Scratching This Long-Term Project Right Off The List!

I have a finished quilt top to show you today, and no it's not the baby quilt. That has been completely set aside to be used as a potential backing someday. Just couldn't find any joy in it at all and finally decided that I didn't want to spend another minute on it!

The little bitty flower that makes me smile...

This quilt top is quite possibly my longest open ended project to date. I've been working on it for so long that I can't even find the start post any longer. I found a post in 2019 with a mock-up of what it was 'supposed' to look like. It's had many, many ups and downs and quite frankly, I am amazed to find myself with any completed quilt top. This one has been a humdinger of all projects. One that I was probably just too stubborn to give up on!

So happy with the overall look and vibe to this quilt!

In November of 2020, I completely ditched the original idea and started careening off in the direction of a row quilt look. I sort of drew up a rough idea, but just figured there was way too many hours of stitching involved already to throw everything away. Basically, my mindset was that the quilt would sort itself out during the ensuing hand applique or maybe I would die trying. 

Just bold enough to have a spark...

Then, in June of this year I decided the row quilt idea {by itself} was not going to cut it at all. Just not good enough. And that's where I really went off the rails and started making you all feel kinda nervous for what might be happening over here at Quilty Folk.

Where the side pieces DON'T match up...

But too, that's when I finally started feeling a glimmer of excitement about a quilt project that had long ago lost all the spark and energy it ever started with. Drawing, cutting out and starting the stitch all the words together made it feel interesting and worthy. Why not go for it?

A happy quilt

The main problem was that I was super busy and distracted during this summer {as you all know} and my base fabrics for the letters crazy old and boring. You all know that, saw it, and felt horribly sorry for the time and effort I was spending on this unending quilt. It made it terribly difficult to sustain any sort of enthusiasm for the end product and so then of course, there was a boat load of self doubt, loathing and massive recriminations for such a dumb, stupid idea. 'Cuz surely I was deluding myself about how great an idea this old timey quilt look could be starting from where I was starting from? It seriously felt kind of hopeless at times. 

Loving the scrunched look

With nothing better to do and feeling all the effects of the long, smoky, summer doldrums....., I literally MADE myself start plowing through the hand work to complete the stitching on the letters. One letter finished and then another. 'Cuz by then, I just wanted to SEE! Was my idea a total wreck of mixed signals and too much stubborn pride? 

I messed up on which fabric to choose for the 'Together' word and started sweating whether my remaining fabric would be the right look and be able to be properly balanced etc.  Still I forged on, determined to make this project come to an end. Please just let it be done!!

Almost there!

When the letters were FINALLY completed, it was on to the layout, which was already pre-determined minus a few fussy little details. I thought about off setting the melon patch rows with an uneven number, every other row, and then liked perfect repeats better. Okay, 6 it is for every row. That's pretty good except that it vaguely looked like wide open mouths. Yah. Totally ignoring that particular thought! But what about a border? Good, bad, or indifferent idea? If I chose to add a row of the melon patch applique on each side of the quilt I would have to hand stitch one more row, plus? It just looked like TOO MUCH. If you know what I mean. Nah, scratching that idea. But wait!!!!

Didn't even hurt a little bit...

What about half of the applique piece? I know a lot of you are cringing so hard right now, but it was so... easy to draw a line through the middle of the cut-off portions of the melon patch rows and sew a quick seam on either side. Then, just cut the appliqued rows open and then sew them in long rows. {Keep in  mind that I had 3 short melon petal rows leftover from each specific row used in the quilt}. I decided not to worry about whether or not those side borders pieces matched up very well or not. After all, the quilt now has good reasons to be very forgiving of all real and imagined flaws! Right? It says it right on the front! Just a little bit of 'fix-it' hand stitching to re-secure where the hand stitching flaked out during the cutting and sewing then it was all done.

The last bit of inspiration that helped
me get over the hump of great ideas
that had all crashed and burned....

The quilt still didn't seem finished though. Almost, but not quite. I pondered and debated until eventually I went ahead and added a subtle red striped fabric to the top and bottom. Simple, simple. Then.... it sort of sighed and finally, finally let me do a victory dance. All mental of course. I am a very dignified quilter. Ha!

The start of a new project

So yep. It's all done and I couldn't be more excited and happy for my very unique and interesting {to me} quilt. Absolutely nothing like what I started out thinking that I was making, which is probably an excellent thing. The original idea was a little boring anyway. It feels like I'm maybe, sort of starting to get my groove back. We'll see.

