Scattershot Progress

My current progress doesn’t look like a lot, but it is a small amount on a bunch of different projects. Since I was sick, and my mental health needed adjusting, I wound up letting a couple of things around the house go a little bit longer than I would like. I spent some time clearing those up and getting back on track where I wanted to be. Fortunately, I’ve still had time for crafting in between all of those other things, so while there isn’t any progress on the projects I showed you last week there is progress on a couple of other projects that I had been working on earlier.

I had glued down all of the pieces for a Tula Pink Nova English Paper Piece quilt. Over this past week I’ve almost managed to complete one of the sections.

I had also picked up two kits for cheap and decided to work on those. One is painted rocks, I want them to be glow in the dark so I tried a base coat of glow in the dark.

I do not like how they have turned out so far, however I’m going to try a few more coats over the next week. I also picked up a super cheap birdhouse kit that I’m going to turn it into a fairy house instead. I like how the paint is going so far, but I’m going to try a few more coats.

That has been most of my progress this week. I’m still working on hiding threads for the whole cloth quilts I made for a colleague pregnant with twins. Until next time I hope that everyone lives their life A Little More Abstract!

Medication and Progress

The crafting content will begin after *******.

Between fighting for medication’s and various appointments, I was not able to post last week. In the past two weeks I’ve come to understand that my antidepressants are really more of an anti-anxiety medication for me, and that it has greatly decreased the level of anxiety that I didn’t realize I was feeling. My psychiatrist and therapist have also come to the conclusion that I have a mild form of ADHD focused around organization. Due to this, I have spent this weekend testing an extremely low dose of an ADHD medication to see if it’s something I would like to take. I am going to take it tomorrow for work to see if it assists with my ability to focus on mundane tasks at work. Right now I believe that it has helped me to focus, as I pointed out at a weavers guild meeting yesterday: Usually I would think of some thing and five minutes later I would know that I thought of some thing, but then I would have to spend 20 minutes or more, sometimes hours, trying to remember what I thought of. With this medication, I can keep the thought in my mind even while thinking of other things.

I did finally pick up two diabetes medication’s. However, my doctor decided to put me on extremely low doses to see if she can adjust the medication from there. This does mean that my blood sugar is still quite high and as you can probably guess, I’m not happy. I do have an appointment with her in the near future, hopefully she can just put me back two doses near where I was previously right now it looks as though she went from my 300 mg of two different medication‘s to 15 mg of each of my medication‘s.

I did receive a diagnosis from the MRI on my wrist. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was that two of the bones in my wrist have been ground to dust. That was the actual phrase that the doctor used ‘ground to dust’. While I am a candidate for a surgery that would remove the bones in my wrist and have essentially my hand sit in my wrist joint, I am not going for that at this time. 90% of the time this does not pain me, so I do not see any point in having surgery until the pain gets to a point that I can’t stand it.

As you can see, the past two weeks have been pretty much focused on my physical and mental health. They are both getting better however, it hasn’t given me a lot of time for other pursuits. This weekend was the turning point for that, and while part of it was that I did have an extra day off I do believe a good deal of it can be credited to the new medication for ADHD. Onto the crafting content.

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I have finished my first plaid plain weave bookmark, and I am currently working on a twill bookmark. I discovered that my folding plastic table will not only fit my loom, but it’s very good height for me to work from my usual chair. This has made weaving on that four shaft loom, much more accessible. Right now while on the loom I don’t see much of the plaid showing up in my twill. This is a 2-2 twill, next I am going to switch to a 3-1 twill and hope that the plaid shows up better in that version. This is not the only project that I’ve been working on, though the next one falls more under organization than crafting, the crafting will show up soon.

I have started getting ready for the planting season, though in my portion of western New York, I will not be planting anything outside until late May. That doesn’t mean that I would need to start my indoor plants that need about eight weeks to germinate the first week in April, which is coming faster than I like to think about. To that end, I am starting to get a germination station set up, as well as ensuring that the grow lights that I have will be able to reach the plants. I have managed to get some sorting and organizing done to make room by where the grow lights are, and I am very happy with how things look so far.

I’ve also started doing a little bit of spinning again, though not enough to show a photo of my progress . Of course, this is not all the crafting that I’ve been doing, I have also taken some scraps that I had, and used my Accucut to turn them into 2 1/2 inch squares. I use the green and white and hope to make shamrocks sometime in the near future.

