So Much Fun to Finish up a Forever Project!

Well, all good things must come to an end. The HST Medallion quilt is completely finished up! All 102 inches! One of those projects started sort of by impulse, but not really. I'd looked and looked and LOOKED at a picture of an antique quilt, wistfully thinking about how cool it would be to own one.

HST Medallion is done!!!!

Then one day, it just happened. I found myself putting together the centerpiece of a four year long project! It happened in fits and starts of course. Things this complicated always do around here. 

A lot going on with this one...

How in the world could I possibly make myself work on one quilt and one quilt only? Yeah. Not happening. I folded HST Medallion in half and laid it where I normally take the quilty pictures. Just so you could see the scope of how large this one is. She's a big 'ol beauty! When I moved the table out of the way {with the help of one of my daughters}, and tried to take a picture of the entire thing? It was basically a fail. It really needs to be hung up on a line and a pic. taken from a good distance. The light wasn't very friendly in that area of the room either. C'est la vie.

Trying to get a picture of the full quilt

I'd say that I don't know what possessed me to make this particular quilt, but that wouldn't be true. For some rather peculiar reason, I'm happiest when there is one forever type quilt project lurking about in the quilt room, be it all piecing, or all applique, or even a mix of the two. Call me crazy. It's almost definitely gonna be happening again some day!

All hand quilted

For one thing, I don't like feeling inadequate or incapable of making any sort of quilt that I put my mind to. Even terribly difficult quilts can be accomplished one little baby step at a time! Another thing that has occurred to me is that I might possibly relish? having an {almost} impossible task so that everything else seems quite doable by comparison. So silly, but it works.

The lighter blue hsts are facing the opposite
direction, on purpose....

You'd be amazed at how much I've accomplished through the years avoiding these super challenging quilts of mine! Or maybe you wouldn't. I've been pretty transparent about my love/hate relationship with the taking-forever, entirely too tedious, horribly intimidating quilt projects that crop up every four or five years.

My favorite view of a quilt

This quilt wasn't the most complex in the world, but it does have an awful lot of half square triangles in it. And precision sewing is not exactly my forte! If you look closely, there's just a little tiny bit of wave happening on the outside border in a couple places.*sigh  I haven't washed the quilt either, like I love to do. Though I love the crinkly look, I'm terrified some of the blue fabric might have a bleeding issue. Once it's washed up some day in the future, I'm pretty sure that slight waving issue will be less obvious, but for now we're all good. Totally content to wait!

Three impossible tasks that somehow 
made it to a finish!

Not that I'm ashamed of the issue at all. This quilt is way beyond what I ever hoped to accomplish back in my early days of quilting! If you'd have told me 20 years ago that I'd be making any one of the three stacked quilts {in the previous photo}? I'd have laughed in total disbelief!

For a quick trip down memory lane, I pulled the two other {very labor intensive} quilts that seemed to take forever and a day. I mean, there are lots of time consuming quilts around here, but these are the grand poobah's of sheer grit and determination getting me through! All three quilts are ones that I most definitely despaired over at different times and had to really push myself to get in another hour or two of work done here and there. Just to say that I hadn't given up on them! And I've got a sneaky suspicion that Melon Patch might be trying to join the list. But that's a story for another day.

You can read about the Pickle Dish quilt here and Worry Baskets here. All three quilts take me right back to a certain day years and years ago in a small town grocery store, impulsively buying a quilt magazine. I was completely mesmerized by a specific quilt in it, though I didn't have a single clue how to get started on making my own. And no, I never did make that particular quilt! It took a lot of years, many ups and downs, trial and error, learning, learning, learning, but now? I darn well will make whatever quilt I put my mind to. And you can guarantee, they'll be a whole lot better than anything pictured in that long ago quilt magazine.... 

Bow-ties Dilemma

So... back to the bow-ties. It's going very slow. In fact, I've run into a dilemma of sorts. Although I got to the point where I thoroughly enjoyed sewing the individual blocks together, hand sewing the rows together just isn't doing it for me.

