I have a feeling you guys are going to get sick of seeing these squares! Especially since, to the untrained eye, it looks like nothing is happening with them.
While it *is* in fact slow-going… it’s at least going. If you’ll pay special attention to the bag in the upper right corner, you can see it’s well organized while the other bags are in complete disarray. I’ve sewn all those squares into duos and have IRONED THEM. (I never iron anything. Unless I really really really really REALLY have to. And this time I really really really really REALLY had to.)
Which brings me to my point.
I am not at all an expert on fabric. I’m learning a bit at a time, especially as I follow other bloggers. When Mary at The Curious Quilter said there should be no homespuns included in the swap, I literally had to Google it. Now I know what a homespun is (or I at least have a clearer picture), and I went through my swapping fabric and pulled out all the probable homespuns.
But I’d already learned a valuable lesson during my ironing sessions. When I was ironing out my duos, some of my fabrics MELTED. Yes. They just shriveled up into a crunchy mess. So, my assumption is that some of those fabrics were synthetics. I am systematically having to go through my bags of squares and pull out the offenders and test the suspects. I am really excited that I get to personally touch all 3000+ squares at least 20 times each. (Sarcasm.)
So, don’t be an idiot like me. Learn your fabrics. Know what you’re using. And if you’re in doubt, test before you cut, sort, and sew.
So, you fellow swappers out there, I am sorry if you get my fabric!!! I am definitely trying to do this right, and I can assure you that you will not have anything that I *think* is a homespun, and you will not have anything that will melt!
What NOT To Do When You’re Quilting (Or: Destroying The Owl Quilt)
This is the sort of post that I never ever ever want to make. But SOMEONE (me) thought it would be a good idea to sign the Process Pledge, so I guess I have to chronicle this.
I started quilting my sister’s owl quilt. I was super excited to be finalizing the project. I looked into having a pro quilt it for me, but, partially to save money and partially for bragging rights, I decided to just quilt it myself. 
It was going way better than I expected. The top was a little more poofy than I expected, but ok, no problem. 
The stitching wasn’t *great*, but it was waaaaaaay better than my first attempt at free-motion quilting! I’ll just admit… I was pretty proud of myself.
Until I turned my quilt over.
Here’s what I have to “brag” about:
Don’t really see a problem? Let’s look a little closer, shall we?
Oh yeah. That’s a foot-long fold in my backing. And it’s not the only one, there are little folds all over the place, this is just the worst of it. I can fit my finger through the tunnel, so I know I’ve got a good two inches folded over. I’m pretty disappointed.
So, the only option I really have is to take out ALL… THOSE… STITCHES. And do it all over again. This is a problem for a few reasons. 1. That’s a lot of work. 2. I’m going to have HOLES all over my quilt. 3. I don’t want to do it.
But Alex and I are going to watch some TV in bed, and I guess I’ll be curling up with my ruined quilt and my new best friend, Seam Ripper.
Link: Training Pants Pattern
Occasionally, I trip around my WordPress dashboard, noting sporadic spikes in readership. Usually those are from mentions here and there on fellow bloggers’ pages. But, taking a look at my data just now, I discovered that someone has does something WONDERFUL with one of my tutorials.
Amber at Mom Road has created a pattern based on my Training Pants Tutorial! I can’t thank her enough, because I keep promising that I will gain the ability to produce patterns, and I never do.
I plan to print out her pattern and size it for Dex, because *whisper* I never even got around to making a pattern for myself! I just kept my ruined prototype pieces. So there is my confession of the day: I never officially used my own training pants because the knit was too tight and I got discouraged and never modified them! Any wonder why I never put out patterns 
?? Thanks so much, Amber!!
Progress Report: Pink/Blue Owl Quilt
I’m both excited and frustrated… I’m extremely happy because I completed all 12 of my squares!!! But I ran across lots of problems. Namely that I apparently cut my sashing strips too short, boo, and I can’t find my scrap material to add to the strips, extra boo. And by the end, I was having a lot of sewing trouble and I’m going to have to rip some seams. A break was called for.
I am LOVING the way it’s looking with the sashing. I can’t wait til I work out the kinks. I added a little plain chocolate brown to the length , hopefully it won’t be too distracting. I’ll have to do this on every wide strip and at the end of all the border pieces.
It’s really coming together! The tree on the back will be the next challenge 🙂
Dexter, Art Vandal
In the process of moving, we’ve decided to let go of a lot of our possessions. Tonight I was going through my paintings, deciding what I could price to sell, and taking pictures. My 14 month old, Dexter, was being quite rambunctious. Why didn’t I just wait til he was in bed, you may say. Why, indeed.
To distract him, I gave him crayons. I thought to myself, “What a clever mommy I am! This will keep him from grabbing my paintings!”
A specific painting I photographed was one everyone seemed to love. It’s an appropriation of American Gothic I did in college. I call it American Urban.
Not five minutes after taking this picture:
I turn to discover that my dear Dexter is enthusiastically adding his own touch to the painting:
I gasped and exclaimed a long “Nooooooooooooooooo!”, with wide-eyed disbelief.
And then I started laughing. What can you do? Dexter knew I wasn’t happy, he had a concerned look. He probably figured the laughing was a precursor to a complete mental breakdown. So I squatted down to get a better look and he leaned in and kissed me lol.
All is forgiven, but he’s been relocated to the highchair to complete the rest of his studio time. 
Hopefully the crayon will come off my painting. If not, anyone wanna buy and Rebekah-Dexter collaboration??
Pressure!!!
I’m bummed. Every craft I’ve started lately has failed. Well, “failed” is a little harsh. Every craft I’ve started lately has been glitchy. So I have all these unfinished projects: the puppy with a lazy eye, the night mask with the holes in it, the skirt with the wavy seams… When did I get so bad at this??
Part of the problem has been scheduling. I’ve been insanely busy for a few weeks, travelling on weekends. So when I work on a project, I think I’m trying to rush through it so I’ll have the rewarding experience of a completed project.
Another problem is THIS BLOG! I feel like every project now needs to be blog-worthy. And I’m trying to get things done faster so I can post more frequently. For example, I’ve been working on that puppy for ages, and I plan to put up a tutorial. But I wanted to put it up in one post. I should really do multiple posts because it will be long. That would take some of the pressure off. Especially when pressure=sloppiness=screw-ups=no blog posts.
One thing that will also help is getting together a list of all my unfinished and future projects. That way I can see what I’m up against and tackle it one item at a time. I get overwhelmed and I have a hard time staying on track. Maybe this will help!
Lemonwood Clock 