Time flies

It was this time four years ago I was finishing the piecing on PQ1 (Peace Quilt 1).

One day away from finishing construction of the top, and less than two weeks from the day that I would have it stretched and basted, and ready for quilting.  The FMQ began a few days before Christmas, and I can still remember all of the butterflies, the excitement, and the insecurity I felt all along the way.

Many mornings I would rise to find at least one of the girls curled up within the folds - Cleo and Flop had absolutely no issues claiming quilts for themselves...no matter what state of completion they were in.  If I had any issues with the possibility of them being on a quilt in process, I would take the pains to cloister the piece under a sheet or reams of paper, or fold it and keep it out of reach of my fuzzy people.  But rarely did I keep them from the quilts; they were family, and I love family feedback.  And I rarely received a negative comment from them when it came to my quilts, so naturally they deserved first dibs.

Besides, I can understand how my girls felt about quilts - comfort, love, and warmth all in one neat package.  Quilts and cats are synonymous.

Some of my favorite photos are of the family monkeys hanging out on a quilt - or under a quilt, or thinking about trespassing on some portion of a top in progress.  In fact, the only photo we have of Flop actually smiling is when she was caught chillaxing on my mother's quilt in process.  And the sound of Cleo's Mack-truck-purr still fills my ears, while I imagine her ears peeking over the top of generous folds in the material.

These are thoughts and images I will treasure for all of my days.  Hard to believe it's been four years since I worked on PQ1, but there you have it.

Thanks for walking down Memory Lane with me.  Have a great Sunday. >^..^<  =^..^=

Oh, geez. Wrong direction

Last night I ended my search for completing F10 relatively early, mostly because my foot was a-hurtin', and partially because the light was hampering things.

Then there's the whole aspect of: I began to remove (and replace) pieces I wasn't 100% happy with, causing the count to climb to nine missing pieces - up from seven.  WTHeck?!

Today, I am back on track (for the most part), and have redeemed myself with 'counter-insanity' measures.

Here is an image of the melee.  On the bottom left is F10 with those four missing inches (evident by the white spots), and to the top right you see the beginnings of F11.3.

Bottom right you can see I clearly have not made myself clean up and adjust the color palette by much - this is making the process move more slowly than necessary.

For those of you looking for my crazy quilting items, please go to  http://bethsmadasahatter.blogspot.com/

Oh, yeah

I just counted the projects written in the ledger, and there are really thirteen - I was just slingin' mud when I pulled fourteen outta thin air, but it wasn't a bad guess. And this number does not include all of the smaller ongoing items, like the crazy quilting projects and smaller wall quilts.

Thirteen's plenty, but my brain is still spinning, and there are liable to be a few more added soon enough.

What does your quilting list look like?

Re.: My quilting time

I think I've devised a plan that will let me divide my time among the things that need doing and the things I would like to do (as far as quilting goes - thbbppppt to the rest of it).

Without starting anything new, I can work on quilting the Ohio Star and get another quilt sandwiched (basted), which would require either assembling backs for one of two finished tops, or...............continue assembling the squares for Karl's quilt so that I can put that top (and backing) together while I finish quilting the P&BOS.

See, then I can just move on to quilting the next project and keep this whole process going. I do have a good selection of projects to choose from....but where to begin?

Simply put, I think this method will allow me to conquer the pile of existing projects more efficiently, whittling them down and not leaving anything in the dust. In theory I should be able to tackle the bulk of the existing projects (in their various stages) and come up empty-handed by the end of the year - free to begin new quilts (yea!) without guilt.

A new project without guilt! [squeal of joy] That sounds grand.

So, what do you think? Which of these should be next on the assembly line?

Flower Baskets: Navy and Green

OR
Snail's Trail 1: Orange and Brown

ORDouble Nine Patch: Funky Cats

ORKarl's quilt: Jewel Bugs

?

A quick "thank you"

Hey, Maria!

Thank you!!!

I had fun last night, and enjoyed your great company. Thanks for allowing me to barge in and stay for so long, and for the lovely - and fun - material! I am looking forward to being able to return the favor some time in the near future. I know you want to check out that restaurant here in town, too, so let's plan on a warmer day in the month (at least drier), we can walk there (it's not far) and 'kill a few birds' all at once. Good exercise, good food, good company....whadaya say?

- - - - - - - - - - - -

On my quest to finishing abandoned projects I am doing well. Quite well, in fact. The pink and brown Ohio Star is moving along - I am at the point where I can now baste it and begin quilting in very short order.

Then, I have the backing and top completed for an orange and brown Snail's Trail which needs to be 'next up' just because it is the next closest thing to completeness (those pieces have been done and laying around for the better part of a year now, so it's about time).