Bow-ties forever project

There is no love here--zip. Now, call me crazy, but I'm seriously thinking about unpicking the three rows I've done the hand sewing on and try sewing them together on the machine. Whrrr... whrrrr......?

If the only reason I was going to hand sew the entire quilt together was so that I could say I've hand sewn a complete quilt together... Well, I'm starting to think that's not reason enough for me. Meanwhile I am five blocks short to have a full fifteen rows of bow-ties. Probably time enough to make up my mind.*wink Linking up with some more Slow Sunday Stitchers over at Kathy's if you're interested in that sort of thing.

The Forever Project is Moving Into the Next Phase

This will have to be a quick post 'cuz it's Sunday and there's a lot going on around here. I thought I had finished sewing all my bow-tie blocks together and then....

hand pieced bow-ties

well... I obviously don't know how to count. Five blocks short, can you believe that? (The short row is cut off in the picture.) I went ahead and laid them out on the floor to see what they looked like all together. Hmm... That was an experience. It literally took me two hours to make something look good decent. Sometimes I wonder if I even know what I'm doing? The last 5 blocks will have to wait for when I get closer to the last row because I just want to move on. For now, I'm going to be learning how to piece these things together into proper looking rows. Wish me luck! Once again, it's time to link up to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday!

Making Time For Prep Work

I know I'm jumping around from project to project, but that's the way I do things.  Working on the handles to my baskets really, really made me want to dive back into Scrap Attack #2 with the red and blue improv. blocks.  I've had several ideas for the border floating around in my mind and I just can't resist any longer!

New border on Scrap Attack #2

I had found this pretty taupe, gray fabric in the bargain bin a couple months ago.  It was for another project actually (hopefully they'll still be enough left for that!), but when I put it up against my red, blues and grays, it makes things go all glowy.  I know, you can't see that with my lousy pictures.  You'll just have to trust me on this.*wink

Honestly, the color is GOOD! I wouldn't lie to you.:)

I mitered the corners of the border because I want to put a funky, swirly shape on the corners and I don't want piecing to get in the way of the look.  Then I think I'll put a slightly primitive swag type design along the border in between the end pieces--all of this in black fabric.  We'll see.  I'm still playing with it and cutting out my shapes free hand as I think things through.  If you've never tried this kind of applique work before, you really should.  It's a totally different process than tracing and copying someone else's design.

Prep work makes all the difference.

My applique block is coming along too.  I need to readjust one of the leaves, but I'm ready to start sewing the leaves and berries on whenever I get a spare moment and I'm in the mood.

Bow-Ties forever project

It really does make a huge difference to me if I have things prepped and ready to go.  I get SO MUCH more accomplished even if it's just one block at a time.  Yesterday I remembered to take my applique bag with me when my husband and I went on a material run and guess what?  I finished an entire bow-tie block while waiting in the car at the lumber yard and then at the bank.  Woot, woot!  Maybe this forever project won't take three years like the last one! lol

Starting in on Another Forever Project

So this is my next Forever Project:  6 1/2" finished bow-tie blocks.  I know.  More bow-ties.  Only bigger! After thinking long and hard about all the possibilities, I finally came up with this for a variety of reasons.

Hand pieced bow-tie blocks

First of all, I really want to learn how to hand piece in the traditional manner.  Pair that with the fact that I'm extremely intimidated by some of the intricately pieced patterns available these days and my brain freezes!  What to do?  What to do?  This will positively haunt me if I discard it half way through.*wink

A forever project needs to seem important and relevant or it risks becoming tedious. The old fashioned charm of a classic pieced bow tie quilt just feels right, especially for now.  I'm seriously considering hand piecing the entire quilt, but first things first!  My husband keeps telling me that I have finally crossed the line into crazy.  Like certifiable. lol

Hopefully the background fabric will keep things interesting and fresh for me.  So far one block went together perfectly.  Number 2 was a struggle since I was talking too much while I was trying to sew something I'm terribly inexperienced at and the third block wanted to give me major trouble at the y-seams.  Time to slow things down a bit and figure out how to get things right.

