In the meantime ....

I got some good comments about whether a quilt should coordinate with the bedroom. For my sailboat pluses, the suggestion was to add some of our room color into it -- brick-y reds to all the blue. A splash of complementary color is always a good idea & since the suggestion sort of gave me permission to shop, that's what I decided to do!

As I waited for my ordered fabrics to arrive, I took the sailboats down from my design door, then, because I can't look at an empty design door, I started playing with another fabric stack that had bubbled to the top -- romantic & sweet (maybe a bit saccharine) florals in very girly, rosy reds & blush pinks -- almost the opposite of the blue sailboats.

For a while now, I've been obsessing over chunky, strippy medallion quilts. I want to do something of this sort with the fabrics from my & Mom's dresses. I thought a test run with fabrics considerably less dear would be helpful. So here I go. The center is a vintage pillow cover I got from Etsy; most of the florals are half yard pieces from big box stores & quilt shops. There are few fat quarters, an inherited plaid, a piece of real French toile, kittens, butterflies, gingham. I'm having fun!

Siren's call

I've been spending quite a bit of time sitting at my sewing machine finishing up several quilts. When I am piecing, I can watch or listen to things, but quilting requires my full attention & silence. In the silence, I think -- life stuff, work stuff, what's for dinner & -- my beckoning stacks of fabric.

One beckoning stack of fabric resolved itself while I was quilting. Sailboats & sea-ish, marine-ish go-withs. The sailboats are mostly scraps from shirts I've made for Shug -- the shirts have all been various levels of, I won't say failure, maybe non-success?, all either too small or too short. Anyway, I had been thinking of another no-plan outing with free-cutting & free-piecing. But the shipshape nature of these prints seemed to want to be more ordered.

And because I had not lashed myself to the mast, I heeded their siren's call.
Why not add another plus quilt to my oeuvre!

And here is a question for you: you've heard the saying "art doesn't have to match your sofa"?
Well, does your quilt need to match your bedroom decor?
Shug's & my room has terracotta-colored walls. The furniture is a jumble of Mission-style & inherited family things all with a patina of cat damage. Will this quilt "go" with our room?
I would love to hear your thoughts!

Plugging & chugging

You would think I would learn, but I never seem to: the problem with having so many on-going projects is that nothing proceeds very quickly. Out of my maaaannnnnnny stacks of parts, I've been working 2 scrap projects & 2 with scrappy-ish flying geese. As you scrap-sewers know, there are no quick methods for scraps, just pulling 2 pieces, sew them together, sew them to another pair & repeat. I've got all of these projects out on my sewing table so that they are all leaders & enders for each other & in spite of proceeding slowly, they are all proceeding.

In between times, I made & quilted something I plan on entering for consideration for a display of modern quilts at the Texas Quilt Museum. The piecing was crazy simple & the quilting was simple but dense & took some time. It is done except for the binding; for the first time, I'm planning on trying a facing-type binding. I'll give you a little peak at this quilt.

The first line-jumper of the year

During Shug's & my busy holiday visit to the midlands, there was one day that my Mother-in-law & I took a little time & had an outing -- we had lunch, finished up some grocery shopping & she offered to take me to Fabric Recycles.  I NEVER turn down an opportunity to visit this store! I found some stars from their "started, not finished" table, a brown calico, a bit of cat fabric & 2 yardages of 60s-70s era fabrics. After returning home, my purchases moved into my sewing room & sat on top of things until I could get around to putting them away.

As I was working away at a couple of scrappy projects, the blue-lavender-olive fabric began speaking to me.

"Excuse me. Excuse me.
Don't my colors remind you of those in your stack of Liberty fat quarters?
Don't you think we might look very nice together?"

"Why, yes, blue-lavender-olive fabric, I think you might be right.
I'll get the Libertys out as soon as I finish a few things."

"Nooooooo!
Get them out now!
I was cut from the bolt back in the Nixon administration &
have been sitting on a shelf ever since.
I want to BE something! I want to be something NOW!"

"OK, OK, settle down. Here they are.
Hey, you're right, you all look really good together.
Good, um, eye?, blue-lavender-olive fabric. Do you have any suggestions?
What do you want to "be"?"

"Well, I was meant for decorating, so something with me in big pieces
would best show off my natural, large-scale beauty."

"Hmmm, bossy & vain, but I think you're right.
Maybe some sort of strippy, geese-y, tree everlasting-y kind of thing?
Would that suit you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds fun. Let's start now!
But, I wonder if all the florals might be a bit flower-y, all the blues a bit too blue?
Do you have any stripes or dots or plaids to mix in?
And what about just a touch of complementary colors -- just a touch.
I've waited so long, I want to be awesome!"

"Alright & right again, blue-lavender-olive fabric.
Don't get your hopes too high. But this does sounds like fun, let's see where it takes us."

"By the way, you really are beautiful, blue-lavender-olive fabric."

"Yes, I know."

2015

I began sketching out my Quilt Room Dreams & Aspirations & was quickly overwhelmed!

First off, I want to finish up some UFOs:

7 tops to quilt -- 4 nearly done, 1 basted, 2 ready to baste -- & 9 stacks of blocks & block parts that I want to get made into tops (then, of course, more tops to quilt)! YIKES! Looks like just clearing out the backlog will be a year's worth of work!

Then there are the things I want to start/explore anew:
more charitable sewing, more scrap & string sewing, medallions, improvisational piecing, a quilt or 2 for juried shows, a quilt for someone's milestone birthday, and a series project I've been calling "bed rugs".

