Got This One Done and Dusted Finally

The St. Paul is completely finished, all except for a label. As the binding was being wrapped up, I kept thinking what a masculine looking quilt this is. My youngest son hasn't had a new quilt since he was about six {yep, bad momma} and well, it seemed time. When the last stitch was tied off, I hauled the quilt upstairs to see about interest in a new quilt perhaps?

St. Paul quilt

Huh? Wowsers, the headphones actually came off for this discussion*wink  And so, without even getting a wash and tumble, the quilt already found a new home. This is a kid who tells me he likes all my quilts, really doesn't have a favorite of mine, any color works but kinda likes that orangey one dad uses all the time, probably likes the quilts with a 'pattern' better. Whatever that means. But seriously, he face totally lit up at getting a brand new one and the fact that it drapes off the end of his bed and will cover his feet? Bonus.

2nd finish of the year!

Gotta love those simple perimeters and expectations! So it was a feel good ending to a quilt started fairly impulsively back in 2013. No real direction, just a block I fell in love with and decided to experiment with, plus a pile of fabric that intrigued me. It's not fabulous or super, duper special, but it looks sharp and should hold up to years of hard use by my youngest male child.

These retro. fabrics are so rich and vibrant. Love that....

 I wondered about the organic straight lines stitching {for a short while} after starting in on the stitching, but quickly grew to like it. The cross-hatch I intended to do would have probably resulted in a lot of puckering as these St. Paul blocks had a lot of bias stuff going on. As it was, I was extremely glad to have a walking foot! And once again I stopped myself from stitching lines so close that the quilt became stiff as a board. It was tempting, but probably pointless with this traditional style of quilt. This way it should get very comfy looking in a hurry.

Partial St. Paul blocks

I know my machine quilting isn't very complex or exciting, but you what? It gets the job done. Maybe someday I'll branch out into some freestyle work. Or not. Right now, I'm just happy to see another finish for the year! The fact that it will be used half to death just makes me smile {a little bonus coming my way!}. And now there's gonna be two plus years to figure out a high school graduation/college quilt for this particular guy....

Growing Pains

I'm going to blather on today about a quilting issue I've been having for quite awhile. Last year I veered off into a very different {for me} way of working called Adhoc Improv. While I feel that it's been an important shift as far the style and originality I'm always looking for, it's quite thoroughly changed and interrupted the normal way I go about making a quilt.

One step at a time for Folksy Flowers

Maybe not obvious to you, but I've noticed something different. Digging a little deeper into my reflections of the past year, I sort of woke up to the reality of having growing pains. How I was working the past several years produced some wonderful quilts for me. It was a comfortable, pleasant, sometimes invigorating, place to be. So why change things up? Especially as the previous stage of quilting was so hard won in and of itself. I didn't just drop into that place without some very hard work! I guess the best answer is that I've felt a nagging desire to be challenged again and the thing that kept drawing me in was Improv., something very much out of my comfort zone.

And honestly, some of my quilts seemed to be missing just a little something beyond my grasp or understanding. This happened very gradually and mostly I thought the Adhoc. Improv. would just be something for fun and play. But then I realized that I was growing increasingly frustrated with some of my earlier quilting choices, even projects 'in-the-works'. It has increasingly seemed to me that I was betwixt and between.

Take the quilt below. I specifically remember wanting to work with these specific colors, experimenting with a challenging block and feeling pleased about adding the surprising twist of a tumbler block border to the quilt top. But as I was quilting it this week, it felt boring and much too predictable. Too formulaic and well, completely unoriginal. In my disdain for the quilt, {yes, I was essentially 'sneering' at it}, I basically placed zero importance in binding choices and simply raided the leftover binding tote until I had the proper lengths--something 'close' to the quilt colors. I didn't even check, okay? That's how uncaring I was. Then.... something very odd happened. After the initial phase of sewing the binding onto the quilt {it's still not hand sewn to the back}, my heart melted just a little and I started to feel that all-so-important connection again. All because of some unexpected color choices {pretty clashy in a couple cases if you want to know the truth of it} and a scrappy, make-do attitude. And I fell in love all over again.

Saint Paul quilt: Still learning even after the project is basically finished....

How obstinate is that? And then, the project below. Started from a Material Obsession book, I really thought it had the power to keep me interested clear through to a finish. But nope. Time and time again, I've recommitted myself only to procrastinate, be sloppy in my work, practice avoidance, blinker off into fun new projects, and always, always feel like I've been pulled back by the skin of my teeth. Is it ugly? NO. Are the fabrics impossible? NO. I just haven't felt any real connection. Which still leaves me three blocks left to applique.*grr...

