HST BOM. January.

I thought my reading addiction was bad. 5-10 books from the library each week, devouring most of the stack by the next week, and the occasional abuse of the occasional book by chucking it across the room in fury? There are worse addicts, certainly, but my numbers don't look pretty. Thank goodness for the amazing library within walking distance of my casa.

But I've formed another addiction, and it's a doozy! I feel like I've moved from cigarettes to heroin, especially since EVERY NIGHT FOR A WEEK, my dreams have been filled with fabric and quilting patterns. It's sick, folks. Sick. I woke up Saturday and had to run to my computer and dash out a pattern idea I had. Monday, I had dreams about fabric bombs exploding because of course I was a fabric spy because that makes a ton of sense. Last night, I was awake from 2:45-4:15, all because I was thinking about fabric and my latest quilt idea and would I really like it and how would I quilt it and would I really find 17 fabrics that I liked that coordinated. (Yes, 17. Remember? Sick?)

And when I used to spend Banzo's naptime reading or *gasp* writing or maybe even cleaning my house, I now pull out Agatha (I've named my sewing machine Agatha. Have we covered this yet?) and go to town. Or, more likely, I pull out my rotary cutter and fabric and cut into scrap stacks to put together materials for projects so that I can put that sharp bad boy safely away for when my kid wakes up. Last night, 9pm, I'm cutting and sewing squares for half-square triangles, explaining to my husband why making HSTs from squares is better for fabric stability. (That poor, poor man. He does not deserve this torture.) Nathan comes home, and I'm hopped up on pretty new quilts I saw on blogs or progress I made on a project, and if he doesn't properly ooh and ahh, I punch him and threaten not to feed him pout.

I'm even checking out quilting books from the library because combining two addictions sounds healthy, right?

And now, because working on one quilt is so last year, I've decided to start a block of the month challenge featuring my good ol' nemesis, the half square triangle.

 

January was the first block with the final pattern coming in December of this year. Twelve blocks at twelve inches (each) finished, and I'll have a quilt sometime next year. With Lito's arrival looming on the horizon, I'm trying to finish up all of my outstanding projects and start and finish as many new as I possibly can, knowing that it will be difficult to get much sewing in for at least the first few months. (And possibly years, if he's like his big brother, or if taking care of TWO kids demands it.) But this project seemed simple enough. I can do small portions of the blocks over the entire month, or I can even hold off and work on the outstanding blocks later in the summer/fall/winter/next year. The biggest reason for choosing to join this (besides the fun factor) is that I think I'll NEED the creative outlet with a new baby and a toddler.

Good idea, right? Even better, I'm pretty sure I have enough fabric left over from my recent pillowcase project to supply the patterned fabric aspect of the quilt. I'll pick up more background fabric this weekend, and once the whole puppy is complete, I'll pick out border, binding, backing, and sashing fabrics.  And then, the quilt will even match. Speaking of pillowcases, would you like to see the finished product? Of course you would!

I took inspiration from Amy Smart's Chain Linked, which is interesting because she took her inspiration from a pillow. They have a simple envelope enclosure, and I pretty much love them, especially on my black couches. Nathan loves them too because he says they are comfy. (I'm excited to eventually have a quilt that matches!)

And since I finished quilt #2, this Saturday, I'm going fabric shopping (with my friend K, thank goodness) for the next quilt. I don't have anyone in mind for it, but I really liked the pattern and thought it would be fun to put together. This means I'll actually be able to post photos as I go along! I would post photos of quilt #2, but not until it's been received, you know? Especially not this one. I like making this particular friend squirm with excitement and anticipation. Quilt #3 will feature 15-17 different types of fabrics (yowzers!) and a lot a lot a lot of piecing. I'm excited to start! I have a color palette and rough idea in my brain, but we'll see if my brain translates to the actual fabric.

I'll leave you with a rough sketch of the block where I made notes about fabric measurements.

I couldn't find any graph paper, so I made do with the reams of college ruled we still have lying around the house. (I should find some kid and donate those, shouldn't I?) Now, my math isn't always fantastic, so if you see mistakes, I don't care, and you'll get over it.