Monofilament...Love it or ??

I suppose the jury is still out on this discussion, at least for me.

A couple of months ago I was fortunate enough to take a class from David Taylor. I'm sure if you've seen his work you'd recognize the name (or the other way around...). He's an amazing quilter with such artistic sense, and the way he pulls his works of art together are through machine applique using monofilament as a top thread. Makes sense, as the monofilament pretty much can not be seen (both figuratevely and literally). His technique is really quite simple and I have started to embrace it quite a little bit. I almost didn't even take the class once I saw that it was machine applique, but I tried the class anyway, thinking, "I can always stand to learn something new". I did learn something new and am quite glad I took the class. But, that darned monofilament...

To call it a thread may be a stretch. Ha! That's humorous in its own right as that monofilament has quite the stretchy quality to it. I think I like the idea of using it...I think my machine tends to think otherwise. It likes to twist and get tangled and get stuck and then it messes with the tension, so while I'm sewing, I have to constantly watch what the top thread is doing as it's threaded through the machine while also watching where my stitching is going (I think I need more eyes to watch everything)... 

Practice, though, over and over, and listening to my machine, I'm starting to "hear" when the monofilament is tangled and know it's time to stop sewing and give the monfilament some attention (as it's clearly begging for some), and then I can go back to sewing. Thank goodness that machine applique isn't a "sew at the speed of light" kind of activity.

In the end, using the monofilament for machine applique does produce rewards, and like a game of golf, keeps you coming back for more. You make that one cool looking applique item (or golf shot), that you figure, "I've got this", even though you know there's a frustrating part coming (a bad shot, or in the case of monofilament, a tangled mess). You just have to keep on keepin' on, though... As I worked through the tangled messes, I have managed to create a cool rendition of the Earth, using David's technique and the spool of monofilament I received in the class. The creative fun with the technique just opens up another door of design, and I think I'll continue to explore the fun it can produce. My Earth has overlapping colors which help create a transparent nature, along with a large leaf to just change up the shapes and bring in another interesting component that's "Earth-like".

Close up, you can see some of where the stitching got more prominent that I'd like...but...I think it still works...

Despite the frustrations some of our materials provide, sometimes perseverance and practice will pay off. My current piece is for a musically-inspired quilt challenge, so I'm trying to see if I can get my piece put together for our show in October.

Here's my contemporary rendition of the Earth.  I think it's kind of cool with the overlapping, transparent circles. 

Have fun embracing new techniques as you might find yourself pleasantly surprised. As with most things, you just have to figure out how to work with the different technique personalities.

Cheers!

Linking up with Nina Marie @ Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

...and Free Motion Mavericks today. 

 The Race is On…

Here we are - late August and deadlines are fast approaching.  In October, the Guild has its annual quilt show, annual fundraiser auction, and as part of the quilt show, there’s a “challenge” quilt category, which this year is “musically inspired quilts”.  That’s a lot to unpack, there, isn’t it?  Time is short to get everything completed in time.  I’m going to try, though, and see what I can get accomplished. 

It’s a bit surprising to track how long it actually takes to quilt your three-layers on a sit-down machine.  No computer involved to guide you - it’s all you and your harmony with your design and your machine.  Here’s a couple shots of the quilt I’m hoping to finish for the Quilt Show.  There’s definitely things I could have done differently, I think, but I think it’ll turn out okay.  Not a prize winner, but just entering in the show is fun.  What would I have done differently?  For one, I would have used the back side of the printed fabric for the blocks (David Taylor educated us to a front and back side of fabric - not a right or wrong side)...but I didn’t and forged ahead, so it’s what it is.  The Dresden Plates are just more subtle in the design.  I am hoping by heavily quilting the center of each block, leaving the Dresdens minimally quilted, would let the Dresdens stand out a bit more - especially after the quilt is washed.  We’ll see.  Tis a bit of an experiment…  I’m thinking the name of the quilt needs to be “Gypsy” or “Bohemian” or something along those lines…

I am having fun with the free motion quilting, though.  Very freeing to just get ideas in your brain and let go and have fun. I tend to mark a couple of main elements that I want (and where I want them) and then I just fill in around the main elements.

Close up of the free motion quilting I'm having fun with. The applique flowers pull from the background fabric in the block.

