Olas Del Oceano

As much as I love free sewing, making it up as I go along, and trying new things, there are nevertheless a few traditional quilt patterns on my list that I will not be happy until I have made.  One of them is Ocean Waves.  Back, way back, when I went through a frenzy of cutting up my scraps for different projects in the hopes of reducing the irreducible volume thereof, I cut a big pile of squares destined to become half-square-triangles for an Ocean Waves quilt.  

This is a true scrap quilt in that every scrap in the box is fair game and no attempt has been made to choose a color scheme or coordinate colors.  It's incredibly fun to be reminded of the sources of all the different scraps - it takes me back to a lot of old projects.

Truthfully, with the number of time-limited projects I've mentally committed myself to lately, and my track record of late, this is probably not the best thing for me to be spending my time on.  However, I've had a lot going on at work lately, and my ability to compartmentalize, usually one of my strengths, has been really challenged.  This repetitive, methodical project has been really relaxing to work on as I can just focus on one simple task and it helps me clear my head.  I have been listening to the works of Jane Austen on iTunes while sewing away.

Hmmmm

OK, turns out there is very little contrast and I am very much undecided about it.

A inner border probably would have helped, but I don't think I'm going to unpick it.

Although I like wide, I think I perhaps did stray into the territory of TOO wide on the border. I'm thinking it would probably be better if I trimmed it down a touch.

Any other suggestions?

In Progress

Well, I may be in a "not so much on the sewing" phase of my life, but the good news is, as long as human beings keep procreating there will be something pulling me back to the sewing machine...

Case in point, another quick and messy baby quilt I am attempting to make. Let me preface this by saying that the baby is due, like, tomorrow or something. But whatever.

The baby, upon his or her birth, will belong to a co-worker from the shelter and his wife, who I have seen a couple time post-Texas and who are all around cool cats. I plan to keep the quilt gender neutral. My original inspiration: the southwest. They have both spent time in the southwest and have a lot of southwestern accents in their house, so it seemed appropriate.

Months ago I pulled a bunch of southwestern/folk art inspired prints, as well as some coordinating tonals. I could not, however, for the life of me come up with a vision of what I wanted to do. So, the fabric kind of sat there and nothing actually happened for a long time. This is probably part of the reason the "in progress" post is coming like a day before the baby is due.

Anyway, I toyed with the idea of just forgetting it and not making anything. Then after a while I remembered a pile of charm squares I had sitting around somewhere that have nothing to do with the southwest, but that I might be able to throw together into something interesting. So I got them out.

I had gotten about this far:



when I discovered that most of the rest of the squares were blue! Doesn't work so well for an allegedly gender neutral quilt. Unfortunately, that little bit is only 18x27, not quite enough.

Then, in a fortuitous moment, one of the fabrics in the southwest/folk art pile caught my eye:



Although "they" say you shouldn't make a border wider just to make a quilt bigger, I'm thinking I quite like the affect of a wide border here. Anyway, it's a big print, so a wide border is kind of needed to show it off. I think it works. (It probably won't be _quite_ that wide, as I think that's 10 or 12 inches in the picture.)

Or does it? Maybe it's a little too crazy. Maybe only a mother could love it. Not sure yet. But I'm going with it!

Sewing This Year

I cannot seem to gain much momentum in sewing this year.

The sweater project stalled out because I need one more sweater and have not made it to the thrift store to get one, and hopefully pick up a flannel sheet for the back of it. So one day I'll get back to that...as with so many things.

I have been going through the other supplies that I have here, in part to remind myself what there is and in part to (hopefully) inspire myself. Of the things I have, what is most getting my attention is what I like to think of as my "bits and pieces" box. Left over blocks, projects from my mother, unincorporated pieced units, attempts at surface design, little experiments that didn't relate to a larger project. Perhaps it is time to start putting these little bits into a larger whole.

A bit at a time. The thing is, I really want to think about it, and ponder each addition before I sew it down. I see it as a memoir quilt, sort of, a retrospective on my fiber life up until now. And I really want it to be a thoughtful project.

But it's hard to gain momentum when you're working that way.

So, so far I have this little bit.

