Flowery Skeleton Phone Cover

I got up way too early today - 4am. Jetlag makes me hungry about every two hours, and not just hungry but 'holy shit, I'm starving!'. I've had the overwhelming urge to organise and catalogue and plan and clean since we got back yesterday. Yesterday I mostly felt lost in just how many things require attention, but clever (annoying at the time) Paul pointed out that I should just focus on one bit at a time. So today is laundry, and lists, and small bits of block designing thrown in to keep me happy - along with regular feedings.

I've been thinking about my lack of finishes so far this year, and then I realised that I have finished one very tiny little thing. I made a pocket for my new fancy phone - slightly less fancy since it planted itself face first onto concrete, but the scuffs are small and ignorable, and not on the screen - whew!

Ta-dah!

When we got here, and I set up the machine first, I realised I needed a small project, something quick, and happy. So I broke into a pile of skull fabrics I won from Made with Moxie last year - they're my favourite, and quite precious. Then I decided that playing with my FMQ/darning foot for the first time ever was also in order. I tried something akin to a spiralling fluffy cloud/chrysanthemum (the latter only if you squint, really). It worked, and was fun, though I need quilting gloves if I'm going to try it again.

Why quilt it once - when you can quilt it twice?

I decided the stitches got kind of huge in places, so I then did a diagonal cross-hatch in golden yellow - very Chanel (reaching!?). It's lined with some golden yellow voile from Anna-Maria Horner's Pastry Line from Little Folks. Another very favourite and much-guarded fabric.

This jovial fellow got some rather large stitches.

When I made this, I completely over-estimated the size of fabric I'd need. In the end though, it left me with this awkward off-cut, which is going to become a key-fob, once I track down the right doo-dah to attach to it!

Other side, with the happy lady!

I'm hoping for more finishes soon, but I'm taking a new tack of just doing what takes my fancy for a while - so who knows. I'll keep you all updated as I potter along. First up, however, is organising and building my new sewing space. It's in quite the mess right now!

There's a proto-design wall in the bottom-right corner!

Emerging

I have been beating myself over the head for a few weeks now for not posting more often, for not sewing every day, for not having a finished project or even a started project to share with you. I thought last week would be the week when I would catch up with all my sewing and, of course, last week I was sick, then I got better, then the fire alarm on our 10ft ceiling decided to run out of battery and start to shriek at 130am, every 40 seconds, for the next twelve hours. Somehow Paul got back to sleep. I couldn't. So I decided to do something I've been putting off until I felt more caught up, on track, on top of everything. I started to do the Wardrobe Architect over at Coletterie.

Sleep deprived, grumpy, and with a stonking headache (considering there wasn't any alcohol involved) I realised last Friday that I need to let go, lighten up, and do things as I come to them and not force myself to do them to some crazy internal schedule that a clearly batshit dictator/drill sergeant came up with.

Something I put together on Polyvore, which I don't really understand
but do like quite a lot. I am looking forward to when Spring has sprung.

So I'm taking this week off. This is my week of fun, of whatever, and next week I'll add in little bits of more time-sensitive projects again. But in small doses, and with no invented hard deadlines.

So here's where I am. I finished the top of the Riley Blake Challenge, the night before the deadline. I still haven't finished the quilting. There are a lot of threads to bury (first time burying threads - how fancy!), and after forcing myself to work on only this for too many days in a row, until I started to actively avoid the machine (hello, awful daytime reality television) I have stopped. It is now pinned on a wall, until I mellow towards it again and return happily to bring it to a finish.

I will eventually show my inspiration and explanation behind this!

The one thing I have been doing is doodling, making quilt plans, loving them, hating them, colouring them in, and generally enjoying the possibilities. The other guilty pleasure has been pinterest - no required interaction, and lots of possibility.

On the cutting table this week, are some leftover Amy Butler WOF strips, the remaining x and + blocks waiting to be pieced, skull fabric I won almost a year ago paired with an AMH Pastry voile (bought before I knew what voile was), and a stack of solids to be cut up so I can practice my new-found appreciation for paper piecing with last years forgotten Lucky Stars blocks!

I don't know if it's clear, but my unused, almost 1 year-old,
darning foot is out - this week I shall try my hand at some FMQ!

I have a new needle in my machine, and new blade in my rotary cutter, and a new found enthusiasm for doing what ever the hell I please! If I wasn't six months or so late, I'd be joining Made with Moxie on her Selfish Sewing Week - here's to fresh starts :)