Spring on the Gulf Coast

The Spring season down here is essentially early Summer. Our pleasant Spring weather normally occurs in late Winter, but this year the balmy days with low humidity were taken by damp & chilly ones. The days are warming now, the humidity is on the rise & our flora & fauna are doing their things. Live oaks, a deciduous evergreen tree, are making their annual mess, dumping their leaves as the new ones come on. The azeleas are out, reminding us what fuchsia really means. And the wisteria, non-descript vines most of the year are now dripping with lavender flower clusters.

The third Saturday of the month is Shug's & my Crafturday -- he goes to his woodturning group & I go to my HMQG meeting. But this past Saturday, with a 100% chance of rain, my carpool's enthusiasm was dampened, so we ended up staying home. I was just as glad because it indeed rained -- 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) at our house! Not so nice to be out & about, but perfect to spend time at the sewing machine. I made some more bow ties -- I love these little blocks! I'm not sure how I will assemble them, but I'm beginning to think about a bow tie medallion. I put together 90 little 9-patches from leftover strips cut for one of last year's quilts; I think these can be fashioned into something to help brighten the day of someone on a very rough path. And I made a couple of bottles of nail polish! What? Fabric ones, of course, gifts for 2 friends. Made from this pattern.

Shug went to his meeting though & his latest piece won Best of Show! Yay, Shug!
You are always *my* Best of Show. xxx

What a difference a year makes!

At this time last year, I had finished 4 quilts, was well into numbers 5 & 6. This year, I am sewing, sewing, sewing but didn't have much to show for it -- until today: I finished my Arkansas Crossroads scrappy top. Just the top, mind you, but still.

It isn't Great Art, just scrap-tacular fun. I began pulling scraps, cutting squares last fall. These scraps represent more than 20 years of making! Scraps from a skirt from the 80s beside Madrona Road bits, calicos & country plaids with Stitch In Color, dots, cats, owls, candy, fruit, vegetables, Elvis, Jayhawks, etc, etc, etc. Even the background fabrics are scrappy. When I began cutting the squares, I noticed the abundance of blues so decided I wanted a light blue for the background. I had some left over from the last year's interlocking rings, but not enough. I was thinking I would buy something, when I said, NO, this is a *scrap* quilt! So there are 4 different solids & one old blender-y blue. It is all a bit crazy. I've gone on record as not being a fan of people who count things in their quilts -- stitches, spools of thread, number of pieces -- but I could not resist: there are 1,240 2.5 inch squares here! :-o

 
Since I am looking down the barrel of Summer in Texas, I am thinking of doing a batting-less, summer weight quilt -- maybe tied, maybe big stitch. I am open to thoughts & suggestions.

Please forgive these poor photos. I can't get any outside because the weather here is awful! I try not to complain about it when so many are shoveling their 10th foot of snow in sub-zero temperatures. But -- normally, February & March are beautiful here; we pay for 9 months of summer by having 2 months of gorgeousness! But this year has been gray & rainy & gray & chilly & gray & yucky for weeks & weeks & weeks!

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!

Semantics

OK, so I guess if a person wants to be a literal, hair-splitting sort, a project that one has not actually begun cannot be called a "Work in Progress". But I sort of think of this un-begun quilt as a WIP. Maybe because it's a kit? I don't know. Anyway, the back story is this:

In the autumn of 2008, my Mom fell in her house. (She had been falling more. At the time we did not recognize that this was probably an early sign of her dementia.) She hurt her back & had a mild concussion & it was then that I realized that I should be checking on her more often -- so began my daily phone calls. A year later, I called her from Quilt Festival 2009; we chatted, she said she was doing OK, I said I was calling from the Quilt Festival & she told me to buy myself something to be from her. She was always generous & in the years after Dad's death, she was especially so, trying to give us things, writing us big checks (probably another sign of the Alzheimer's). Mostly, I turned her down & I had no intention of getting anything "to be from her" this time either -- then I passed the Den Haan & Wagenmakers booth. This is the Dutch shop that has the beautiful, old-world polished cottons; they had fabric, patterns & quilt kits. I lovingly stroked the beautiful prints & started to pass them by. Then I stopped, went back & bought myself a kit as a gift from my Mom to me. She was so pleased I did!

A few months after that, her physical & mental health nose-dived, she moved into nursing care, then into memory care & now she's gone.

The quilt kit sits untouched. It is a challenging pattern --  a small block with small, odd-shaped triangles. And the instructions are in Dutch! I kept trying to figure out a way to simplify it -- partial paper-piecing was the best I could come up with, but I never got it started. And now I don't really want to make it as instructed -- something simple & spare is more appealing. So I'm going through my Idea Book & making sketches. There are 22 sort of fat quarter meters plus the yardage of the 3 shades of blue (& a few extra prints that I added at the time). 
Flying Geese? Friendship Star? A modern, trendy pattern?
Stay tuned!