In A Past Life

I have had a four day weekend this weekend for the New Year holiday and since I wasn't traveling I thought it would be nice to play around with a sewing project a bit. I do have sewing space set up in my room, but my supplies are not stored in a very accessible way. When I started trying to dig them out I found at the very top the felted sweaters that I cut apart last winter in preparation for the felted sweater quilt/blanket I have long been planning (I don't plan to have a batting layer for this project and therefore probably won't actually quilt it much).



I know there are a million uses for felted sweaters (in theory) but they also take up a lot of room so I told myself I needed to do something with them or stop storing them to use "someday". So what I was planning to be my next project last winter seemed as good a place as any to start up this winter.

My vague plan for the project was a patchwork center surrounded by larger solid squares. When cutting them apart I noticed how the sleeves could kind of fit together inversely, so for the center I decided to sew the sleeves together and trim them down to blocks, then use the fronts and backs for border squares. The placement of the sleeve blocks was pretty much dictated by size as I wanted to minimize further trimming.


The center

Not sure how much time I will have to work on this in coming days/weeks, but it's fun so far. I just love the look of felted sweaters and am enjoying this project. As I know the scraps won't really fit into the scrap box (not like I'm going to mix them in to other scrap projects) I'm thinking of using them to do a little bit of buttonhole stitch applique on this top - maybe stars? We'll see.


Preview of what it may look like with the border

Like all of you (no doubt) I have been noticing the "year in review" posts on various blogs and admiring what you all accomplished in 2010. I finished only three quilts in 2010 and posted on this blog a mere seven times. If it weren't for feed readers I would probably give it up as a lost cause, but the magic of bloglines and google reader allows at least a few dedicated readers to keep up with me without the annoyance of having to check back during the months-long breaks to see if I've done anything yet. Thanks to those who still click when you see "Quilty the Libster" highlighted in bold...

I know much better than to make predictions as to what 2011 will hold for me creatively. There is a project I want to try to finish for some friends by the summer - in fact, it's this project, the log cabin that I started in 2007. I would love to finish it queen sized as originally intended but we'll see if it becomes a throw-sized quilt (as so many supposed-to-be-bigger projects do) instead. Either way, I will be happy if it gets done.

(Interestingly, the log cabin was started for a different friend who I ended up giving this quilt to, which was also started for a different friend than the one who received it. Musical quilts? Do you ever find yourself working on something that you intended to give to someone and thinking as it comes together that maybe it isn't as good of a fit for that person as you originally thought? And then later decide in fact it's perfect for someone else? Apparently this happens to me a lot, but maybe it's just me.)

Beyond that, I have no other plans for 2011 except for a desire to sew more but a commitment, nevertheless, to going with the flow and seeing where the year takes me rather than making firm goals that I may not keep. I mean you never know with me (that is, I never know with me). I might be about to go off on a sewing spree or I might be just as dormant as I have been. Ya veremos. We shall see.

Happiest of new years to you and yours...hope it's off to a good start.

Preview

Just a quick and messy preview of the baby quilt:



I could tell early on that this was going to be a quick and messy quilt. No time to spend agonizing over the design and no eye for it anyway - I just took the idea and went with it.

They don't want to know what they're having so I went with primaries/rainbow to be gender neutral. Gender neutral is hard for me. It's an alphabet quilt although it doesn't exactly "read" as such. I have an ABC focus print that I love and I cut up one panel to form the blocks. They have fun pictures as you can see the letters when you're a bit closer, but you kind of lose it from a distance. Oh well. Mom and baby can get close to it.

Here is a close up of one letter:



Next up: assemble, quilt, in the mail by Thanksgiving. Can she do it??

The Start of Something

As the year comes to an end my mind predictably turns to resolutions. I just pulled up my "resolution" post from a year ago. I had six resolutions: four I did decently well at, the other two were complete non-starters. I stuck to my resolutions about buying fabric, starting and finishing projects, and did okay at trying new things. I did NOT even make an attempt at learning to free motion quilt, and I spent very little time on non-quilting crafts. I did finish my Texas scrapbook, but besides that I'm not sure if I can think of any other non-quilt crafting that I did. That might change this year since I got some jewelry making supplies for Christmas.