Now, the auction quilt.  That’s an earlier deadline, and I just need to get started on the quilting. It’s a wall hanging and this time I’m trying to use some 3-dimensional elements.  Perhaps I’ve captured a sunny fall day in Colorado walking amongst the Aspen trees as they put on their annual show.  It’s a bit conceptual, but I think it’ll work…another experiment, I think. 

I found all this lovely blue fabric and it felt like it would combine to make an interesting “sky”/background for the trees.  If you’ve seen any of the iconic photos of the fall Aspens here in Colorado, folks often times shoot with the deep blue Colorado sky in the background, with the gold Aspen leaves contrasting.  So, now my goal is to get it quilted...like I said, "the race is on...".

Been gone for a while, and hoping to get back to blogging more often as I am shifting gears in life and taking time off from work.  Constant stress is no way to spend every day, so, I’m “tapping out” for a while to see what the universe has to offer.  I took some quilting classes this summer and I’ll share some of those experiences in my next posting.  There’s always something to learn out there and you can be surprised by how much you can use the various techniques.  There’s certainly a world of exploration…waiting….

‘Till next time…happy creating!

Welcome Back! It has been a while...

 

STARDATE:  -299063.82 (or December 8, 2023)

Well, greetings from a long-dormant blog.  Life got crazy starting in 2020 and while folks found themselves in a myriad of unknown situations, life for me somewhat stayed on course as my job kept me monumentally busy (along with life events) and I lost any time really to post to a blog.  I wanted to; thought I’d have all kinds of time, working from home, but this darned software implementation has been a buggar.  Going on three years now, it’s still not implemented.  But, I finally decided, it’s time to stop focusing on that and start getting back (at least a little bit) to those things that I enjoy and love.

So, after plowing through making a large quilt for the annual Guild auction, I am finally finding some time to refocus on some projects (okay, call them “UFO’s”), so I’m happy about that. The Guild also had a challenge to make 12” art quilts depicting one of the seasons.  I worked through many ideas, but ran aground due to time.  In a creative burst, though, I did manage to pull together a couple of small quilts and here’s a couple shots of what I created.

One depicting a cold winter’s walk through the trees during an early sunrise... 

"A Winter's Walk" depicts a winter sunrise in Colorado.  Due to time changes, we actually get to see the sunrise on the way to work, and they're often stunning and deep rich in color.

My first real attempt at "thread painting"

And one depicting fall in all its glory as the Ash trees turn fabulous shades of red, yellow, purple, and still hang on to some green.  The sun and sky shine through, and I attempted to capture that feeling...

It's supposed to hang diagonally so the tree is straight up and down...

Fall was created by piecing the tree and its background together, then cutting roughly ¾” squares of different batiks to make the leaves.  I tried to leave some of the blue and yellow sky shining through to convey the feeling that the sun and blue sky were peeking through all the colored leaves.  That’s what these massive Ash Trees look like in the fall – at least in my mind.  I put netting over the whole thing and quilted through the netting. 

Winter was created by just free-piecing scraps of fabric together.  I somewhat designed this in the spirit of Bob Ross (you know, the “Joy of Painting” painter??!)…he always does the beautiful winterscapes with the sun shining through the winter sky haze.  I think I should have started with the dark sun in the center and moved to light as I went outward, but I kind of like the interpretation that just, well, “happened”.  The distant trees are gray while the closer trees are dark, navy blue.  Then, I attempted to do some thread painting on the trees to try to “shape” them into the round-ish beings they wanted to be. 

Meanwhile, I’m working on pulling old items out of the “I’ll get to it” bin, and actually…well….get to it.  I’ve readied one quilt for actual quilting.  The quilt is one I was working on when my pup passed away…so, it’s been 5 years or so that the quilt has been waiting to get completed. So, hopefully over the next few months, I can make some progress.

 

Cheers & Happy Quilting!

The Turtle Wins the Race, Right, Rabbit?

While working out this morning I found myself listening to one of the TED Radio hour podcasts from NPR.  Odd topic it was – “Slow”.   The subject focused around appreciating that sometimes, things move slowly for a reason, and that high-tech may not be the ultimate savior of everything; that slow is sometimes the best, most effective approach to a problem or issue. 

Then, as I was looking through a few blogs, it kind of hit me – I am a “slow” quilter.  But, I like that.  I’ve never been one to only want to sew in a straight line – I like curves, I like hand piecing, and I like taking my time to enjoy the process of making the quilt – top to bottom, back to front.  I think that’s why I can easily get frustrated with new patterns and "new" ideas – because some of those are aimed purely at the notion of how fast can we churn out a quilt and move on to the next.  I'm not the rabbit, I guess, and want to enjoy the process of making and composing a quilt - and making it my own.

