Getting Through Summer

There is so little time to write posts these days! When and where that I do find the time, it ends up being ridiculously long and I have to keep coming back to proofread and/or add stuff that I've forgotten. Don't really love this cycle, but at least I haven't totally quit! Here is the latest quilt finish, 'Seedpod Flower'. It was started back in 2019 when I had that yellow/gold circle cut out from behind another quilt motif. 

All the crumpled goodness!

You know how it goes around here. That mixed print circle sat on my design wall for days, tempting me with interesting ideas for a brand new quilt start! One evening it starting clicking, all from a piece of fabric I saw that had an interesting flower in the print design. Anxiously awaiting the morning and a more courteous time to get into my quilt room only intensified the desire to see where this idea would go!

Seedpod Flower quilt

Once morning arrived and my son had vacated his upstairs bedroom, I was able to head into the quilt room. With the cutout circle as the starting point, I was able to rough draw the Seedpod flower onto paper and essentially set up the 'center' of the quilt. After a bit of thought, I decided to grab an already marinating stack of fabric from the countertops {something that went really well with the gold circle} and dive right in. It was an easy enough jump {after sewing that specific part} to decide that maybe it was time to try and recreate a lovely utility quilt from Pinterest. You know, to make up the rest of the quilt! There was just something about the carefree layout and simplicity of that particular quilt that called to me. Also, it looked like it had excellent potential to nicely frame and showcase the seedpod flower. Win, win.

Looking across

Mine doesn't have quite as much energy and fluidity as the original, but I am charmed by the structure and the blend where the colors tie back into each other. Believe it or not, figuring this part of the quilt out was by far the most stressful part of the entire Seedpod quilt. Measurements! Row perimeters! Total improv. or not! All the little details that have to be figured out if you want a good flow.

Probably could have used some thicker strips

Once I made the determination to make all the economy blocks the same size and only leave the strip widths up to chance and improv., then it really starting moving forward. Many things that make those older utility quilts shine sort of get lost in translation if you can't find the key. For this quilt I decided that must be the imperfectly staggered rows? If I could just get that one part right, then the rest would hopefully fall into place.

Still loving the flower!

One thing after another till I finally worked my way through the details. Just puzzling it out as usual and crossing my fingers the end result would reflect something that looked interesting. If I remember correctly, the zingy yellow and blue scalloped edge on the centerpiece border was hand sewn on just before putting the entire quilt together. That solid blue border strip just wasn't quite enough if you know what I mean, but now it looks like it was always meant to be. It's these sort of details that you have to really pay attention to because that wasn't part of any of the original inspiration--the seedpod flower or the old utility quilt picture! Somehow it brings everything together in a positive way though. Can you even imagine the quilt without it?

All finished up!

Though I don't get nearly as excited about finishing a quilt these days as I did 20 or more years ago, there is still a very deep feeling of satisfaction. My daughter caught the look just after I put the final binding stitches in. Yep! Still feeling all the feels 'cuz it never gets old to look at our hand-made creations. This quilt has a very strong, warm, cozy vibe. Wish so much that the pictures would have shown that better!

Improv. Strips--Blue #2

Also managed to bring this to quilt top stage, Blue #2! I wasn't 100 percent sure about adding the formal looking flower until it was all stitched down. Why does it have to happen that way occasionally?  Now I can see that it definitely lifts the quilt to a better place and if that place happens to be heavily feminine in nature? Oh well. I just can't seem to help myself from doing the flower thing these days.

Good place for some of that older fabric

Here's a quick pic of the HST Medallion quilt finished up last year. I had gifted it to my daughter and her new husband for a wedding present with the stipulation that they let me keep it for another year so it could hang in the regional quilt show. As she ended up with three quilts instead of one {2 older quilts to take immediately in compensation for having to wait}, my daughter was fine with the plan. Then the quilt show didn't happen again this year and cue the dismay. Keep it another year and hope the show eventually gets going again? Yeah. I wasn't feeling good about that after a three year pause. Soooo, I let them take the quilt home after this latest visit. Told them it had to go on the plane in a carry-on, not checked, or no go. Just don't trust the airlines these days! So sad that I won't ever see it hanging in a show, but I know they are thrilled with getting to use this quilt. This is absolutely a quilt that feels particularly hard to let go. Some are just like that I guess because they are special in some way or another.

