August Wrap Up

There was a list of things that I was determined to do this weekend and one of them was throwing up a quick quilting post. It's been awhile I know. I was working on this 'Worthy' quilt before we made the trip to Oklahoma and it seemed like something to post about. But then my husband upended all of our plans and we left for our trip earlier than expected. 

Starting to see where Worthy is headed

This has been a very slow project, started in November of 2023. Basically I took a stack of fabrics and started free-cutting triangles, ala Sujata Shah. In fact, the progress has been so very slow that I really never bothered to post about it after the initial start. I mean, what was there to talk about?

 The fabrics are very soft, muted and have quite an old fashioned vibe. I've been pondering them for a couple years, but every time I decided they weren't enough to bother making a quilt out of, there was just something that wouldn't let me toss them back into the fabric totes. I'm not even sure there's enough value changes to come off as interesting, but I'm gonna try anyway. 

This is probably about a third of the fabrics in the stack. It's not been the most fascinating quilt to work on, but as I said, it's still compelling for reasons that make me want to continue on. Forward ho! At this point I'm dithering over sewing this all together and then joining in subsequent piecing later {as I go} or.... waiting until I have all of the various strips piled together and then start fresh. 

Part of me wants to be brave and sew it together and just make the rest fit on and around. Ughh. You know how that can turn out. Possibly lots of regret and frustration. Much better to go ahead and take it off of the too-small design wall, be patient and come to terms with the fact that it's going to be awhile yet. I'm almost certainly going to end up crawling around on my knees, moving parts and pieces around on my design floor before anything becomes truly cohesive!

There will be more pink colors added in, more of the dark brown and also, more cream fabrics. I've even thought about expanding on the 'Worthy' block, perhaps adding in more applique in the form of a border motif. Something like that. I'm really, really liking the odd pairings and uneven rows of triangles. This definitely is not a quilt that wants to be perfect or even exactly aligned.

The goal is {for now}, taking each particular fabric as it comes and cutting it all up till it's gone. Really easy when there's just a small chunk of fabric left, but lots harder when it's a much bigger piece. I'm continually second guessing myself as to adding 'that much' of a specific fabric into the quilt. Am trying to quiet the admonitory voices in my head and just let creativity have full reign. At the end, my hope is to have a quietly charming and cozy {utilitarian-look} quilt that feels a little like it could have transported from the late 1800's. Ha! 

Needs some hand work before finishing

Though my goal was to have both of these quilts completely finished up by the end of August, life just got away from me. Again. Can't say that I'm surprised! Will have to squeeze in time to hand sew the binding on here pretty soon as one of the quilts is for a nephew getting married this month. At least there is serious finishing progress on both.

Applique border work

Have also been working on the hand sewing on these borders for Melon Patch Blossom. The middle part of the quilt has been done since late last year. You'd almost think quilting has become the lesser obsession in my life in the past year and you might be right. Family time has absolutely ended up being the top priority.

Ready for the next phase!

Finally got all the applique done on Bramble Blooms II-B. It wasn't complicated at all, so no real dragging of my feet. Just didn't want to take something this large with me on the plane! I get lots of looks when I'm working on my quilting in the airports, but rarely does anyone actually say anything. I wonder if it's like a houseguest once told me, 'Just makes me want to laugh! Quilting is such a grandma thing to do these days.'  My whole family was kind of looking at this man with their mouths hanging open. 

Seriously? Do you know how much money and time is spent on quilting these days? The incredible quilt shows that people can attend and feel inspired and moved by? Thankfully, I chose not to feel insulted. His grandma really was a hodgepodge quilter, quite artistic in other ways, but her quilting was strictly utilitarian and quite primitive looking. If he wanted to laugh at my old fashioned hobby, who cares? It brought her {and now me at this point in my life} lots of joy and that's really all that matters.

Sandwiched and ready for pins!

Next up in the hoop is Gold Crossroads. It's been finished up since about 2021. It's part of the 'Circle Game' quilts where I'm taking the cut-out circles from behind other applique and incorporate it into a brand new quilt. My latest Circle Game quilt top was Good Vibes. I already have fabric stacked up for the next one in the series and ideas for that and one more after that! Gotta love series quilts! They're a great next-up quilt when you run out of other ideas or are stalled with indecision.

Happy, happy mail!!

I also had this wonderful gift sent to me from an online quilting friend. This awesome box of fabric was waiting for me when we returned from our trip! Very generous and so sweet of her. Am always more than willing to mix brand new-to-me fabrics into the stash totes and see just where things might perk up a little. It must be my month because I was also able to buy a little fabric with some birthday money and also a recent surprise from the Tip Top Jar! Quilters are the best! While I am having great fun digging through all the older stash fabrics, there has most definitely been totes that are starting to seem quite, quite dreary. Always more exciting to throw in a few newer pieces occasionally to see what might start to spark and take on new life.

Okay, that's it for a what's happening around here on the quilt front. Lots of projects, ideas and stacks of fabric, but not nearly enough time to get it all moving and grooving. For all the Bramble Blooms QAL folks, will probably not dive into the last border prompt for a couple weeks or so. Lots of little things that I want to make forward progress on first, including hemming a couple pair of thrifted jeans. Darn it, when you're 5'2", the jeans rarely seem to come in the right length....