Just a little bit more

It turns out that pneumonia can really slow you down. I’ve been crazy tired. I’ve managed a few minutes here and there to make another mega-block (four blocks sewn together) for the Urban Couture quilt. The new one is on the left. It should be easy sewing from here on out, assuming I get well soon (fingers crossed).

A Sign of Spring?

Please say it’s so. We got our first chicken egg from last summers chicks.  It’s smallish but lovely. We kept only 6 hens for ourselves but do to unfortunate circumstances, only two remain – Sunshine and Olive. I’m so proud of whoever laid that egg. My mother-in-law (who has a flock of chickens that have been laying since last summer) said her chickens would laugh at this feeble attempt. I beg to differ.

Anyway, it’s that awful February thing where everyone is sick for weeks at a time. It’s been my turn for the last week. I’ve been so under the weather that I haven’t even wanted to sew (gasp!). With my oh-so-attractive hacking cough accompanied by shortness of breath, if I could find an iron lung in the attic, I’d jump in. I just want this to be over.

The little bit of progress I have made is on the Urban Couture quilt. I have all the half-square triangles sewn and in different states of development. Some still have the paper, some have been pressed with dog-ears, some pressed and clipped. All the strips have been cut so real block construction can begin.

Any day now.

Weekend Productivity

Since Valentine’s Day is later this week, I’ll have to lead with the chocolate… soufflé, that is. I made this Saturday night for some friends we had over for dinner. It is quite nearly perfection.

Seriously.

It’s everything you want in a heavenly chocolate dessert. It’s dense yet light. It’s creamy but has body. It’s ridiculously chocolate-y but not too sweet. I used two-thirds bittersweet chocolate and the rest semi-sweet. For the six eggs, I used three of our largest duck eggs. It came out of the oven about 10pm or I might have gotten a photo before consumption. I recommend a dollop of lightly sweetened cream or a scoop of good vanilla ice cream to melt lovingly over the top. It’s going to take an amazing amount of self-restraint to not eat this for lunch. Anyway, I highly recommend you make this for any Valentine that enjoys loves adores worships chocolate.

Next, I made myself this bag. I’m too impatient to search for a pattern that has everything I want, so I engineered this one myself. I knew the size I wanted and a few details and I just gave it a whirl. I should have made a muslin version to test everything out but did I mention I’m impatient? I had some extra home dec weight yardage and I decided to go for it. It’s not my favorite fabric so if it didn’t turn out I wouldn’t be too sad, but if it did, it would be servicable. It’s really not all that bad. A few finish things can be addressed. I haven’t decided on a closure yet, button or magnetic clasp. The strap is too wide and some interfacing would give it more body. But overall, not bad. The last bag I made was supposed to be a spring/summer bag to be followed by a fall/winter bag. My two season bag has lasted two years. It’s just starting to show some wear and I needed a replacement. I have some other fabric I like that I’ll try to perfect this with.

Wonky Blue and Green

Here are some Project Improv squares for the blue/green colorway. One is quite log cabin-ish and the other is really wonky. I did the more traditional version because, honestly, I’ve never made a log cabin block. I’ve done lots of courthouse steps but not the classic log cabin. These blocks are really fun and addictive to make. I see a scrap quilt coming on.