One of the few books I've bought in the last several years

In the mean time, there are lots of bits and pieces leftover from the original project idea. Like, 20 background blocks with the center medallion already stitched down? I found an idea in the 'Mixing Quilt Elements' quilt book that I think will go well to perhaps move things along on a brand new project. I cut out and mocked up one of the quarter rings that I will be making to sew onto all those backgrounds. Some day. Totally different colors of course, but a solid idea. Not starting in on it just yet, but I know something needs to happen with at least some of those bits and pieces. It feels good to start wading into some of the older projects languishing around here. You never know, I might stumble onto a baby quilt idea any day now!

The Applique Queue is Growing

If it takes two months for new habits to form, I might be in trouble. Lots of new starts, especially with applique, but little to no interest in follow-through. Out of curiosity, I decided to post an applique update, or current status? on the ongoing. Lots of hand work taking place at the start of our Stay At Home order, but lately it's been much more fun to chain piece or just sort and stack fabric. So moody.

4-block Tulip Medallion quilt blocks

The Four Block Tulip Medallion quilt has gained a teeny tiny bit of traction {all the triangles are now sewn on the baskets}, but these initial blocks might be the boring part of this quilt. You know, the one I'm envisioning in my head. Someone commented that it seems more 'traditional' compared to my latest quilting efforts. We'll see. It's true that these fabrics have been gathered for over three years! Can't really move on till I have a better idea of how the middle goes together though. Also, I've determined that these need to be done before I'll let myself move forward with any of the rest of the applique in the queue. My carrot and stick approach and I'm sticking to it!

Chunky Tulip blocks

Chunky Tulips has went absolutely nowhere. So sad as I was initially very enthralled. 13 blocks total, I really need these blocks stitched down before determining how exactly to proceed with the AHIQ hourglass prompt. It's not like I've fallen out of love with them. No, it's more like there is other, more interesting things to do, or on the flip side, I just can't make a firm decision to start. Big plus is that they should stitch up in no time flat once I have them in my sights again. On a side note, I've have also been pondering if maybe it would be better to just start an altogether different hourglass quilt. Why not? That way I could take my time with this quilt and still get the AHIQ challenge on board for a June quilt top finish... So many ideas and so little so very much time with which to do them....!

Melon Patch blocks

The 20 Melon Patch blocks have been a source of some irritation. Somehow the applique ended up too narrow for what I was expecting. They've been pulled out of the little tote and dissected every which way until I think {crossing my fingers}, I've finally figured out how to proceed with them. If the middle medallion flower wasn't already stitched to the background blocks there would be many more options, but I'm not tossing all that previous work. No way. Am just having to change my expectations a little. No big!

Coronacrazy

Coronacrazy is definitely not the only quilt that I've impulsively started during this strange period of time, but it's the only one that I am pinning this particular label on. All the 'hills' have been basted and now two of the rows have been stitched on the underside of the hills. {There might be 14 in all?} Will probably work on stitching the undersides until the entire quilt top is complete, then come back and work on the plan for additional applique before attempting to stitch the top of those hills. If I decide to add flowers with stems for instance, then those stems might look better buried into the applique on the hills. Just trying to think ahead here. Hate, hate, hate having to re-do!

Love Apples quilt start

Love Apples is the quilt that I've come up with as a result of having several long rows of pieced pink fabrics abandoned from a previous quilt attempt. There's been more time spent on this than I probably want to admit to, but the planning is ever so much fun at times! What if? How about? The current idea in motion is there will be 21 applique blocks using the mixed gray for backgrounds. All the background fabric has been cut out in the appropriate size which means that I am seriously committed. This is definitely a 'go'!

However, I have not allowed myself to cut and prep the applique pieces as that would be tempting fate a little too much. Still trying to get a few things moving along before I dive wholeheartedly into this impromptu project! One thing you probably ought to understand though, is that I've only been wanting to make another Love Apple quilt for hmm... 5 years or so? This one will look totally different of course, but I find it ironic that many of the colors used will be similar!

Orphan blocks and bits and pieces

And then I somehow fell down the rabbit hole with yet another brilliant idea. Hand quilting on the latest has only served to remind me how much I love and admire orphan block, scrappy make-do quilts. Hhmmm... don't I have more orphan blocks and parts and pieces just waiting for their time to play? 

