Friday, November 13, 2015

That's better.



The weekend between my hectic work schedule & the arrival of our guests, I managed to make some time to spend in my sewing room. Boy, did it feel good to sit down in front of my sewing machine! You, my cohort, know how really necessary it is for us to stitch.

Because I was still a bit frayed from work & a bit preoccupied in anticipation of company; I wanted some simple sewing. So I pulled out two long-time standbys: the plus blocks made with my parents' shirts & the flying geese made with Goodwill men's dress shirts.

My plus blocks got set aside in the push to finish the quilts for my brother & nieces. After their quilts were done & my plus fatigue had worn off, I got out the parts for my blocks & have been using them as leaders & enders for about a year now. There weren't many left to finish, so it was an easy push to get this top done. Now I am waiting for a nice weekend day for some outdoor basting. Soon, I, too, will have a Reva + Lee quilt!


Then there are the geese. The 'problem' with them has been that I didn't know how big this quilt was going to be. In the past, when I was working one project or another, Shug would ask me how big it would be. I would answer, "As big as it gets, I guess." I wasn't trying to be difficult, it's just that sometimes a quilt's size has to reveal itself to me. This was the case with the geese. A small wall quilt or something big enough for a queen size bed? I had more than a dozen shirts, so large was very possible. And I so enjoyed making the geese & joining them together. At first, I was putting the geese up on my design door, but when it outgrew the door, I just began sewing & letting chance do the designing. Now it is a finished top, too.




6 comments:

O'Quilts said...

My goodness...I am soo impressed. Both quilts are wonderful. I have tons of time, but I sit looking out the window or playing Free Cell...You are such an inspiration.

Quiltdivajulie said...

LOVE those geese -- as Dorrie would say, just keep stitching!!

audrey said...

Sometimes it just takes some power sewing on a machine to get the cobwebs cleared out of our heads! Your geese are looking wonderful. Can't wait to see the entire quilt! I've thought about making this sort of quilt before and knew I didn't have room on my design wall. Letting the design sort of take care of itself sounds intriguing!

Rachaeldaisy said...

It's great to see you getting shirty in the sewing room. Well done for getting the plus block top done, and I love how the geese have flown off the door, it looks amazing!! When you say you baste outside do you baste on a table?

Nifty Quilts said...

I love your flying shirts quilt. So glad you're getting a chance to sew again. Yes, we do need it.

Sharon said...

Sewing does feel our souls, doesn't it? So glad you got to do some. And what you did! Oh my, I love your quilt tops! I like the way you've set the plus blocks. And your geese are just delightful! I love all the little surprises within the pattern you've included!