After that will be (or, should be) either an old navy blue Flower Baskets or Funky Cats Double Nine Patch. Those last two are completed tops, but have no backs, yet.

The navy quilt top is one of those projects begun in haste during the demise of my marriage, packed away and not thought of until discovered last fall while cleaning out the garage (it was hanging out in a box with the Ohio Star, which at that time was just a pile of assembled blocks and good intentions). None the worse for wear, the navy top just needs ironing and attention. It's been in its present state of 'undone-ness' for at least the last ten years, and should be turned into a quilt before time and handling see it continue to ravel away at the edges.

So, if you're keeping track, that's three full-sized quilts (or very large lap quilts) that require attention before I cut out another thing.

[sniff]

Oh, and I nearly forgot! I already have a pinned Log Cabin, a queen-sized cover which I use as an extra blanket all the time, even though I have never quilted or bound it. So there's a fourth quilt in the queue.

Of course, I also began a quilt for Karl last fall - brilliant jewel tones based on an imaginative chameleon printed on a gorgeous, rich brown background. I assembled many of the necessary color blocks last year, pulled together the corresponding whites, creams and off-whites to build the additional blocks needed for the layout, then piled them together (in the way, of course) so as to pick up and finish something else. What?? Who knows....I can't remember.

It's about at that time I lost track of what I was doing and which direction I was marching in project-wise.

Oh, yeah, and I had several jobs that kept me away from the table and machine, until....here we are!

So, as you can see, there are numerous things to do before beginning anything new, which only makes me itchy to really start something else. Oh, it's all so psychological, ain't it?

Sheesh, and I still have that other new thing I began just a few short months ago (um...4 or 5 months ago), when I had hopes of entering a contest to win some money. Yup, those haunting little one inch squares are nagging at me, too. So between Karl's quilt and the little project already living in the living room, I guess I am booked solid at the old sewing machine for a while.

What's on your plate?

A quick update on the P&B Ohio Star

Over the last two days I have disappointed even myself with the progress of the Ohio Star.

However, I did manage to score the last necessary yards of pale pink (to match the inadequate amount purchased however long ago), and (more importantly) the striped material to finish the backing (another purchase that I didn't make in the proper quantity)!

Lesson #19 - Never purchase material that you like from a store that isn't in a usual shopping zone. That is to say: don't shop at a store that isn't within an hour of your home, unless you are prepared to drive there again in hopes of finding more of that "perfect-rats!-not-enough-to-finish-I-must-have-more" material to finish what you've started.

Rrr-i-i-i-i-ght. That said, let's move on to a few additional lessons to keep in mind.

Lesson #15 - Save your receipts in one easy to manage place.

Lesson #16 - Cut and save a snippet of your material finds with your receipt (if it is something you really love [said with Oprah voice inflection] ).

Lesson #17 - Be prepared to work around having less than you need of that perfect material.

Lesson #18 - Don't be obsessive about finding a specific material (unless you have time and friends with children in college, in a town more than an hour away from your usual fabric haunts).

Hmmmm....maybe Lesson #19 ought to be Lesson #14, but we'll leave well enough alone for now. Oh, and by the way...thanks, Jean (and Barb).

At any rate, I wanted to be at a different state of completion on the quilt top by the end of this weekend, but I have a lot of ground to make up and my enthusiasm is flagging. The photo of brown and pink triangles is what I managed to get done last night, and now that the pink material is pre-washed I can set to work cutting matching triangles so that I may begin to construct the border blocks and border sashing.

The 3 Stooges said it best: "Slowly I turn. Step by step, inch by inch." Maybe more progress will renew my enthusiasm.

Just realized something

I seem to be stuck in a pink and brown rut; not intentionally, and not unhappily, but still....a rut's a rut. Ya know?

Between fidgeting with the color placement of the new project I am currently working on, and tinkering with the old quilt squares assembled years ago (and 'unearthed' some time last year), it appears to me that I am looking at an awful lot of pink and brown. Seems the only way to fix the trouble is to dive into something new and different....but of course that would mean not finishing those other lovely projects - and I PROMISED myself I wouldn't do that any more!

[wagging finger in my own face] x x x x x x x x x x x x x No! No more fresh starts with new colors until you've whittled away at the current pile. No, no, NO!

So, I'm dividing my quilting time between those two specific quilts; I've found myself just about ready to assemble the finished squares (old pink and brown) into rows and finish that top. Although I need to put together a few more squares to actually complete the top (which will be a snap). The biggest hurdle is deciding whether it will be sashed, or assembled using alternate squares of plain blocks with the pieced squares.