Still amazed by this finish

We had so many good visits and it was especially fun to let my daughter raid the perle cotton thread for doing a visible mending project. It's amazing how addictive that chunky, colorful thread is! I keep telling her, she needs to get her own stash going! I often wonder how it is that I can even afford to quilt, but honestly, I'll buy quilting supplies over almost anything else on the list if given half a chance. Thank goodness you can't buy good thread at the grocery store or we'd never have enough food!

Good times!

The applique blocks there on the couch beside me are the ones hanging up on the design wall right now. There are nine blocks in all, with five of them currently finished up. I love, love, love, seeing them on the wall when I step around the corner into my quilt room. Ooh, the mixed print backgrounds just add to the charm and character for me! 

These are the 2rd set of cut-out circles that I'm putting into a brand new quilt, part of a series that I'm calling 'The Circle Game'. The first top in the series was completed in December of last year, called Gold Crossroads. It coincidently had about four cut-out circles from a older quilt top called the Rising Sun. All those larger circles had been put into the stash totes and I've slowly been whittling away at them for various and assorted quilts. After seeing a brand new stack of large circle cut-aways from behind the Crossroads quilt it made me think. Hmm... What if I keep this circle play going? Uh huh. Gotta take advantage of the fresh inspiration while it lasts! 

Lillabelle--#2 in the Circle Game series

Okay, that's all for the July catch up. I've been thinking quite a bit about the fact that as of  July 19th, I've been doing this quilty blog thing for 12 years now! Woohoo! Obviously my posts have decreased substantially from the years back regularity of three or four times a week.*sigh  Just don't have time like before and that's that. Not even gonna apologize for it anymore 'cuz I'm here and that's all that matters!

My first full sized quilt finish

In celebration of the 12 years of quilt blogging I've decided to answer a question or two every new post from here until I run out of either the energy or inclination. The questions have been gathered from here and I have to say that that list is very comprehensive. Definitely not going to answer every one, but I'm game to get started. Hope some of you will be interested in following along!

1. How long have you been making quilts? Would you describe your learning process?

I started making a few baby quilts at the end of 1992 or early 1993 so I guess it's been close to 30 years? They were very simply done in the coverlet style with very poofy batting and were made primarily to lay inside a crib. The first full size quilt that I made and finished {pictured above} was completed in 1995. Probably. So hard to remember now! At that time I would reliably check out Marsha McCloskey or Judy Martin quilting books from the Eugene, Oregon library and dream of having the courage to make a beautiful quilt just for me. There were a lot of artsy quilt books there, but I kept gravitating toward the old time, more classic, 'usable' looking quilts. Those two quilters in specific made me think it might be possible to be a 'quilter', so after a couple years of just dreaming, I finally got serious. I can't overstate how hard it was to actually say, 'I'm going to do this regardless of how little I know!'

When I finally found the grit and planned out how to proceed, I went to JoAnn Fabrics for the fabric. Of course! That's all that I could afford! Didn't tell anyone of my family or friends because I was sooo afraid of failure. The fabric buying was extremely stressful 'cuz nothing matched very well. Little did I know that was actually a good thing! Whatever. With only five fabrics needed, I eventually figured something out that I thought I could live with. 

I drew paper templates and pinned and then cut all the shapes with scissors. Just like I used to cut out my clothing pattern pieces! Finally ended up with a 'top' and absolutely no idea how to sandwich and quilt the thing. Yeah. It was brutal. And we were fairly poor too. One day I decided to take the comforter from our bed and just attach the quilt top to that. Turned the edges over for a wide, rolled hem and then machine sewed it into place. Then I came back and put in yarn quilt ties about every 10-12 inches or so! Total victory of course because it was FINISHED! This is one quilt that I've never, ever given up, even when one of my kids practically begged me for it. It's been used half to death and I'm still crazy proud of it. Always good to remember where we started and how it was that we committed ourselves to the craft. It would be a few years before I used a rotary cutter and started learning in earnest, but this quilt. Yeah, this quilt!! This is was what did it for me....

Sometimes the Applique Just Sort of Gets Out of Control Around Here

 I finished up all the Flower Power blocks so you know what that means.  'Next up' in the applique queue! I don't know if it was technically next, but I've been hankering to work on this add-on to the 2nd improv. strip quilt made during the quilt meetings last winter.