My First 'Forever Project' Quilt Top

It's official!  My Worry Baskets (otherwise known as the Trick or Treat Quilt by Blackbird Designs) are all safely sewn into a completed quilt top!  I finished up last night, but the lighting was so terrible in the house that I tried again today with mixed results--totally what you'd expect on such a rainy, dreary day.  Oh well, I'm way too excited to wait for better pictures 'cuz this feels like such a major accomplishment!

Worry Basket quilt top is finished!

Honestly, I am still in a state of shock and awe.  After three years of intermittent hand work, my first ever 'forever project' is a completed quilt top!  Slow and steady does indeed win the race on occasion.  So unbelievably crazy.

Too busy?

My husband thinks this quilt is a little too busy.  I am more concerned with some dubious fabric choices.  Three years down the road from the starting point means I can get a good feel for what I would do different if I ever made this quilt again (NOT happening in this life time!).  But you know how the thought process works in all things quilty.  Could've, should've, would've....  I love it anyway.  All of it.  After I get through hand quilting it some day (later on down the road), I'm gonna put it on my bed and keep it there forever.*wink

Lots of different fabrics used.

This past weekend was jam packed with friends and family, laughing, catching up, and some re-connecting.  All of the family that lives here in town had houses full of company for the entire weekend.  Good times!  And I couldn't find one single person that I thought would be the least bit interested to take a minute and come check out my latest quilty accomplishments.  Wahhhh......  My passion is soooo boring.

Just can't bear to put it away with the other completed
quilt tops yet!

Now I know how my mom feels when she goes on and on (and on) about her genealogy stuff and we display nothing but polite interest!  Thank goodness for this quilt blog, where I'm free to admit complete and utter absorption with little bits of fabric coming together into (what I think is) a much better whole.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post a picture of the quilt top that was used in the wedding decorations soon.  It was absolutely beautiful, if I do say so myself.:)

Making Good Progress!

Sundays are always a busy day for us, so I'm shocked if I make it to the computer before super late in the evening.  I actually finished up 14 more Fleur-de-lis setting triangles this weekend and thought it was good progress for a Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday link-up.  

More Fleur-de-lis blocks

The background is a soft woven fabric which seems to make the applique work a breeze.  Note to self:  Woven fabrics plus applique work make for a very happy quilter.*wink  Right now these are looking kind of creepy looking, but on the Blackbird Design quilt border, they are incredible.  So glad I made the decision to tough it out and make 48 of these little add-ons.....

Fleur-de-lis Blocks From My Forever Project

Amazing.  Even during a seriously long weekend that was jam packed with family stuff, I still managed to squeeze in enough time to finish 19 Fleur-de-lis blocks!  I had two little nephews that kept trying to help me out too.  I let them experiment with my snippers while their momma was gone.  Yep, they cut thread.  Nope, they don't cut fabric very well do they?  hehe  

Fleur-de-lis blocks

Earlier in the week I cut the plain fabric squares, setting triangles and all the pieces for the 9-Patch squares.  Then I sewed the 9-Patch blocks together and prepped all the applique pieces for the Fleur-de-lis blocks.

Prep work for 9-Patch & applique blocks

There are a couple extra 9-Patch blocks, but I want to have some options whenever I actually put the quilt top together.  I am still a little nervous about the DARK element in this quilt with all of the lovely blues and greens.*wink

9-Patch blocks for random placement

In November, I will have been working on this quilt (off & on) for three years.  Wowsers!  The end is almost in sight!  So many memories in the making of this quilt.  I highly recommend a forever project for everyone!  I am the late one linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching again.  The work gets done but I don't go anywhere near my computer on some Sundays....

Working On My Little Baskets

I don't have a quilt in the hoop at the minute.  Just taking a short little break from that.  Meanwhile, I'm trying to work in a bit of extra time with some of that applique work that often gets shuffled to the back burner.  Super cool to see 16 of these little baskets all done and ready to go into the finished stack!  

More little baskets finished up

Once again I'm linking up to Slow-stitching on Sundays at Kathy's Quilts.  This forever project of  mine is finally starting to seem like a very real possibility and I like the idea of recognizing it as valuable time spent.*wink  Well, it must be or why would I be starting to wonder what my next forever project is gonna be?