The funny thing is, now that I've finally determined to cut up seven out of 12 blocks {terrible stitching issues} and just make do, I've actually started to relax. And enjoy. Hey? Is this quilt really salvageable? Be still my heart!

Rising Sun blocks to undergo some surgery...

And so I've decided to make use of those strange lighter, green fabrics left out of the original blocks {a decision that has always bothered me}, scribbled up some ideas for simple applique and well, yeah, I am back to being fascinated and intrigued by my quilting adventure. The methods that used to give me the basic framework for what my quilt might look like at a finish, are simply not working anymore. Occasionally yes. But not often enough to be reliable. Even though every phase of my previous quilts wasn't set in stone, I still had the comfort of knowing a basic outline. hahahahahaha

It's all been completely upended and I'm still not sure when {exactly} it happened. Not a comfortable feeling, that I can tell you. It's like feeling lost in the wilderness of too many choices at times, which is something I've always tried to celebrate and embrace. I can't even explain.....

A total restart

So I deliberately pulled out an old quilt top that I've been putting off the quilting forever. It's a clunky looking thing and almost no one likes it. That's okay. It served a purpose while I was making it, talking about 'The Creative Process so simplistically, and is serving a purpose for me now. So ironic how the old and the new always end up meeting up again and again! Reminding us that all the steps of the process are important. Just because I am learning to go with the flow, allow myself to cut into fabric without any definite, concrete plan, pushing myself to being 'free' and unfettered in every way possible with design, I cannot forgo the very important step of 'Incubation' and just try to make things happen!

Finishing up with machine quilting for The Creative Process
quilt---next step will be some hand quilting....

With this particular quilt, I admit to being cheap, settling on dull fabrics for the 'Incubation' and Implementation' lettering part of the quilt as that's what I had on hand. Now it seems laughably prescient. I rushed the process. Part of Incubation is having the patience to wait on the right idea, making sure all the pieces are in place, recognizing those important connections, and never losing track of elements that work to make our quilting unique. Incubation takes time. There is no formula. It can be hours, days or weeks before things click, especially if you're already working outside of your comfort zone! Because of my experience, there are things I can do to make a quilt progress and probably look okay. For it to satisfy myself creative self, there needs to be specific elements {relating to personal connection} incorporated or really, I'm just phoning it in. Lets just call these practice quilts, because we all have a few.*wink

Part of 'Implementation' is giving respect to the quilt when it indicates something is missing. Paying attention every step of the way to making sure the very best color, fabric, and/or element we have available in our current repertoire is being used correctly. Being decisive and adamant about making the best interpretation of what we're 'seeing' inside our incredibly rich imaginations. Incubation brings all the separate ideas together, Illumination sets the scene, and Implementation is where the details come into play. The ones that can take our quilt from 'nice job' to 'Wowsers! How did that happen?'

It's quite clear to me that {thankfully}, I don't have to empty out my leftover binding tote for every quilt finished. One thing for sure though, as my blue and gold quilt so succinctly pointed out to me: 70 plus fabrics in a quilt doesn't guarantee a quilt will look scrappy enough--for me. Some unexpected color blends and possibly a make-do element will probably do the trick. If my stitching turns up wonky, intentionally or not,, then well, it probably needs to have some control elsewhere, perhaps in a repeated applique or block design. Those sort of things simply ground me and provide a personal connection. Your criteria will no doubt be an entirely different list.

I just can't, in any form or fashion, make color-in-the-number sort of quilts and feel good about them. Which sort of makes the old way that I was quilting feel stale and formulaic. Now. It didn't use to feel that way at all. Aghhh!! Okay. What I'm saying is this. It's not going to be all Improv. all the time, but that method is definitely something I can use to do the sorts of things my quilts are starting to demand. By embracing the new in the parts and pieces that make sense to me, I'm not leaving anything important behind. In fact, it's a way of ensuring that my creativity won't shrivel up and die.

An important thing to remember...

I'm slowly finding my way forward, blending the old method of working with my new found joy in Improv. Finding a style that more completely embraces all the elements I love, not just stumbling onto them willy nilly and hopefully pulling off a hat trick. You might think I love being a reactionary quilter, but really, it only goes so far. And right now? I'm very busy slowing things down until there's a new comfort zone. Because it will happen. The transition is usually the most difficult part of the process!

Trying not to lose the spirit of the quilt....

