UPDATE: More news about Karl

Quilting is still on hold, but...

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Karl will be leaving the hospital tomorrow for home!

After spending the better portion of the day sitting and moving around a bit, speaking to Grandma - and then Brian - on the phone, he dropped off to sleep faster than a stone down a well. Besides all of that, it was good to see him eat, and excellent to see the pain abate, and hopefully now he will sleep for as much of the night as the medical staff will allow - without interruption.

So, good night for the time being, I will let you know the details tomorrow...when I am not too tired to type. Thanks, again, for all of the prayers and good thoughts. <3

Totally unprepared for not working again

It's been two weeks since the film wrapped, and I was mentally not ready for being inactive again. I truly thought the responses I received (to all of the email I sent out) meant I would have another gig to go to before too long, but time is passing much too quickly, and it looks as though the projects coming up in late August are now crewed up. Or, they have another week of rushing to do before I am out of contention for any of those, too. So what does that mean for September?

Quilting?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

I have seen very few new productions posting for September, in fact, so I will hope for a little time sitting at the grandmother's (as I am right now) to make a little necessary money, and hopefully sell a quilt or two to people who "ooo" and "awww." This, of course, means I will have to get busy and finish the process on a couple. I have three completed tops (two with backs) that need stretching and basting. I already have one other top sandwiched and ready for the quilting process (in truth, I have used it for at least the last two years as my blanket when company comes over and I sleep on the sofa). Guess I should get moving, eh?

And still, in the back of my head, I have huge hopes (and intentions) of finishing a quilt for each of the boys before Christmas! [foot stomping, hypertensive affirmation] That's right, I mean it! I really do.

Although, the last couple of weeks have found me more focused on finishing the kitchen floor and getting the space ready for installation of the stove I purchased five years ago, which has been living in the garage (long story - read the other blog) all of this time. The resulting chaos in the rest of the house is driving me nuts!

Once I had the mental steam built up and had given myself over to the grueling work and all it entailed, I was going to get it done and out of the way in a hurry, but then life intervened and even the floor finishing has been (tragically) on hold for more than ten days now. All my good intentions, all of my promises to myself are now down the tubes. Worthless. What's left?

Quilting! Quilting is left.

I reasoned that once I felt the relief of having the kitchen done, and my stove in place, and I part of my domain in order, I could absolutely allow myself the guilt-free mental space to jump back into lots of time cutting and sewing and quilting.

I've recently taken time to put many more squares together on Karl's quilt, finish the final fabric selection from the stash (to complete the white squares of the quilt top), filled in the 'holes' for the backing and binding, and I even brought a top with me to Gram's to stencil, in order to stretch it and begin quilting once I have time during the drying process of the floor finishing.

See! I really am trying to be smart about it all.

But when it comes right down to it, I really just want a job. I was not meant to sit and spin my wheels.

Surrounded

We go through life surrounded by stuff.  Surrounded by rules and regulations; by other people; by other people's stuff; and on and on.  I think you get the picture.

Some situations where we find ourselves surrounded, we climb into willingly...or out of necessity.  Some of this stuff we bring on ourselves, and some is heaped on us unwillingly - or with full knowledge - because of the positions we get ourselves into at work, in our personal lives, friendships we create, activities, etc.

Well, lately I have felt the walls closing in.  Walls of stuff, walls of uncertainty, walls of unemployment and self doubt...and I sometimes feel the best course of action would be to simply let the walls cave in and bury me.  Take me whole and swallow me up.  Wouldn't it be lovely to just be without the worry of how to handle/care for/guard/hide/use and replenish the stuff? 

Clean it, fold it, put it away, keep track of it, loan it and (hopefully) get it back, lose it, break it, give it away, outgrow it, outsource it, love it, rue it, insure it, try and return it.

I think all the shopping is done...

...at least for the time being. 

Karl has settled on the material for the centers of the alternate squares in his quilt (the cream, off-white version of the full-color blocks, and the larger blank squares that fall in between them all), and the backing material found online (which he liked!) is on the way.  To save on costs, I opted to piece the blue/green print together as a wide border with another, more subtle, beige print used in the center.  The leafy blues and greens echo the clear colors of the pieced blocks in the top, and it will make the simple reverse side just a little more interesting.  And purchasing less yardage online of the preferred blue/green fabric was a big savings.

As the kid said, "Well, I don't hate it."

