WIP Wednesday

Well I've been horribly neglectful, yet again, of my readers. Things have been crazy - the end of every school year always is, even though all I do is help my husband get through graduate school. The good news is, though, that it's over and done with for a few months... or at least the part where he actually goes to class is. There's always something going on with his experiment, or figuring out how many and which classes he'll be teaching and all of that... and throw in the remodeling that'll be starting up again pretty soon and we'll be just as busy, but in different ways.

Anywho, it's WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced and I'm linking up for the first time in what seems like ages! Despite Jeff's being busy I've had plenty of time to work on various projects... and this morning I actually remembered to snap (poorly lit, very amateur-ish) photos of them, so here we go!

In northern California it gets ridiculously hot. Like, 100+ degrees for days at a time, and all you want to do is sit in a vat of ice cubes naked.

But at least it isn't humid, like back home, where you have that "just got out of the shower" feeling ALL DAY LONG.

I also have a friend, who has an ADORABLE little girl who just turned four. Last summer I made some simple skirts for her. She was visiting her mama here at work the other day, and I asked her if she'd like me to make some more, since it's juuuust starting to get toasty in the afternoons. She requested dogs, cats, and a horse. Well, the only request I could fulfill with my stash was dogs, but hopefully the monkeys will do! These are almost done - just have to have her try them on to make sure the waists are the right size, then finish closing the waistband.

I've been drowning in squares recently. As I think i've mentioned before, I love the "Surprise in My Mailbox" stash builder bundles from Fabric Shoppe - I've ordered, uh, more than I care to admit from her, and the surprises have always been pleasant! Excluding the red, which is some Kona I was lucky enough to score from the Joann remnant bin, all the fabrics in this quilt came from those surprises. I just finished adding the borders to this quilt top within the last couple of weeks. (Should've taken some close ups - sorry!).

More squares - these time of the granny variety! I absolutely LOVE this block and have at least two more of these quilts planned. These squares also came from my Fabric Shop bundles. I have to pick a border color for it, still, but I've ordered "leaves in blue" from the Fruit Slice collection for the back - I think it will be a nice complement to the front.

Here's a close-up of the front. I love the sorta retro feel it has to it! I'm definitely looking forward to finishing this one, though I'm not entirely sure where it's going to end up yet!

Well...probably my FAVORITE WIP that I've started over the last month has been...my own leg? Yes indeed. I have been thinking of this tattoo for a while now, and finally went to see Derek, the owner of Victory Tattoo here in Chico, to get the process started. Two hours for the outline, and probably two more sessions after that (one for leaves, the final for flowers) to get the whole thing done. It continues up around the outside of my knee and ends a few inches up my thigh. :)

What my new ink means, though, is that I need to be able to show it off, right? So in addition to making skirts for my friend's girl, I've made a couple for myself! (Okay, well, one so far, but I have a bunch more cut out). I thought this was a great way to use this yard of Echo, and I like how the stripes I added down either side give it a bit of a sporty feel, like a tennis skirt without any of the exercise/running/sweating. ;)

And there you have it! A long catch-up catch-all kind of post for WIP Wednesday. What have YOU been working on??