I guess I won't make resolutions this year. I'm still working through my transition and waiting for all the pieces of my life to "land", so it's hard to say what's going to be realistic or possible for me in the "creativity" and "creating" department.

I think if I was going to make a resolution for this area of my life right now it would be to validate my creative activities.

Anyway, while I was at my parents over this holiday I did NOT do any hand quilting (less time was spent watching TV than usually might be). I did however decide to pull out the scrap box and do some good-old-fashioned sewing together of scraps. This is a little "start of something" - probably will get some borders and be a crazy-ish baby quilt. It was fun.

Setting for Swap Blocks

I've been trying to develop a setting for the blocks I received through the craftster block swap I participated in at the beginning of the year. I've had a basic idea, but was not sure which of the many possible variations I wanted to do. Any of the versions would require more blocks so I started this past weekend by working on more blocks:







By the time I finished these blocks I had landed on a setting idea that I thought I was happiest with, so that's what I worked on the rest of this weekend. None of this is sewn together yet except those strip set borders:



To guide your viewing, let me just say that it is "upside down" in this picture, but I did not rotate it because then the angle looks funky. Also, I can already see that in the center section I will switch the top middle and the right middle blocks (according to where they are in this picture) to balance the colors more. Also, sorry it's dark - it was late evening by the time I got around to this. Keeping those things in mind...

Actually I'm finding I like it more today than I did yesterday, but I'm still going back and forth between liking it and fearing it might be too busy/funky/weird/? I mean it certainly is busy, and the borders and lack of sashing do nothing to calm it down. It does have a certain charm to it, though.

Now wait, I am anticipating that someone somewhere will want to know what it would look like with the strips sets flipped around so the white is on the outside, so I laid that out, too. Try to cleanse your palate before you look at it, though...

c

l

e

a

n

s

e

Ok, here it is (and the good news is, this picture is right side up and all the blocks have been moved around):



Hmm...personally I definitely like the first one better. I will continue to mull it over. I have one more block and lots of scraps that will go on the back.

London Step

I am no longer trying to reduce my fabric accumulation by getting rid of fabric.* I will only reduce my stash by using what I have and not buying anything new. Here's why: I can't get rid of fabric. As soon as I get a pile of fabric together that I have convinced myself I can part with, I am inspired to make something with it. Yes, there is something about seeing all that unloved, rejected fabric together in the same place that inspires me. Contrary to popular believe, this is NOT because I'm trying to get rid of fabric that is beautiful, or that I love or even like, or that on its own inspires me. Each individual piece of fabric in the pile is ugly, weird, or minimally it's boring, and almost all of it is of questionable quality. Every individual piece I can look at and say, "Oh yeah, I can get rid of this!" That's how it got into the pile, after all. I guess it's the pile that gets me. Once I see it all together I say to myself, "you know what I could do with all this..." and the wheels start turning. And it's all over.

So maybe I should just try getting rid of my nice fabric??

This is the first project inspired by "the pile". It is based on a photo of a quilt in the book "Bold Improvisation." If you get a chance to look at that book, I highly recommend it. I got it for my mother for Christmas and have been enjoying it ever since! There are many quilts in there that give me ideas. One in a zig-zag/rail fence pattern called "London Step" kind of jumped off the page at me, and I am doing an interpretation of it.



Obviously it is a pretty free-style piece. I did no planning in terms of the fabric combinations and colors (do I even need to tell you that?). I didn't attempt to directly replicate the blocks/color combos in the inspiration quilt, but tried to get the same random "using up odds and ends" feel. I have used at least four fabrics so far that are not quilting cottons - some flannel from an old sheet, a stretch twill, a corduroy, and some pillow case fabric. This is the first time I have mixed so many fabrics, so we'll see how it goes. I think this is slightly more than half the number of blocks I will end up doing...

Well, the good news is that while I'm busy being inspired by my junk fabric, for the most part I have been realllllly good about not buying new fabric. Ever since I spent my Christmas gift certificate, I have only made a few small fabric purchases - a few yards of black and grey broadcloth, two or three 50% off remnants, and maybe two other pieces of yardage and one fat quarter. I mean we're talking about a time period of more than SIX MONTHS, so I definitely think I'm doing pretty well. And I've decided that if I continue to be good about not buying fabric for about another, you know, year or so, then I will buy myself some frivolous things as a treat. In the meantime I'm going to try to focus on USING WHAT I HAVE!! That means I need to get sewing....................