I see this notion of "slow" relating in one of my latest endeavors – make this quilt that uses 3 ½” blocks – little pieced star blocks.  And, oh yeah, it’ll take 256 (yes, that’s 2-5-6) of them.  But, that’s just the start.  In addition, it takes numerous additionally-cut 3 ½” squares.  What am I?  Nuts for taking on this project?  Yeah, probably so.  But having to make 3 ½” hunter’s stars was a challenge for me.  I normally like to work with big, bold patterns and this one is small (small!).  But, last weekend, I accomplished (crossed the finish line) what I thought would take a lifetime – over 256 little, 3 ½” hunters stars completed. I think this actually took me about 2 years, working off and on.  I admit, I must have gotten overzealous when cutting the last star pieces (probably because I saw the light at the end of the tunnel), and cut a few too many.  Oh well – completed as they are, I’ll use them somewhere. 

Here's the quilt I'm patterning from.  Lots of squares.  But, for me, that's dull, so I'm mixing up the colored squares and free-piecing scraps to add more interest.

So, out of a fabric I bought on-line – and it looked really neat on line, but when I got it, I kind of hated it and set it aside – I now have 256+ star blocks that I smile at every time I look at them.  Funny, when something is cut into little pieces and sewn in a different configuration, something once icky becomes enjoyable.  Lesson learned:  don’t discount those fabrics you don’t like:  cut them up and you may find they take on a new life.  

The original fabric, being cut into 1 1/4" strips to make the stars.  I didn't like this so much to begin with, but cut apart and paired with the white star, I really like the effect.

So, here’s what 256 star blocks look like. 

Staging for keeping track of all the pieces I needed for each star. A block of Styrofoam comes in handy.  

Close up of the 3 1/2" stars.  I liked some of the printing on the edge of the fabric, that I included in the stars.  Gives some clues as to what fabric was used.

And, to complicate the quilt further – instead of cutting all those additional 3 ½” squares to put the block together, I decided to modernize and retro it at the same time by creating the pieces I need out of scraps sewn in wonky ways.  I rather like this treatment as it adds more interest to the quilt.  If I have a path to choose  - one easy and one hard – I’m pretty much taking the “hard way home”.  I’ll get there; it will be slow.  But I enjoy this process and enjoy the excitement that free-sewing can provide.  It’s a bit of freedom that comes along with the process – it’s challenging and fun at the same time. 

This is the finished block.  Each block will look slightly different as I free-piece the colored side of the block.  I'm doing this instead of cutting all those 3 1/2" squares.  I like the effect more as it provides much more interest (at least it does for me).

This the back of the block.  Just for fun.

Have fun in what you enjoy doing.  I think it frees your mind to be even more creative. Linking up with friends this week, after being gone for a while... 

Happy Quilting!

Wander Not

Oh, I’m slow.  Been meaning to post a final finish and I’ve just been packed up getting life situated for fall and winter. But, I’m going to make it this week and show you the finished version of my pieced leaf.  I’m quite happy with it and have named it “Energy” because when I look at it, it lifts my spirits and gives me a bounce in my step.  But, I’ll have to make another one, if I want one for myself as this one has gone off to auction for the Longmont Quilt Guild.  Here it is - I kept the quilting pretty simple and just added a couple small flourishes including some cool, modern circles to just give the piece some motion – and ENERGY!  Ha!  There it is…full circle.  It has an art binding finish and is about a 20” square, all complete.

 

The leaf is made from jelly roll 2 ½” strips; the background is just several red and white fabrics I have collected over time.

You can view the items for auction – and register to bid and buy some if you’d like.  Check it out here charityauction.bid/LQG .  The auction formally starts on October 22nd, but you can look now - and you can look without buying, too, just for inspiration.  This is part of a Jelly Roll Challenge that the Guild promoted to provide a fundraiser for the Guild since we can’t do in-person things. There's some unique quilts out there - even bags, pillows, and more. 