Beginning of Spring Flower blocks

And that's how the 'Spring Flowers' project has made its debut on the current applique to-do list. In less than an hour, somehow these cut-off circles {from behind other, older applique units} decided they could very easily be turned into sweet flowers. No time at all! See, it was meant to be! Not sure what all of those parts and pieces {see previous pic} will be included in this particular quilt, but I sure am excited to see how these green, blue and cream flowers will present! In fact, it's these specific pieces that are proving to be the 'carrot' in my carrot and stick approach. Who would have thunk it? Out of all the mixed bag of applique that I have going on, these are proving almost irresistible! Why is that?

On another note, thank you once again for all the comments that post on this blog, but am unable to reply to personally as there is not direct link back. Diane Koch, that was a lovely recent comment that you made. I appreciate the sentiment and thank you for it! To you and to others, Quilt Granma?, Juliana? I will always respond directly to your comment if you could just leave an email within your comment. I do not respond directly here on the blog unless it's something that would be of interest to everyone. Regardless, it's wonderful to receive feedback am I'm always amazed at the persons who comment again and again without ever hearing back! Believe me, it's nothing personal!

They tell you when you first begin blogging to try and imagine exactly 'WHO' you are writing to. What might be of interest to THEM, whomever these people are. For me, it's always been more interesting to write about the things that engage me, and then try to convey all of that passsion in a sort of conversational way. Like we were having a chat about this most fascinating but sometimes baffling craft. I can't always get a firm picture in my mind about who my followers are, but I'm sure we'd have lots to talk about if we ever were to meet up in person!

A Hand Work Update and a Finish

Lots of hand work in the last several weeks. I finally picked the 'Melon Patch' applique back up and just slogged my way through. Why am I doing this? What in the world was I thinking? And then... Oh my, I just love these colors and fabrics. This is gonna be great! And that's generally the gist of this quilt every single time. 

Melon Patch petals all ready to sew onto the background now

There are 20 sets of 4 pieces each and I figured it takes me approximately one hour to stitch the petals for each block. Ouch. That's a lot of time spent on this project alone in the past six weeks or so, not to mention the stitching time taken just to get to this starting point! Absolutely a forever type of quilt project which makes it easy to 'back burner' again after each additional layer gets some needed attention.

The pattern is based on a quilt that I saw in an old quilt book. It was pictured in black and white but the templates were included so I just went with it. Turns out the picture was very deceptive. The melon petals were much wider and shorter in the picture and these ended up being kind of skinny and gangly looking. Plus, they don't leave enough room at the edges for the additional medallions to be stitched  down over the corner seams!

Auditioning the petals on the background. Hm... needs a little more?

I don't know why it took me so long to wise up to the problem, but now I'm a little grumpy about the entire look. So much time and it's not exactly turning out as planned! I'll probably just stitch these down to the main block and see if adding some little red buds to the center will help with the overall look. Not exactly wanting to dump all this effort just because there will probably have to be a detour from initial plans. What a waste that would be!

Prepping for some new basket blocks

For this newest project, I've had these fabrics pulled for almost three years and just could not figure out how to start. Lots of colors There's also some blues and deep violet reds included in the mix and initially it seemed like the obvious choice was to use blue fabrics for the baskets.

Looking very traditional!

But no matter how much I played with the fabrics, it always got stalled. This was the year that the project was going to move forward or all the fabrics were going straight back into the totes. After much deliberation one day last week, I finally, finally knuckled down and to my surprise, decided all the baskets need to be green and the backgrounds were going to be yellow. Okay then. That's that. Eventually these four basket blocks will be the center of a medallion style quilt just because it's time. Love playing around with potential borders!

Ormes Inspired ready for the next layer!

I also found the time to finish stitching down all the leaves on the upper right corner of the 'Ormes Inspired' quilt. I've mostly determined the colors/fabrics for the next layer of applique and just need to finish getting it cut out and ready to go. Which means that my applique projects are down to the measly number of three! No worries though. I have another one or two or three? applique projects anxiously awaiting their turn to be started too. Of course. Regular readers know good and well that it never really ends around here....

Home Sweet Home is finished!