You do the math

If you are my brother or his 2 daughters --

!!! SPOILER ALERT !!!

I will be talking about your Christmas gifts, so if you don't want to ruin a surprise,

STOP READING NOW!

OK, now that they're gone (truthfully, I don't think any of them even know I blog, but just in case) --

I've moved other quilt projects to the back burner & have begun working on quilts for the 3 of them (& one for myself) using fabrics from 24 shirts, 12 of Mom's & 12 of Dad's.

I wanted the shirt element to be the same for all four quilts, but something I could change up. The fabrics in the shirts are mostly polyester or polyester blends, many are thin & loosely woven, so I wanted blocks that would surround the shirts in good, strong cotton. I finally decided on a simple + shape. The 2 quilts for my nieces will be similar to each other but not identical. The pair for my brother & me will be different from the nieces' quilts, & again, similar to each other. The nieces' quilts will have 36 + blocks each; my brother's & mine will have 64 each.

2(36) + 2(64) = 200 blocks

!!!!!

Well. I'm glad I'm starting early.

I selfishly began by making 4 for my quilt (-4), but I put them aside. I've finished one nieces' worth of blocks (-36). Now I'm working on my brother's -- I've nearly got 2 sets of 24 done (-48).

200 - 48 - 36 - 4 = 112

112/200 = 56 %

I'm nearly halfway done!!!

I like big blocks & I cannot lie

I've had a few projects recently that were made up of pretty little parts. So after some small sewing, I decided to sew big for a bit.

A while back, Victoria at Bumble Beans was making Winged Squares -- delightful & quite old blocks -- I love them, they repeat & create some very cool patterns -- so I decided to join her.

Only I went big -- really BIG.

I'm really starting to like big blocks. I love their bold statement. I love their Pop Art-y-ness -- you know, like giant shuttlecocks or huge, sculpted balloon animals. You really have to have the courage of your convictions when you make them. Until now the largest blocks I've made were Swoon and Modern Maples -- 24 & 12 inches, respectively. My Winged Squares are 30 inches. Four of those & I've got a quilt!

Quilting? I was thinking of using this quilt to work on my free-motion skills -- pebbling? maybe feathers in the triangles somehow? I'm not sure & am open to suggestions.

Easily amused

Yes, that's me -- Easily Amused.

The combination of this quilt block, the maple leaf, representing a traditionally cold-climate tree, with these tropical Hawaiian fabrics just pleases me.

I unearthed the fabrics recently (yes, yes, my stash is just this side of infinite), a long ago purchase at the Quilt Festival. I got them from a Japanese vendor who had a lot of tropical prints. I got 6 & later found some other fabrics that coordinated. But I hadn't a plan for how to use them, so they all got stowed away.

Re-finding them, they jumped to the top of my Make-Me-NOW! list. I liked the colors when I got them & am really loving them now -- golden yellows, peanut butter tans, avocado-y greens. With large-scale prints, sometimes I like to cut them up, making the print hardly recognizable. But this time I wanted to show off the ukuleles, plumeria & hibiscus, so I wanted a large-scale block. The Modern Maples pattern from Lark Crafts -- the blocks finish at 12 inches, a chunky leaf -- was perfect.  My fabrics were funny cuts, kind of fat half yards, I used nearly every bit to cut out 4 leaves from each print -- nothing left for stems. So my leaf stems are 2 different browns. My background solid was something I found on my shelves, but again, I ran out. And again, no problem: I can substitute in a text-y, texture-y print.

Soon I'll have an Aloha Maple quilt!

A lovely weekend

Not just a Lovely Weekend, I might just call it a Perfect Weekend. Much of every day of the long weekend was spent playing with fabric & sitting in front of my sewing machine. This sort of indulgence is a rarity for me & I really enjoyed it.

It began with an early & long gathering of the HMQG.

I admit, had I not committed to meet several guild members to join a carpool to the meeting, I might have blown it off. But, boy, would that have been my loss!

Jessica Darling, formerly of Remnants/Fiber Culture in Austin gave a lecture & led a workshop of color in quilts. Besides our Basic Sewing Supplies, we were instructed to bring scraps -- then ALL of our scraps were dumped into the center of the room -- making what Jessica called a "scrap mosh pit"; we picked our Color Party from the pile. Then we sewed. And sewed. And sewed.

On Sunday & Monday, I continued with my blocks from Saturday -- they're made & assembled, all they lack is one border & I have a top.

Earlier in the week, I had promised myself that I would assemble my Christmas tree blocks. The trees were all made, my back was assembled (I LOVE the back of this quilt, but you're going to have to wait a while to see it), then because it had outgrown my design door, I had pinned the back & the blocks to a quilt hanging in our hall.