In closing of this impossibly long post: What matters to me these days is making sure to work 'intentionally', something that has always seemed to be at odds with Improv. I'm finding that it doesn't have to be that way.

I want to work 'purposefully', no matter how simplistic my ideas come off to you or anyone else. If that involves ditching a complex quilting plan and starting from the ground up {all in order to make a very basic foundation of a quilt}, then that's the way it has to be. 

There apparently has to be an element of the 'unexpected' in order for me to feel true connection to my quilting. How incredible {and ironic} to finally understand that it can come in the most basic of forms such as a binding. You just can't make this stuff up.

Growing pains are hard. Stretching ourselves to learn new things, learning how to incorporate those new elements and finding our way forward takes a real, concerted effort. And all without losing the best parts of what we've discovered before! I can see why some people shut down after years of feeling passionate about what they do. It's the path of least resistance. When their projects start feeling boring or they lose the personal connection, then the way forward can feel much too difficult to navigate. How do we know what specific part of our previous comfort zone needs to be shed? How do we grow without damaging our confidence and that very important, trusting-in-our-instincts progress we worked so hard to accomplish? Our originality and growth as a maker depend upon us finding some answers. I'm happy to finally be finding some of my own. Ought to be an interesting year!

AHIQ Start and 17 in 2017 Progress!

It never seems like there's proper time to get a post written these days. Guess I'm spending too much time playing 'Words With Friends' with the family, catching up on my reading, or getting pulled away from what I'm doing by my husbands requests to accompany him here and there. Well, that and we just bombed through February already. Does that mean winter is mostly over?

Mock up of potential sashing units

Crossing my fingers fiercely on that one. Ughh. Am I ever tired of the snow and ice! However, there is still a bit of quilting going on behind the scenes, no matter how sporadic the approach these days. I dithered around, played with a quilting project idea, slept on it, then slept on it some more, tweaked my color choices and then finally, finally started the AHIQ-Chinese Coins challenge. These colors ended up being the pick of the day as they will probably end up being 'background' in the quilt and not a focal point.

At the moment there are only four sheets of strings sewn together. After getting through the initial work and checking to see that 'Yes, these can be cut to the appropriate strip widths and lengths', then I went ahead and free cut the approximate amount of strings needed for the entire quilt. Part of my initial reluctance to dive into this project was the feeling that Chinese Coins usually present in a formal 'evenly measured' manner. Then Kaja put into words some of my feelings about what was really stopping me from starting this project! We're all sort of inspiring each other I guess, because she referred to Sue {I personally was thinking about Ann's lovely string/coin work} and around and around we go. Mine will eventually be cut into 2 1/2" x 8" strips to be joined together in 6" sashing sets. And I want the imperfection of mismatched seam alignment although I did make an effort to not have extremes in width of fabrics cut. We'll see how it turns out, but whatever. I'm actually glad to have some mindless sewing in the works again!

Strips ready to be sewn into sets

So then, there's the 17ufosin2017 linkup. I thought there was very minor progress made during the minuscule month of February {hardly worth talking about}, but as it turns out, more was accomplished than I realized. Yay! My Peachy Cameo Medallion quilt gained another border. Hardly inspiring as it is identical to the previous one, but well... it just works. The quilt could almost be done right there, I'm so happy with the look, but it's gonna have to have that applique border I've been envisioning since the birth of the project. Yep. I can't help myself--always adding a bajillion more hours to my quilt tops, thinking applique will make it extra special wonderful....

A repeat border for Peachy Cameo Medallion quilt

Improv. Woven Basket also gained a border {very simple one} and then I've spent time drawing out and prepping for the next border. That always takes so much more time than we want to admit to doesn't it? And yes, the plan is for it to be an appliqued border as well. The picture below is what I have ready for the base of a simple flower design, mostly leaves with a very small little flower detail,that part to be determined after the bulk of this stitching is done. The flower stems were mostly gleaned from my orphaned applique bits and pieces totes which makes me smile and ensures a bit of unpredictability in stem width and color. Love that!

Prep work for border on Improv. Woven Basket quilt

Next up for gaining ground with a ufo is another border for Folksy Flower. This time I made sure to add triangular shapes to the end of my border lengths so as to address a little of the bias stretch that I will be dealing with. The math has been particularly tricky for me and so honestly I've just been avoiding it altogether. The border pieces are terribly wrinkled because I crammed them in my hand stitching bag for our recent long weekend to Oregon. Not much stitching happened tho as I found myself driving a lot instead of being passenger!