In other hand work news, my Home Sweet Home quilt is all finished up and ready for a label. I machine sewed some straight lines across the quilt in strategic places and then hand quilted everywhere else. At first I was annoyed to be spending my 'quality' hand quilting time working on this impulse, came-from-out-of-the-blue quilt, but then I settled down and just enjoyed the process. Hand quilting is never, ever about the time. Not really. It it was, no-one would ever finish anything!

Lots of impulse and leftover applique pieces...

So very glad now that this quilt spent the time in the hoop because it's a much, much better quilt now. I adore hand quilting with homespun fabrics as they are amazingly receptive to the texture achieved from stitching. They just soak it up like a sponge and then wrinkle up so nicely after being washed and dried.

So simple

It's an odd, ugly duckling sort of quilt and I definitely don't expect everyone to join in my love for it. My girls are my greatest fans and they're still very ambivalent about the use of the green/gold color in the background position, though they do appreciate that the quilt has some good qualities now. It's not a show quilt whatsoever, and I'm very okay with that.

Very happy with the range of purples used....

I scrounged around and found some great purple fabrics that had just a touch of pink in them for use as binding. So happy with how it boxes the quilt in and gives it a sweet little spark. One of my favorite things about this quilt is the very wide range of purples used. They go from royal purple to a deep blue-purple to a lovely violet then to a brownish purple and then clear back again to a pink-purple {orchid?}. Yes! Pushing the boundaries of color and creating depth. Makes it ever so much more fun!

Finally a good use for the cream/pink/green petal fabric!

Because I'm not entirely sure what colors the recipient of this quilt prefers {other than purple}, I decided to use a girly, peachy-pink fabric on the back. When the backing is folded over against the top of the quilt, it definitely elevates the overall feeling to a more light-hearted and happy vibe.

Crossing my fingers this one will be loved too!

Hopefully she will appreciate all the love that went into this quilt and smile at the {six} birdies. With the recent addition of her sixth{!} child, I decided that the momma needed a new quilt probably more than the newest baby did. Some quilts are not at all about impactful design, but strive merely to convey love and comfort. As experienced quilters, we should all be able recognize that important difference and not make light of the fact when/if have the skills to make it happen. I can so make a better comfort quilt these days than I could have 10-15 years ago! Though I wouldn't want to make comfort quilts ALL of the time, it feels pretty wonderful to touch a heart here or there in the course of my journey. So far we have had enough family and friends to not have to start making/gifting comfort type quilts to complete strangers though I applaud the ones who do that. Giving is good...

Trying to Work in One More Finish This Month

Monday, Monday.... Boy, was it ever. But lets talk about positive things. All the petals for this specific layer of the Melon Patch quilt are done. Yay! The next layer is already cut out and ready to go for the very next time I decide to resume working on this particular quilt again. That's a good thing.

80 petals later!! It's on to the next layer...

Though I would absolutely love to dive right into another good applique quilt, I have been reserving {most} of my recent energies for finishing up. Still going strong on the hand quilting for the Big Tipsy Basket quilt. It's moving along so well that I went ahead and decided to include it as one of the entries for the quilt show. This means that I have until August 11th to finish up the hand quilting, bind the quilt, label it and get it properly washed up. I know, I know. Many of you would never, ever wash a quilt prior to entering it into a quilt show. I do. That's so much a part of the look and voice of my quilts. How could I do anything different?

Stitching the outside of the basket in my
fave, free-form echo quilting style

People often make comments about how 'soft' my quilts look, or how comfy or heartwarming or cozy the vibe is. Things like that. Well, they are hand quilted and then immediately washed, which means that the 'natural crinkle thing' happens right off. If it makes them look slightly less professional or not quite as serious as other entries, then that's perfectly okay. I'm really not in it for the ribbons. Wowers. Not at all. Don't need that kind of stress!

Considering how to stitch the inside area between
the basket handles

I honestly just love the chance to come around a corner and unexpectedly see one of my quilts hanging. Oh the delight! Be able to see some of the details from a greater distance. Or take in the entire impact, in a single glance. I don't have that opportunity here at home! Plus the bonus of perhaps inspiring another quilter in some small way, really feels like giving back. {Not that I'd probably ever know either way!} Quilt shows have often been responsible for inspiring and sparking great ideas during my long quilting journey. This same quilt show in 2017 sparked an idea for a quilt that I'm actually entering into the show just this year! These are only a few of the reasons that make it worthwhile to attempt to squash down enough nerves and second guessing to go ahead and fill out the entry forms.

