Slow Stitching My Day Away

For those that have inquired, we are doing just fine here in Pateros. We have had level 1 evacuation (lowest level) warnings in place for over a week, but so far, the nearest fires seem to be moving away from us.

Keeping it simple...

As far as quilting goes, all I seem to be interested in is hand quilting. It feels very calming to me and doesn't require much in the way of brain power. I did try stitching something a little more complicated on the border of my string quilt, but after seeing part of one border done, I ripped it out and went simple. The quilt thanks me. It doesn't want anything complicated I guess.

Hand quilting done on this one!

I have had various things I consider important to me packed up and ready to go at a moments notice just in case. These are the totes with unfinished quilt tops, basic sewing supplies and quilt projects that are 'in process' but not nearly at the quilt top stage. I also have the quilts that are in the hoop (or fresh out) and of course my sewing machine. Closer to the front door (downstairs) I have things like photo albums, papers, baby books etc. and of course we all have a bag of clothes packed. Scattered throughout the house are also TJMAXX/IKEA bags with about three quilts each in them--only my very favorites and of course the one from my Grandma. We figure we could easily have all of these items out of the house in under 10 minutes if we had to. No sense in putting them in the car unless or until we have a more serious evacuation warning.

Trying to be ready.....

News stories can be very misleading so we have been trying to get our information from more official channels. There is a lot of panic in our valley because of last year of course, but also because of how quickly the fires have grown and changed. So far we have had a small area of relative peace here in Pateros, with evacuees coming toward us rather than us having to flee. 

Here is an interesting YouTube video that shows a Fly Through map of the Chelan and Okanogan Complex fires. At 1:06 you can see exactly where our town is in relation to the fires. Pateros is up on the left corner, under the grid. At 4:52 you can see a broader view of where we are in relation to the fires in our county {we are the green arrow directly below where it says 'Brewster' in the bottom middle of the screen.} And then at 5:12 you can start watching the animated playback of how the fires have progressed and grown from where they were at on August 16. Obviously, the closest {to us} fires combined around that date, maybe just before, and then they have steadily blown past us except in the farthest areas of the county. That's where they still remain largely uncontained. Look for a town called Carlton. That's where the fire started last year that did so much damage to our little town and of course the surrounding areas. Now you know why we are still on level one evacuation notice. Even though the fires are primarily burning away from us, there is still some activity on every side--having the fire be 6-8 miles away from us with a river in between? Not feeling so safe until it's all put out.....

Time to link up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching. I don't know about you, but it sure helps this mama stay a little more sane....

A Fresh Perspective

Even though it feels that all I do lately is fret, I am closing in on a finish with my current hand quilting project. Time to pin another quilt top. I do like to stay one step ahead and quilting/color/fabric feels good. It's not like I have the brain power to concentrate on design decisions and such right now anyway. The fire is probably not any closer, but ash is falling everywhere, smoke is choking us and our view is obscured. Fires are {or have been} burning on practically every side of us. I can't even think straight.

Getting ready to pin my Scrap Basket/Rolling Stones quilt

My daughter helped me to move the dining room table out of the way and then because I was already in the mode, it was easy to pin two quilt tops. Might as well. The Scrap Basket/Rolling Stones quilt top is one of my absolute favorites because of the different fabrics and colors involved--that red number fabric for the basket background and mixed light green sashing especially.

Every now and then I make a quilt top that just seems to stand out to me as special in several ways. I'm also extremely fond of the large basket that was pieced {on a whim} with a quickly drawn template, then sewn from little bits in the scrap bin. It was actually the impetuous behind the entire quilt and I cannot believe how 'me' this quilt turned out to be. It's been needing to get in the hoop for a good long while now because it just makes me happy.

A closer look...

The quilt top below is one that I intend to do some machine quilting on--stitch in the ditch etc. After I get all that out of the way, then I will come back and hand quilt some spirals in the pinwheel blocks? I'm still contemplating ideas, but that is my tentative plan.

Mom's Color Challenge Quilt

This quilt is a Kathy Doughty pattern from the Material Obsession 2 book, but our late quilting group made it as a mystery quilt. According to the guidelines set up for us, we gathered or bought our fabric according to warms and cool, then subgroups of types of prints. I can't remember exactly now, but it seems that we had print groups of dots, plaids & stripes, geometrics, medallions, paisleys and also florals. We were supposed to pay attention to print size and try to gather a mixed selection of small, medium and large prints. It was a very interesting approach and we spent quite a lot of time playing with our fabric groupings before committing to the start of the quilt. I didn't mind selecting fabrics according to print type before knowing the specific pattern, but others found it an extremely difficult process.

A closer look...

What I balked at was using a solid white background and then trying to gather engaging {to me} fabrics to go along with it. True white feels so stark and foreign to me that I can't seem to bond properly with it. I could have used solid black {the only other option available to us} but for some reason I went ahead and decided to stretch myself a bit with the white. Good call as it's easy to get complacent within our own comfort zone and start to get stagnant. Using the white made me question some of the fabrics I was instinctively drawn to--made me wonder if they would be a bold enough choice if placed next to a solid. I've always tried to have a well balanced mix of prints in each of the quilts that I make, but making a quilt in this specific manner really helped bring attention to individual choices made color by color. It definitely solidified how truly important the details can be, reinforcing a thoughtful but hopefully, instinctive process. Hindsight makes it very clear that this quilt top has been key in how I got to where I am now in terms of choosing fabric prints for all my quilt projects.

Having said that, this quilt is not something I'm very excited about. As a whole, it doesn't feel completely like a 'me' quilt. It doesn't dazzle me, melt my heart or make me feel especially happy. Not that I'm embarrassed or ashamed of it! It just is. So.... coming back now and looking at it with fresh eyes allows me the perspective of seeing the little, tiny bit of myself that I managed to instill into the quilt--regardless of how limiting I felt the perimeters to be. That's kind of interesting because I really couldn't see it before. And it's in the finish-it-up queue now because I fully intend to be giving it away soon. Don't you think it needs to go live with someone who will more fully appreciate it? Ha  Lets see if it survives round two of August fire season first....