Another border for Folksy Flower quilt

While I completely finished up Geese Tracks and Black Shadow Applique {happy dance for a lovely, lovely finish!}, it doesn't feel like quite enough. If I'm going to be churning out quilt tops like a busy little beaver, then more domestic machine quilting is in order. Not just the feel good hand quilting stuff which is easy, fun and very low pressure. Ugghh. It never feels good enough, this machine quilting, but at least I'm starting to feel 'unashamed' of my unpolished efforts. Okay. That definitely feels like progress in and of itself!

St. Paul quilt sandwiched and ready to quilt

And my lovely husband tracked down some better tape for sandwiching my quilts. All of his own initiative too which makes it even more sweet. {Tired of hearing me grumble I'm sure!} I have had a terrible time with getting painters tape to stay attached to either the fabric or the floor and duck tape has been forbidden for use with my worn out, old wooden floors. This green tape is an auto body quality tape which so far is working wonderfully with everything but one fabric I tried it with. For some reason it didn't want to adhere to that particular fabric, but with everything else, I can actually pick the tape up and re-attach it!! Will wonders never cease. Now maybe I can get my quilt sandwiches to be taut and wrinkle free, something that machine quilting distinctly requires....

I Thought I Was Just Crossing Another Quilt Top Off the List

Time to work on my St. Paul quilt! I cut out the tumblers for the border awhile back, just guessing about how many I might need. Easy peasy stitching to assemble the border lengths.

Working on the St. Paul quilt

Then, I dithered and wrung my hands over the inner border colors. Nothing looked good. Nothing looked right, blah, blah, blah. So finally, I decided to forget about that proposed skinny inner border and just go with it. Why do I always think every quilt needs an in-between border anyway? It's a place I get stuck at a lot. So ridiculous really. I often question the reasons behind the way I assume.... 'things have to be done' all of the time. Eventually (thankfully), I always come to my senses and think 'quilting doesn't have a rule book!' And so here we are....

The entire quilt top....

Kinda busy isn't it? In a perfectly charming sort of way of course!*wink  The corner piecing was a result of my inadequacy in figuring out how to turn the corners with the tumblers. Not even sure it's possible!

St. Paul quilt top finished!

There might (or might not) be a plain one-fabric reddish border added on later. You know, to extend some of those rich autumny colors out. That totally remains to be seen. It also depends a lot on things like finding a luscious larger print that speaks 'St. Paul quilt' to me because there is nothing in my stash I like for the job at the moment. At this point... I'm chucking this particular quilt off the UFQ list! Yay!! {Shhh... Don't tell anyone, but I think it might have gotten a wee bit boring after all the complicated piecing was done.}

Just playing with tumblers--a very high risk situation....

And then I slapped the extra tumblers up on the wall. You know, just for fun. And because I can't resist playing. I was lacking one blue tumbler which only took seconds to take care of. Hmm... Definitely some possibilities going on there at the wall! Diane over at Butterfly Threads Quilting sells these wonderful tumbler templates if you want to play too. They make the sewing part super easy! 

And now I'm totally in awe at how quickly this has happened. Another quilt top done and me being so very good at winnowing down the UFQ list. Ha! Now it looks like another quilt might have cropped up in its place and with no pre-planning on my part whatsoever. I did not do this! It was all the fault of the orphan pieces looking so pitiful and sad....

More Work On the Partial St. Paul Quilt

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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....

Around the World Blog Hop

Welcome to my little corner of the blogging world! Nina, a wonderfully, talented Norwegian quilter tagged me to answer some questions for you. They go along with this 'creative' blog hop currently making the rounds around the globe. This was after Debra (she of the gorgeous pictures blog) tagged me back in July and well, you know how my July and August went. 

1.What Quilting thing am I working on?

Wowsers, do I have a lot going on around here! Never content with project monogamy, I tend to bury myself in enough projects to induce eye twitches in the more practical minded. I believe every project deserves the very best from me and that often takes time. Time to simmer. Time to breathe. Time to talk. And really, the best use of my time during the 'down time' is for me to work on something else entirely. Which often gives me an answer to a /question/dilemma/problem on yet another quilt--and around and around we go.... 

This is my Pickle Dish/Wedding ring quilt, started approximately two years ago. I just recently pulled it out again to start sewing the background fabric onto the melons. Apparently it involves ironing with starch, pulling the foundation paper off the melons and carefully lining up and pinning all the bits. It's gonna take awhile 'cuz I'm definitely not a fan of tearing off foundation papers.