I know, for two weeks work this isn’t a ton but I have had a lot of other stuff going on. I did manage to get the test in for the company, I hope to work with them some more in the future and hopefully let you know what I have accomplished sometime soon. That’s about the end of this update, so until next time, remember to live life A Little More Abstract.

No Shortcuts, Darn It

I created a label for my Halloween quilt to hide a mistake I made in the binding. I love how it turned out. The fold over binding did not work for me on the fidget quilt since I accidentally snipped into it when cutting off the extra batting. I spent about an hour this morning hiding and snipping threads, then threw them in the wash since I photographed them on the floor.

I am also considering how to finish off the stitching project, the dark grey background would cause the cream to pop. If I decide to add that in then I’ll use stitching to go across both pieces.

That’s it for current projects. I’m going to see the hand surgeon tomorrow to see what’s up with my broken wrist. I’m hoping that I can do more crafting after that, but only time will tell. Until next time, remember to live life a little more abstract.

One Week In

Okay, so I am one week into 2023 and my resolution has (mostly) held. This year I am going to be teaching 3-4 classes outside of my normal work. One of those is going to be a needle tatting class. I decided to purchase supplies for 10 people to be able to take the class, I wanted to make the purchase before prices to up. It will be about $10 per person to take the class and this just covers the supplies. Given that I hope to be given a speaker’s fee which I can then put toward some future classes I would like to take. Other than those supplies and a case to put them it I have bought the supplies I need to finish my holiday plans and some fabric I was missing for a couple of cousin quilts, as well as the batting for a donation quilt.

Every day I have managed to do something to make progress on my various crafting plans. The 16 shaft loom has the warp through the front beater bar, it is just waiting for me to thread it through the heddles next. I have spun a couple more puffs from my Unicorns in the Library fiber ( split it into hand length puffs to give me smaller achievable goals). I have half of the fabric I purchased torn into the right size for my embroidery project (for the family), and I stitched up 4 pieces this morning with another 2 designed and ready for me to hit the button when I get home. I have also signed up for three different ‘summits’ that will happen this week. One is Stitch Camp scheduled to begin next week, then the Knitting Summit the week of the 23rd, and finally selling your crafts for a profit the 26th- 28th of January. I am not sure how much I am going to get out of these classes, however since they are free I am going to give them a good shot.

The last thing I have been doing recently is going through my Amazon e-magazines, and taking screenshots of the projects and instructions that I want to keep for now. That way if I decide I want to get rid of Kindle Unlimited I will not lose access to those projects. Okay, that is all for this week (I will try to add photos later if I remember).

Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

New Start to the Year

Over the past four days I have taken the time to sew together 2 charm packs, one white one colored. The next day I ironed them flat. Yesterday I sewed them into 4 patches and began the square them into 8.5″ blocks. Today I planned the layout and sewed them into a completed top taking care to match the points as best as I could. I love the result. Nothing too complex, only about a throw size, but completed in less than a week. This is the motivation that I hope to take into the new year.

This is not the only project that I have been working on, as I find it very difficult to stick to just one project. I am still working on threading my 16 shaft table loom for the towels I warped up earlier this autumn. I have brought out my sock that I am working on loom knitting, I have finished three rounds in two days. There are always work projects, however I find myself very interested quilt tops right now, the actual quilting might take a backseat for a while.

I await the fabric to finish my holiday crafting, hopefully it will be here this week and I can make some progress this weekend. My wrist, I don’t know what to think about my wrist so I am making a conscious effort not to think about it. I wrap it when it gets a bit sore, I use heat when the wrapping is downstairs and I am upstairs. Other than that I will wait until my appointment with the hand surgeon and get their professional opinion.

New Year’s Resolutions. I am not making any. There are things that I will work on, creating and sticking with a budget, eating somewhat healthier within that budget, and the like. For crafting, I hope to finish more projects than I purchase supplies for this upcoming year. Other than that, I hope to live life to its fullest in a way that is A Little More Abstract!

Happy 2023!

Accidental Hiatus

The Crafting content of this post will start after the ****. It turns out when something is not easy I do not do it. Adding to my WordPress blog is not easy when the computer is upstairs and when I am upstairs getting on the computer is not on my list of things to do. Usually I am trying to quilt or go to bed, so blogging doesn’t enter into it. Due to this I have purchased a laptop that I can have downstairs with me so that I can blog when I think about it, or when I am working on a project. That is not the only new technology to me since we last spoke, I have also purchased a Nintendo Switch to try and play an exercise game, however I found that the only game I liked on my PC is available on the switch so I have been playing Stardew Valley a little bit.

