Various and Sundry Monday: Vol. 4

We’re caught up in the crossfire
Of heaven and hell
And we’re searchin’ for shelter

Tell the devil that he can go back from where he came
His fiery arrows drew their beat in vain
And when the hardest part is over we’ll be here
And our dreams will break the boundaries of our fear
The boundaries of our fear
–Brandon Flowers, Crossfire

Friday Night Sew-In: Sudoku Quilt
I got a late start to Friday Night Sew-In this time around and didn't get a super lot done. As a matter of fact, I signed up on Friday night right before I sat down to do a little sewing, so I didn't even post about it beforehand. Even though I didn't get much done, as Angie pointed out, a little sewing is better than a lot of cleaning!

A little over a month ago, P. made a Sudoku quilt for a friend of hers. I fell in love with it and got the pattern from Sarah. I rooted through my stash and came up with the perfect combination of fabrics for my own Sudoku quilt. In the meantime, P.'s already finished a second Sudoku quilt top. She's awesome like that. So, I decided that I'd work on my Sudoku quilt for FNSI. Technically, I'm not supposed to be starting any new projects, but does it really count as a new project if I didn't buy any of the fabrics {except for the outer borders, back and binding }? Anyway, I got all my fabrics pressed and then I got four of the nine cut into 4½" squares. I think that's a good start on the quilt, and not too bad for the small amount of time I worked on it Friday night.

Tweet Tweet
Friday was the first day last week I did any actual sewing. It was a topsy-turvy week. The Little Bugs were home for Spring Break and Mr. Bug and I had to juggle our work schedules with only one car. Also, I was just plain stuck on this little Tweet Tweet quilt. After I got my rows of coins together last weekend and decided it was pretty scary, I asked for opinions on several layouts and then incorporated them into several more layouts. This quilt didn't come out how I'd visualized it and I just did not like it when it came together. The solid pink coins just threw the whole thing off, so following Amy's suggestion, I made a pass with the unpicker and pulled out only the fabrics I really loved and put the rest in a discard pile. I laid the coins out again and still didn't love it. I made another pass through the discards with the unpicker, pulled out some more coins and rearranged the layout. I still didn't like how they looked together. So then I pulled some more coins out of the discards and incorporated those into the layout. By Friday evening, I was still debating about how to do the sashing and not loving how it looked. I was thinking that I would just put this project away for a little while, but Saturday morning I woke up with this quilt in my head.

I decided to go with my original plans for the sashing fabric, with Vicki's added suggestion of adding a narrow strip of solid on either side of the sashing. It is interesting in this layout how much the greens stand out. I think I like it. And I've got an idea or two for quilting, so I think this quilt might come out after all.

I ♥ Tulips
Spring is officially here. The tulips have started blooming in my {north-facing} front yard.

I've had tulips along the border on the south side of my house for a couple of weeks, but tulips in the front means spring is here. I went out to the back yard and cut some tulips in a little area I planted specifically for cutting. It is on the west end of the house and it is blocked from view in the front by a fence and if you want to see it from the back of the house, you have to walk over there. I have a really hard time cutting my flowers to bring into the house. It puts the balance off on the 'arrangement' outside. And once you cut them they start to die, which is sad. But no one is enjoying the beauty of these flowers at all, and that is even sadder, so I brought this little vase-full in. The three hyacinths make my kitchen and living room smell heavenly. I think I'm going to cut a bunch to put on my desk at work.

Monday Music Spot: Crossfire
This morning, I heard this song on the radio and just loved it {while Charlize Theron totally rocks, the video is a little weird so you might just want to listen to it. Brandon has a truly lovely voice}. It just seemed to kind of fit me, to fit my life right now.


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