Some decisions.

I went with quilting last week.  I think I made the right choice (especially since it started to rain as soon as I made it!).  I am now done piecing my Shattered Dishes quilt:

I had to resort to the machine for the last bit of it, since my wrists were too sore to do anything by hand!

My next choice is how to do the border.  I think it needs some sort of border, because otherwise it's a pretty busy quilt.  I think I want to maintain something a bit 3D, especially since I am totally out of the neutral fabric!  In that case, should the border come "outward" (or at least it looks like that to me...):

Which leaves plenty of other options (inward, outward, blue or orange, etc.)

The next choice will be how to quilt it.  I have been trying to decide whether to quilt based on the original block (as I imagined it):

And then, of course, do something more fun in each of the blocks...

However, I think it could be fun to go "on point" and break the quilt up into 2 different blocks:

This could allow for some fun in terms of treating the blocks differently - ie. something really tight in the "cross" blocks, and something much looser in the broken dishes blocks:

 

Any thoughts?

Second Trimester Rocks!

I have now gone through the magical transition from first to second trimester.  Sweet, sweet bliss - I can think again!  I can eat again! (in fact, I am now constantly hungry!)  And, best of all, I can sew again!

For my friends who want to keep track of my measurements:

waist: 30"

hips: 40"

(both down 3% from my pre-pregnancy size - definitely no evidence of a bump yet!)

As for weight, it is hard to tell because I was switching scales and unit systems while I travelled, but at the lowest I lost 14 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight.  I am now at -12 lbs (I have never been so proud of gaining 2 lbs in my life!)  The whole experience has made me realize that despite all the pressure for women to be thin, that extra fat is there for a very, very important reason - you may need to go 6 weeks without being able to eat some day!

More importantly, sewing!

While travelling, I managed to visit a couple of quilting stores in various cities.  I am pretty embarrassed to say I can remember which stores in which cities (it is all such a blur...)  But I did manage to pick up some exciting new supplies:

- glow-in-the-dark thread.  I think this will be so much fun!

- a "Clearly Perfect Angles" mat for my sewing machine.  I haven't tested it yet, but I think it will be useful.

- some "Soak" to try cleaning some of my blankets and quilts that are too large for my laundry machine.  The website says it is for wools, but at the Birmingham Quilt Show they had a stand where they were recommending it for quilts.  I may not test it until spring when the weather is nice enough to dry everything outside, though.

- some new marking tools and threads.
- Machine Quilting by Sue Nickels, as recommended by Sylvia.  I have tried a bunch of the patterns from it in my quilt-as-you-go project.

- Design Essentials by Lorraine Torrence.  A really good book - it has me re-thinking some of my designs.  I probably need to re-read it, though, since I read it on one of the days when the nausea and vomiting was at its worst...

Wow.  I hope Kevin doesn't notice quite how much I bought, especially considering I wasn't even quilting at the time.  At least I have promised that I will make him a baby sling.  And maybe some cute towels with bunny ears.

As for actual sewing, I have made some progress on the spheres quilt (remember the one that I was preparing specifically for all this travel?  Ha!  I have made it about 3% of the way!).  I almost have Shattered Dishes totally pieced, but I am out of shape - if I hand sew for 2 hours or so, my wrist gets sore!  I used to be able to hand sew for 8-9 hours straight! 

I have quilted another 6 panels for my quilt-as-you-go project (the real story is that I am going to make Khilen, Kevin's new nephew, and our baby semi-matching quilts).  Again, I could not work on that one to save my life while in my first trimester....

You may be noticing a lack of pictures.  In my travels, I seem to have lost our card reader.  I am sure we will track it down...

And now, the real dilemma - I have not cleaned or gardened in 2 months.  A responsible person would get out the bleach and Comet.  However, I have so much sewing I want to do!

Kirsten

I'm back... ?

Ok, so it's been a while.  I have plenty of excuses lined up:

A ton more travel.  About 12,000 miles:

Cambridge - Heathrow - Chicago (I think - it's getting blurry...) - Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh - Charlotte - Cincinnati

Cincinnati - Chicago - Edmonton (yay! vacation time!)