Quilt show entry forms

Seeing quilts online is awesome, {we are a lucky generation in that!}, but nothing beats seeing them in person, being able to take in all the lovely texture and nuances.*sigh  The risk of course, is the obvious. Once in a blue moon there will be a bad experience and honestly, every year I'm a little punchy and wondering if this is the year of the Very bad, No good, quilt show Mojo. Not that I ever took any more quilts back to where I previously entered them every year. NCW is the much larger regional show, approximately 60 miles away and where I have taken quilts in 2015, 2017 and also 2018. Still a non-member to the guild though I probably would join if the meetings were more convenient. In the meantime, I'm just happy they are friendly to accept non-member quilts and have enough volume of works to support an annual quilt show, year after year.

I found out that I do get to stay in town quilt show weekend and pick up my quilts after the event. Though I had a couple of wonderful offers of help in picking quilts up, I'm a bit relieved to be able to bring them home myself. While it seems crazy, I hate to bother any of my friends for what is basically a selfish endeavor.

On another note, did I mention that just three days ago this month, my blog turned 9 years old! The posts are definitely stretched a little further apart these days, but hopefully the overall quality of the blog has improved since the beginning. My youngest son says that I am a dinosaur for still blogging, but I don't think he quite understands the on-line quilting world.

Many thanks to all who follow along for the quilty ramblings! Thank you, Thank you to whomever, where-ever you may be! So crazy, but I've had over 1,200,000 page views just on this blog and now, over 400 followers thru Blogger. Over 900 followers on the Bloglovin' app, which doesn't always show up on the Blogger stats but who cares? There are regular followers from all over the United States, countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.K., Ireland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa, and even someone from Iran on occasion. These can't all be bots! Many of these people have never even commented a single time, but come back to read yet another post on yet another day. Or maybe they just skim through the pics and move on! Life seems just a little bit sweeter for being able to share my passion with like-minded friends....

It Doesn't Look Like Much, But I'm Making Progress

Next up in the hoop is the Big Tipsy Basket quilt. I don't think it was really supposed to be next in line, but I'm playing around with the idea of putting this one into the regional quilt show. It's all been sort of up in the air as we have an older friend getting married that particular weekend near Portland, Oregon.  

Big Tipsy Basket

Quilts are supposed to be picked up directly after the end of the quilt show and I've been having trouble lining up someone to collect my 'potential' entries. Still working on that minor detail. There's a still a slim chance that we'll just skip the entire weekend away, as my husbands work has been piling up on him and so many of our weekends are being booked up. So will I? Finish this quilt in time? Yes, no, maybe so. It should quilt up quickly, but on the other hand I'm not one for added pressures in life so we'll see. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying the almost mindlessness to the echo stitching and subconsciously pondering many of life's complexities. We think as adults we should have complete and utter control over our lives, but wowsers. Just not the way it usually is!

Getting sandwiched and pinned

It was nice to get the hand quilting finished up on Vintage Flowers though. It feels like I've been working on that one forever! The binding has since been machine stitched into place and it's now just waiting for the hand work time. I don't dread hand stitching the binding like some people, just need to find the opportune moment and be 'in the mood'. Hand stitching binding doesn't take days and weeks to do as I can be pretty fast with plying my needle. I don't know how others manage, but my machine finished binding always looked terribly sloppy and would have to be redone anyway. Why bother wasting that time?

Vintage Lily

Speaking of time. Melon Patch {below} has been co-opting a ton of my time lately. Ughh! So tired of stitching these innocuous looking petals! Out of 20 sets of 4 petals, it's down to just 3 sets left to stitch. The main problem is that it takes approximately an hour from start to finish to stitch one set of petals, so do the math. There are three hours left until this particular phase is completed! And I've told myself, NO more applique projects until getting this part done. No real surprise that anything and everything else gets in the way. I've read books, made apricot jam, drove to Home Depot with my husband, played with my granddaughters, took walks with my daughter, wrote a quilty blog post...

Always more petals to stitch

Too, all the nine-patch blocks for Patchwork Garden quilt have been finished up and now are sewn into the horizontal rows. I'm not sewing those rows together until I stitch as much of the applique possible so...., yeah......*sigh  Not happening until I get going on the previous project. Cuz I mean it! Bummer. This one looks like more fun, right? I've been gathering the potential fabric together for the applique though, so it's not like I've been sitting around twiddling my thumbs here.