Health update; Watching some TikTok videos had me thinking that I was neuro-divergent. I went to a therapist for the first time in my life, she prescribed an antidepressant. I have been on a quarter dose for a week, tonight I am taking the first pill for half of the manufacturers recommended dose. My Doctor will have me stay on that dose until I see her next. My mind feels clearer, I still have motivation difficulties, however I am working on that. I am presently working on my mental health and adjusting my diet without worrying about, effectively, going on a starvation diet. I have been about this size for 30+ years and while I am physically capable of losing the weight I cannot keep it off as a starvation diet is not a realistic solution. I am still working on what this means for me, it may mean a treadmill in the next year, however I will keep you up to date as I learn more.

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I made two quilts for my Cousin’s Daughter’s and a baby blanket for her sister (also my cousin) who is pregnant with her first child. I do have other family quilts on the go but none are at a point where I feel I can photograph them.

I did sew my first ever piece of clothing, the Anna Dress that I took a class for through Stitches At Home. The dress turned out amazingly well, I do have plans to make the upper part of the sleeves a little wider and add some length to the bottom of the skirt. While the pattern is simple I have not gotten around to cutting out the second, since the cutting takes a lot of room and my floor is the only space big enough for that.

Tour de Fleece did not happen with any regularity, though did get some spinning done that I enjoyed. At present I am interested in stones and crystals for decorative purposes. Stone skulls, towers, spheres, trees, etc. I am having a blast adding my own touches to my home, decorating with what I enjoy.

That is about it for my catch up, some time this upcoming month I should have my new windows installed in plenty of time for the winter, to help keep the heat in and allow me to get some fresh air into the house.

Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract.

Little Bits of Everything

This month has been different since I stopped working my side hustle. I haven’t updated since my last day there, as the photos will tell it has been a busy month. The first photo above is an embroidery done on my new Baby Lock Flare (mine was half-off due to a sale). I am really enjoying the machine and believe it will greatly help my quilting.

The photo above is of my new balcony, the door that led out to an empty rooftop had railing put around the roof to create a balcony. I’m going to use this to put 4 flowerpots for my dye garden.

I finally finished the tapestry I started last July on my Saffron pocket loom. I love how it looks!

Finally the lovely people helping out with my home have taken out some cupboards to create a space for my washer and dryer. Fortunately the washer and dryer have not been delivered yet, the truck broke down. This is fortunate since there were some problems with the wiring in my wall.

Okay, thats going to be about it for this update. I’m planning several quilts in the near future and have bought the supplies for these projects.

Remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract.

2 AM Brain

Starting off, I hope that everyone had a Happy Easter, Happy Passover, or a lovely weekend. I took a 3 day weekend and went through all the stages. I signed my taxes and went out to eat one day. Bleached my kitchen cupboards the second day. Went shopping for spring clothes and got caught in a snowstorm yesterday. This morning at 2am my brain decided that I had forgotten a notice about jury duty, that I could not find so I emailed the county I moved from to check I don’t have a warrant out for skipping jury duty. (The house closed though it took an entire week for the money to get to me).

What do you do when you wake up at 2am and your brain will it let you sleep? Well you hide threads on your sewing projects so that you’re ready for the next stages. I started making a lunch box and needed to hide the threads before I can put the zipper in, so I hid threads until my hand cramped.

I hope to get more done this week, until then remember to live life a little more abstract!

Walk-Throughs and Speed Bumps

**** Will denote the crafty updates, house content until then. Today the person buying the house I grew up in will be doing their final walk through. The sale should be finalized tomorrow, with the disbursements happening from there. I hope that this means I can finally get myself settled on a budget that I can stick to. Of course, it is Holy Week (if you’re Catholic…which I am but lapsed), so things are going to be a little strange anyway. Even though it is a religious holiday the secular world seems to come to a bit of a slow down anyway. I did look into the roof grant, only to be told that they were working on finalizing the application and they would have the forms ready in about 90 days…well I’ve needed something done since October so waiting until June/July to fill out an application that could cover 3/4 the cost of it…doesn’t seem like a bad idea at this point in time. When I get someone in to look at the bathroom I imagine I can ask them about the roof as well.