Sadly, I will not be able to do much quilting in the near future (at least, through the month of July) because I have a boom op job on a film throughout much of the month (yea!).  We'll begin filming on the 7th and will go through nearly the last day of the month.  With 12-hour days, six days a week, and the drive time to Detroit and back each day, I will be one tired puppy - with little time at either end of each day for frivolus activities.  There will still be laundry and cleaning and nagging at boys (Karl mostly, to get his homework assignments completed)

Apologies to my quilting friends for calling quilting a "frivolous activity," I think you know what was meant.  My "me time" will be quite limited for the next several weeks, so I will need to be frugal in all things to be able to sleep in between trips to the city.

I really do love the industry...and I still wish I had landed the scripty role on this project, even given the fact there would have been a lot more work and time lost to it (even after getting home at the end of each day).  The experience and credit would have been worth it all, but I am happy to have the boom op gig.  Very happy.

Oh, and my "Black, White & Red All Over" quilt supply is established (I spent some lost hours re-sorting, cleaning & putting away materials from other projects, and found a good number of bits to use here & there), and I have decided what pattern to shoot for.  Stay tuned for the reveal.  Until next we meet, have fun needling something (or someone)!

Karl's quilt: Update

After a bit of construction this morning, I decided to do the math one more time...just so I was good in my head that the path I was sewing down was true (and all of that horse-feather sort of jive).

It turns out I was planning on making an incredibly l-o-n-g quilt, and even though K's bed is an extra long full, the set of rows I had originally planned on was going to be overkill.  So, after scaling it back two rows (in length only), I am happier than I have been in days!  That's right, it means I can do away with 7 of the pieced color blocks, meaning I am only short by nine center squares using the beautiful brown chameleon print.  When I fill in with the lovely substitute brown batik, it won't be as noticeable (hopefully).

Plus, less piecing means I can get to the fun part (ugh) of FHMQ that much sooner.  LOL  I still need to find a decent cream material with a faint print to use on those alternate full blocks, but that should not be too tough.  I have searched through my stash and figured out I will piece very faint white on whites or creams to make the shadow blocks (where the band of color blocks won't be), and use the cream (but NOT muslin) to fill in those pesky large single squares in between all of the others.  And I even hatched a way to use the adorable bug print that has been burning a hole in my imagination for months!

The size of the overall quilt is roughly figured at 73" x 89"...plenty big enough for the boy's bed.  And when he has a son (or daughter) of his own one day, Grandma (me/I) won't have to make them one.  [snicker]

But, I probably will.

A smidgeon of progress

Karl agreed that there should be something else in the quilt mix (color-wise) to make the project pop.  We looked at the squares that had been completed and just didn't feel like there was enough variety in the palette the way it was.

So, we held the chameleons-on-brown up to the brick colored materials in my stash (since that was only one of two colors not included that do appear in the design sample), and we found it just didn't make the "a-ha" needle move on the A-ha-o-graph Spectrometer.  Neither did the lightest blue color that you can pick out very easily in some of the lizards. 

BUT...we did seem to agree that a really vibrant red made us both sit up and take notice when paired with the base material.  See if you agree. 

The decision has been made: red will be added to the quilt, but only in a very minor way.  Three, maybe four pieced blocks will be created using red as the border and added to the top configuration.  Any more than that and it would just be another color - but as a visual spark here and there - a fleeting element...well, then you have a conversation piece for your eyes and your brain.

Geez! now that means I have to cut more 2" squares!  Yikes!! [smacking forehead with palm]

Do the math

Lesson #2 - Do the Math

Always do the math...I don't know what I was thinking. 

I knew there were to be a huge number of 2" squares for the borders of the pieced blocks, but I never did that math.  Neither did I figure how much yardage to plan on for the centers of those pieced squares.

Then there's the yardage of something to place in between the pieced blocks (something cream in nature I think, but not muslin).  I wasn't too concerned with that selection (I'm still not). I thought I would tackle it when I was ready to begin piecing the rows, but it is never too early to actually have your materials in the same area code, you know?

I didn't do the math.  Twit!  I was so happy to have found a vendor from whom to buy more of that cute chameleon print, but I never took 20 seconds to figure out that if I only cut nine center pieces from the first fat quarter I had (and I needed just under 60 pieces to finish the top), um....how much would I need overall to complete each of the pieced blocks?

As it turns out, I need 1.5 yards to make the top completely of the woggly-eyed chameleons, or else I would have to substitute something in its place to complete the top as planned (or, as close to the plan as possible).  Disappointing.  Fortunately I have some beautiful batik to swap in for the rest of the piecing - but I am going to miss those lil lizards.

Do the math!

59 pieced blocks (each of those made up of 16 - 2" squares and one 5"+ square)

 59 x 16 = 944 smallest piece
                 59 medium squares
                 58 large plain squares (alternate blocks)
             1061 Total (not including any borders, backing, binding, etc)

Do the math.