*Watch this space for posts in which I resolve to reduce my fabric accumulation by getting rid of fabric.

256 Square Inches

252 one inch squares (1.5" unfinished) + about a week of on-and-off sewing = this piece:



All that work for a piece that is smaller than a fat quarter! That's my pin cushion on it for scale. I have so much additional respect for people who make full size quilts out of squares this small, like this one for example!



Of course a big part of the reason why it took me so long is that I planned the layout and every square had a specific place I wanted it to be. That meant I couldn't do too much chain piecing because I felt I would quickly get confused about what went where. I could imagine that working in a less planned way would go faster, but no matter what it would be time consuming!

The sad thing is I would like to conclude from that that I shouldn't bother saving scraps this small anymore, but I probably will. I actually kind of liked it, and I could see myself doing this again. Oh the horror.



This quilt is somewhat reminiscent of this one, except that those were five inch squares. I will probably end up doing one in every possible size. Why not.



If anyone thinks that this looks super fun, I have a bag of one inch squares I can send you. I don't know how many squares are in it, but enough to make a good start I think. I'll send it to the first person to express interest, if anyone does!

They Call It Madness

Does this look like a basketball to you?

I have been working on a lot of different things (obviously), and jumping from project to project a lot. I started cutting drunkard's path pieces during my big scrap cutting marathon a while back. Last weekend I needed something to do with my hands while watching the first action packed weekend of the NCAA tournament, so I spent the time clipping and pinning drunkard's path units - because the clipping and pinning part takes for-ev-er. Sewing them once they are prepped is a pretty fast process, but the prepping...not so much.

I have only been planning on doing a small project - a baby quilt, I imagined - but since the largest units I can make with the templates I have are 4" unfinished, even a small project takes a lot of units. I decided to do 64, and got most of them done last weekend.

I was planning all along to do a traditional drunkard's path layout, but...come to find out that for that layout you're supposed to alternate the dark and light on the quarter circle and the arc. That is, half the units have a dark quarter circle and the other half have a light quarter circle. I did them all dark, with white arcs. Umm...duh? Sadly that never occurred to me - it wouldn't have been any problem to do 32 of each, but now that I have 64 of one kind of unit I do not think I'm going to make 64 more unless I can't find a nice layout for the ones I've got.

Soooo, I spent some time today trying out different layouts and snapping pics so that I could compare them and see if there's one I like. I actually have a book about drunkard's path quilts in hand, and I found a few traditional layouts that use only one kind of unit. These units need to be trimmed and steamed into submission, and I also didn't pay too much attention to color placement in these pics. You get the general idea, though.

This one is called "Baby Bunting"



"Anna Dancing"



"Around the World"



I like the first two the best. I did a couple others, too, but did not like them as much. Of course, I certainly haven't exhausted my layout options. Once you start playing around with this things the possibilities are pretty limitless. I will continue to contemplate this for a while. Still enjoying the tourney this weekend, but as of this evening my bracket is officially BUSTED.

The Fabric Makes the Quilt

While I do have a few things I'm still trying to be focused on finishing, it looks like I am kind of shifting into "starting" mode again. As per my '09 resolutions, I am trying to prioritize what I start and think about which projects are really most important to me. One thing I am very determined to start is a memory quilt based on my trip to Namibia (a mere seven years ago). While I was there I bought these strips of folk art embroidery done by members of a women's cooperative.



The strips are about 40" long and 6" tall. I have a pile of fabrics for this quilt that I selected, I don't know, about five or six years ago. I was reading Roberta Horton's "The Fabric Makes the Quilt" at the time. I've been waiting for the fabric to make the quilt ever since. Maybe I was supposed to leave it out by the machine with a rotary cutter nearby?

But seriously folks. I like that book and found it inspirational like most of Roberta's books that I've read. Nevertheless I have yet to be able to tap into the quilt that the fabrics and these embroideries want to be. My original idea was to make a row quilt where I would leave these strips uncut and mix them in with rows of piecing. I still might do that. I'm worried that there might be too much white space. I could also cut the strips up, probably into a variety of sizes to keep designs intact.