I did start back onto Nutrisystem, only for my monthly concerns to rear their head setting my plans back for a few days. After tomorrow I should be able to go back to my original plan. I am debating if I want to spend my 3 day weekend next week hiding or if I want to go to the buffet next Sunday since I believe they will have lamb, I Love lamb, and don’t want to buy/cook/clean up after cooking lamb this week. Either way I hope to spend at least part of next weekend planting my seedlings in the pots I will use to put them outside in. Yay! I was going to pot the plants this weekend but did not, and I don’t feel bad about that. I need to rest for a couple of days, maybe finish some projects so I’m ready to start some new ones when I am back on an upswing. I have not been to the gym this week, Friday the weather was miserable and I was starting to feel poorly, then Saturday I started to figure out why I was feeling poorly, then today I had work and there was snow on the car so…no. I know it is weird, however I do not plan on going to the gym on days where there is snow, at least not when I am on a tighter schedule. If the weather is warmer and the gym is open at least 3 hours before I have to be at work that will work, 2 hours for the gym (getting there, working out, getting back) and 1 hour to clean up for work, then I will go to the gym. If not, then my iron and cutting board are upstairs, my sewing machine is downstairs, If I feel really good I’ll go up and down my stairs for 10 minutes at a time, that got me sweating the last time I tried that.

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I took Friday and Saturday off, though I am working my other job today. I had made a ‘play date’ with a friend and former colleague to try out a solar dyeing technique, unfortunately the weather did not hold out, however we had a fun time anyway. She had some fabric she did not want to keep and offered it to me, one was a set of 5″ squares pre-sewn together into 4 patches. She told me that it might be good for a disappearing 4 patch, however I know I cannot machine sew the corners properly, no matter how much I try, so I believe I am going to edge the squares using a solid color and either make it into a baby quilt that I can practice my hand quilting on or as a pillow or something similar. She was also kind enough to gift me with a mat for my sewing machine to sit on with pockets in the front and her husband gifted me with a carved bunny that I will treasure. She has this upcoming week off and would like to show me to a quilt shop less than an hour away and I suggested next Saturday since I know I have that day off, not thinking that it was the day before Easter. Oops, I hope it happens but I understand if it does not.

This means that Saturday was a ton of fun, however I tend to drive myself mad sometimes. In preparation for Saturday (and to just get it done) I worked on getting my third quilt attempt finished. I like how it turned out, learned a lot of lessons, and think I am going to give hand quilting a try next.

Wrestling a quilt that fits the top of a queen sized bed through a domestic sewing machine that sits on one of those small square tables you can get from certain craft stores is NOT how I recommend quilting. It did the job, I have a quilted quilt with the binding sewn on the edges. I did a ‘wavy lines’ quilting pattern, which means I tried to do wavy lines and I’m just going with, “Sure, I wanted it to look like that” as my answer when I am questioned about the weird peaks, dips, and straight edges in my wavy lines. The quilting is about 5″ apart, the batting says that the quilting can be up to 8″ apart so I should be alright there. The binding is just the backing folded over like you would do for pot holders.

Yesterday, Saturday, was a Weaver’s guild meeting half-way between where I used to live and where I live now. I love the guild, and it was ironic that the meeting was held at their public library (where I had interviewed for a job 2 years ago). The meeting was lovely, I had a chance to pull out my spinning wheel and show some individuals how to spin. I also reminded myself how much I enjoy the quiet of spinning. I am presently thinking that I will spin on my front porch while watching the world go by. Of course in order to do this I need to get 2 things accomplished. I need to get the porch level again, it looks as though one board likes to swell in the rain which causes it to buckle the porch, and purchase a chair for my front porch. I have been looking online thinking that I would order one, however if I plan on using it for a spinning chair I really should get a good idea of how it feels before actually spinning in it for any extended length of time. I am hoping that this is a once every 30 years purchase. While in town I discovered that they have a quilt shop which I was thrilled to find out…until I looked at their selection. I know that I have particular tastes, and that I do not want to purchase fabric until I KNOW I like it and will use it. This means that I bought a small, simple, pattern and a bag of essentially colorful scraps and asked the owner to keep the change since that was the only way I could spend five dollars in the shop. I feel bad, but I am not buying fabric I cannot see a good use for. I do have plans to use the pattern as a sort of border for one of the panels I hope to create a quilt from next. I also have 3 jelly rolls, not to mention most of a black jelly roll, to still use. Well, I did not know until I was typing that up that I had really decided on the quilt panel next, however that makes sense. I am still working on my EPP Project.

I have started to figure out how I want to place the glued pieces for my first EPP quilt, I have 10 out of 25 pairs sewn for the second part and these bundles put together for the first part that I hope to start sewing soon. I am trying to get some long languishing projects worked on so that I feel a little more freedom to work on this huge project. I am about a dozen rows away from finishing the pillow that started with a new colorwork class that had me knitting what were almost quilt block pieces. I love how this looks and cannot wait to see it finished. I am a little apprehensive about how I am going to finish it since at present I am planning on knitting some extra rows of the back to create a flap that tucks inside the pillow. I thought about just seaming the pillow blank inside however if I ever need to wash it that would cause too many problems.