Patchwork Garden progress

There's even another 'all applique'  that I've been eyeballing lately too. {not that I'm counting the stacks of fabric marinating on the counter tops at all....} It's a print that I saw online and already contacted the designer to ask permission to try and recreate in fabric. Ahem! Yes. It's been gathering steam behind the scenes so to speak, fabric being gathered and contemplated in great, serious detail. Hhmm... Maybe if I get enough interesting applique projects out ahead of  me then the carrot and stick approach might actually start working?

Monogamous Quilting is Not Really My Thing. I Get Bored So Quickly....

The Bullseye Medallion quilt has been quite shamelessly ignored for a good long time. Obviously something that needed to be rectified! Sometimes I'm just not in the mood and don't want to force anything into the wrong direction. This time, I only pulled it out of the shelf to take a look, remind myself that it had potential. Next thing I knew, the border idea was starting to come together in my minds eye and fabric started flying. You just never know when and why things might spark.....

First Round of Bullseye Medallion quilt

The general idea is for this, and every other border added to the centerpiece, to finish at 5". I don't want a lot of complex piecing going on, but intend to add just a touch of a pieced element here and there. At this particular moment in time {always subject to the whims of change!}, each subsequent border will follow the mock-up shown in the picture below, in regards to color. It would be good if the borders don't end up looking choppy, which is probably the biggest challenge of all moving forward. Most of the fabric I own is in fat quarters or slightly less than. You know how it is when the larger yardage is only bought for specific projects! That could be problematic in the overall flow and unity for each of the following border rounds.

Auditioning the following border colors

Wanting to keep the centerpiece looking bright and happy, black was chosen for the very first border color. Good contrast right? And black always adds a wonderfully folky vibe. Most of these black fabrics used are quite a bit more gray than black, as you can see, something I gravitated toward on purpose. I think it will end up creating a moodier 'look and feel' to the quilt, which might help save the quilt from coming off as too contemporary at time of completion. The goal around here is always 'cozy' versus 'modern', thereby invoking a look/feel that I am unreservedly more comfortable with.

Auditioning possible fabrics for this border

The pictures are terrible as I was working late into the evening. Hopefully you can still see that the very light blues used for the wonky flying geese tie right back to the color of the bird in the centerpiece. Not sure that I will use any more of those fabrics moving forward, but I do love the slight clash taking place in the blue/green family. It doesn't work for every single quilt, but there's something about using potentially clashy colors that can amp up the interest and spark in a quilt.

If you're ever unsure about where the 'going too far' line is, all you have to do is lay your new fabrics out on the quilt {as I did in the previous picture} and take a step back. Close your eyes, and pay attention to what your gut tells you when you quickly open your eyes and take a good hard look. Uggh! Get those hideous fabrics out of here! Or Hmmm..., very interesting. It might take a couple times of laying the fabrics on and taking them off again, perhaps mixing up the specifics of which 'clashing' fabrics work best together as a whole. You'll rarely be able to use only one conflicting color/fabric. It almost always takes a minimum of two or three to make it properly work. And yes, I originally chose the bird fabric precisely because I intended to add a little more of those dissimilar color choice fabrics later on. There are definitely methods to my madness!

All the flying geese sewn, just needing trimmed and arranged 

But of course, you already knew that if you've been following along with my creative journeys for any length of time at all! Rather than jump right into the next border, I also tried to work on the Sweet Tart basket blocks this weekend. Only got this far before I was completely done with working with cheddar and yellows. So bold and happy and well, sunny natured.... I started getting itchy and antsy, gave in and folded it all up for working on at a later date. So crazy because there really wasn't much left to do!

Making slow progress on the Sweet Tart baskets

Most probably I was feeling crabby because I've been longing to start a brand new applique quilt. Or two or three to be perfectly honest. And I had told myself very firmly the last time I started new applique {or maybe it was the time before that?}, that the Melon Patch project absolutely deserved progress before sidelining it once again. Yes, I have zero will power and had managed to sneak in a few little, teesy tiny applique additions such as the I Am a Maker quilt top. Always telling myself that these aren't serious applique commitments and so of course they don't count.