I know you might be thinking...after seven years if she hasn't made this quilt, how much does she really care about it? I do, though. I really want it to happen, so I'm determined to make some kind of start on it. The reason I never have yet is, I think, due to that certain lack of vision. Quilters block. What have you. But I have lots of fabric, so I think I will just start cutting and sewing and see what I come up with. Hopefully in doing so I'll be able to strike upon some kind of plan.

On an unrelated note, look what I got from Dionne! A little taste of the tropics...I love it.

When Scraps Take Over

You may have been worried when you read about me cutting all my scraps up that I wouldn't have anything left for free pieced projects (like this one). No need to worry, I had a whole set of other scraps set aside for this project. I started this a while ago and have been thinking of it as a long term project - there wasn't exactly a goal or end in sight, just piecing scraps together at random until they become something. When I started it I thought it would be a good project to have on hand to just work on now and then, when I had time, when I needed a mental break, etc. It takes no planning since it's all random, so it should be easy to pick up at anytime. It's also a good creative boost because it is so free and spur of the moment.



The reality has been that I haven't worked on it very much. The only part I've consistently worked on is adding blue, green, and purple scraps to the pile. Now I've gotten it all out and put it by the machine (actually it's basically eaten the machine and the surrounding area) and I'm feeling like I may just want to work on it till it's done. I'm beginning to think there may be more than one quilt here. I had originally imagined creating a lot of units of different sizes and shapes and setting them together with thin black sashing so they look somewhat like a mosaic. I may or may not do that, but I'm starting to have other ideas, too.




These pictures cover only a few of the units and blocks that I currently have. I don't know how many scraps I started with, but I definitely still have plenty.

To Border or Not To Border

This is the baby quilt top I'm working on for Debra's project to make quilts for pregnant teens. My original idea for this quilt ended up not looking very good, so I took the pieces I already had cut out and brainstormed a way to make them work together. After trying many things this is what I came up with. I do think that it seems finished as is. However it is 36" square, so maybe a little small for a baby quilt. I'm not completely opposed to a border, either. A four inch border would make it 44" square. The border could be one of these:





What do you think?? Border or no border? One of these borders or a different one? (I've auditioned some other border choices, but these were my two favorites so far.) I also thought about adding something on the top and bottom to make it longer but not wider, however I can't really visualize it.

Thanks to everyone who played along in my game of "What is this quilt?" It gave me a lot of food for thought. I was interested to find out that so many people thought the second one would make a good baby quilt, so I begin to see it that way again. On the other hand, I also like the idea of maybe adding more borders to make it into a larger piece. I guess I will continue to sit with it for a while.

I'm in the middle of two week sub job, and also have a job interview in Chicago on Tuesday, so I'm keeping a little busy at the moment.

LQS4 on craftster

So here's what's been taking up a lot of my sewing time lately: I joined a block swap. I have this thing about group projects. They always look pretty fun whenever other people are doing them. Some don't inspire me, but others honestly make me want to get involved. However, there are always sooooo many reasons not to get involved. For me the biggest one is having so many of my own projects to work on - both those I have started and the zillion and one ideas that are so far just in my head. And time is always limited, so do I want to use that time for my own projects or a group project?

After much internal debate I finally decided to join the lap quilt swap on craftster. I made 11 packets of my fabrics and sent them out to the 11 other people in my group. They will make me a block with those fabrics and send it back to me. I can add one I make myself for a 12 block set to make a lap quilt (or whatever I decide to do with them). My part is that 11 people will send me little packets of fabric and I will make a block and send it back.

I convinced myself to join by considering that I could use one of those "collections of fabric that I am always setting off to the side because they are great together but that I don't necessarily know what to do with". I was excited to finally get something made out of one of those piles. This is what I chose to use, black, white, and grey with bits of color:



The commitment is really pretty minimal; making 11 blocks in three months is pretty doable even if I'm working on other stuff, too. Plus it's a good opportunity to meet some other people on craftster. I know not everyone is a craftster person, but personally I really enjoy it. The quilting board is an inspirational place. Although there are many quilts from more conventional quilters that are lovely and often very creative, there are also lots of quilts made by hobby sewists who have never quilted before, and/or random people who just thought it would be fun to make a quilt. The result is quilting with no filter, so to speak - quilts by people who don't know the "rules", haven't conceived of the quilt police, and haven't spent tons of time looking at what other people are doing. When I first discovered it I clicked around the board for hours.