Next I hope to start getting projects ready for progress. I need to find a charm pack that will go with the panel I hope to work on so I can get that border started. My 16 shaft loom needs to be warped with the towel warp I wound so I can start weaving that up. I need to straighten out my Saori Loom’s warp so I can get back to using up some of that yarn. There is the possibility that we will be playing with weaving looms next month at the guild meeting so I should have my looms ready to be warped and played with, not to mention possibly finding the alpaca tweed yarn I bought to weave a blanket from. Possibly that got lost during the moth-ening though I hope not. Oh, on a not so fun note, I just realized with spring possibly on the way I should consider putting together the push mower I purchased so that when my lawn dries enough I can mow. yay.

I am honestly excited by all of the changes coming, to myself, my house, and my crafting. I have been finding by leaning into what I am feeling and what my body is trying to tell me I can get more done. Some of this is certainly down to having 1 full-time job, no person needing me to take care of them, as well as having the second house off of my shoulders. However I do believe by resting when I need to, finishing things when I have the urge, and starting (some) things when I also have the urge I am completing more than I ever have in the past. Normally I would have become overwhelmed by the quilt and stopped, instead I leaned into wanting to finish it, took it step by step and leaned into binding when I felt like it instead of waffling.

That is me for the week, it has been busy. I’m going to take the next couple of days to lean into recharging and see where the world takes me from there. I am uncertain if I will post next week, it will depend on how much I get done and how I am feeling. Until next time, Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

434 Out of 471 Glued Down

Catch up about life and the house(s) before crafting. Crafting content starts at ****. According to our real estate agent the closing date for the sale of the house should be within the next 2 weeks. This is a little sooner than anticipated, however that will likely work out in our favor in the end. When we get the final closing date I will call the oil company so that we can be reimbursed by the new owner for the oil left in the tank (they will essentially buy the oil off of us) and we can notify the insurance company as well as the electric company. Yay. I’m feeling relieved about this, not as sad as I expected (it really was too much house for me and mom had gotten into some minor hoarding tenancies which made it more difficult to keep up with than it already was.) My supervisor, that was supposed to pick up the loom, is on medical leave….I don’t have any details and feel that if she wanted me to know she would have told me so I’m not asking for any details….so her Father picked up the loom yesterday. He also worked for the city works administration where I now live and had plenty of advice about my getting a new roof and fixing up my bathroom. About the roof, apparently where I live doesn’t qualify for financial help getting a solar paneled roof, however they do offer financial help in installing a new roof. So I will look into that on Monday and make inquiries. He also advised that since the floor is going to have to be semi-leveled to fix the problem with the toilet I should think about just getting the bathroom completely redone. He pointed out that if the toilet had been leaking then it might have caused structural damage anyway, and if I’m going to possibly pull everything out I might as well budget for it and get it done the way I want it to be in the first place. It’s a little strange, however I think it also makes complete sense.

For some reason the shower in that bathroom doesn’t have any doors or rod for a shower curtain, I’ve been making due with a tension rod but that sort of sucks as well. When I try to hang up some things to dry, if it is more than some hand towels or underthings the weight tends to bring the rod down…which is not fun in the middle of the night. Getting the bathroom done the way it needs to be and the roof on the house should be enough for this year. I would like to get a heating/air conditioning unit installed since I don’t do well in the heat, however that will likely have to wait for another year. Part of why I have never done too well in the heat is simply being overweight. Since stopping nutrisystem I have been finding myself falling back on old bad habits. To counteract this I have decided to resume Nutrisystem, and to stop delaying any further I reinstated myself today. This combined with going to the gym, yes I only managed once last week however that was more than I had been doing before and I have plans for this upcoming week, should lead to results I enjoy. I will not be purchasing a scale, instead I will be looking into how my clothing fits at a given time.

Of course, if these two fixes to the house do not cost a huge amount I can look into other fixes for this upcoming year. If they do, then I will choose one fix each year until the place is the way it needs to be. Alright, I’m back. Thinking about a new bathroom promptly sent me on a spiral to look at Victorian Bathroom Fixtures and two hours later I have emerged from that rabbit hole with several ideas. I will have to work with the individuals doing the renovations to ensure that I do not have too many conflicting points of interest, especially since I would like to minimize the white in the room. Enough of this for now, decisions will be made when the time comes, and I have a chance to speak with a couple of contractors my friends and colleagues have recommended.