Well, meanwhile, I took a day off from work – you know, for just mental health purposes – and spent the day doing things for me…including dropping in to my local quilt shop.  They have quite abbreviated hours and are only open during hours I have to work, so I took the opportunity and just went shopping – Not for anything in particular.  Often times, I just go look for fabric to see what fabric might speak to me, spark my imagination, and inspire me.  I must have wandered for a good 45 minutes, just looking. I had some ideas, but nothing that made me go, “ooh!”.  Until…until I found this fabric. 

 

It’s actually a panel – a “Tree of Life” panel (and this is only half of it).  Cool in its own right, however, I was struck by the scale of the print and the colors.  The randomness of the design also caught my eye.  So, I grabbed the bolt, admired the fabric for a bit and then realized I could use it for a background.  I worked to “marry” it to other fabrics in the store and found two that I liked.  Here’s what I’d put together for a background combination.

 

I have some fabrics that I’ve been collecting for a while and was looking for an inspirational idea to use for the background.  I now think I’ve found it.  I wanted something that would complement the colors in my stash and provide a nice change of tone.  My imagination wants to create modern Dresdens (you know, instead of the traditional Dresden Plate pattern, but highly similar) with a lot of the colors and then have a complementary background.  So, this is what I’ve landed on.

 

Now, with all the other projects I have going on, I’m about ready to start one more.  Suppose, though, that I will attempt to finish a couple of my UFO’s first, and then get to work on this one.  Like any quilter, I’m pretty sure I have far too many quilts I want to make and not enough time to make them all.  But still, I’m going to try. You just have to, right?!

I have at least two more art quilts that’ll be pieced, that I want to work on, but I need to refine those designs – they are my own, and like the leaf above, will be assembled in the same manner.  Maybe as the weather gets cooler and the yardwork less, I’ll have more time to play with fabric.  One can only hope.

Remember, “All who wander are not lost”.  Wander more.  Fret less.  Quilt on.

 

Observations and Musings While Creating

What an interesting several days it has been.  Like other states in the West, Colorado is suffering from wildfires and one of the worst droughts we’ve had since 2012.  I know that sounds like nothing to folks from California who have things much worse than us in Colorado.  Still, the days feel weird because we’re getting all the smoke (and ash) from the wildfires, even though we’re many miles away from them.  The days are unusually hazy, ozone alerts are in effect, you can feel the burning in your lungs and eyes, the sunrises and sunsets are highly colored red, there’s an odd reddish/orange glow to the natural light, and a distinct smoke smell fills the air.  Hot and dry.  I’ve hoped for rain for some time now, but it generally seems to pass us by.  When we do get any, it gets gobbled up by the earth so quickly you can’t even tell it rained.  I’m hoping weather patterns will shift…and soon. In the meantime, I try to appreciate the flame red glow of the circular sun as it sets in the evening.  You can look straight at it and not bother your eyes because the smoke is so heavy; it feels almost like the light of an eclipse.

There is beauty, even in this smokey haze.  And, I guess maybe it teaches us to appreciate different things – or to just learn to develop an appreciation for what comes your way, knowing that, eventually, this too will pass and things will get back into some level of balance.  That’s how I view the pandemic, too, I guess.  There’s a reason for it – the reason, though, hasn’t made itself known. Maybe the reason is within ourselves to learn to develop appreciation for simple things – or get us to start invoking our creativity.  I get a post from one of our local eateries that we frequent – the owner writes the posts himself and ponders a lot of the things going on today.  I find his posts interesting as he and his crew work tirelessly to stay in business – and stay sane, themselves, through all of this, and how they invoke their creativity to stay afloat.

The quilt guild I’m a member of started a “jelly roll” challenge as a fundraiser for the year, since most of the general fundraising activities were curtailed, because, well, you know…  The challenge was to make a quilt using a jelly roll (or 2 ½” strips you cut from your stash).  I decided to invoke my creativity and create something that is made with a jelly roll, not exclusively, but in part, because I wanted to try to create something different. I invoked my creative inspiration (as I often do – being inspired by the likes of Ruth B. McDowell, and others) and drew up a leaf, standing tall.  I knew, when I drew up the pattern, I wanted to use red as the background (I’m not sure why, I just did), and I wanted the leaf to be a prominent strong point – BOLD – in color and stature. So, here’s where my creativity landed me for the last couple of weeks. 

The start of figuring out what fabrics to use...and cutting apart the pattern...

