Challenging

Good Sunday morning to you, my friends! The sun is just beginning to appear over the horizon as I'm writing this, and it's looking like a day of clear skies. Yesterday didn't clear until well after noon, and so it wasn't a nice day for walking outside. Maybe today I'll give it another shot.

As always, my yesterday started with slow-stitching. This was a fun combination of stitches on the day's inchy.

If you're wondering about those dark spots on the fabric, it's a "flecked" rustic fabric, and so they're supposed to be there. Kitty floof is optional.

It was still gray and gloomy outside when I finished my slow-stitching, and so I did my day's walking on the treadmill. From there, I was ready to get busy sewing together the "Maps" quilt top. And let me just say, if you're looking for a new love for Valentine's Day, find someone who looks at you like Smitty does.

I had to blur the lower left corner. You guys tried to sneak a peek at my quilt, didn't you? 

While I was sewing the quilt top together, Smitty decided to explore the far-reaches of the sewing room. He was thinking he might read that book behind him, but then it turned out to be all pictures...kid stuff, you know. He'll leave that for Sadie.

So I was disappointed to find the picture of my quilt was blurry when I took it off my camera. It hardly matters because this is all I can show you:

There was a lot of quilter's math involved in the sewing together of this top. At 48 x 48 inches, it ended up a little too large to qualify as an "art quilt," but I'm going with it anyway. It works great for the prompt, and I'm going to have a lot of fun with the quilting. I'm inspired to do something along the lines of the Waste Not What-nots quilt:

It will include some line sketches of certain things to be included in the "art" of my "quilt," and so I gave myself a big canvas to work with.

Today, I'll be piecing together a back from this fabric. 

It was something I pulled from a remnant bin at a Las Vegas quilt shop. I have 2-1/2 yards of it. When I bought it, I said, "No idea what I'll use it for, but it seemed like it could make a good quilt back." It seems prophetic now. It sort of fits the theme, but mostly it has the right colors. For the binding, I'll use one of the many stripes I've picked up along the way. I love a fun binding.

So that won't take all day, and I can work on something else. The next challenge for Project Quilting will be announced today. If I'm inspired right away, I'll get to work on that. If not, I'll go to work on the Bunny Go Round mentioned in a previous post.

Also, a new Tiny House will be released tomorrow, and so I'll have that to work on too. Yesterday I realized I'd signed on for too many "challenges" with time limits, and so my "meat and potatoes" projects are going begging. Oh well. The only person looking over my shoulder about this is me, and I have to remind myself of that every day. Also, the Project Quilting challenges are half done now. There will be three more, and I'll only work on them if I'm inspired by the prompt.

February's OMG is to sandwich the quilt tops on the quilts-to-be-sandwiched pile. There were eight when I announced my goal. The addition of the art quilt will mean nine altogether. Since I'll need to quilt the art quilt before I can call it a finish, it makes sense to do them all at once. Heck, maybe I'll even have a small quilt for Project Quilting to add to the pile. One never knows. In any case, there's plenty on the agenda for the coming week.

Tonight, Mike and I are eating out at one of the nicer Portland restaurants for our Valentine's Day celebration. We like marking the day with an evening out...we just don't like our evening out to fall on the actual day. So, tonight's the night. I'm looking forward to that. Any Valentine's Day plans at your end? Even if you don't have a Valentine, you can be your own Valentine, and I just know you'll treat yourself right. If nothing else, you could take yourself fabric shopping. That could make you fall in love with yourself all over again.