and will probably make it again in a larger size regardless of whether i keep it for myself or give it away as a gift (or a donation, like this one will be)
fast lane - throw size
this one was the second quilt top i chopped up last year, and i was certain it was going to be a hot mess.  EVERYTHING was from my stash, and i can tell you exactly what each piece came from.  this will be another donation quilt when this quarantine is over.
village - one size
this is the sew along that i started late on, changed my mind 3 times and then finished early... oh well!
it is made completely from kona cottons leftover from various paper pieced projects and solid white kona i bought from joann's.  i guess it is a little too fitting that during this "stay home" time of life that i made a house quilt.  and i have a whole set of other colors that didn't quite go well with this bunch... so there may be more houses.
i have already decided who this quilt is going to go home to... but i can't say anything because i may just have to finish it and mail it to them if this quarantine goes on any longer!

so...
what's next?
well, i've got a few things underway already that i've ordered some things for and will be waiting for them to arrive.  yep.  week 3 of quarantine means that i've hit the online shopping phase.
just a few things coming my way...
baby boy quilt (sewbrainy parallel paths)
baby girl quilt
festive fir quilt (another sewbrainy pattern - was march's WIP challenge quilt, but fell to the wayside with shops being closed.)
wonky stars quilt (april's WIP challenge)

ok... maybe a few is an understatement.
BUT i got 4 tops done last month with having to work at the same time.  no work means more time to sew, right??