I’m now piecing the “piece” and hoping I can get it completed in time for the fundraiser.  I’m slow in starting, but sometimes seem to work better under pressure of a deadline.  The leaf is made from jelly roll strips – those 2 ½” wide strips that normally I don’t use.  I buy yardage (grunt, grunt), not precut items (we all have our preferences!).  So it was a bit of a challenge for me to figure out how to use 2 ½” strips instead of whole pieces (I may have cheated but they never said the WHOLE quilt had to be made with the strips… Yikes…maybe a technicality…).  I wound up sewing strips together, then cutting out the shapes I needed, which helped create the leaf structure itself, even if in an abstract way.  The piece is about 20” square, so hopefully I can get it done in the next two weeks.  I love using fabric with varying scale, and was able to select all the reds from my stash (they aren’t jelly roll strips).  We’ll see where it goes. I admit, when I look at it, it makes me smile.  Maybe because it is bold – or maybe because it’s a design I created and executed…

More fabric choices made... I just love the red and white contrast to the greens...

Arrgghh...a little yellow on the photo coloring, but you get the idea of where it's headed...

Meanwhile, I finally sandwiched another quilt – a retirement quilt.  I might get it completed for a friend who retired 2 years ago.  (I think I said I could be slow…)  So, it’s on the quilting table and I’ve started on it.  This hot weather will drive me to the basement where it’s cooler, so I’ll be doing some more quilting on it soon.

Pinning always takes a while, but it's ready to go.  I offset the quilt with an applique border on one side.

I noticed on Pam’s blog (Applique Paintbox), that she said the selection of Kamala Harris as the VP candidate with Joe Biden gave her hope.  I am glad to see a woman potentially making it to the White House.  I think our country is long overdue.  I think we’ve been so polarized in this country for far too long.  We need to get back to a place where we can respect each other – maybe not agree all the time – but come to a place in the middle where we can function again – creatively solving issues instead of stagnating.  We just might make it this time.  Time will tell. 

Keep on finding your creative voice.  It’s there – channel it and watch it grow.

Cheers!

Linking up with Nina Marie at Creations-Quilts, Art, Whatever

Enjoy your "Quilt Family"

I look at numbers all day long.  Probably to the point that I can’t really see beyond them sometimes and my brain gets fogged out on trying to process everything, often wondering how what I’m doing on a daily basis is helping the world be a better place.  I don’t have an answer, but I do wonder.  At times, I think, I’m making the world a better place by providing beautiful things to use, enjoy, and provide comfort. And maybe that’s just the purpose of creating and creating art – whatever that art is.  Whether it’s comforting or meant to stir emotions or release feelings, it’s all what we need throughout our lives.

I recently received a notice from the magazine, Quiltfolk, that they were searching for stories about “family” as they realized that family was a common thread, especially during this weird time.  I struggled to develop a story idea about family, but couldn’t quite come up with a concrete idea to present.  As I pondered the topic, though, it got me to thinking.  Family isn’t just your blood relatives – family also encompasses your friends and those in the quilting community, whom from which, you draw inspiration.  It’s the people who share the same love you have for the art.  It’s the folks at your local quilt shop who know you because you visit so often.  It’s the guy who comes to service and repair your sewing machines, who you can have political, intellectual discussions with while he’s taking apart your prized possessions to make them purr like a kitten again.  It’s folks in your local quilt guild who make you laugh and smile as you see what they are inspired by and how they put their own love into their own quilts. And yes, it’s your linked family that also quilts – those who you can inspire, and glean inspiration from, or just share the latest “fabric find” with.  That’s family – a quilting family.   And, no, it’s not a glamorous storyline, nor does it make for a fantastic headline.  But, it most likely represents 90% of us who are quilting today.  We love it.  It might be the colors in the fabric.  It might be the pattern design that intrigues us.  It might be the constant complexity of trying something new.  It might be because we can define a little piece of who we are by what we love to do.  And, we can share that love.

Suppose, for me, that’s why I share what I love to do.  Sure, looking at numbers all day provides an income, but it doesn’t satisfy the longing to bring hope and joy into this world.  I hope that by sharing  what I love, and the passion I have for quilting, that you’ll find inspiration – or joy, or hope, or a revelation that “if she can do that, so can I”. 

View from below.  The quilt is approximately 80" x 96" (maybe even larger), and this is at the bottom looking up.

