On the changing of goals for a quilter

In the past few years I have kept more quilts than I have in my more than 30 years of quilt making.

My younger quilter friends are in that place in life where I used to be: that is, maintaining a long list of friends getting married & friends having babies -- and all *have* to be gifted with quilts. Not that these friends are demanding quilts, but we quilters feel they need quilts for these special occasions. There is little time for making quilts to keep!

Thirty years down the road, I still make the occasional wedding quilt (2nd marriage, marriage of a son or daughter) or baby quilt (mostly grandchildren now or just a block contributed to a group quilt). In between, there were the first communion & graduation quilts, quilts for a new job in a new city, new home. As an older quilter, I've made quilts for mile-stone birthdays (40, 50, 60) & retirement, comfort quilts for a serious illness & after a death, memory quilts made with a loved one's clothing. 

Quilts are there for all the Big Life Events. 

But as I said, I'm keeping more quilts now. My stack has gone from 1 or 2 to a big ol' pile -- more than we really need down here on the Gulf coast! Am I making more quilts or are the Big Life Events a less compressed in time as we get older? I'm not sure. And I really don't care that much about having lots of quilts (though I'm not ready to part with any of the ones here) -- most of all, I love making them. So I'm trying to balance making-to-keep with making-to-give-away. 

The 2nd stack of give-away quilts doesn't look like much since none of them are actually finished, but there's a dozen of them there, mostly lap quilts, some baby quilts & not in the photo are the ones in-progress & the few that are finished. I'm having such fun pulling out-of-date fabrics & making things with them. (One of my all-time favorite quilts, from back in the day, was made with fabrics given to me by a friend of Shug's; I didn't like any of the fabrics -- too ditsy & sweet -- but I really liked the quilt I made with them. It's a great challenge, making something you like with something you don't love or don't love anymore -- try it!) 

And using up my fabric oldies is making room for new fabric -- everyone wins!!!

Measuring my days

For some time I've been trying to remember a quote, I'm pretty sure my Mom read it to me. Not so long ago, I could have called her & asked, "What's that quote? Something about counting days with spoons?" & she would have told me what it was.

No more.

So I typed 'counting days in teaspoons' into an Internet search -- no luck. There was a small ping in my head that said the author of the quote was T.S. Eliot. So I tried 't.s. eliot quotes' & there it was: "I have measured out my life in coffee spoons." (I was kind of close.) I'm not sure of the intended meaning, but I am drawing a parallel with the spools I've emptied this year -- measuring out my life in empty spools.

What to do first?

After the Quilt Festival, I was -- & remain -- starry-eyed with the wonderful experience of seeing beautiful quilts, beautiful fabrics & talking to talented people. I was so full of ideas & idea fragments that my mind was bouncing around like a pinball! I had to force myself to be practical & focus first on what was on the downhill-side of being finished: finishing up some lap robes for the HMQG charity sewing & quilting my low volume quilt.

Done & getting done!

Where did the month go?!?

I know exactly where my month went:

First, there was 2 weeks of an all-hands-on-deck, mad house, work-a-thon at my job -- 8 to 12 hour days straight through (we did get Sunday off) slaying mastodons with our atlatls.

 

Not really, *that* exhibit was installed months ago, we were on to the next thing. :-)

After the paid work was over, I needed to do some serious house-cleaning for house-guests coming for Quilt Festival. I know you know what I'm talking about -- the sort of cleaning you only do when you are expecting company. I was sure my company wouldn't notice, or care if they did, but I felt better knowing it was done.


Louis says, "Food Lady, this is nice! You should make the beds more often."

I did nearly no sewing. All I did was finish my HMQG logo colors mini challenge & made a few more zipper pouches for gifts. (I think I'm beginning to feel more confident about my zippers.)

 

 

Then the 2 house-guests arrived -- a quilter friend from France & my MIL. And Quilt Festival!!! An exhausting good time! This year, I really enjoyed looking at the antique & vintage quilts being sold -- I even came home with one!





