Huh

For some reason, I find myself thinking I should have gone with only the green of the vine and one shade of blue all over.  
Oh well, the cost of silk ribbon is too dear to take it all out to chase my wild hair at this point.


Or. . .is it "wild hare"?

Fear and loathing

I know, I know.  What a strange title for a blog article about quilting.

Eh.

I am loathing my fear over moving forward;
over simply making a decision and sticking with it;
over the fear of committing to what I have already stitched and leaving it.

Case in point:
I am totally thinking about removing the decorative lighter blue center line on the lowest blue flower - too futzy.  And, I am truly pacing the floor over the size of the 'white', slightly left-facing flower to the lower left.  Yes, really.  The last two flowers, well...I-i-i-i--i--i---i guess I'm ok with.

I guess.

See, initially all of the flowers were going to be petite, simple little petal flowers.  Maybe a small seed bead in the center. Somehow I managed to become enamoured with the idea of a little more dimensionality to the flowers, and it exploded from there.  So, yes.  I think it may be totally worth pulling the flowers off - and the extra stitch detail on the one blue flower - and just going back to the original thought.

Please, somebody weigh in with a suggestion or comment.  Thanks.

Quilt yoga

Lessons learned from making a quilt.  As a respected and seriously talented (and prize-winning quilter has said), "We learn something from every quilt we make"...(I say) even if it is something we may have to learn over and over again.

This made me begin to wonder what I have learned over the decades and taken for granted.

Mostly I have learned to relax and enjoy the process (or processes - since there are many to every aspect and step in creating a quilt).

- I have learned to stand up and move away for a few moments (or hours) when tired or bored with a repetitious portion.
- I have acquired the ability to look at - and love - the thing I am creating with less critical eyes.  Knowing that nobody else will ever view it in as harsh a light as I will cast when disappointed with some little piece of the magnificent whole.
- I have learned to expect the unexpected; to cherish learning something new from somebody else; and to set expectations at a more achievable and less lofty realm.  It's always much more fun to surpass a goal than to never attain it.

Currently I am re-learning to stretch my abilities, test boundaries, and to trust my intuitions and my mind's creative eye.  This was a part of my current 'quilt yoga' experience

.

Okay, I fixed it

Not entirely certain how yesterday's entry became so fouled up.  Sentence fragments floating all over the place, mucking up the content.  I had a hard time understanding me, and I wrote it!

[smacking forehead]

Anyhow, the fix is in and "Changed my mind" reads intelligently now.  Sorry about the brain twister.

Oh, and I did rework that first petal (three times, but I am now content!), and it looks pretty good, too.  Not only that, but I added another three full petals, and am currently weaving a fifth.  That will be complete tonight, and then tomorrow I hope to use the entire day to finish it off.

Thinking about having my head examined because I am toying with the notion of adding another layer behind it all.  Yup, another layer.  Before I begin, though, I will mull it over a bit and give myself a break from that task.  Thankfully, this quilt isn't Rome, and it doesn't need to be built in a day.

What are you up too?

Changed my mind

...but knot for the first time.

Get it?  "Knot" for the . . . heh.
I crack me up.

Yeah, I 'un-wove' this petal - and I'm itching to get back to 'reweaving' it using my second color choice, as I can't quickly set my hands on the palest of pale blue #5 Perle cotton.  And YES, I am refusing to use #8 as the alternative - even though I do possess a nearly full ball of DMC in the perfect color (in an eight).  Wah.

See, I have my heart (and brain) set on a thick weave for this flower.
Am I wrong?
Should I have gone with a size eight?

Oh, I don't know.

I trekked out yesterday with the intention of buying ONLY that darned light, light, lighter-than-light blue in a skein of #5, but of course - the local stores were a complete letdown.  Only guilt prevented me from driving another 27 miles (one way) and back to stop into a real LQS to obtain the perfect thing.

Rats!  Crap!  Darn it all!  I should know by now to always follow my heart - it is tied directly to my instincts.  Ah, well.

I do know, though, that the variegated was absolutely wrong for it, so it was the right thing to undo.

Frustration is . . .

Somewhere in this house is an overabundant supply of Caron Watercolours.

Where?
I do not know, and I spent entirely too much time yesterday looking for them.

Did I become distracted and begin other little tasks during the search?
You bet I did (who doesn't?) - I even managed to clean out a corner and sort through (and toss out) some papers I had saved to read for "another time," a small stack of quilting catalogs, and some old receipts.

Did that provide at least a sense of accomplishment?
No, oddly enough, that was not satisfying in the least.

I completed French-knotting the portion of a sunflower I want to create on my latest project, and I would like to move on to weaving the petals using one of my Caron Perle cottons.

However, it looks as though I am going to have to 'forgehdaboudit' and use something else instead.  Not an easy thought.  My heart and my brain were settled on a 'toothy' Perle cotton with which to make those petals, so an alternate must be found and decided upon.

Ugh.

You know...the sad/odd/unfortunate/strange/probably true part of this whole thing?  Most likely, I don't have a Watercolour in my stash of 'unfindables' that would fit the requirements, anyway.  But it would still be nice to find the silly things.

I know you know what I'm saying.