WIP it good!

I don't have anything finished to post as of late.  I'm thinking about taking the "process pledge" that I've seen on so many quilty blogs...it would be a good excuse to post something even if you are not finished with it and won't be for who knows how long.

My little crafty corner is a total zoo!  Luckily, Teen Wonder installed Photoshop Elements on our computer, so I can wrap it in plastic and make it look more artsy and crafty, and less just plain messy.

But also I wanted to link up to a blog I follow called Confessions of a Fabric Addict that does a Friday linky party called Can I get a Whoop Whoop?  Which sounds like just the right amount of silly for a Friday. Of course, I don't get around to posting until late into the evening, if at all. ever. So I should almost wait until next week. But that's what I said last week. So here's what I've been working on...

Both of these projects are or were intended for the Fat Quarterly Reader Competition, which is a crazy idea for me to begin with because it comes with a deadline that is fast approaching...

First up, the "small item" category - an insane patchwork project involving hundreds of little 1 inch squares of fabric, and something called "Quilter's Grid" with is a fusible interfacing with a little grid on it 1in by 1in. So you cut a million squares like these: 

Then you lay them out on the grid and press them down.  This layout step alone took me something like 3 evenings to complete. Remember my friends that I only have the after 9pm time slot to work with most of the time. (what a friggin' nut)

Now I need to seam along each of the lines of the grid (80 seams. or maybe 70 if I was clever and did some math. I can't remember at the moment). Each seem has to be trimmed and then pressed. I bought a little craft iron just for this project... (nut!)

Oh yeah, then there's still the actual piecing and construction of the pillow this is meant to become. 

Okay, moving along. 

Here is the second project, which was the first one in the beginning, but then I ran out of bobbin thread one night and instead of picking up and finishing the quilt top I started the other project instead.  This is in the "quilt" category of the contest. I took forever modifying the color scheme and this also required a lot of cutting (I think I showed stacks of pieces in some previous post).  

Here's some of it partially put together draped over my serger (which you can't even see anymore):

And here's the rest of the strips waiting patiently on the back of my chair. Notice at the end there, where I ran out of bobbin thread on, I am not joking, the very last of the flying geese to pieced into strips:

So there you have it. I could finish the top this weekend I think, but since it's a pretty good size quilt (cuz why would I be smart and go for the crib size?) I'm certain I won't have time to quilt it before the contest deadline. I have a business trip coming up and won't even be home next weekend. Maybe I can get it professionally quilted in time...hmmm.  But the pillow too?  

I think I'm going to give up on the contest idea and spare myself the anxiety of an impossible deadline.  My chances of winning one of the runner-up prizes (which is what I wanted because it's like bushels of fabric or something rather than a fancy quilting software I wouldn't have time to use or a bundle of craft porn books that I probably already bought myself because I am a craft porn book addict) where extremely slim anyway.

But! check out the linky party while you're surfing - 

There aren't too many this week, but they are fun to check out - and last week there were dozens of the most beautiful blog post links you'd ever care to see!

Have a great weekend!!