But the Evil Demon Cat, Pippa (do NOT be taken in by her angelic publicity stills!) had, not once, not twice, but three times pulled down my trees. What the what, Crazy Girl!?! The first time she helped solve a design problem, the other times she just made me mad. So I had to put them together to remove Temptation. Now I have a Christmas Tree quilt top 3/4 done.

I hope your weekend was as good as mine!

The Year in Review & an Embarrassing Admission

Quilt-y Finished Objects-wise, 2013 was not a big year for me. Only six finishes.

I was pleased with my FLiQS mini & I think Jennie liked it. I was pretty happy with both my Madrona Road & Florence challenge quilts. My Mother-in-law loved her Super Fan KU T-shirt quilt. And I loved both my Derse/Swoon quilt & the comforter made with the navy & pastel double knits.

But just the 6.

I actually did a lot of sewing: I have 10 little lap tops done (3 will make it onto this year's FO list), I made 6 other tops of varying sizes -- one is quilted & will be a pillow cover, another is poised to be the first finish of 2014 -- and there are at least 3 WIPs that are partially or mostly assembled; then there are the piles (and piles) of blocks or parts-of-blocks.

After my Mom's death, I just wasn't able to sit & do *anything* for very long at a time. I would start something & next thing I knew, I was up doing something else. Or just puttering, I did lots of puttering this year. Just part of the grieving process, I guess.

But truthfully, my lack of focus began before she died & I know exactly what caused it, it is just a little embarrassing because it makes me look petty & petulant.

My 2013 Lack of Focus began when I got my quilt, Lucky, back from display at QuiltCon; more specifically, it began when I read the QuiltCon judge's comments about my quilt.

To say I was hurt is putting it mildly. I was crushed -- obsessively so (just ask Shug). Everything I loved about that quilt was pointed out as a negative: my background was "busy", my fabric choices "lacked vision", my quilting thread colors were "distracting". It seemed there wasn't much constructive criticism, just criticism.  I felt like I shouldn't be quilting, that I didn't know what I was doing, that I should be doing something -- ANYTHING -- other than quilting.

Well, it has taken me nearly a year to stop wailing & moaning, to get over myself & move on.
"It wasn't personal." "It was just one person's opinion." "You can't please everyone." Etc, etc, etc. Anyway, I think my juices are starting to flow again & I'm beginning to get back my quilting mojo.

And I'm trying to listen to my own Voice rather than the Voice of others.

The Trees & the Forest

I've never been overly fond of Special Occasion quilts. You know, Birthday Quilts, Halloween Quilts, Quilts for Hanukkah or Christmas. Now I don't mean *gifts* for these occasions, but quilts that are just brought out for display at these times -- fine for someone else, just not for me.

That being said, since mid-November I have been OBSESSED with the thought of making a tree quilt. I suppose trees can be for year-round & the kind of trees I've been about are as much about triangles as about the trees. But, The Tree Quilt I've been pining for is one with pointy green to blue-green trees on a frosty white background, maybe with a few touches of red & gold -- pretty darn Christmas-y, huh?

So, with a template I hadn't yet used & a deep dig in my stash that produced a dozen or so old, blender-y, tree-ish-colored fabrics, a hoarded paisley white-on-white & 3 red & gold fat quarters -- I'm on my way to a Christmas Tree Quilt!

Truth be told, this is my second tree quilt. I made one for my parents for Christmas back in 1993 -- it was loved & admired & proudly shown off, but was never used (the "save it for Good" mentality, don't you know). Now that my parents are both gone, the quilt is back in my home. It's a big one! And finally in use on our guest bed.

FYI

If you are thinking about making a quilt & that quilt will be made up of 2-inch finished squares & you want that quilt to be fair-sized, not huge, just big enough to be a lap or nap size, please learn from my recent experience:

It will take you FOR! EVER!!!

(The color change you see is not a trick of your eye -- I ran out of my old Kona celery part way through & the new is a slightly different color. I'm hoping I can hide it a bit with the quilting. Fingers crossed!)

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.

Missing Mojo

I'm somewhere between malaise & ennui -- mal-ui?, enn-aise? :-/

It's not that I've been idle, I've been pretty busy in the sewing room: 8 tops completed, 9 & 10 are on the design door, 11 & 12 are a stack of parts by my machine.



Most of the completed tops are small nursing home lap quilts & a child's quilt or 2 -- very worthwhile endeavors -- 'de-stashing', taking fabrics I no longer care for & turning them into nice quilts that will warm the body & soul. I've also been working on a mini swap quilt -- sewing for someone else is so valuable, such a learning & growing experience to work in another person's style & colors (in spite of what some people might think).



I've just not been, well, inspired.
I'm trying to stir my coals by looking antique & vintage quilts, pulling a few of my go-to books from my library, pulling intriguing stacks of fabric. A big pile of beloved indigos might be flying geese or hounds-tooth (hounds-teeth?); my Dad's shirts would go nicely with some recently acquired linens; a variety of long-hoarded fabrics might come together in some sort of medallion; my & my Mom's dresses might come together in a newly learned technique; and then there's .....