Another layer for the Melon Patch quilt

Poor, poor Melon Patch project. Taking so very long to gain any serious traction. I had almost talked myself out of loving it altogether. What horribly ugly fabrics and was it really going to have any redeeming qualities after digging everything out of the very depths of the stash totes? {I can always be relied upon to work up a very righteous indignation and even loathing to whatever project currently feeling inconvenient!}

Looking at what it might look like with the next layer

We all knew it was going to end this way, but as per usual, after finally making myself take the project in hand, starting to work with needle and thread, I felt curiously relaxed and was quite enjoying the process. So predictable. Look at these sweet fabrics! Why, they actually do look pretty interesting when sewn together in this subtle layering of colors and prints. Hmm... yes, what a good reminder to keep challenging myself to look harder and deeper into the stash totes. Not a waste of time and energy after all. lol  Isn't the entire creative process hilarious? Totally mind boggling at times when we think about how much we enjoy it all, every step of the way!

I started on Friday night and made steady if not amazing progress. If the neighbors hadn't been celebrating the 'after party' for their grand daughters Quinceanera on Sunday, there would no doubt be much more accomplished than these measly little stacks. Only a total of 36 finished out of 80 petals in all. After hours and hours of incessant music and loud drum beats drifting through the walls of our house, I finally retreated. So glad the Quinceanera itself was held somewhere else! They are honestly quite wonderful neighbors and we never complain about their maybe twice-a-year? large family gatherings. But wowsers, not a great environment to peacefully stitch away on the hand work!  

On another note, I counted it up and there have been at least 30 quilts with a basket element made around here in the past 10 years. Gearing up to put together an intense basket post--just for those of you who expressed an interest! lol  Gonna take a big chunk of time though, and crossing my fingers I can still find the pictures as most of these quilts are long gone...

Diving Into the Hand Quilting

Spring has been hectic around here. Nothing unusual about that. I've been finding great pleasure in opening up my hand quilting bag late in the evenings to stitch on this sweet quilt. Ooh, there is always a big exhale and then instant bliss.

Next up in the hoop

It was started as a response to one of our challenges over at Adhoc. Improv. Quilts. This challenge was 'Playing With Scale'. I started with a {freehand applique} floral centerpiece and made that background with coins or string sets. Then I moved to the border around that and decided to go ahead with the string look, but make these in a chunkier look/style.

Always a little applique

Since I was working with a stack of fabrics that had mostly been languishing in the stash totes for years, I decided to throw caution to the wind and make even more string sets. This time I went skinnier, but longer. This used up a boat load of old fabrics, but as usual, I ended up having to dig even deeper in the totes and come up with some fabrics to help ease the blending.

Sandwiching and Pinning

I made a conscious decision to try and use up every strip, thus the blocks with multi-color strip sets. Somewhere along the way I grew dissatisfied with the overall look and determined that it also needed the additional piano key borders, those horizontal, chunky pink and black/brown rows. Kaja is the one who helped me to realize that the bottom portion of the quilt would look better with two piano key rows rather than just one. I thank her for that as it really bring the whole quilt together for me.

Playing With Scale

There's definitely a utility style look and feel to this quilt. Kind of a plain Jane, I-used-up-all-the-ugly-fabrics feeling. Which, yeah, means they aren't all exactly ugly. Even after all these years, most of them still appeal. There's just something about florals! But maybe not as much as they did when I first bought them. You know how that goes. I'm loving, simply LOVING adding in the hand quilting stitches to this one. Does that surprise you? It makes me so very happy--almost beyond explaining.I pull this quilt out and my heart does a little happy dance every. single. time.  Something about utility style quilts and a soft color palette apparently combine to bring a lot of peace.

Third layer of petals for Melon Patch pieces

Last weekend we ended up making a quick trip down to Oregon to visit relatives. Kind of a last minute thing as we determined to attend the funeral of our daughter-in-laws grandmother on Monday and it seemed like a good time to visit an ailing uncle etc. at the same time. Such a good time visiting with the family over the holiday! We stayed up late every evening laughing and telling the stories of our life. Somehow it also ended up that we got to help out with our granddaughters at the funeral as our daughter-in-law was singing with her sisters and cousins. That was a sad occasion of course, but holding the baby and taking care of big sister made it kind of sweet too.

I took my hand work {of course} but only ended up sewing 9 out of 80 petals. This is the third layer and after that will be one more. I try not to think about how much sewing this really is, but just take it as it comes. It's the current 'forever' project and has been in the works since February of 2018. Wowsers, it feels like I've been working on it for much, much longer than that....