Here's a crazy thought

Yes, there's quite a bit more.  I just didn't get it all in the frame, yikes!

What if I simply began to make quilt tops using up the sizable stash I've managed to amass? 

That is to say, I would continue to complete whole quilts - commissioned pieces, competition stuff, personal quilts and the like - but what if I focused mainly on putting together a large assortment of tops and then went to art & craft fairs with these quilt tops to sell.  Just displayed the tops and let folks decide they liked a certain top and then commissioned the quilt to be finished. 

. . . .

And, if someone liked a pattern/design, but not in the color way displayed, I could simply get their color preferences and make a whole new quilt based on their desires.  Sort of like how people buy cars....right?

It would use up the ol' stash in a significant way, and it may entice people to actually see the quilts in the work stages that make up a quilt, and not just a finished "blanket."  People always try to undervalue and dicker down the price on a quilt (no matter the size), I believe, because they don't understand the work which goes into the entire object.  The time, the planning, the piecing, electricity, materials, effort, the talent, the practice and patience, the love, etc., everything that becomes the quilt.

Perhaps seeing a quilt in process would help folks understand the work and time and effort and value of the finished project.

Perhaps I'm just dreaming and need someone to pinch me.

A little bit o'hand stitching makes it all right

Applied the binding to mom's quilt this morning, so now I just need to spend about four (to five) hours or so turning it to the back and blindstitching it in place!

Oh joy!  I love getting down to the final strokes!

You may notice a slight variation from the wide border material (lovely brown marbled Robert Kaufman "Watercolour") to the binding (also a gorgeous brown crosshatch by Kaufman called "Quilter's Linen"), and that is only because by the time I realized I wanted to bind the quilt in the same material as the final front border, it was too late.  I couldn't find any more available yardage of any kind...anywhere!  Not online, not locally, not using pleading messages via the blog.

As it was, I had to hunt to find the 2.5 yards I located for the border - and even then I was cutting it close...figuratively AND literally!

Anyway, with eight borders of varying widths between the back and front combined, the binding was going to be the very least of my issues.  And, as you can see, it really isn't any sort of an issue at all.

Y&G-lovers unite!

Here you go, Jenny - hope you found it worth the peek. 
:)

Found at www.frenchsampleroom.com

Closer to completion

Have about two-and-one-half-to-three-feet left of outer brown border to finish quilting, then on to the roughly 6" square bird centers.  After all of this time I still have no idea what I will do in those portions. 

During the quilting process this afternoon I think I figured I also need/want to quilt the larger sections that remain open between the border area (I am currently finishing up) and the quilted hex sections.  Just don't feel quite comfortable leaving that much open space to the whims of use and time (to say nothing of the cleaning it will receive from my mother).  Yup, those open sections need (DESERVE) quilting.

But what?  Hmmm-m-m-m-m--m--m---m---m.....

Under quilter's arrest

I have enough projects that need finishing, BUT
I really want to dive into something new!

[squeak, sigh]

I need to force myself to finish the quilting on 'mom's birds'.....and then I can parole my rotary cutter, pins, machine, and imagination to roam into new territory. 

I have less than one week.  Doable, doable torture.

When is 'enough' too much?

That is to say...er, ask, when can you tell if you've too much material? When is your stash adequate?  How will you know when you've accumulated too much enough and need to stop buying?

Well, the flip, sarcastic quilter in me wants to say, "When fabric manufacturers stop manufacturing - that's when!"
 _________OR
"What? You mean at some point we have to stop buying fabric?"
 _________OR
NEVER!

Yeah, I know that (tired) old adage: "She who dies with the most fabric wins."   Thhhbbbpppppt!  I don't want to die with an awesome accumulation of marvelous quilting goods!  When I go, I want to be leaving scraps in my dust! 

I want to have created a fabulously tall pile of quilts to mark my existence and craftwomanship, and to have littered my history (and the floor of my sewing area) with nothing but string quilt and postage stamp possibilities for anyone who dares snoop among the remains.

Unfortunately, in my current jobless circumstances, 'enough' has to be "enough for now," and that's quite alright, because I do have a substantial amount to work with.  I will be content to create with what's on hand, I just have to stop dreaming and scheming beyond my material means for the time being. 

No more window shopping and what-iffing for a while. [sniff]  I can do it!  I can.

I CAN!! 

[sniff]