I still have some cutting to do (of the colored prints as well), to get to the point where I can finish the pieced blocks.  Holy crap! do I ever have some cutting to do.  The blocks are going together fairly quickly, so it is only a matter of time before it starts to look like something, but here are some samples of the pieced blocks.  Tell me what you think.

It arrived!!

I am holding, in my hot little hands (it is warm in these here parts), the material I ordered to finish Karl's quilt! Yea and huzzah!!

The brown fabric with the charming, woggly-eyed chameleons (or some such) is here. After paying Hell and wreaking havoc on my time, I managed to hunt down an on-line vendor who actually had the material still in stock. The chances were slim, but I am a persistant f***** (sorry if that offends.)

Anyhow, the material is here, and it's a good thing, too, since I had already cut out WAY too many 2 and 1/8" squares with which to construct the main square for the overall design. [I believe there is a straight jacket and private padded room for me somewhere.] Now, I simply need to locate an appropriate alternate full square material to use between the pieced blocks...maybe tomorrow I will post a photo of what it is I am after, and see if anyone can help me locate enough of it to assemble the quilt top. It doesn't HAVE to be this specific material...just something that looks amazingly like it.

Tomorrow is going to be a rather constructive day - one way or another.

;^) Thanks.

Probably should stick to the orig'l game plan

I couldn't help myself - I cut out the materials for Karl's quilt today.  Between applying for jobs (and getting one positive response), odd little cleaning fits, making phone calls about the car, performing a little gardening and trying to stay cool, I pre-shrank the materials (that still required it), ironed the creases and wrinkles to a beautiful state of non-existance, grabbed a rotary cutter and made like a mad woman for the better part of the afternoon.  What you see pictured here are the results.

I now need to commit myself to a pattern of arranging and assembling the smaller blocks around the center squares (random or by color family) before I actually begin to stitch. 

It is looking like "by color family" might be the winner in this particular tug of war, by the way, since laying them out randomly was looking pretty scary. 

What do you think?  In my head, this was a great color scheme, predicated by Karl's desire for jewel tones, but I am beginning to rethink it.

Oh, yeah, the "original game plan" was to NOT begin anything new until I had finished one or two items from the old pile first.

Oops.

Long time, no quilt

As luck would have it, I managed to get busy with class, then 'stuff' (from the last week-and-a-half of May thru early June)...and then I cut a finger to the point where holding/using a pencil was impossible for marking up a quilt (let alone stretching and pin-basting).  So, needless to say (funny how we use that expression, when we are really pointing out an obvious and needful point, that most people would miss if we didn't say it to get their attention pointed to the obvious), I was not able to do anything quiltwise for the last few weeks!

Aaaarrrrrgh!

I finished the border on the Snail Trail and finished construction of the backing, but without the ability to get anything new cut out, or to be able to mark up the orange and brown Snail Trail until I can grip a pencil or a rotary cutter, I decided to concentrate on another completely different type of project.

Well, no......I guess it isn't so much "completely different" since it is a quilting thing, but give me a chance!

A dear friend, Jean (thank you, Jean), printed a drawing I had done (quite a while ago) in a rather large scale (at my request), that I managed to get taped together fairly well.  I will use the large paper drawing as the template, tracing the design onto the base fabric and making the pattern pieces from it, too.  I may have mistakenly figured that, being larger, it would be easier to learn the technique and manipulate the corners, etc (with the needle et. al.), than if it was smaller (thinking that would be harder to work with).

Applique is something I have been daydreaming about trying my hand at for quite some time, but figured I would leave it to the experts and just keep on with my own two quilting specialties: block quilting and crazy quilting.  Why add anything else to the mix?  Those two (and the gardening) are enough activities to keep me busy when time allows.  Applique is a technique I thought would be too much to master and would just leave me frustrated (and with something more left unfinished in a corner somewhere).  Like being married.

Anyhow, the finger is looking pretty good, and I am taking the splint off to try and start marking up that orange and brown item today.  Walking by the table in the sewing corner and doing nothing with a needle and thread is driving me crazy!  I've spent a lot of time just staring at my wall of material, and it is really making me blue.  Although, I did manage to narrow down the quilt design choices for Karl's quilt to 2 (maybe 3) contenders, so the material scope (pictured at the top of the entry) can now be incorporated almost entirely!  Wahoo!  And, during this down time I also *think* I came up with a design choice for my next Black and White and Red All Over quilt.  Yup, I see another in the series on the horizon. 

What are you up to?