Finger Sitting

The mother in me demanded a clean up of the sewing patch.  A pile of quilts ended up looking so pretty together that I thought you might like to enjoy it too.

I know I'm not the only one who pulls out fabric in a frenzy to find the right piece while the idea is current and clear.  And then fails to put it back neatly.  The process repeats itself endlessly before eventually, there is no available working space.  I won't share a picture of my mess.

While cleaning up I discovered some UFOs that were never going to become FOs.  It was powerful to move the blocks to the orphan block box and put quarantined fabric back into general circulation.  

With this in mind, restraining my urge to start more new projects has been like sitting on my fingers.  It's been tough to hold back.  So many gorgeous quilts flying through the ether...still only 24 hours in my day.

"Pointless" has been machine quilted.  Kate cleverly worked out the thread colour to match red and blue. Thanks Kate for the nice job doing an allover Baptist Fan pattern.  It remains my 'go to' pattern for allover quilting.  Binding is on, and label is ready to be applied.

"Pointless" even has a new owner,  Sarah, our youngest.  She likes the front and thinks the back is cool.  She is  too young to remember the country period of patchwork.  And Sarah even likes the name, which for those of you who haven't been keeping up to date, is not a nihilistic expression of existentialism, but rather, recognition of the absence of points on some stars.

Having fallen dramatically behind with the Beyond the Cherry Tree Album quilt, I have recently put in a burst of applique and am now only 8 blocks behind.  From a glass half full perspective, I have finished 15 applique blocks!

I am unwilling to try "new Blogger" because I think the old version is fine.  I frequently see comments on blogs about Blogger acting up.  Any comments or advice about "New Blogger" will be welcome.

Now I have to take my husband's car off to be repaired.  I scratched it during the recent trip to Canberra.  I didn't notice but he did.  I suppose I would feel the same if someone borrowed my sewing machine and it didn't come back the same way it left.

Relaxed and grinning

By now, if you've been following this blog, you may have observed that I don't start a quilt and finish it in proper chronological order.  I'm that sort of quilter.  The one who starts something, comes up against an obstacle, puts the offending object out of sight and then returns to it sometime later.

Possibly one of my quilts has suffered from this more than others

If you are interested in its slow progress you can read about it here and here.

Now the final border is on and it's time for the backing.  Usually, the backing is done in a huge rush.  Generally a fabric from the bolts in my header surrenders up enough for the backing.

With this quilt I thought I'd do something I haven't done before.  There are so many checks and plaids left over from the front, and I no longer do "country" quilts.  It seemed like a reasonable way to divest myself of some fat quarters and 30cm strips of  fabric.

Instead of 45 minutes, the backing took all day...but I really enjoyed the process.  I just squared up the remnants of fat quarters and strips and sewed them together, trueing them up as I went.  It may be described as liberated piecing.  It was certainly fun and it was great to know that I am finally using up that part  of my stash.  I think I'll call it a relaxed quilt back.

The plan is for me to machine quilt using my walking foot.  One day I'll be brave enough to do FMQ (free motion quilting), but right now I am rationalizing that I still need more practice on straight lines and rolling the quilt up under the machine arm.

I am mulling over a name for this quilt.  It isn't finalized until the binding and label are on, but I may call it "Pointless".   To get the pun, you will have to go back to the original post if you haven't already.

Moments after I cut into my stash and pieced the back, the local quilting guru advised me that "country" is making a comeback.  Not into my stash, it isn't!

Progressing Backwards

Do you ever have periods where nothing feels right?  I have been making hexagons and my wrist doesn't like it.  I turned to the hexagons because my #2 Cherry Tree block is giving me a headache.   If you know the pattern, you're probably thinking I get headaches pretty easily.  It's a simple pattern and here is where I am up to:

I am going to undo some of the leaves to get a nicer join with the stem.  My fault.  I used freezer paper and decided it didn't matter which shaped leaf went where.  My red leaves on the right are too bulky at the stem junction compared with the green leaves below.  So I want to adjust them.  But not today.  Does that happen to you?  The disappointment of getting things wrong often pushes a current project into the cupboard.  Luckily Sharon set up a  blog and I won't put it in the cupboard for too long.  It won't be alone because it will be with #1

Here is something else that has made it into the temporary cupboard because of my bad mood

There are 3 borders on and the 4th will have to wait.  The photo isn't very good however I hope you have noticed that I lined up the pattern of the border nicely.  But it takes a good mood to get that right, so I'm not chancing it and mucking up the final border.  And so, into the cupboard.
I have a little project up on the design wall for a baby quilt required by next Saturday (ha!)

Do you recognize the little strips left over from a previous project?  I thought I would use them in log cabins but they will do nicely here.  And it's quick.  Here is a snap of the spiderweb quilt

I have named it "Muffet's Way".  I don't have a picture of the entire quilt.  It is taking a summer holiday away from home, but will return next year.

So this is a post with plenty of photos but not much progress.  I wondered whether I should share my bad mood with you but I do have a button on my sidebar declaring "I took the Process pledge"  and that process also includes backwards progress as well as forwards.  I know I will wake up tomorrow feeling better and I hope that includes my aching hand.

who cares about the points

If you came across this bundle at a garage sale what would you do?  Would you buy it?  

What if some of the blocks were sewn together:

and others had little labels identifying their position-to-be in the quilt:

What if there were 63 blocks?
How much is it worth?
On a post last week I saw a quilt top that had been bought at a "yard sale" for $3.  I didn't know how or why the quilt top had ended up there, or who valued all that time and effort at $3, but the story dismayed me.  My imagination ran wild.  It bothers me to think that one day my fabric stash, UFOs, quilt tops and even quilts could end up in the same predicament.  What would happen to my stuff if I got run over by a bus tomorrow?

In fact, this is a partially completed quilt top from "Rotary Roundup by Judy Hopkins and Nancy J. Martin.  I had no trouble identifying it because it is mine.  It was started in 1997 after I had been sewing for 2 years.  Today I pulled it out of the cupboard determined to save it from a garage sale fate.

As I worked on the blocks,  I understood why I had not continued on and left this project languishing so long.  I had not paid enough attention to the 1/4" seam allowance on every block.  When it came time to put the top together I  had realised that I was going to lose lots of points and became disheartened.  13 years on I didn't love the pattern nearly so much, but I did understand its value.  It is destined to become a quilt that will make me smile and appreciate the journey I have travelled in that time.

PS.  When I told my friends this sorry saga, they told me not to worry any more about my stuff going into a garage sale.  They said they would look after it if that bus actually got me!