Hello patient follower!  I think this is the longest gap I have had since I started blogging back in the summer of 2012.

All kinds of boring stuff is going on here, because I have to go to work to make a living and afford my fabric indulgences.  Lots of work.  Too much work.  Which is a good thing for the success of our company, but also puts a lot of pressure on everyone to keep up.

This weekend, I gave my kids a treat and brought them to the office with me while I did some exciting Accounting stuff for a few hours.  They love to come to the office, so they can write on the big whiteboard in the conference room:

They also like to act like they are in school (or at least Nora does – she loves to boss around her brother!)

While I was at the office, I brought in my latest quilt top that I was making for Oliver.  Something big enough to really cover his queen size bed and tuck in at the ends and corners.

I needed a large open space to lay it out so I could accurately measure the sides for cutting my borders.  I think right now it was around 76 x 84.

It kind of looks like a nuclear warning flag.

I bought many layer cakes of the Military Max collection and an olive green dot print from Riley Blake (along with a solid black).  I started this with a split nine patch unit and then added some stitch and flip corners to create some interest in the middle.  It’s not my favorite quilt, but Oliver likes it a lot.  He is really into Nerf guns and Minecraft and playing military with friends, etc…

I’ll post it again after I get the borders done.  It will look a bit less chaotic.  And huge.  I think it could fit a king size bed.  Finished size will be around 88 x 96.

Once this is done – I’m super excited to cut into something new.  I really loved the collection “Little Joys” when I first spotted a preview of it on this post from Pretty by Hand.  I’m waiting to see what Kristyne is going to do with her fabric.

For me, I’m going to put it together in the “Classic and Vintage” Delectable Mountain pattern that was showcased recently by Fat Quarter Shop (they even have a YouTube tutorial).  They used the BasicGrey collection Evergreen, but I think this will do great too!  I took a chance and ordered some of the Le Creme Swiss Dots – Baby Pink on Cream Dots to coordinate with it for the background.  And a Jolly Bar of the new Jingle collection by Kate Spain to bring in some blues and make it a tiny bit scrappier.  Planning on the lap size.

I’m also intrigued by this pattern because it gave instructions to optionally use Triangles on a Roll paper for HSTs.  I have never used this before, and I’m eager to give it a shot:

So, if all goes well – likely to start on this project next week!

Do you have a Christmas in July project planned?

Finally, I have joined Instagram and started s.l.o.w.l.y posting some pics online there.  I’m not sure exactly about the proper etiquette about jumping on hashtags without being invited.  Is that ok?  I just don’t know.  I tried it out by tagging some pictures with #littlejoysfabric

I appreciate your input on that for those of you who are now experts in Instagram.  I’m going to see about setting up the IG account under this website name instead of my own.  Try to keep some sense of privacy, but who am I kidding.  It’s all out there in the cloud, right?

All the best,

Jennifer