Lastly, with my right hand held up in an oath-ish position -- I solemnly swear to attempt to buy less fabric this year. "Attempt"?, you say! "Buy less"?, you say! Why not vow to not buy any?!? Well, because I know myself & I know that 12 months of buying no fabric is simply not realistic. I don't want to set myself up for failure & I think a pledge to only buy solids, fabrics on sale & vintage fabrics just might be a promise I can keep. :-}



New Year's Day was cold & dreary -- a perfect day for staying warm & cozy with fabric & sewing machine, thoughtfully, methodically tackling my list.
But what did I do?
I began something new.

The Road to Too Many WIPs is paved with good intentions.

Now what?

I'm not sure what to do now.

The Christmas quilts are done & ready to wrap or ship. (Though I'm finishing up a doll-sized one, local delivery & thinking about a pillow cover -- but that's it!) As usual, I've got plenty of cut out parts awaiting assembly -- geese, stars, pluses, towers, etc, etc; there are 2 -- no, 3 -- tops ready to be basted & quilted; and 2 or 3 that were being quilted but got sidetracked & quickly sank to the bottom of the pile.

But also as usual, I was not in the mood to work on any of those. Instead, I began digging through the stacks & scraps that are over-taking my little sewing room. More clothing -- dresses, some from the thrift store, others are Mom's old shirtwaists (lots of fabric in those skirts) & mine from childhood. Then a dump of my scrap bucket --  more than 20 years of quilt-making there, some of the scrappy-bits are even older than that -- quite a memory trip!

Then lots of pressing & cutting & sewing & fun.

Hives

I know you know what I'm talking about.

You've been going along for a while (doesn't it seem like *forever*?), things are moving forward, things are good, but they just aren't -- well -- exciting anymore. It has become routine & almost seems like work now. You are easily distracted. A quicky detour here & there helps scratch the itch. Then there is that new, fresh face that has really captured your attention. And the old familiar one that you are seeing in a new way. Or? Hmmmm, maybe the two together ........

Wait a minute! You didn't think I was talking about Shug, did you?!?! No!!!!
Quilting projects!!! I'm talking about quilting projects!!!!!
Phew! OK, now that we are on the same page.

I know you know what I'm talking about.

Much of my summer was spent with the 3 + quilts. I enjoyed them, though on the downhill side I did get a little tired of them. I was itching to sew on something different. I could have taken a break & dipped in my deep pool of WIPs -- spike-y batik stars, wonky vintage brown stars, Terra Australis zigzags, my own + quilt, etc, etc -- but I *had* to start something new, so I started some flying geese with men's shirts. (Which brings me to a philosophical question: when does a Work In Progress become an Unfinished Object? Not working on it for 6 months? A year? Longer? Or does it have to completely sink from sight & mind for 6 months? A year? Longer?
Hmmmm, a question to ponder .....)

Now that the + quilts are finished, my time is more free. And even though I've got one more WIP than when I began them, I'm still looking at fabric stacks I've pulled -- MIL's skirt with a recent fabric gift, Liberty florals with solids, scrappy 2.5 inch squares from almost 20 years worth of projects -- & wanting to start something newer.

 
I have no trouble being true to Shug. But when it comes to my patchwork projects, I'm not so faithful -- a real bigamist!

The Thrill is back!

First, let me thank you for your very, very kind & supportive comments & emails about my hurt feelings at the hands of the QuiltCon judges. {Very Big Hugs} to all of you!!!
What great friends I've made through my little blog!!!

Secondly, let me share what I've learned from the quilts-for-show process:

1. You need a thick skin. If you are putting your quilts out There for more than your loved ones to see & evaluate, you really should try to not be hurt by negative comments.
2. The judge that didn't like your Quilt A, just might love your Quilt B.
3. If Quilt A did poorly in one juried competition, it might do very well in another juried competition.
4. Lastly, most importantly, don't take it personally!!! Negative comments -- positive ones, too -- are about the thing you made, not about you. There may be merit in the comments, or maybe not, try to learn from them -- then move on!

But, back to my regained Thrill:

I am very happy to report how Very Happy I am in my sewing room. I am having So! Much! FUN! with my projects! I have 10 (!) going right now! One is nothing more than a stack of pulled fabric, 4 are partially cut out, 3 are cut out & are being pieced, 1 is being quilting & 1 is being bound; HMQG is doing a mug rug swap this month, so I'm playing with mug rug-ish ideas & I'm working on a few small birthday gifts. Oh! And I'm excited about a sketch that I may try to get made to enter for this year's Quilt Festival -- getting back on the horse!
That makes what, 11? 12? 13?
Who cares?!?!
I'm! Having!! FUN!!!

And you know what else? Lucky is proudly on display in our home for the first time in a year!

Balls in the Air

There's a woman in my Guild who says she has just one project going at a time -- she works it till it is done & only then will she begin something new. No UFOs in her house! How smart, but, to my way of thinking, just a bit dull.

Me, I love having several projects at different stages of completion -- when I tire of cutting, I piece a while; weary of piecing, try some quilting; bored with quilting, maybe sketch for a bit. I have the luxury of having more than one machine, so all this jumping around is a bit easier. (But I have to be mindful of which machine is piecing what project -- I've found that not all quarter-inch machine feet are created equal!)

Maybe because the weather is so miserable (see my previous post), maybe because I'm finally getting over my focus-less funk, I'm not sure the reason, but right now I have an especial LOT of projects going: 2 gift quilts & a 3rd I'm thinking about, the Tower of Owls, 2 other projects with Stash Creatures to be revealed later, a simple tessellating block with an old jelly roll, a 16-patch using double knit scraps, a re-make of an old quilt, & a percolating idea that may be ready to begin.




 
Phew! A bit excessive even by my standards.