Mojo A Go Go

Just when I thought my mojo was lost forever and I was lamenting the fact I'd finished two whole quilts this year I've managed to knock the ball out of the park and finish two more this month. It's about bloody time I got an injection of creativity that actually led to finishing stuff ! 

I started this quilt on a whim after seeing another version of it when I dropped some backing for another quilt off to my awesome magic quilting fairy recently.  The idea looked so simple and ingenious (and fast to do - I like fast because there's no opportunity to get bored with a project and shove it in a corner ) so I started it the very next day and 15 days later it was done. It was a dream project, as long as you don't count the silliness where I thought I could hand quilt this as a starter project. Pfttttttt...forget that. I'm going to start with hand quilting a pot holder. 

I suffered for my art ...getting my socks wet to take this picture. 

And I came in and informed Mr. P we simply need to move because  there is nowhere picturesque to take a picture in our yard.

Nanci sent me a layer cake of this fabric 18 months or so ago and it's been waiting for the perfect idea to come along.  I love this fabric and cuddling up to this quilt in winter is going to be a reminder that Spring will arrive again (eventually). The heating is well and truly turned on here these days and I even broke out of pair of socks last night. Seriously -winter is just bullshit. 

The mojo was slightly interrupted by a visit from Little P this weekend. Since we hadn't seen him for almost a month we had plenty of catching up to do. I was mistaken for his mother twice which really made me feel awesome because I've been feeling kinda old and frumpy lately. I either look really young or I was acting so immaturely in public that people couldn't believe I was a grandparent. Whatever. Bear with me for a sec while I break out my bragging pictures from the visit. I know every grandparent thinks their grandchildren are the smartest most adorable children ever but Little P really is. Everything is better when he's around. 

I'm linking this post  up to Elizabeth's monthly finish linky party because I keep promising her I will when I finish something and then I totally forget to do it!

P.S. The quilt finishes may slow considerably over the next couple of weeks since I am now pinning trillions of pictures of bags on Pinterest. One of my nephews asked me to make his girlfriend a bag months ago and I'm just now thinking about it. 

P.P.S Just wrote girlfriend as "girlfiend"..and she isn't a fiend at all ...G is adorable. My sister is blessed by having two gorgeous prospective daughter in laws that she gets along so well with. Both her boys picked good!

Distractions

At some point during  a period of intense crafty inspiration you get so many great ideas in your head that your brain simply cant keep them all in there and so you have to try and translate them into reality. Its like a law of the universe or something.  I mention this only because I seem to be working happily on so many projects at the moment - somethings gotta give - but I 'll take it where I can get it. 

I was  inspired to start hand quilting a quilt. I got 12 inches in before I realised three stitches to an inch is pretty crap  and I’ve since  managed to convince myself that only an insane woman starts her first hand quilting project with a full sized quilt.  I’m thinking a mini quilt is a good place to start my hand quilting experience. Naturally I'll have to make the mini first so I've moved on to other things. Goodness knows I have plenty of unfinished projects laying round begging to be finished things.   

I finished quilting the Gelati quilt  (thanks for the name Ms. Nerida ) by machine  this past weekend.  I think I made the right call because I’m really happy with how it’s turning  out. This is going to be a lay around, drag on the floor , drop whatever you happen to be munching on at the time quilt for my house so it doesn't have to be fancy. I'm half way through finishing the binding so I'll show you the whole thing in all it's glory soon. 

Last week I allowed myself to be distracted by Pinterest and all the pretty scarves there. There I was inspired to knit an infinity scarf because I was formerly inspired to make a gingham knitted blanket  that I haven’t got  right yarn for (and that is seriously going to take forever to make ) and I just wanted to knit something. Then I got distracted by the idea of buying a scarf on Ebay instead. My moral conscience kicked in when I realised that 4 dollar scarf I wanted to buy (with free shipping no less ) was  made by someone in China working for 12 cents an hour .  Eventually I went back and cast on my stitches for the infinity scarf and have managed to get this far. Assuming my interest doesn’t wane too much I could conceivably be wearing this before the end of winter.

Tazz and AusRose made faces like this at a recent sewing day when I mentioned I was going to machine appliqué my hexie flowers onto their backing blocks. 

I took those looks to mean "Crap-est idea you've ever had " and so I have succumbed to peer pressure and wiser heads than my own and I’m hand appliquéing them onto the blocks. I've done 12 this past week and I'm not finding it as mind numbingly boring as I thought it would be. In fact -it's quite relaxing.  

"Beep Beep" is finished, washed and crinkled so it looks well loved and is off to Master Jack this week. This kid lives in the tropics so I imagining this will be decorative rather than strictly functional.  

Onwards and upwards...dont want to lose that mojo!