The most trying part for me, as a person who usually has a complete unconcern for accuracy, is being meticulous in my cutting, sewing, and pressing in order to make sure the blocks are exactly 12.5". I spend twice as long on this blocks as I would on blocks for myself. It's probably good for me; it definitely makes me realize (or remember) why my accuracy is usually off - I don't make my 1/4 inches very (or consistently) scant, I don't measure and trim throughout the process, I just gooooo for it. So while I doubt I will ever be this careful when sewing for myself, it may help me develop better habits.

Here are the blocks I've made so far....

Saludos Desde Corn Country

It's long past time that I let you all know what I was doing. I safely set my feet on Illinois soil two weeks ago yesterday, and during these last two weeks have been enjoying my self proclaimed vacation time (which, however, ends today). The time has mostly been spent catching up with family and friends, staying in touch with people in Texas, taking walks to enjoy the foliage and fall weather, and a little bit of half hearted job searching.

Although I had wild visions of all the sewing I would do during that time, at first I was too disoriented (for lack of a better word) to do much of anything. I had pretty much all of season 5 of Project Runway to watch, so I got out a hand quilting project and did a lot of watching. I finished season 5 in three days - the quilting took slightly longer, but I'm in the process of the hand sewing on the binding. It should be done today, so...pictures soon?

Anyway, my mind is overflowing with projects I want to start, but when I finally decided to get down to some sewing I found that I felt compelled to finish some old projects before starting anything new. I HATE when that happens to me! So boring! The fact is I LOVE starting new projects. And whenever I do start them, I had better finish them right away or else they get boring! Not boring enough that I want to abandon them, because I still like the projects. They are, however, boring enough that I'd rather be starting something new.

So anyway, I've been working on this:



It is affectionately known as "the quilt that makes you have songs stuck in your head," click the picture for a bigger view if you want to know why. The center squares are from a fat quarter by Block Party Studios. I started this FOREVER ago. And it has spent most of its life marinating in a shoe box, but I'm determined to finish it. I actually only need to do four more blocks. I think part of the problem is that the block, while not terribly complex, is pretty time consuming to both cut and sew. I was rotary cutting for and hour and a half the other day and only cut four blocks. And the strips were already cut.



But I digress. I'm totally in the "powering through" phase on this. I hope to cut the last four blocks today. For as long as it's taken me I'm really pretty fond of it. I think it will make a cute lap quilt, and I will probably gift it, although I'm not sure who will be the lucky recipient. Who gets to have a song stuck in their head every time they look at it forever.

Let's Call It Good

A (very) belated thank you to everyone who offered to send me fabric for my Grandmother's Flower Garden. I think I've finally decided not to do anymore flowers. I have finished 27 flowers and finished putting muslin around one side of each so that I can play around with layouts (this one is definitely NOT final). I have also decided that I will be leaving the shelter at the end of my year - in fact I'll be leaving in two and a half weeks! No mas! So, I decided I wanted to just leave the project with the flowers I was able to complete during my time here. It just seems nice and even to do it that way - then the project will always remind me of my time here (even though I'm sure I'll be working on it for years to come).

Things will no doubt continue to be quiet here at Quilty the Libster...until I get back to corn country, that is. Because so far the ONLY plan I have for life post-shelter is at least a couple weeks of uninterrupted creating. And I'm REALLY looking forward to it. Beyond that - well, I can't really see too far beyond that for now. I have lots of things I'm thinking about, but no idea what I'll finally end up doing. But that's okay with me. I'm beginning to have faith that it will all work out in the end - even if I have to keep nomading for a while.

Deceptively Charming

This is the original layout that I had in mind for the charm square pack you see here (there would be white on the other two long sides of course - just imagine it). I don't remember the name of the line of fabric, although I want to figure it out so I can get some yardage for borders. I just remember seeing it on clearance for some unbeatable price (like two bucks or something) and thinking it would be fun.