Added a quiet little bird on impulse

It wasn't strictly necessary to add applique to this 'Blue #2' and some people definitely urged me to leave it as-is. Which would have been fine, really, in the scheme of things as I don't have a major attachment to this particular project. The problem is when it comes time to do the quilting. If the quilt top doesn't speak somewhat fondly to me, then it keeps being pushed to the very back of the line. 

Gotta get the underside stitched down first

Why are we pushing ourselves to keep taking part in this quilting adventure if the end result doesn't tug on our heart strings? So yeah, it's ridiculously easy to talk myself into doing just a little bit of applique here and there. 'Cuz like it or not {the work entailed}, that's what usually does it for me. It doesn't take that long I tell myself. It's easy to drift off into all the unexplored what ifs? that might possibly make a quilt top shine just a little brighter. Or, maybe I'd like to experiment with this, or that, or the other motif... And on and on it goes till everyone is totally shocked {except me} when there's a finished quilt with zero applique included. It's not like I set out thinking that's the way it always and forever has to be.

I'm really happy with how quickly this particular applique is coming along. Always so helpful to have the prep work done and out of the way so when you're ready to do the stitching, it's right there waiting. Preaching to the choir I know, but all the stitching with the flower, leaves, the birds and even half of the scallops were done in one day. If I would have been having to do the prep work still? I'd have probably moved on to another project. 

Which brings us to one of my 'surprise' applique additions. Well, more like a border addition with applique touches. To be clear, I was NOT looking to purposely add more applique to this quilt at all. Uh uh. In fact, I honestly thought it was one of those magical, marvelous quilt tops that are actually completed. Truly, it has been cheerfully resting in the quilt top drawers for close to a year. No problems whatsoever with haunting or nagging at me for more! 

Loving this already

It was nearing the top of the quilting list so, as happens commonly around here, I found myself casually admiring it laying on the guest bed upstairs one day. Just for a few moments while I pondered potentials for quilting design. Hmm... And the more that I looked at it, the more that I realized that the quilt actually felt a little cheated. It was gonna need one more border to feel well and truly finished and that was that. 

So the short story is that I found this dark, midnight blue fabric in the stash totes. It works perfectly well to do what this quilt needs a border needs to do. The long story is that I wasted a couple hours online looking for a more perfect fabric because the first glance through the stash totes had me instantly discounting this fabric completely. I mean seriously, it was obviously intended to be a superior binding fabric choice some day! {Does anyone else have a mind that works this way or it is just me?}

Then there was the partially sleepless night thinking about how dumb a solid blue fabric was going to look framing this spunky looking quilt and was I really going to go for it? How about these other choices in the stash totes? and Oh NO's they are all the wrong color and/or much too little amounts to be of any use. How dull and traditional this was going to look with that almost solid look, blah, blah, blah. 

It all abruptly clicked into place the very next day when the little basket-handle-applique popped into my brain. Of course, problem solved! But you see how my brain works sometimes doing the applique end run on me! When looking at the quilt top right after pulling it out of the drawer, it didn't instantly scream out to me that it needed or even wanted applique. No sirreee, it was much, much sneakier than that, simply insisting that a dark blue border would be very nice thank you. Ah! Not so quick! Are you really not going to give us more attention to detail than that? Come on, just think of all the possibilities? Whereupon, we have currently arrived HERE. Right in this spot where I precipitously cannot even imagine this specific quilt without the immediate application of a pink, lacy-like applique border. It practically boggles the mind how quickly it went from thinking about the possible stitching texture clear to a brand new border with hours of hand work needed. 

Looking a little more perky

But wait. The drama continues. Somehow this churned up thoughts about yet another quilt top that was bugging me. Because I just can't leave well enough alone, here is the Roman Stripe quilt for your viewing pleasure. If you remember, there was two of these tops, with the smaller one being completed in July of last year. Though satisfying on a certain level, these quilt tops just haven't really resonated with me like I prefer that they do. Call me a snob, but they don't seem to have any extra redeeming qualities that would make them special. Initially I thought to give them away as comfort quilts, but now I'm rethinking that plan for the case of the 2nd quilt.