Edmonton - Kootenay Bay (yay! at the cabin where I didn't even have internet access!)

Kootenay Bay - Edmonton (a couple more days with family)

Edmonton - Heathrow - Cambridge

and I finally got home last Thursday.

The other excuse is - I'm pregnant.  I've been too tired to think.  I've been too nauseous to eat.  I've been barely able to function as it is - something as complicated as surfing the web has been impossible!

At least I presume I'm pregnant.  I should be in week 12.  However, the NHS has lost my paperwork, so they won't do a scan.  I am unimpressed.

So.  There it is.  Maybe I'll get my energy back at some point and be able to get back to sewing / posting (or at least cleaning, which I haven't really done in the last 2 months...)

A Rant

I have been too shattered from the travel to do anything like quilting (or exercising, or reading, or doing anything other than working and sleeping) so I have no real progress to report on that front.

I have come to a decision from this last trip: I am going to make it a goal in my life to never go to Houston again.  I don't make such decisions lightly, but I think this one is required.

My reasons:

- missing the quilt show.  I know that this is technically my fault, but I have decided to blame Houston instead.

- I tried to go running at 4:30 in the morning (I was still on British time).  It was 80ºF / 24ºC that early.  The dew point was 79.5ºF.  ick.

- One of the lunches served at the company that I was visiting was Southern Fried Steak (ie. breaded & deep-fried steak-like product).  The vegetable sides were pasta and rice.

- The course I was teaching didn't go as well as I had hoped.

- My flight out was delayed due to a problem with the plane.  This meant that I missed my connection, and they lost my luggage.  I got to the hotel in Cleveland around midnight, and I had to go to my meeting the next day in my clothes from the day before, without my notes.  I blame Houston.

- My co-worker got stuck in Hurricane Gustav last year.

- Some of the biggest news while I was there was about Barbie's cankles.  I know this was a US-wide problem, but really now...

I always thought that I would like Houston.  After all, I grew up in Calgary, and at least one kid in my class every year would get transferred there (or at least their parents would be).  Most of those kids (that I have tracked down on Facebook) stayed, so there must be some advantages!

I'm sorry to anyone from Houston, or anyone who likes Houston. 

Kirsten

Another 11,150 miles

Cambridge - Belfast - Cambridge (28 hours back home), then Houston - Cleveland - Cambridge. 

I got home yesterday, and have been catching up on sleep ever since.  Maybe I'll have something more interesting to say once I have caught up a bit.  That is, if I have caught up before I take off for the States again next week...

Travel...

Back from Belfast last night.

Off to Houston tomorrow morning.

So tired I want to cry.

week 1 of insane travel schedule done.

K

And the travel begins...

Tomorrow evening I'm off for Belfast, and then Saturday I'm flying out to Houston.  Hopefully I'll get some piecing done, but probably not much blogging...

The status of Shattered Dishes:

Two more blocks to piece, and then putting the whole thing together.  I'm really happy with how it is coming out!

Only 2 more blocks on my FQM project (had to get courses ready this weekend rather than quilting, like I really wanted to...)

And my sad, sad news...  You may have noticed that I am going to Houston next week.  You may have also noticed that the International Quilt Festival is in Houston next week.  It is not a coincidence, but it is a poorly planned one...  I did convince our customers that they should do their training that week with the plan to stay on a couple of days afterwards to peruse the show.  I was very, very excited about it. 

But I didn't look closely at the dates.  I had seen some dates around the 10th and 11th, as well as some around the 15th and 16th.  I thought that a show that big would be a week or two long.  I was asked to visit some clients in Cleveland on the 15th and 16th, and I thought it would be fine.

And then I looked up the details...  The 10-12th are a trade show, closed to the public.  The show itself starts on the 15th.  When I'm in Cleveland.  I'm so sad...

(and a little bit relieved - I find the following exhausting:

- running training courses

- flying back and forth over the Atlantic (two trips across in 3 weeks...)

- quilt shows

- life in general

so maybe this will save a bit of sanity...)