Friday, July 29, 2011

Yo-Yo Along Progress

It's that time of the week again! That's right, it's yo-yo time! Yo!

Now despite the fact that I am up to my ears in kittens—seven at last count, all of whom are currently being fostered in my dining room, which has been renamed the Romper Room—I still managed to get a decent amount done, and am still ahead of my total. Though like I said I'll be away for the next couple of weeks, so I expect I'll fall behind.

So as of just a few minutes ago I've now got 229 of them done; that's 22.7% of the total of 1008, and more than a fifth of the way there.

Not bad!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Friday Yo-Yo Blogging

Checking in now at the two week mark for the Great Yo-Yo Along. Okay, I added the 'Great'. But it works, you know? I'm up to 155 out of 1008 yo-yos, which sets it at 15.4% of the total. I'm still ahead of the game as far as the totals per week goes; however, since I'm going away for a couple of weeks, and since I'm not intending to bring the yo-yos along, I may still end up behind.

They're living right now in the lid to a large box I keep my fat quarters in, but they're going to be overflowing soon I fear. I wonder what the finished pile will look like? Also, I wonder just how freakin' heavy this coverlet is going to be...

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Yo-Yo Update



Well I'd planned to update this yesterday, as that was the one week mark since I'd joined the Great Yo-yo Along. But a rather long story came up, one which involved a three week old kitten, a veterinarian, and these evil things called cuterebras (Google at your own peril); it ended with the decision to bottle-feed the little thing, which though rather a lot of work, isn't nearly as much work at three weeks as it would be if the kitten were newborn. So overall it's going along okay. Did you know a three week old kitten can purr?

But before all that came up I'd been working on the yo-yos steadily and had made some excellent progress. However before I reveal just how many I got done, let me tell you about a dream I once had:

It involved Antonio Banderas. Now, my taste in men is usually so odd that it is truly a miracle when it overlaps with the rest of the planet's; but hey, you know, Antonio Banderas. I find him just adorable, and from the interviews I've seen with him, he sounds like a sweetie who also remarkably enough has a clue.

So in this dream there were several of us women lined up to, well, let's say, have relations with our Mr. Banderas. There was one woman ahead of me in line; I saw her and she was stark staring naked. Antonio looked at her and said, Oh, so you don't shave your yo-yo?

When I woke I had to admit I was unfamiliar with that particular Spanish euphemism.

So now to the (um) anti-climax. This week I got an even one hundred yo-yos made, to put me at 9.9% of the total. I joined this thing a little late, so have figured that if I am to get the required 1008 done by the due date of the end of October (known 'round these parts as Samhain) then I need to get something like sixty-one of them done a week. So, so far so good!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Purple WIP Star Quilt

Holy cow, really? Fourteen quilts begun? Am I mad?

I'm one of those people who is sure good at beginning things, but when it comes to finishing them, not so much.

Well, you know, it's not that I'm lazy (not necessarily, anyway). It's that there are a couple disadvantages I'm working against.

The first is that none of my immediate family gives a flying capital F about quilts, and I don't have any friends who particularly do either, so I am making these quilts pretty much for myself only. The other part of it is that my bed, upon which I would put said quilts, since, as I have remarked in an earlier post, I am an old-fashioned gal and like my quilts to be, well, used and stuff, is king-sized. Of course.

So it's none of these wimpy 60 x 45 inch quilts for me, oh no. My quilts, if they're to look any good at all on my bed have to measure in the triple digits inch-wise.

So I don't know whether all of that is reason, justification, or excuse, but hey. One must obey the Muse. Still, I'd like to get something done to put on my bed, you know? So I thought I'd do some updates now and then as to what I've got going.

This is one I started last month, because I wanted something to go on my bed for the summertime. It was meant to be all in light airy colors, but somewhere in there it went for the dark and rich, which, honestly, is kind of my thing. I'm not a fan of white. Or beige, for that matter.

So here are the fifteen blocks I've got so far of a Northern Star quilt in purples, blacks and the occasional brown. The blocks are about eight inches across and I figure I'll need 132 of them, twelve by eleven. Oh, and as an old-fashioned gal I'm not really a fan of wide borders, either, so I like my quilts with the blocks all the way to the edge. I mean, when it comes to the pure theory of things. We'll see if I change my mind when it comes to practice.



So, inspired by that progress bar with the yo-yos (and I'm up to 41 now), I thought I'd keep track of this quilt with one also. I like watching it go up, you know? So, fifteen blocks out of one hundred and thirty two is 11.4%. Not as much as I would have liked, but still a good chunk.

I'm A Yo-Yo

Because I need another work in progress like I need a hole in the head (at last count I had thirteen of the things—works in progress, that is, not holes in the head) I decided to join the Yo-yo Along over at Sew Take A Hike. I think it's the progress bar that did it, frankly.

Unlike the instructions though I'm making them without the yo-yo maker thingie, being an old-fashioned sort. Yo-yo makers? Rotary cutters? Pfffft. Why back in my grandmothers' day we had to use these things called scissors, and if it was good enough for them it is good enough for me. Oh and get off my lawn you damned kids!

Of course that also meant that the first batch I made were a pain in the ass since I didn't know that you were supposed to turn the edge over like a hem as you gathered it. Once I cottoned on to that (via the oh-so-new-fangled Internet) it's been going like a breeze.

So out of the total 1008 (holy cow!) yo-yos that will go into the planned coverlet, I've got twenty done. Wheee!



It's gonna be a while, isn't it.