Originally I was going to place the blocks side by side (as the photo shows), but this would leave me with a single-sized top -- a coverlet, at best.

No, that will not do; I need to make my quilts utilitarian for my family, no two ways about it. In this particular case, larger is definitely better.

This weekend I will piece together the last few squares and then begin the top assembly, hopefully succeeding in completing the backing as well. Perhaps this week will find me basting another 'sandwich' - wouldn't that be delicious!(?)

Guess I was wrong

I had thought my shopping for Black and White and Red All Over was finished, but a quick run into JAF with a friend proved me wrong. Oh darn.

However, I do love finding happy, CHEAP surprises...don't you?

The two red materials were mark downs and clearance - as you can see on the one piece still rolled - it was a remnant...and only $.38!!!! The red is not as orange as this photo shows, but more a true (bluer), clear, richer red.

The pink and brown paisley on white was another clearance find, and will be the backing for the old Pink and Brown quilt I began years ago. At $3 per yard, I couldn't pass it up, and none of it will find it's way onto my stash wall - so I felt 100% justified (and I still do!).

Let's just call it "therapy." [wink wink]

At long last, it is done!

Reading Rainbow - Log Cabin: 34.5 x 52"

I finished quilting this wall hanging several days ago, but decided to apply a sleeve after the fact, since that's the only good way for it to hang, really...on a wall...as a "wallhanging." It has had a long ride from inception to completion; from Hadley to Clarkston; from here to there.

The boys and I have also come a long way during that same time. They have grown so much - in fact, they completed their own journeys from boyhood into men, and I learned a lot about myself and the world around me while that quilt lay waiting for attention. I learned to stop letting things wait, and to stop waiting for what it is I want. We all still have a long way to go, but the journeys seem less daunting.

There are still a lot of quilting projects to complete before beginning something new, and as much as I daydream about what is to come and what I want to start next, I know there are things I must finish first. Some of those projects are meant to clean out the corners and widen my path and field of vision, some to make room, others just to finish for the sake of not letting it hang in limbo any more. If I want to use it, I am going to have to finish it!

What's next?

My quilting stash - tucked into my sewing corner, under the stairs.

I admit to being scattered (some days more than others). Currently, I am having a hard time committing to my next project, although I have committed myself to finishing something already begun and not starting something new.

There are no new babies on the way, so I think I can safely stick to that commitment. [smacking self on forehead]

I have far more projects in the throes of quilting stages, and many tops that have yet to be stretched - but it is probably safer for them to be awaiting the rack and pins than to have already been pinned and folded. I have two large quilts (double or queen-size) in this predicament (the already-pinned-and-going-nowhere-fast type), and I am not doing them any good this way. Still, my mind races with ideas, and my storage shelves bulge with future projects already stacked and taunting me.

This is one project I have been itching to get started on for quite a while, now. I am calling it "From Sea to Shining Sea," as it is based on the song (in its color selection) and a picture I have drawn to create/quilt. It would be my first applique quilt, and while I am not crazy enough to make it large and unmanageable, I do want it large enough so that the overall picture/design makes sense. Too small and I fear the message would be lost, but too large, and I definitely would lose momentum over time. As I said, it would be my first applique style quilt, so I want it to be fun, but I want it to be do-able and look like something when it is finished (preferably so that people would be able to see my intent - my message - when they look at it) without having to struggle to interpret the way it was delivered.

I would also like to begin and finish quilts for each of my sons, and perhaps one for each of my brothers... and something for my friends (maybe those will have to be Christmas stockings just to keep it realistic).

I did finish a lap quilt for my mom earlier this year (although, to be honest, it was one of those things that I had begun a l-o-n-g time ago and just never finished until I challenged myself this year), so I was feeling pretty good about sticking to my goal for the year.

We'll cover the dearth of other quilt tops 'assembled and waiting' another time, for now let me leave you with just two more shots.

These are two quilt tops under construction.

This orange and brown Snail's Trail was something I began at the tail end of 2009, after coming home from the Grayling production. I found a few of the orange prints that were used at a quilt shop I had always heard great reviews of (but found their material selection had been greatly exaggerated). I still have one more border to sew on to the top, then I can get busy stretching and quilting. It was simply a neat color study for me.

The pink and brown group of squares is still not officially a quilt top yet, since I haven't even finished assembling the blocks. I believe I am four squares shy of a load - LOL - but I wanted to make a scrappy quilt way back when; this project began as my marriage was ending, and the boys and I were looking for a new home of our own. The comfort of the pinks and browns together helped ease me into what was a bleak spring - but with the promise of a new beginning.

That was ten years ago, so I believe it would be a fitting anniversary for us all if I applied some of my energy toward completing this Ohio Star beauty in 2010.