In this latest little burst of unexpected creativity, the larger Roman Stripe quilt found itself being experimented on too.*sigh  Do you recall the Ode to Joy quilt top? There's just something incredibly endearing about these heart shaped flower {or leaf or whatever they are} elements, and I want/wanted to make more of them some day. They've been calling me. Seducing me. Enticing me. Yep. A couple hours of mad, crazy drawing, cutting out and then the subsequent auditioning, now there's a strange yellow flower with larger-than-life pink leaves on top of this quilt top. And it feels so very right. It's quite bold and a little sassy. A bit of folk with that sunny, happy vibe that says, 'Don't take me seriously'. Now I can only think that his quilt was not meant to be merely comforting, but something a little bit more perhaps? Not to mention, it definitely needs a new name now. I'm thinking 'Chrysalis' in honor of the new look and feel!

Ready for the next step

The machine stitching for the brown binding on Seedpod Flower quilt is all done now. I'm thinking this could be a good project for when the kids are here later this week and next week. Hard to make a mistake from distraction if all you're doing is hand stitching a binding down. If I even find time to quilt, sometimes I don't ever bother!

Glory Be next up in the hoop

Next up for the hand quilting hoop is Glory Be. This top was completed two years ago and I've been crossing my fingers it could be in the hoop in time for this years 4th. Nope. Just too much taking up time and energy around here and the hand quilting has been sloooower than usual. Oh well. That's what happens when your husband tells one of his customers that, 'Oh, did you know that my wife sews?' And next thing you know he's bringing home pants for me to hem. Groan....  

Looking across the quilt

Anyway. I am already enjoying this quilt tremendously. Still in love with the asymmetrical layout and all the different fabric print play. Spent one evening marking the sashing with a white fabric pencil for a basic grid and yeah... It's already disappearing into the ether. So frustrating, but I should have known. Much better to mark each frame as I go!  

In the hoop

There's just enough residue left on the blue sashing that I can see little wispy bits of it here and there so I've decided to 'wing it'. Which will make the grid a little funky and off the precisely marked measurements. And you know me, that is making me smile and enjoy the quilt even more. Why didn't I think of that in the first place? 

Trying new needles

When ordering new applique needles off-line the other day, I impulsively added some Size 9 Straw Needles by Jeana Kimball's Foxglove Cottage. I've seen them recommended by Jen Kingwell I believe, and thought to give them a go. After about 3 or 4 stitches, I promptly decided that I do NOT like them and put the needle back in the container. I don't know why I even bothered, straw needles are not and have never been something that feels 'right' to me. Anyone wanting a free container of these? Will mail them to the very first person who requests them IF and only IF I can access your email so as to learn your mailing address. Otherwise, they will have to go to the second person etc. I'm sure they are wonderful, just not my style and you know how that is! 

Okay, that's it. Will probably be missing in action for a couple weeks here. Gonna enjoy our kids and grandkids and then when they leave, will have to rest, recoup and relax. Oh. And clean. Never can get out of that part for some reason!

Such a Good Finish!

 The HaHa quilt is totally finished up! So hard to believe after all these years that everything is done {except for a label}. It's been such a long time coming!

The HaHa Quilt is done!!!

As most of you know, I've always been just a little bit doubtful about the addition of the outside triangle border. Did it need it or not? I thought the added color would help make the center 'pop' better and give the entire quilt a bit more of a solid feeling. Then later I just wanted to rip it off because something about it didn't sit exactly right.

Looking so much better than I ever dreamed

Once again, I am tremendously relieved to see that yes, this design decision was meant to be. Every time I wavered or questioned, I ended up leaving it 'cuz what was going to replace it? With the hand quilting doing that lovely texture thing, it all suddenly makes perfect sense!*sigh  Did you notice the scallop hand quilting in the center area? First time I've ever done this motif and though I adore the look there in that spot, I'm very glad that I didn't end up stitching scallops over the entire quilt. Which I definitely considered doing for five or ten minutes. Hmm... No. Not today. So tempting and yet, it just didn't quite resonate with me at the time.

Loving the scalloped stitching texture

The color in the pictures is a little weird. The contrast between the creamy white fabric and the grayed down cream sections is very hard to get a proper representation of. And yes, I know it's not everyone's preference to blend all these shades of creams and whites into one quilt, but I personally love the juxtaposition. Looks so, so good close up and in person. No regrets there at all!

We'll all just laugh together...

I still have to laugh at the idea that the 'Ha Ha' portions of a quilt were due to me totally and completely miscalculating the measurements of the outside border. Obviously by a lot! Now I can say with absolute conviction--That was the very best mistake ever made around here!

So glad that I stuck it out with this project!

