July Quilty 365 Linkup

Yeah! I am completely, totally caught up with my circles this month, all the stitching included! It's cause I have slowed waaaay down with my quilting and these little guys don't take much of my time. The greens and blue circles are surprising soothing, even against the black background. Love how they seem to sort of 'pop' and have my fingers crossed they will be a great spark in the final quilt.

All of the June circles for Quilty 365

It's interesting to me how the circle idea seems to hop into other quilty projects as well. {Uh huh, I'm combining a Quilty 365 post with a link back to Adhoc Improv.}  I hemmed and hawed and questioned my sanity, but finally left them in the border to one of my latest projects. Just feels like a circle sort of year and that's okay. We start in one place and sometimes bring ourselves completely back round to that starting place, tho perhaps with a better perspective at times?

My latest Adhoc Improv. quilt top--
An unexpected direction from my starting thoughts

The light was dreary on the day I took these photos, but this quilt feels very charming in a homespun sort of way. And oh, so very me on a very base level. I'm thinking this 'make-it-up-as-you-go-along' style is quite addictive. It works very well for making the sort of imperfect quilts that make me smile the biggest. The ones that I'm almost sheepish about showing people because of what it might accidentally reveal about this silly 'ol side of me.

Happy little applique flowers to make me smile

My enforced time off from intense quilting sessions has made me very reflective. Am I really as in love with quilting as it feels? Is it part of me, who I am, what I do, how I think? Or is is sort of a routine and more of an escape from life's difficulties? If it is, I've decided that, frankly, I don't care. Fabric love is good. What I've discovered is that my eye is constantly gravitating towards the quilts in my life. Studying them and enjoying them. Loving when I see a family member using one I gave them or displaying it on the back of a chair. It brings me great joy and what could be negative about that?

Not going to work for a larger project, but perfect for making me think!
And yes, it's more Adhoc Improv. play...

That feeling of resentment when I don't get enough quilting time. Okay. There's that. And I've been making a conscious effort to dial that back. Be more present and joyful with all of my life. Which means I'm going to continue to be a slow blogger this summer. Taking a step back from unimportant deadlines {and social media} is helping me feel more relaxed about everything. For instance, I spent about two hours working on those crazy improv. drunkards path blocks above. Whoa! Not much to show for two hours worth of work and what is it with the puckers?*wah! I am sooo not good at this!

The real project in the initial phases

I'll admit that I miss {quite dreadfully at times} the on-line journalling of the quilting process, but I just can't do it all right now. So I'm making a conscious effort to take what time there is for quilting and trying to use it more wisely. Those two hours of play were very contemplative and oh, so peaceful. Working with fabric and color  that spoke to me--just because-- felt amazing. Not worrying about the end result or how long it might take. Diving into things that felt 'right' and not stopping to consider the end result. Enjoying the moment more fully and not stressing over wasted fabric bits. And then deciding it wasn't the project I want to work on after all, completely guilt free. No remorse allowed! Instead I cut out squares for yet another Sujata Shah project that's been percolating in my brain for months on end. One that I had previously decided needed solid fabrics bought for. Nope, not happening! I'm jumping in feet first and will figure out the pesky little details later.

Finally have 100 blocks sewn together and, gasp! even trimmed.....

'Cuz that's the sort of quilter I really want to be--the way that seems to work the very best. If you're still reading, please feel free to link up with yet another Quilty 365 linkup. It's simple but slow work we're doing here. A bit tedious at times, but oh so interesting in other moments. It's a journey isn't it? If you're still traveling along with me, then thank you, thank you, thank you for putting up with my absence this summer. Quilty friends are the very best!  And in case you're interested, I, personally am at day 249 now {hallelujah} and well on my way to making it to day 366 some day in the future.....

Please link up with us if you haven't given up and gone on to something more interesting! Link a thumbnail picture to a current post on your blog detailing:

• What particular day you  happen to be at now {such as 'day 200'}
• A picture of all your June circles whether they are stitched to the background fabric or not
• A link back to this post
• Any thoughts or introspection you might want to add about this particular project

   

    An InLinkz Link-up