Pickle Dish/Wedding Ring

This next quilt (Geese Tracks) is actually almost finished. A little more applique work on the border and wallah! I will be back here exclaiming over a finished quilt top. I am so very glad I forced myself through the I-really-don't-have-a-clue-what-I'm-trying-to-do-here pains that I kept experiencing with this project. It's starting to feel very exciting in terms of being better than I ever planned or dreamed. Always a good feeling.

Geese Tracks

The lovely little blocks below are a result of following along with Wendy's Basket Galore BOM. After I persevered through some terribly complicated piecing efforts, I wanted to make sure this quilt had a little distraction from my ahem.. (minor!) mistakes. And also that it reflected how special I really think the baskets are. There are still four flower blocks I need to get figured out and sewn together before things can move along toward a completed quilt top.

Red/Green flower blocks and Basket Galore BOM blocks

This orange and blue quilt is made from partial St. Paul blocks. I liked the simplicity of leaving out the added piecing and was really looking for an excuse to use up some of these fabrics. I loved seeing them all stacked together but didn't know quite what to do with them as a whole. It still needs a border added, but so far the quilt is not being very communicative. Talks will resume later.

My St. Paul quilt

I started making these cactus basket blocks after completely blowing the piecing on one of the Basket Galore blocks. I could not believe how badly I had bungled that little 8" block! Being the stubborn sort that I am, I immediately started making plans to 'better learn' a proper technique (in this case, hand piecing). Somehow it morphed into making 13 of these blocks, making other blocks to play along, and now I'm waiting on a pattern from Karen before I move on. I'm seeing applique added onto the quilt top and other fun stuff in this quilts future.

Cactus Basket quilt

Okay, this quilt is still obviously in its infancy but I have most definitely committed to making it. Check out our blog over at Quilt Like an Eagle if you want to play along. By July of next year, each of us on the list intend to proudly display a completed eagle quilt! You are going to be so jealous....

My Eagle quilt

My Sunburst quilt is very much a long term project. The main part of the quilt is going to be entirely appliqued and each step is, quite frankly, a bit mind boggling in our present state of controlled chaos. Mostly because I over-think everything I'm sure. It's a blessing and curse.

The Sunburst quilt

I almost didn't include this UFQ because it's been so very long since I've done anything with it. The thing is, I rarely truly abandon any project and I don't intend to leave this one behind either. The rare times that I actually take the time to reacquaint myself with this project, I always melt at the colors and style. It could be a really great quilt right? That's why I keep it on my UFQ list. It helps keep me accountable.

Random Sampler quilt

2.  How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I'm reminded of the comic where there are hundreds of penguins and the one is dressed sort of clownish--definitely standing out from the crowd--saying 'I just wanna be me'. Everyone of us out here in the big bad quilting world is doing our level best to make quilts that appeal to ME. When other people like them too, that's just bonus! I used to make quilts in a kind of whimsical fashion, making quilts for gifting, from patterns that caught my attention and for other various reasons such as including myself in a group challenge with friends. At some point I realized that I had gotten very far from my original intention--which was to make quilts that were deeply satisfying to ME. Through a lot of trial and error, I have slowly, slowly learned how to include the important elements that make me fall in love with my quilts{often many times over} throughout the process of making. Are they different from other peoples quilts? Sometimes I think yes. Other times, eh.. not so much! And yes, I still include myself in challenges etc. but only when it also coincides with something I'm currently trying to learn/make or do.

3.  Why do I write/create what I do?

I write because I wanted to have a journal of what was being made and the journey it takes to get there. So many of my quilts have an 'emotional' start or maybe an unexpected detour. Then there are the oh-my-goodness-I've-ruined-this-quilt! type of hurdles to get through. After awhile the details start to blur together and I didn't want to forget about those important moments. So mind boggling during the making, but really kind of funny later.

I create what I do because it's important. To my sanity. And to the well being of my immediate family! I'm a much nicer person when I'm involving myself in creating and I'm not the least bit ashamed to say so. I can't even fully explain what it does to soothe the ragged edges of what life does to us just by being a full participant. Playing with fabric and color is incredibly rewarding don't you think? And how wonderful to pour ourselves into something beautiful, then fold it up and give it to a special someone.

4.  How does my writing/creating process work?

I write when I have something to take a picture of. If I can take a picture (of whatever progress I've made) and not feel like I'm 'reaching' to find something to say, then I just go for it. I used to worry that I'd run out of things to say about quilting, but so far that hasn't happened! It must be true love.