At this time that this quilt was started, zeroing in on solid colored fabrics and using lots of  'white' fabrics seemed very challenging to me. Lots of decisions felt excruciatingly difficult in terms of trying to 'see' through to the [imagined} end result. 

Testing out the look in the guest room

I wanted a quilt that gave off a whimsical vibe. Something cozy, not in the least bit cold or contemporary looking. The very last decision made, using the large, old fashioned red/white gingham fabric for binding? That almost seems like serendipity. One of those moth ball smelling fabrics given to me by my aunt last year. You know I would have never in a million years thought to go looking for that exact fabric, and yet it works wonderfully in that position. This turned out to be such a sweet, happy looking quilt. So thankful to see it finished up at at last!

The perfect binding

And 'Seedpod Flower' is next up in the hoop. I've been anxiously awaiting the time that I could spend with this beauty in my lap.

The new quilt in the hoop!

There's just something about the mixture of colors that makes this little heart of mine feel mushy and sentimental. Maybe it reminds me of colors that my grandmother used in her quilting? I did manage to slip one tiny fabric of hers into the quilt so there's that....

Scrappy, scrappy

It's been the usual CRazy around here so it took a couple nights to hand quilt the centerpiece of this quilt. Nothing flashy or extra special, just some basic big stitch diagonal lines and a little bit of echo quilting here and there. Next up will be the same, same, same throughout the rest of the quilt so mostly having to figure out colors of thread.

Just getting started with the hand quilting

All of my sisters have been in town this week, so yep, the six of us have been up to all kinds of trouble! Just kidding. Some hiking {not me}, celebrating moms birthday, thrifting, eating out, lots and lots of visiting. The thrifting stuff is right up my alley of course, and now I'm continually looking for shirts to repurpose for use in quilting. 

Adding some shirts to the fabric stash!

I try to leave the out-of-town family plenty of time to visit the parents on their own and not crowd in every moment of the visit. It's difficult not to want to be in on all the fun, but mom and dad are getting older and need some time for those good visits which only tend to happen during the quieter moments. 

So proud of her!

On a different note, mom had recently finished the machine quilting on her Improv. quilt and I had assured her that I could put the binding on for her. Just like I always did in prior years. Can you believe this is the very first quilt that my mom has completely finished since their house burned down in a fire back in 2014? She has definitely started several quilts in the ensuing years, but something changed after that event and she became very insecure about her quilting, often forgetting many of the things she knew about the process. She had difficulties with her new sewing machine. Her vision would get bad at the times she wasn't feeling good, which was often. Or her design wall too small to bother with. Long story short, we believe she has been dealing with Alzheimers for many years now, no doubt set off by that trauma. 

She was extremely excited to take part in the Improv. meetings I held earlier this year. Crazy happy to have a plan of attack. Often trying to jump ahead with the project even though she had zero experience with this method! Early on I determined that if it was remotely possibly, we were going to make sure that mom ended up with a true blue finish at the end of this effort. And so it happened. Just take a look at her proud smile! Lots and lots of hand holding and seam ripper sessions. Me trying to give suggestions and/or talk her out of something she was determined to do. Sometimes mom got mad at me or ridiculously irritated with 'Improv.', blaming all the mistakes on the method, her machine or 'the thread'. Other times she went ahead with the way she wanted to do something and then I had to come in and help her out of a bind. 

I am positively blown away by how much this quilt looks like a 'mom' quilt {colors etc. she would have used years ago} but still holds true with the improv. formula everyone used. Her memory might be a little tricky these days, but she remembers more than she knows that she knows. This was a very sweet moment, her getting to hold and peruse a quilt that was made by HER. She gets all the credit. Then she got to show it off when her daughters came to town. How perfect is that?

August Update

Decisions, decisions. It was either take the time to go quilt or take the time to actually write a post. Today I decided the post had to come first. 

Seedpod Flower quilt top is done!

What can I say about this quilt top? You already know that the flower itself was kind of an impulse, use-up-the-abandoned-bits sort of start. 

The full view

You also know that the inspiration pic was one that I fell head over heels in love with a very long time ago. Or did you? Regardless, I'm pretty impressed to actually see this interpretation finally come to reality. I do so adore a scrappy, utilitarian sort of look!

Scrappy goodness

I suppose this quilt would have looked fine without the Seedpod Flower center. Maybe. At this point I can't even imagine the quilt without it though. Once I wrapped my mind around how it all needed to fit together, then the top went together relatively easily. The anxiety and avoidance up to that point was stupid. Why do I always tend to overthink?

