The Flu, A Book Signing, and Projects Galore

About two weeks ago the three of us suffered a short but brutal bout of stomach flu.  The day that I came down with it was the day before a long anticipated book tour stop for Brandon Sanderson's, Words of Radiance. Go figure.

Despite being unable to crawl out of bed 36 hours prior to seeing him, I was determined (determined meaning damn stubborn, according to my husband)  to see him.  I managed to drag my sleep deprived carcass to not only the signing, but the hour long interview, Q&A session he did.  I even scored a Shard Hunt card for asking a question about the prolific artwork that abounds throughout the book!

I'm feeling loads better now, but have been extremely busy with a few side projects and a final order of dog ornaments for GRREAT.  I know I said I wasn't doing them any more, but Jessie and I had discussed doing one last batch a few months back.  It's hard to say no when it's for such a "GRREAT" cause.

I also hope to have a guest blog post up over on Lupin's blog soon AND I'm steadily chipping away at the Feather quilt.  The pattern issues still plague me and sadly I've yet to hear back from the editors of Quilty, but I'm muddling thru regardless :)

Hope your weekend is warmish, pleasant and fun!

Bunnies x Bunnies

2 months ago my blogger friend, Lupin over at BugsandFishes, put out a request for guest bloggers.  I decided to take the bait and have been working, albeit slowly, on my very first FREE tutorial!

Though I've had some recent practice writing up a pattern and am getting ready to publish that one to my Tumus shop soon, this tutorial has been a little more lengthy, but will not lack on the cute factor.

I hope to get the whole completed masterpiece over to her by this weekend and will let you all know when it goes live and will post a proper link to it when it's ready :)

Till then here's a sneak peek.

And yes it will involve a bunch of bunnies.

Weapon of Choice

What's your favorite drawing "weapons of choice"?  Mine will always be mechanical pencils, erasers, a load of graph paper and fine point Sharpies (my fav)!

The Sharpie pen will always be mightier than the sword....unless you're facing zombies in which case a Sharpie isn't going to do you any good.   In all my years of drawing up templates and sketching I've lost count of how many markers I've actually used up, but they are my absolute favorite when it comes to outlining any of my drawings.
I don't always use the colored ones, but occasionally I get crazy and break out my rainbow pack.

Hope you all are ready for Spring because here at the Taylor house we are MORE than ready to get outside and find brighter colors and fresher air!

Hearts and Diamonds

I finally got a picture of my mom's table runner in "action" last week.

I didn't see her till a few days after Valentine's Day, but it was still well received and appreciated.  The flowers my dad got her also helped make it look even more splendid.

 

I must admit that I'm really pleased with how the quilting came out over all.  Sometimes when you're so immersed in a project that your eyes cross you forget to step back and take a look at the big picture.

Not seeing this runner for a week helped put my perspective back in place and it's a small nod to my ever growing quilting skills.  I certainly did not do all those diamonds in one sitting, but over a course of about 2 weeks and I only worked on it for an hour at a time because it's such tedious work.

There was alot of seam ripping.  In fact, the binding was originally supposed to be red, but I ended up cutting it too narrow and in the end could not turn it over to the front to finish sewing it into place.

The purple binding turned out to be a happy accident and looks just as intentional as if I'd planned it that way all along.

Happy Sewing!

What I'm Reading: Words of Radiance

It feels like I've been waiting much longer than I have for the second book in this series to be released.

Brandon Sanderson is one author who I've recently discovered and become enamored with in just the last year and I have to ask myself, how have I never heard of this guy till last year?!

You've heard me talk about him before when I recently read his first published novel, Elantris.  Sanderson is well known for his complex magic systems and world building, which in fantasy writing, is a must.

Words of Radiance has been in the works for a short amount of time when compared to writers like George R.R. Martin who write at their own sloth-like pace.  Sanderson seems almost inhuman to have completed a second mammoth book so quickly and this series is set to have TEN books in all.

I don't have enough shelf space to properly house, what could only be considered a proper "doorstop" of a novel, but I do plan on buying all ten, in hardback, at some point.  I will have this one in a few weeks because he'll be at a local book signing and if you know me personally you'll know how I love to go and meet authors and get my books signed.  Really, the whole idea of hearing an author talk about his/her books is underrated.  For now WoR will have to reside on my tablet.

I suspect that it will consume most of my "free time" for the next several weeks, so I probably won't be talking about many new books till the end of April.

As for the book All Joy and No Fun, I am still working thru that one as well, but at a more leisurely pace.  It's still holding my interest so far.  I also picked up Twelve Years a Slave and Promise of Blood, but there's no telling when I'll be able to start either of those.

Happy Reading!

The Feather Quilt (Part 1)

My cousin Allison is getting married in August this year and I politely inquired if she would like a quilt as a gift?  She was very enthusiastic about the idea and I promised her it would be a nod to her more "modern" style.

(so. much. fabric.)

The pattern I'm using is called Feathers by Anna Maria Horner.

(not mine^^)

It can be found in Quilty's Winter 2012 issue.  I've actually worked out of this Quilty issue before for Corbin's Quilt and have had my eye on the Feathers quilt for well over a year now.

I'm not sure how I thought this pattern would be easier than most, maybe because it's mostly strip piecing and then cutting, but it requires a copious amount of fabric.  Copious, as in, 14 assorted prints in 1/4 yd pieces, 5 assorted fat quarters and, I believe, 5 1/2yds of white for the background.

I couldn't even fit all the fabrics in the picture and truthfully there are 3 of the fabrics that don't seem to work as well as I'd hoped.  When you're trying to find the much fabric in a quilt shop it can just be overwhelming.  So I've had to rummage thru my stash to come up with substitutes, but, to be frank, 14 assorted prints just isn't enough variety and this quilt THRIVES on variety.  I think it would look hot using vintage fabrics or even doing  it all in ombre hues for the feathers.
 I really want to make this quilt again using the ombre idea, but that will have to wait.

Wish me luck as I start on this humungous project.
The projected size is 72" x 90" (pretty much a Queen sized quilt).