In spite of an oath with myself not to get any fabric, I managed to come home with some: a stack of Grunge, some vintage bits, plus some other pieces. 

 

Next, a trip to the airport with one departing guest & a route home over a very attractive bridge.



Then, relaxing bay-side with the remaining guest.



Then it was just me & Shug, tired, but with pleasant memories of the last week.
And did I mention that my quilt was hanging at the Quilt Festival!?!

I'm sewing cats & dogs.

I had kind if a hellish week at work -- long days of hard & stressful work. By the weekend, I was sore & cranky & tired & ready for some rejuvenating time with my fabric & sewing machine.

I had promised some blocks to Tonya at  Lazy Gal Quilting & made some Kitty Love blocks. I used the method from her book Word Play Quilts & added a representation of her dear Pokey. (I had some help from Pippa.)

I finished this tote a while ago but didn't want to show it off until its new owner received it. Those are her pups, Frankie & Piper (cute girls!).



And it has occurred to me that I have a couple of swaps & prizes that I never showed off -- shame on me!

Here's the bag made for me by Jacey in the HMQG scrap swap back in January -- love it! It is always filled with projects & has done quite a bit of traveling. Thanks, Jacey!



In May, I won the 12 in '12 link-up from Liz at Fat Chick Quilts. I got this pair of adorable little purses. I'm still trying to decide what special treasures they will hold, until then I just enjoy looking at them. Thanks, Liz!

The Weekend -- At Last

This past week, I drove more than 1000 miles & spent almost 21 hours behind the wheel. Last Sunday, my drive home was a little over 800 miles, taking about 13.5 hours. My round trip from home to work & back is almost exactly 50 miles & takes (if I'm lucky) about 45 minutes each way. (Shug & I carpool, but because my work is farther from home than his, I am nearly always the driver.)

I was tired of driving & just plain tired.

I was ready for the weekend!

I had things I needed to get done -- housework-y things: laundry, dusting, vacuuming, errands. 
And there was LOTS I wanted to get done in my sewing room. (I don't know why, but I just can't seem to call *my* room, dedicated to *my* quilting, my *Studio*. What is the deal with that!?!) 

I cut & stitched on the binding to my Stitch in Color quilt; I've decided to name it "Lucky" -- I'll explain why when I reveal the finished quilt. 



I cut out some bibs to make for Bibs for Babies.




I stitched some on my Low Volume project -- I love it SO much. I did some fabric pulling & fabric stacking & a bit of fabric cutting for the Streak of Lightning QAL. (Two VERY different projects!)



I tried to figure out what went wrong with Shug's shirt. I got it mostly assembled while I was away, but notches & dots weren't matching up & now the collar & lapels look insane. Seems I tried to put the boys' size collar on the men's size shirt. grrr 

I meant to take a nap, but never really found the time.

Weekend Update

This past weekend was my first one home in the last 2.5 weekends.

The first half was filled with social stuff: on Friday, my new book group met for the first time, we discussed The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (interesting, liked it but didn't love it); that evening, there was a pot luck dinner at our sail club (it sounds fancier than it is -- no yachts here, just small boats like Lasers & Sunfish), after dark, we watched the 'practice' fireworks of the neighboring tourist area -- fireworks over water -- always beautiful; on Saturday, HMQG had its summer pot luck & BBQ party. Some spouses & some kids were there -- Shug came along. There was lots of great food & I talked with some members that I didn't really know that well & with some new members & had a wonderful time.

Then on Sunday we stayed at home & did what we wanted to do. Shug tidied his (very messy) workshop & did a bit of turning. I got out my HSTs & began laying them out & stitching them together. I even rested with book in the afternoon!



I got the laundry done & did a bit of dusting. But didn't get the floors cleaned or the rugs vacuumed. Please don't tell anyone, but I really don't care that I didn't!