Time flies --

whether you are having fun or not. It just flies.

I am in the midst of about 5 weeks of work, then fun, then family, then more work hectic-ness: learning new software at work (blech, but at least that's over -- for now), QuiltCon -- the fun portion of the schedule, followed by a trip to see my Mom, then a week at work with a charming, but tiring fellow. I'm not finding much time to sew & finding less time to blog. So, a quick rundown of the past week.

Actually, my birthday happened before my last post. Shug got me a pair of RED COWBOY BOOTS!!! A total surprise!!! Very beautiful & they fit like a firm handshake!



We went to Galveston on Tuesday evening -- *Fat* Tuesday evening -- to see Lyle Lovett & Robert Earl Keen at The Grand 1894 Opera House. A lovely, intimate venue & a great show. I got this gorgeous image from @lylelovett's Twitter feed. (I LOVE Lyle Lovett!)

As I mentioned, it was also Mardi Gras. The celebration in Galveston is nothing like that in New Orleans, but we saw a bit of the parade & I managed to grab a bunch of beads. It was a very fun evening. 



I have done some sewing. I finished up my Madrona Road top & moved Pippa off the swoon blocks to set them together. Let's see, they are tops 4 & 5 for the year -- I need to start sandwiching & quilting!





At the February Houston Modern Quilt Guild meeting, I got even more presents! A basket, sweets, thread & book cover from Karrie, an x & + block pouch from Amy & in the mail, a mini pineburr block from nifty quilts! I am feeling loved!!



And lastly, I was invited to join the Fab Little Quilt Swap! I am surprised & pleased & wobbly with fear of failure! I've always enjoyed the swaps we have done in the Guild, so this should be exciting -- & scarey!

The next thing on my agenda: QuiltCon! I'll tell you all about it!

Hasty piecing

I've had my Madrona Road fabrics for weeks. I had a kind of lofty idea for using them, but it was going to be a bit of a challenge, so I stalled. Finally, I thought, if I'm going to get anything done in any sort of timely way (I had already missed the deadline for the MQG competition) I was going to have to simplify. So I went with squares -- very simple. The sashing & setting was/is (it still isn't quite done) time-consuming. But it's about 3/4 done & I kind of like how it is shaping up.



I had also gotten out my swoon blocks. I arranged the colors to my liking, then gathered them up to work on after the Madrona Road top. Fortunately for Pippa, I didn't get to them. :-)

 

The promiscuous piecer

Last weekend, between 6 (!) loads of laundry, vacuuming, dusting & errands, I finished 3 (!) little tops.

I would sew a while downstairs with Betty, then take my parts upstairs to iron the seams. While I was upstairs, I would start up Frere Jacque & assemble the project on the design door there. Strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. Even with this unfocused sewing, the 3 all came to completion. All small, all done! (well, except for sandwiching, basting, quilting, binding)

Brrrrrr

This week was Houston winter at its worse. I know much of the world will think we're a bunch of wimpy whiners & they are probably right, but when the temps are in the low 30s & the humidity is over 90% & it's drizzle-y & windy, that adds up to bone-chilling cold! Those days were followed by crisper & colder days. (By the week's end, we were up to the low 60s -- I did my walk in shorts. But I was a chilly!)

I was wishing I had a quilt ready to bind, but nothing is at that stage. Instead, I've been getting better acquainted with Betty with some piecing -- some spotty Amy Butler HSTs & candy scrappy trip along. (I LOVE this machine! I'm calling her Betty the Cat -- she purrs!)









And cutting up big piles of my stash into squares & strips & triangles for donation quilts. Once I'm through with the Cutting Table it will become the Quilting Table & I'll pull out Laura's Lightning -- I guess I am about 1/4 done with it.



And I do have a bit of hand sewing to do -- sleeve & label & travel bag for Lucky.
Because?
It's going to QuiltCon!!!

Off the Rails

OK, it is the 2nd day of the new year & I'm already deviating from my Quilting Resolutions!

Actually, my head was turned well before the year began. Shug & I have been traveling -- a lovely week in the midlands Christmas-ing with our families, 1 day home, then off down the coast for a few days of nature & relaxing. I put away my sewing machine on 18 December & have only now gotten it back out! 14 days without sewing makes one weak -- well, actually two weeks, but, well. Ahem!

 



Anyway, while I wasn't sewing, I was watching Instagram (do you Instagram? I do & I love it!) & seeing an avalanche of scrappy trip around the world blocks. So much fun! I was mentally going through my stash, trying to decide what mine would look like. As soon as the sand had settled from our travels, I was literally going through my stash, picking my fabrics. And here I go!