Trying to UP the 'busyness' factor with the prints this time!

All the economy blocks are the same size which means the horizontal rows are the exact same width. That was an important detail moving forward. The random placement thus relies strictly upon the differences in the various lengths of the connecting rectangles. 

A new color palette for me, but somehow it seems to work!

While they are not nearly as tall as the ones used in the inspiration picture, these started out from the scraps leftover from cutting the economy blocks. That was a good place to start. Hard to throw away the very narrow ones!  And so... determining approx. vertical measurements for the connecting rectangles became unexpectedly very simple. After all, I really didn't want the differences to be super extreme. A couple inches at most and there I was. Easy peasy.

Looking across...

Crazy how the bright, sparky applique addition to the inside border brightens everything up. I do wish the very slight, lighter blue outline above the curves still showed, but it ended up being turned under for seam allowance. This was just another one of those impulse rabbit trails that turned out to be a wonderful idea in the end. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to keep myself from traveling down the path of 'I wonder if x, y, or z would make things look better....'. 

Sometimes it works to the good and other times I find out that it's clearly wasted time. Never really know till you try though! I love how the yellow in the applique surround is more citrus than the rest of the yellow golds in the quilt. Yet it works as a very definitive framing for the Seedpod Flower, which of course, is the star of the entire quilt. Why not emphasize that even more!

This quilt top has a very distinctive mood, one that I can't quite put a proper label to. Is it retro? Vintage? Does it just convey fond memories of my grandmothers house dresses or perhaps it was the aprons she wore? Whatever it is, the mood as a whole, brings a smile to my face every time. 

Working on Spring Flowers

Another project that I've been spending time on in Spring Flowers. After seeing how washed out the flowers looked, I decided they needed a little bit of pzazz added in somewhere. After debating several different ideas {most of them ridiculously complex}, I ended up going with a very simple rail fence sort of block as the alternate. Lots of turquoise used to wake things up, but I also made sure to add insome clashy blue. For value and interest of course. There's just something about doing the unpredictable that always strongly appeals to me when it comes to quilting! The long narrow strips of the cream background fabric were added in after I realized that the flowers now needed some breathing room. So glad I had enough of that particular fabric because everything else just looked sloppy.

Auditioning border ideas

The brown and light cream striped fabric was something that I locked onto early on in auditioning border ideas. There's just something about a good striped border that speaks to me. Lots of ideas in play until abruptly I was completely done with dithering. The pink/rose fabrics were totally scrapped and simplicity became the name of the game. While I kept the strong chrome yellow, narrow, inner border {the blendy mustard gold fabric that seemed obvious was boring}, everything else got stripped down to basics. Will see how this border turns out in the end, but the thrill was just gone. Oh, and all the other orphan bits were dumped back into the totes too. So done with this particular project.Time to move on when it's not fun anymore!

Peachy Cameo in the hoop

The hand quilting is moving quite slowly on Peachy Cameo, but there's nothing very complex about what I'm doing. Sensing a theme here? One last hoop on the blue circle areas and then I'll be working on the two outside borders. I think they both will fit into one hoop {as far as width} so that's good. We're entering the long, long home stretch!

A closer look

As you can see, I often take the clamp off of one side when hand quilting. In this case, two of the blue 'circles' are right where the clamp would be, making it impossible to quilt in that area if it were to be attached. Honestly, I don't know if this is laziness or efficiency, but with this sort of quilting, having one clamp off is rarely a problem. The funny thing is, after all these years of working with only Perle Cotton thread and a long needle, my stitches are getting smaller. Still not super close together, but it's not exactly big stitching any longer. Oh well. Love the look regardless. All that instant texture is very addicting!

Will try to catch up with my emails and reading and/or commenting on other blogs in the next couple days. Have seen several posts in the Bloglover app that feel important to comment on, but the time simply hasn't been there. With time being diminished for quilting around here, often times there's really only one choice!

A Little Bit At A Time

Life has been very disjointed and moody lately. We have deadlines and 'have-to's' out the kazoo. Things happening that seem quite heavy. Or at least it seems that way. It could be that our get-up-and-go is feeling recalcitrant, and everything seems to take an extra dose of effort just to get done. Our kids and grandkids came to visit last weekend, so that was a wonderful window of good times. Nothing like the honest joy of little children to make everything seem just a little bit brighter for a moment or two!