After having the original idea and cutting all the white strips, but before doing any sewing, I went through about thirty other design ideas in my head. The original idea pictured above seemed too boring. One that I stayed with for a while was this one:



Some how, though, I went back to the original idea and sewed white onto two sides of every square so I could play around with layout. Then I laid it out and once again wasn't sure if I liked it. Although the last thing I want to do is unpick the white, even with the white there are other options. This one for example:



It is also a candidate for a "faux disappearing nine patch" layout, but I'm not a huge fan of the disappearing nine patch. Although I briefly was set on the above layout, I think I might be back to the original now?? Is that possible?

I'm so indecisive. It's just a reflection of my life right now. So many decisions to make and so little deciding going on.

I have a 2-day right now (two consecutive days off - I only get that once a month) and so have had a little sewing time. I was going to use it to finish the salvage baby quilt, but I found that now that I don't have a recipient in mind for it I wasn't so motivated to finish it. I was being utterly indecisive about what to work on instead, but finally made a little progress on this. All I have to do now is choose a lay out. I think I'll sit with it for a while...

I've been happy to be able to blog a little more lately. I'm six weeks from the end of my original commitment here at the shelter. If I decide not to stay past those six weeks than I may not be doing much (or any) sewing or blogging for a while as I'll be focused on other things for my last six weeks. But then I would be back in the land of my stash, sooooo....! It would be back home to the corn fields to process this experience and make a decision about what the next one's going to be. At 26 I feel a little old for that, but if I have the opportunity I might as well take advantage of it...right??

Oh, while I'm blogging I think I'll post some "found quilt" photos. I had the opportunity to visit a house that regularly hosts student groups and church groups who come to the border to learn about the situation here and/or do a service project. Their dormitories have beautiful wooden bunk beds with cushy looking mattresses, each covered with a gorgeous quilt. Very welcoming, don't you think?

My Garden Growing

I thought it was about time for a Grandmother's Flower Garden Update. I'm happy to see that I have accomplished quite a bit in the last months - as it should be, since this is the only project I really work on consistently. I'm also happy to find that I like it pretty well - all along I've been worried that I would end up hating the color scheme since it's not my usual thing. According to "math" I have enough flowers done to make it twin size (about 60 x 80), although it didn't really look that big to me laid out. Regardless, I want it to be double size, so I can either make nine more flowers or do a border. I like the idea of doing more flowers, even though it's more time consuming, however I am out of suitable fabric - both in my stash and mom's stash (I'm pretty sure I exhausted the options on the last trip home).



So to do more flowers I could either purchase nine more fabrics ( a quarter or an eighth is really enough) or try to swap for them, which might be more satisfying, but also logistically more complicated. All the fabrics I've used so far are good quality quilting cottons. All the blessed hours of handwork that are going into this make me think of it as somewhat of an heirloom, and that makes me want to stick with quality fabrics. The other option is that I could forget 9 more flowers and just do a border. I feel like GFG quilts often (or "usually"?) don't have borders, and I also like the idea of an all over design. However a border would probably be easier than more flowers. I don't know; I'll be mulling it over for a while...



I've been meaning to blog about the four seasons tree quilt seen in this post. I was really struck by it, because it's soooo much like a quilt idea I've had in my idea book for at least the last 7 years. I scribbled a VERY similar tree on an order pad one night at work way back when I worked for Steak 'n Shake. I had the idea that I would do it as a four block "four seasons" quilt. I tucked the page from the order pad into my idea binder where it still is to this day. No one else ever saw it or knew about it. It just amazes me that two human brains could independently come up with the same thing like that, although there's absolutely no other explanation. (I know it's not the most complicated or unusual idea in the world, but still...) I suppose it's possible that we somehow both saw the same something that inspired us, although I don't even remember any particular inspiration. But maybe this kind of thing really happens all the time? Anyway, there's not much point to this except to say that I'm fascinated by it. Makes me wonder about the times when people get up in arms about having their idea "copied". I'm sure some people really do copy sometimes, and that sucks. But this proves to me that it is possible to independently have the same idea...