I've been wanting to work on this particular quilt all fall. And then I really haven't. It's one of those things where the next step is pretty much figured out and yet I keep waffling about it. So pathetic. I even annoy myself.
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| Partial St. Paul quilt progress |
I finally bit the bullet and started cutting the tumblers out. It's a long process that always leaves me feeling somewhat stunned to see the rotary cutter in my hand and being all busy cutting the fabric out. As an aside, I'm always grateful for the soothing qualities of working with cream printed fabrics. I know there are people who just gag at the traditional look to them, but they just melt something inside of me. Using these fabrics, I'm almost guaranteed to like what I'm doing eventually.
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| Cutting out cream tumblers |
So this is how I boiled it down in my mind this time, trying to clear out all those sticky cobwebs created by that nasty balking syndrome I like to call
simmering PROCRASTINATION. Lets just call it what it is! You know I always try to start on an upbeat note:
Worst case scenario I'll have enough tumblers to make a little cream and blue tumbler quilt. {
Okay, that does sound kinda interesting.}
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. {
Really? How original.}
Just do something. Anything is better than nothing. {
Um... Are you sure about that 'cuz sometimes 'anything' can turn out to be sort of ugly. Or embarrassing. Or even embarrassingly ugly.} Huh. Who's in charge of this quilting endeavor anyway?*wink Seriously, what's the worst that can possibly happen? I won't like it? Wow. Like that's never happened around here. Lemons to lemonade and all that....
I bought the 5" tumbler templates over at
Diane's and they work wonderfully. Totally getting me over the hump of diving into something I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about. Love to work with these acrylic templates, especially in this particular size. No tracing shapes onto fabric and cutting out with scissors involved at all! I did switch over to my smaller rotary cutter to cut the tumblers out as the larger rotary cutter kept shifting on me. Not sure what size this one is (maybe 18mm?), but it's the little guy. Really great for cutting nice and tight against the template. Don't buy a cheap rotary cutter though, as I know from experience they don't hold up well with constant use.
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| Cutting out the blue tumblers |
I also got a bit of fun mail from Dorothy over at
Dorothy's Threads of Life. She does stunning applique and embroidery work. Always lots of eye candy over there!
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| A win! |
And just because I thought this was pretty fun, here's a picture of my two youngest practicing for honor band. Isn't that saxophone humongous? Especially compared to that little skinny flute!
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| An impromptu concert... |
Even though my son is in 8th grade and my daughter is a junior, they both somehow managed to make it into the same honor band event! Always, always,
always something interesting going on around here....
Well, I agree, you can't go wrong with tumblers, so it's going to be wonderful no matter what. Personally, though, cutting without a plan stresses me out, so I'm all admiration that you're on the way!
ReplyDeleteI love tumblers. They always look great .
ReplyDeleteI can pop over and help you cut if you like. I quite like cutting and it seems to go pretty fast when you're doing a ton of the same thing over and over.
You know how I feel about those tumblers *wink* and I sure wish I could have heard that concert!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a tumbler template and was thinking just today that maybe I should get one. But how hard is it to line up the pieces in sewing one to the next to get them sewn properly?
ReplyDeleteP.S. I have been procrastinating on sewing together some blocks with sashings. So join the crowd.
ReplyDeleteque bien se ven esos vasos!!!
ReplyDeletesera un trabajo muy bonito
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I always like to hear about your thinking process and why you choose certain fabrics and methods. It's interesting that the cream fabric calms you down. Now, I'll have to analyze my quilting emotions and motivations. Hopefully it will get me motivated as well.
ReplyDeleteI had to go back and look at this quilt from last month's post. I remember liking the colors and thinking that it was a block similar to Winding Ways or Kaleidoscope as I'd seen those two in a quilt book that I have.
ReplyDeleteThat sax IS huge ! Nice that they are in the same band / event together! :)