Coronacrazy progress

Governor proclamations and mandates have been getting especially wearisome of late. It feels like we're at permanent pause regardless of any available, pertinent data. I have family grappling with the public school question and I'm very relieved not to have to be dealing with that dilemma myself! Feel so sorry for the kids who will have to wear masks all day and not get to have any positive social time with their friends. Definitely time to seriously consider home school options, but if too many do that here in our valley, the result will probably be that our community permanently loses the school itself.

Good time to pull out the Coronacrazy quilt out and make a stab at moving things forward--put my crazy towards something beneficial. Just too many things completely out of our control! This picture above represents three hours of auditioning the layered flower bits and then taking off the pieces not needing to be tucked 'under' the hills. I'm not very much in the mood to do this particular applique at present, but it is all prepped and ready for when the time arrives. Which it always does.

Binding for Sweet Tarts

Lovely to have had the binding all ready for Sweet Tarts! It's well on its way to a post of its own here on the blog, and I must say, it will be very bittersweet to be finished up with this particularly sunny project. It's been a great mood elevator during these past weeks of having it in my lap.

Applique border on Seedpods

The Seedpod quilt has the applique addition all cut out, very carefully fussy cut from the remnants of a single fat quarter. Stumbled upon this fabric when combing through the stash totes and it seemed so obvious that it was the perfect choice to help make this centerpiece shine! Amazing what a little fussy cutting can do! Crossing my fingers all the colors work as well as expected....

Time for a basket!

This has been in the works for a couple weeks. One day I was perusing the multiple stacks of fabric marinating throughout the quilt room. This stack of older blues and pinks didn't seem very inspiring, but mixed with a few reds and greens, just had this little glimmer of possibility. 

A make-do background

On that particular day, I must have been feeling fairly invincible, as it was not the least bit scary to just start cutting and throwing things at the wall. In no time at all, there was a substantial basket looking back at me. Easy as pie to add more width to the chosen background fabric and then, next thing I knew, the preparation for applique was well on its way too. Love when a project barrels along, gaining momentum with every single decision made!

Figuring out the applique

I'm enjoying the faintly Scandinavian look/color palette to the applique, but you probably need to know that all the cues for this flower arrangement were taken directly from the darkest blue fabric in the basket. Still not 100% sure about the white stem and leaves, but am willing to try it out and see. The basket handle still needs some fine tuning, but otherwise, all is ready for hand stitching there too.

Next up in the hoop!

Though we did have a lot of distractions over the weekend, there is generally always a brief window for hand quilting around here too. Thankfully Peachy Cameo was already sandwiched and pinned, ready to be popped into the hoop at a moments notice! I've been dreading working on this quilt for some ridiculous reason, but finally the time had come. No more excuses or procrastination allowed!

Closer look at Peachy Cameo

Now that I've stitched a hoop or two, it seems like a rather silly 'dread' and I'm left wondering why? It was probably the open areas in the applique border that seemed rather intimidating. Sometimes it takes getting a quilt into the hoop before those decisions can ever be satisfactorily addressed in our minds. Gotta go through instead of trying to weasel our way around a problem.

Full view

Up till today, I've not had a boat load of problems with the New Blogger. Little bit of a learning curve, but not too overwhelming. Today was a doozy and I eventually just had to delete an entire post and just start over. Why? Something to do with {accidentally} engaging the link button and then trying to type out the entire post while in that particular mode. Definitely. Do. Not. Recommend. I've been working on getting a post out today for more hours than I want to admit to. You'd think I would have quickly figured it out, but no.... I'm not techy smart and it took me forever to understand why all my defaults had suddenly went pyscho. {Head banging stuff.} Blogger, you picked a fine time to change things up and I sincerely hate you. The end.

So the paperwork has been piling up around here and I've been ignoring it best that I can. {For a long, long time actually!} Thinking... Hmm.. Surely I can put it off till a less stressful time? Yeah. Not happening any time soon. I finally bit the bullet and started getting things organized for a big push in the home office. Will still try to blog here and there, but cannot guarantee any regularity. Or perhaps I will post pictures and leave off the wordy ramblings? Whatever. Will figure it all out in due time. Thankfully I have lots and lots of hand work prepped and ready to go for when I need the down time. 

Am currently trying to get my hand work bag sorted out with applique projects organized in order of priority. lol  Order of importance? Or order of interest? You tell me which ones more important...