So, this week, I’ll share with you a quilt top I finished setting together.  I never thought I would get it made as this pattern has given me fits for a long time.  I’ve tried several times to make this pattern – all different techniques – to no avail. Finally, I’ve done it! And I told my sister one time, that if I could accomplish this pattern, I’d feel like I was a good quilter.  I’ve put it together and now I want to push even more (that’s my own weird brain).  It’s made with all Kaffe fabrics and I attempted to arrange the pieces by tone (I think that’s right) so it would blend and move. 

I didn’t applique the pattern – it’s all hand-pieced.  All 120 blocks.  I finally decided to trace my seam lines on the back of the fabric and follow them as I was stitching.  

Hours and hours of hand stitching, but it paid off as the middle parts of each block came out great!

Previously, I just cut the pieces – with the allotted seam allowance – and then started stitching and the middles never would work out.  Plus I read something that said, “you’ll be stitching on top of the seam you just made”, and somehow, this time, that sunk in.  I got the centers I wanted, and I can’t wait to quilt this one up.  I think simple rounds will be the pattern, to accentuate the rounds that the blocks made.  I’m quite happy with this one.  I’ve got mistakes in it, but after ripping out one seam three times and getting the same result each time I re-stitched it, I figured, when you look at it in totality, no one is going to notice that flaw. 

Meanwhile, I’ve started another kaleidoscope block.  Yep, I’m nuts.  I like these – they are fun – and a challenge to make.  

It's a start.  Clearly, I'm trying to figure out what to do next; hence the fabric pinned up before I cut anything.

I still have several pieces to figure out, but here’s where I am so far.

I hope you take time to appreciate and enjoy your family – quilting family, too.  We don’t know what this world holds for any of us, but we can enjoy our small slice by doing what we can to keep us happy and feeling like we’re helping out in some, if even small, way.

Cheers!

Almost done…

What progress we can make when we chip away at things a little at a time.  Don’t ever think that everything has to get done in one day…the little things do add up, and they add up in a BIG way. 

Slowly, mainly on the weekends, I would take a bit of time and at least quilt one block; maybe two.  And, over the last couple of months, while all staying at home to stay safe from the virus, here I am just about ready to complete the quilting on a quilt I thought I might never finish.   I’m so excited and pleased to at least be getting this completed – after about a year of it sitting on my quilting table and my lamenting at the mistake I had made…  I’ve gotten past that; it won’t be show quality, but maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

The teardrop on the border really sets off the quilt.  Such a fun pattern to quilt, too

My last push was the teardrop quilting around the edge of the border.  I got the idea by watching Christina Cameli – she’s doing daily “draw with me” type tutorials during this pandemic as we’re all eager to continue exercising our creative outlets.  I saw her do the pattern and thought, “hey, I could use that”.  She’d noted that she had done a whole quilt in this pattern and that she “loved it”.  I can see why…after quilting a portion of the border, I have to say, “I love it”, too!  It’s just a beautiful, wandering design that thrives on variation.  I can see me using this pattern on other quilts…

I am quite pleased with the quilting on the quilt…I strove to make the quilting pattern in each block different; so each is unique.  And, I’m so happy I chose to simply use a non-pattern backing for the quilt as you can see all the wonderful quilting (mistakes and all).  I especially like how you can see the outline of the applique pattern among the various quilting patterns. 

Meanwhile, I hit my own milestone on a quilt pattern I have struggled with for years to get right.  I finsihed my 120^th piece and now am ready to start arranging the blocks for my Wheel of Mystery quilt.  I always thought if I could piece this quilt, why, then, I’ve become an accomplished quilter.  I’ve done it – but now, I think I can push for more.

This is only part of the stack of 120 blocks...they're up on the wall, being "arranged"

I have several art quilts I have drawn up and want to work on ( I already started a Paula Nadelstern kaleidoscope – the challenging method), so I think those will come next as I work on getting at least one more of the 5-8 quilt tops hanging on my banister quilted this year.  Paula’s method is time consuming, but really allows your creativity to flow – and you don’t know how it’s all going to turn out in the end.  It’s a surprise, no matter how much you plan…

My first block using Paula's technique.  I'm excited to try more!

Little by little, we can accomplish much. 

Enjoy the little things for they add up to monumental achievements, even if only in our own eyes.

Happy quilting!