My creative process is almost always about DOING. That is absolutely key for me. I keep a lot of projects going so I don't get bored or stuck on any one phase. Apparently I have a low threshold for both of those particular problems and I discovered a long time ago that I can seriously jump through three (or more) quilt projects in one day lickety split--making up really good excuses for why I can't work on any one of them. Having more than three UFQ's makes it much more likely that I'll cue in to my little avoidance issue and finally settle down with something. It does take actual progress to get to a finish and sometimes that progress is quite tedious ie; easily avoidable.

I make time to get in the quilt room almost daily (even if it's only for 15 minutes). I allow myself permission to play with fabric if that's really all I feel there is to give on that day. I try to remember that there's always something to learn. Always! Why not learn before it's vitally important to the outcome of any one quilt?

Occasionally I make a new list about the things that I LOVE to see in a quilt, whether it be a particular block, color, style or feeling. This helps keep me a little more focused and if I get to feeling like I'm just recycling old stale ideas? I find time to lay out every single quilt top waiting in the drawers. Some times I have to do the same thing with my finished quilts--sort of like shaking off the blues. By viewing one quilt after another I can usually see that my quilts are ever evolving and changing, even if it's a subtle thing. It helps tremendously to see that I'm moving forward, ever progressing toward a more personalized style. {See, now I'm being that clownish penguin I talked about earlier!}

The other important thing about my creative process is that I try very hard to make time to include slow quilting in and amongst all the other quilting I do. I always have a quilt in the hoop. And I always have a hand work bag prepped and ready to go. These two things make sure that no matter what is going on in our busy, crazy life, I can also choose to pick up a needle and thread at a moments notice. I sometimes stitch when I have company, in the car, at the basketball game or even when I'm helping out a sick friend or family member. This 'lost' time then becomes cherished time because the outcome (in quilty terms) doesn't matter any longer and I'm able to keep my hands busy and thus enjoy the moment.

Okay, enough with this endless post about me! In order to keep this Blog Hop moving I chose to tag two other talented ladies who each agreed to write a post next Monday the 22nd. Interestingly enough, I met both of these gals through the Bloggers Quilt Festival!

First off, I'd like you to meet Anne who has a fascinating way of making the kind of quilts that I'd love to own. I am always intrigued by her 'process' and her fearlessness in admitting to changing her quilting/sewing plans. Then there is Diane who is one of the most enthusiastic quilters I know. She is the reason I dared to start my Pickle Dish quilt even though I was so apprehensive about it, that I chewed all my fingernails off for steps 1, 2, 3 and now 4. For some reason she thinks Pickle Dish quilts are EASY and they are NOT. lol  So... please go check out these ladies wonderful blogs now and then, hopefully next Monday too. I know you won't regret it.

Trying to Find My Way Forward

My summer quilting sort of went off the tracks with me having to fit the odd moment of quilting into whatever empty second I found.  Imagine my surprise when the Flocks of Geese quilt managed to get made into a top, in spite of the fact that I was supposed to be packing for the trip and doing stacks of bookwork.

Flock of Geese quilt top finished

Believe it or not, I had agonized over putting the blocks together with the flat brown. Most people would have went light or busy. But not me. Oh no. I didn't feel like I had the luxury of time to weight all the pros and cons and I desperately wanted to be quilting. So I went with my gut. Just started in with the cutting and sewing and then ended up with this. It felt very 'bleh' and I was truly disappointed. You really have no idea. My triumphant little blue birds had lost their special little spark and it felt like a betrayal of sorts. Like I had let them down, all the way into obscurity.

Not as wonderful as I had imagined.....

Then we left on our trip. Ah, my routine of quiltiness--where art thou? We wandered in and out of peoples homes for the next couple weeks and when I saw a quilt I would always perk up. Can we talk quilts? Please say yes! And over and over again I discovered that I am much too much into quilting. I have hours of quilty talk bubbling up inside me that starts to feel kind of obsessive when the other party has quietly moved the conversation onto other polite topics.*sigh  Other than my quick trips into quilt stores and fabric love, I started feeling a bit disconnected with the whole process. A bit mad in my head if you know what I mean.

Red & Green applique blocks with the Basket Galore Bom blocks

So lovely to get home and reacquaint myself with the quilting room. Except that I felt oddly nervous and unsure of myself. What were these strange quilt projects cluttering up my quilt room all about? Too, I had company in my home while I was gone and one day in total boredom (apparently) they decided to iron some of my fabric. And fold it very precisely and very neatly into stacks. Ack! My quilt room didn't feel completely right anymore. Somewhere along the way, I seem to have gotten a bit lost.