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As in the title I have 434 out of 471 pieces of Tula Pink’s Tula Nova English Paper Piecing quilt glue basted. I did start sewing together the second set of pieces where the initial step is to attach two pentagons together along one side. The first step is to actually attach 5 triangles around a pentagon then attach diamonds in between each of the triangles to completely encase the pentagon. I have not taken the first step since I am still gluing down diamonds and have not made a design choice about these pentagons yet. As I will be making 11 of these they are the focal points of the quilt and need quite a bit of attention, I believe. After that I make some stars which will be modified to create the next portion of the quilt. I’m thinking of laying several pieces down to try and form a semi-cohesive view of the finished product before I do any intense stitching.

Oh, you didn’t think I was only doing one project did you? As stated before I tend to go in fits and spurts as well as leaning into my need to have more than one project on the go at a time. I have made progress on the sampler quilt top I am playing with, when laying it on the bed it goes across the bed rather well despite being only about 60″ wide however the length leaves a lot to be desired. I have another strip ready to add on to the initial portion so that I can decide where to go from there. I thought about adding more onto this smaller strip and then adding that onto the larger quilt, however upon reflection (which is why I didn’t add it on right away) I believe I would be better off seeing how this strip adds to the pattern before making any drastic design decisions. While I do have some blocks that I could add on, and at looking at what I have now I think it might be neat to add on some 10″ squares outlined and baste in my EPP flowers as centerpieces…hmmm. What if I add strips of 10″ squares to the length of the top and bottom of the quilt, balancing them out. This might complete the project if the strip I am going to add on tonight or tomorrow means that I only need about 20 more inches added onto the length of the quilt. I don’t think that is going to be the case, so I might be cutting some more strips to add onto the top and bottom to flesh things out so to speak. Adding in EPP Motifs as I play around with them on top of the 10″ square border pieces would certainly add visual interest. It might take me a little longer….unless I give my current project a sewing pause as I make some more EPP flowers…it would give me a chance to play with some of the ideas I have going on regarding patterning in my second Tula Nova Quilt…

Oh, I did mention that I was making a second Tula Nova Quilt despite each quilt being positively huge right? I’m sure I did. Anyway, the Wolfsbane print from Spoonflower arrived as well as a yard of rainbow stripe fabric I ordered from amazon. I have cut the pieces that will act as the star centers out of the wolfsbane fabric so that each wolf is howling, it took some time to fussy cut each one out, however I LOVE the effect. I was thinking about fussy cutting some diamonds out of the same fabric, however I do not want to risk overusing one print in a potentially dynamic quilt. To that end I am going to do some experimenting with how the wolfsbane fabric looks as hexi flowers since I have about a 1/2 yard left, and I will play around with the stripes as well.

Once I have the new quilt top finished I intend to use the cotton batting as well as one of the 108″ backing fabrics to create my quilt sandwich. Then I plan on doing some form of free-motion quilting, trim the batting down and folding the edges of the backing to act as my binding. It is a little unconventional, however I haven’t followed a pattern for this quilt yet, why start now?

So, selling houses, potential bathroom renovations, new roofs, English paper piecing, diets, exercise, quilt tops, did I forget anything? Actually I did! My cousin’s daughters are very into Fairies right now, and I am into playing with resin. As with any of my projects I wanted to ensure that I was making something that would get some use, so I decided to figure out which colors the little girls would like. One likes rainbows and the other purple (girl after my own heart). So I made up two resin fairy pieces, and it took several weeks since I attempted to mix two different brands of resin to create the second (I was out of one type and added in a second). It turns out that doesn’t work…at all. No matter how much you try to cure it stays tacky. There is a vague possibility this was due to the humidity over a 3 day period that I tried to get the dang thing to cure…but I have Natural Gas heating and I believe the house gets quite dry. I finally got these pieces in the mail yesterday, YAY! I also told my supervisor to purchase Roxy Epoxy if she wants me to do this craft with the teens, so I had a bottle of that waiting for me. I have found that the three brands I tried, one from Michaels and 2 from Amazon, worked just fine if they were cured on their own and not too much coloring was added in. When I did try Mica Powder (which I will not be using with the teens) the result wanted to take a very long time to cure, which I did not find out until I stuck my finger in it.

It is my fondest hope that the girls like their little fairy friends.

Until next time Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!