Renewing Interest

I haven’t posted in many months – in fact, it’s probably been a couple of years.  I’ve been meaning to; really I have.  A new job with more responsibilities kind of took away some freedoms and so I find I have less time to devote to the things I love. Now, though, time is a bit of a fog with the whole world being turned upside down.  Who knows what to think of all of this; I certainly have mixed reactions – melancholy in that I really can’t do much to change anything, anger and frustration because reasonableness seems to have gone out the window, and the calm that comes with now having to work from home.  Human interaction is virtually at a standstill, and who knows how long it all will last.

What it has given me, though, is some time.  Time to think and time to sew – or escape.  There’s just only so much Netflix one can watch, and only so much news one should watch. So, I find, it’s time to start getting back to things that matter and back to things that do make sense.

I figured it’d be fun to show several projects I’m working on.  Are they UFOs?  Well, not really. They're simply work in progress at various stages.  I don’t know about you, but when I get stuck on something that I’m not sure what I want to do with it, I set it aside for a while.  I figure if I let my mind rest from it, at some point I’ll get an epiphany and the light bulb will shine. Once that happens, then I’m off and running on that project again. 

We’re quilters.  We have more than good intentions, yet we can get sidelined and get stuck in the “I’m trying to make this my best quilt ever” mode.  I did that with one of my quilts – sandwiched the darned thing incorrectly, started quilting it, and got too far along to rip it all out once I figured out I sandwiched it wrong. So, instead of just dealing with it and moving on, it has been sitting, on my quilting table, for almost a year now.  I get lost in the “perfect” world, get mad, then don’t finish something.  I look at it every day – because it’s near my workout area, so I see it nearly every day.  It’s too pretty to just give up on.  It’s too much work already invested to be angry at it and want to toss it aside.  That’s not what quilting should be – it should be an expression and it should be enjoyable – not something that makes you mad and frustrated.  So, I finally decided to just get on with it – resign that it’s not “perfect”.  No, it won’t win awards, but every quilt doesn’t need to, nor should it.  Every quilt needs to be enjoyed.  It needs to be loved and cherished because a lot of work goes into these beauties.  They are phenomenal works that folks produce, and they should be enjoyed. 

So, here’s some of what I’m working on these days…

A “wheel of mystery” quilt that I’m hand-piecing.  I have almost 100 pieced made; think I need 120 and then I can start to set it together. This has been my nemesis quilt pattern….I’ve tried to piece this for years, never being successful. Then, this year, for some reason (really, 2019) I figured out how to piece the pattern, and now, I’m close to having the pieces ready to set together.  Wow!  I always thought to myself, “self, if you can piece this quilt, you truly are a good quilter”.  Achievements; those are always nice things.

95 pieces and counting...we'll get there...it just takes time...which most of us have now that we're at home more...

Here’s my Circle Play pieces that I’m working on from a Jen Kingwell pattern.  What I love about this is nothing – and I mean literally nothing – has to match.  You don’t have to fuss about what works together and what doesn’t – but, magically, it all works.  Only 4 more pieces to go and I’ll be ready to set this together.

The Jen Kingwell pattern I'm working on.  Nothing HAS to match, which makes this fun.  Circles, though, are challenging...but hand-piecing works best for me in these situations...

And, here’s a quilt I’ve intended to make for  a friend and his wife who both retired about 2 years ago.  Yep, I’m a bit slow.  But, the front will be this happy farm-like pattern and the back will have Dodge cars and Dodge fabric on the back – you see, my friend is a Dodge car fan.  So, the front is for his wife, the back is for him.  Fun, huh?

And then, here’s the applique quilt that almost didn’t get quilted.  It’s in progress and at least I’ve decided it makes more sense to quilt it and enjoy it rather than toss it aside.  I’ve got hours – I don’t know how many hours – of needle-turned applique work on this quilt…the first, and probably only all-applique quilt I’ll ever do.  So, it needs its place in the sun, and finishing it only seems fitting.

Two blocks and part of the border is quilted.  I'm making headway, but it's slow because the quilting is dense.  But, like most things, in time, it'll get finished.  I have to get it quilted so I can get it off the table and get others on...

This world isn’t perfect.  Nothing is.  But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy it for what it is.  And, every quilt doesn’t need to be a “winner” in some show.  Every quilt needs to be a “winner” in the eyes of the owner.  As you look at your stash, find those “misfit toys” that still want and need to be loved.  Sure, they’re not perfect, but they’re perfect in their imperfection.  Remember what’s important, and get to enjoying things from the base level. 

Life is going to be okay.

Breathe.