I made quick little trips in and out but other than some hand quilting late in the evening I didn't do any quilting for several days. I was starting to wonder if my 'passionate' interest in quilting had maybe burned up with the fire when it came to actual implementation.

Playing with some border fabrics

Then, on Friday afternoon, I finally got a grip on myself (it probably helped that the laundry was done and out of my face). I decided to start small--with my red and green applique blocks--putting them on the wall next to the sampler baskets. Ahhhh... I could literally feel my shoulders lose some of their tension when I saw them all nestled together on the wall so sweetly. YES. Even though I had hurriedly thrown the idea together, it was exactly what I had hoped would happen. I played around with border ideas for a bit and then moved on to another project.

To my partial St. Paul blocks. Such a troublesome project. I love the blocks and I hate them. I love the rich colors of my quilt top and yet I don't. Where is the energy? I have had it in my mind for months now to put a 5" tumbler block border around the outside and still, I question how it should all go together. And no, it's not finished the way it is. Even though I rarely finish a quilt sans borders, I have and I will, if it truly feels finished without. This one obviously just needs more time to simmer.

Trying to figure out a border solution for the Partial St. Paul quilt

I played with some fabric stacks piled around the quilt room and pulled some new fabrics into the mix, put some away. Piddled my way through several projects, ideas and what-ifs. Eventually I could feel myself slowly settling into the familiar 'I am a quilter' zone. I knew for sure when I pulled out my cactus basket blocks and started looking at the current progress.

The entire quilt just looked wrong to me. Much too forced, out of sync and kind of flat if you want to know the truth of it. After playing with lots of different layouts and looking at several border possibilities, I found myself sitting back and grumbling under my breath in disgust. Such great little basket blocks and everything made them look terrible together. Puh-leeze. I so do not want to end up with 13 throw pillows instead of a quilt! But suddenly I had a crazy, scary thought. What I if put them together in a asymmetrical layout? Emphasized the difference between the very light and that stupid black I thought was such a great idea back in July? Hmm hmm, maybe.....

I'm starting to think this quilt is going to be very different. It might even turn into my 'surviving the fire' quilt and who cares what anybody else thinks about the end result! I have ideas people, IDEAS! churning in my wacky, obsessively, quilty brain and let me tell you it feels amazing. Whew! Such a relief to have a glimmer of creativity creeping back in again.

Don't think this will be the layout for the Cactus Basket blocks

Ahh... quilting. What would we do without it? Later that evening, once again immersed in my hand quilting, I thought about my Flocks of Geese quilt. Was it really ruined forever or could it possibly be rescued? Stitch after stitch I contemplated what had went wrong with my brilliant quilt idea. And quietly, it came to me. In the chaos of my summer I had completely forgotten. All along, the plan was for that particular quilt to have lots and lots of Perle cotton stitching in the calm, 'boring' areas of the quilt. I was intending to use lots of thread color and those wonderful chunky stitches to give the quilt texture. Another layer of interest and a beautiful backdrop for my sweet little bluebirds.

So there you have it. It may or may not turn out to be as wonderful as I imagine in my mind, but I feel so much better about the entire matter. Flocks of Geese was just one {of many} of the quilts that I was feeling an odd disconnect to. But now I feel a bit more confident that I can find my way back. As long as I don't lose my hand quilting hoop, that is.*wink

Why Having Several UFQ's Generally Works in My Favor

I don't consider myself to be {naturally} creative. My mind gets full of the busyness of life and I go to the quilt room to escape. When fabric and color work their wonderful magic on me, everything gets better in my world almost instantly! Instead of having to start from scratch (cue the panic!), lots of times it's better for me to dive into something that I know exactly what to do with.

The Pickle Dish/Wedding Ring quilt

Even when I'm not comfortable with the process or it's not my favorite piecing method. (ie: foundation piecing) there is still a plan of action to follow. It's usually just a matter of deciding what I want to work on that particular day and getting on with it.

Here's where it gets interesting for me. When I'm practically numb from sewing my 4th or 5th foundation piecing arc (or whatever other tedious sewing I'm doing), my mind starts doing calisthenics trying to convince me that there are other more fascinating things to be sewing. 'Hey, what about making a few Goose Track blocks--you know you've wanted to make them forever!!' And so it goes.

