Some Semblance of Self

I'm going to take a page out of Lane's book blog and insert anything political, that I feel I must get off my chest, at the bottom of my entry under a line of asterisks. I am also giving a hugely grateful "Thank you!" to Nann and Caroline for their comments of support and virtual hugs. Those, along with reading some of my favorite bloggers (The Bloggess in particular) and having Real Time conversations with friends (of both persuasions), have helped me work out and through my feelings and get back to a semblance of my normal, bubbly-but-sarcastic self. I'm singing again, ready to perform for The Great Unwashed in our upcoming Holiday gigs.

On a completely surprising note, in the midst of my utter depression I had a dream about making a colorful quilt from a panel of this fabric I have on hand. There was hope yet, and I clung to it!!

Broken Cross Check

That sounds like a reference app that's on the fritz, doesn't it? What I've really been doing is checking potential 36-patches for an inadvertent swastika image. I put up pairings for 20 blocks on the design wall, then took a photo and gray-scaled it for simplicity.

As long as there was a definite light frame around the center four dark squares, there was no danger of offensive misunderstandings in the blocks. Here's how they look in color:

Much more fun, yes? These are all "half pinwheels", in that there are only two pinwheel blocks used, paired with two plain 9-patch blocks. I have scores of plain 9-patch blocks already made; not so much with the pinwheel blocks, so in the interest of time I've opted to use what I've already got.

A Third Pinning, and a Finish

After a few days my back agreed to coöperate and I got a third top pinned.

By this point I was fast running out of my bendy basting pins and had to scrounge through all the other sizes I've collected over the years. I eked them out and didn't have to resort to the diaper pins (or those equivalent in size) that I also have.

Pinning marathon

Maybe I woke this morning feeling invincible. Maybe I woke especially stupid. I know the two aren't mutually exclusive! But for whatever reason (perhaps because I had the batting already cut for me and I had two backings ready to go), I decided to pin two quilt sandwiches today.

My back is making sure I remember the consequences of that decision so that I never, ever think about doing that again!

The first sandwich was the intentional goal for today--the split-9 floral.

Stalled

The COVID caught me last week and it's taken me until yesterday to feel well enough to be in public again. But my down time wasn't unproductive time. I cleared several hundred emails from my various mailboxes, something I kept putting off for a time I was under the weather and recliner-bound anyway. I also was able, after the first 3 days, to summon the interest and energy to get into my studio and sew a bit.

The first thing I did was take a picture of what was hanging on the design wall, so I could look at it from a distance and make any changes deemed necessary.

Now that's a full design wall!

Letting go

As soon as I trimmed all the 4.5" triangle squares (previous post), I started sewing them to the dark/medium and light 3.5"squares I had cut weeks earlier, with an eye toward making this top.

And then there was one

One piece (out of many), that is!

Left column cut out from picture--really 7 x 9 blocks for a finished size of 70" x 90"

This sews up cuter than it originally looked on the design wall, so I'm glad of that. Having done one, however, that satisfied the itch and I can go on to other designs.

That new dryer smell

The heating element came in Friday, just as The Loud and I were completing our Income Tax return (with a satisfactory bottom line). I had it installed by the afternoon, and it was a joy to behold not only a warm glow emanating from the back of the rotating drum, but three levels of warm glows!

Disappearing 9-patch, revisited

After evaluating and reorganizing my flimsies, it was the small (50" x 60") Disappearing 9-patch top that lodged itself into my brain's Make It Work compartment.

 

With 8-1/2" finished blocks and factoring in the existing 4" border, my armchair calculations (literally) indicated an 8x10 layout would result in a 76"x93" flimsy. Eighty blocks total, of which 30 were already made. Was I game to make 50 more? 

Racking 'em up

For many years, due mainly to being away from my home for 2 months out of 3, most of my flimsies were hung 2- and 3-deep on seven over-burdened dowels.

As mentioned recently, most of the N1Cs had been finished and donated, the last one was the project at hand, and thus was exposed this Bright Hopes flimsy

which I put in this box

for Size Reduction Treatment. I then took some time to take a closer look at what was left on my storage rack.

Vet quilt

The leader of the Community First! Quilters mentioned at the last meeting that she was collecting quilts for Vets and still needed 7 or 8 to meet her goal of 15. With Pink up and running and still no legs for my new mid-arm quilting machine, I decided to pull all the patriotic blocks from the second POUT drawer and see what I could create from those in my spare sewing time. 

There were only 7 large (or large-ish) blocks ready to go.

Out with the New, In with the Old

I'm going to spend each month in 2023 using a different antique/vintage sewing machine (hoping that they are all usable) and set about culling the herd. My Brother got a nice clean and oiling before being put aside, and I grabbed the closest Singer to hand (or, literally, to foot--it's been sitting under my sewing table for 5-1/2 years) and set it up. She's a Singer 237, bought on Craigslist in 2017.

First 2019 Finish

At long last, this simple 9-patch is finished!

60" x 72"

Way back when (20+ years ago), when I was still in a bee and participating in block swaps, I managed to accumulate in the neighborhood of 68 of these large 9-patch blocks. This was my first use of them--roughly 10 years ago I went through the pile and pulled the blocks that would complement the border fabric (which I lurve! Unfortunately, it looks washed out from a distance.) The posts were created from my 1.5" collection of squares, then strips cut from stash for the sashing.

Once the top was complete, it hung on my To Be Quilted rack, with the dark green flannel I had chosen for backing, for years. I'm in the midst of my 4-year "Just Say No/Get It Finished!" plan, so this was an obvious choice to complete. Besides, I want to love it on my bed, not just look at it on the rack!