Geese Tracks

However, when it gets to the point that I feel like I'd rather chop off all my fingers than sew another set, I make myself sew another set. I know. Very perverse of me. But I try to ensure that whatever brilliant idea going on in my head is not just from the fugue state. Think of it as a two-fold preventative measure: 1. Play time has to be earned and 2. There's plenty of time to wake up and think while being tortured.*wink

Partial St. Paul blocks

So.. when I finally pack that project away for the day (big sigh of relief), I often take a moment to look at one of my unfinished quilts. Hmm... What to do? It's nice to check in with where I'm at in the process occasionally. Does it need sashing or another border? Am I stuck over making a fabric/color choice? Sometimes I take the time to audition a few ideas and then, more often than not, I put it all back in the tote without doing anything physical to the project at all. Yep. I know what you're thinking. All I did was look at it, play a little and think. Ha! Not so fast with the criticism there! Now it's very fresh and clear in my mind. What do you think my very curious and puzzle-solving subconscious is going to be doing the next several days while I go through my daily routine?

Random Sampler

And yes, there are projects that are waaay back on the back burner. I check on them occasionally too so they know I still love them. It's good to reassure myself that I'm still feeling the love for the fabric. Hmm... Project ideas? Maybe some more basket blocks, you can never go wrong there. Hey, what about that Basket BOM from Legend and Lace? Can I combine the two projects? Hmm... something to think about although those baskets probably deserve a quilt of their own. I wonder if I'm doing too many medallions right now--maybe this quilt should be more of a puzzle-piece type sampler? Ugghh... so not in the mood for that at the moment. Move on, move on, leaving the decisions for yet another day!

Flowers and Flying Geese

There are projects that I know exactly what the next step is going to be. I even have it all prepped and ready to go, especially in the case of applique work. Just waiting for the right mix of motivation and time.

Muddy Creek

Once in awhile I notice that my applique projects are piling up on me and still there's no burning desire to find the time to do the work. That's a very dangerous area for me. I've noticed that sometimes it takes a brand new project to jump start finishing the work for another. Uh huh. I make deals with myself that I can't start on the NEW work (applique, piecing etc.) until I finish off what needs done for an older project. Talk about brilliant reasoning--you have no idea how much that can motivate me!

Happy Flowers

Ahem. That's how I started my Happy Flowers actually. I wanted to make them soooo much that it made perfect sense to me to do some other applique work that had grown a little tedious to me. What's ironic is NOW I have the Happy Flowers projects hanging out in the wind all because I can't make up my mind about the setting triangle fabric. What if I get it wrong? Then they won't be happy anymore. It's a dilemma.

Hand Pieced Bow-ties

There you have it. Me and my wonderful justification for having a whole lot going on in the quilting room. Most of the time if I'm whining about not starting a new project (because of all the UFQ's piling up), it's because I know I'm procrastinating about something. Seriously, it's rarely about the number. The decision has probably been made, the fabric is no doubt available, and I'm just being a cowardly lion. lol Oddly enough, working on several different projects at once allows me to be more creative as the ideas seem to bounce off of each other, project to project as I work. Whatever works the best, I'm all for it!

I Had to Clean Off My Counter So You Could See These

I've been very, very good yesterday and today. There are 40 partial St. Paul blocks finished up now and waiting for setting decisions. Not exactly the colors of the season, but once I got into the sewing routine, they started whispering their magic to me and all was well again.

25 partial St. Paul blocks

It went better than expected. Close up there are issues with points matching and make no mistake, I. Am. Not. An. Expert on this block. Standing back a ways from the wall and looking at progress? I'm totally hooked--drawn in. Seeing possibilities always makes me very happy.

I scoped out all of my projects and made some lists too. Honestly, it's a bit overwhelming when I see it written down on the page, but it's not going to stop me from starting new projects when and if I get the urge. Needs must and all that. My motto is 'Do what you love and love what you do' so it's important for me not to get bogged down in all the little petty details. Besides, I know that details can get checked off of that list real fast when I'm properly motivated!

And the rest of the partial St. Paul blocks

Once again, the blocks on the wall are telling me that my original setting plan is not going to work. Cue the hysterical laughter. I reluctantly decided that I'm going to need 8 more blocks no matter where I go with these and so.....

Cutting out a few more blocks...

I started to trace the templates and get moving on that. Grumble, grumble, grumble... The thing about me and my lists--if I have all of the blocks finished up, then I can stack them together and move on to another project without feeling guilty. Blocks need time to simmer and breathe. It's good for them. And it's good for me. I will pull them out occasionally, play with setting ideas and go right back to other projects and other details. If I leave a stack of unfinished blocks laying around? Well, then I'm toast. They just won't shut up, always nagging at me to get working on them. Why do you think I'm working on these right now instead of something fun?*wink