It's a weird juxtaposition when your brain tells you the Christmas projects--and therefore Christmas itself--are done, yet Hallowe'en hasn't yet arrived!
In my last post I'd listed the projects I'd hoped to get finished and donated at the final (for this calendar year) meeting of Community First! Quilters in October:
Bunny didn't make it (he's still 'living' with me, with hopes of more relatives in the next 12 months) but everything else did!
I woke Friday morning determined to see if I could make the inner star of this pattern, and if so, was it worth it?
It was! It wasn't difficult, and Proof Of Concept was rapidly achieved.
It's been 2+ weeks since my last post, a quarter of which was stolen away from me by flu--the old-fashioned kind that requires a clear path to the toilet at all times, and a bucket in hand! It seemed to be a 72-hour bug and I'm back to my old self now.
Winding Ways went from a gleam to a finish in these past 16 days! Before being felled, I had added borders (finding the perfect fabric in the CF!Q legacy stash, as I'd hoped), made a back from the blue dot fabric that didn't work in the front (including a couple more FQs from the CF!Q stash), sandwiched the lot and outline-quilted all the inner blocks. Contrary to all teachings and advice from time immemorial, I made the borders to the size the blocks should measure, not what reality might dictate. As a result, the sandwiching involved quite a bit of careful pulling and close pinning so nothing shifted.
. . . and says to the bartender, "Tell me a funny joke. I like to be kept in stitches."
And so was I introduced to the "Winding Ways" block this weekend, quite unexpectedly!
Kicking up my feet after a walk to the grocery store. It's a new one and it takes me less than an hour to walk there, shop, then walk back, all on paved surfaces if I choose to use them (there are alternative routes). The Loud has started accompanying me, making it a bit slower but the companionship is nice. He brings his own backpack and between the two of us we can get quite a few groceries schlepped home on our backs!
I finished the final Woven Log Cabin block yesterday, then hauled out and erected the big ladder so I could get up to the ceiling and finally adjust the roller spring on my second design wall, so it will roll all the way up. With that done, I can put an entire twin-sized-worth of blocks in one area.
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| Each block is 18.5" unfinished |
It's been a fraught couple of weeks, filled with new challenges to lose sleep over (but ultimately meet successfully, while filled with dread at the newness of it all). I've found myself retreating not to my usual Killer Sudoku puzzles (Expert level, thankyouverymuch [she says smugly]) but to rereading fondly-remembered Dick Francis mysteries (fondly- but not always fully-remembered. The bad guy is often a surprise all over again!)
Still, I have done some sewing and will have four quilts and a block to present tomorrow at the Community First! Quilters' monthly meeting. The quilts have been discussed, but the block only mentioned briefly. I had the presence of mind to photograph it this afternoon.
The Chapel photo . . .
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| This will be trimmed down, so I hope the unfinished stone path at the left will be truncated in the final product. If not, the assemblers have scraps of the stone fabric. |
After a wash (cold water, so any remaining blue ink would go away, not get set in) and a tumble in the dryer, look what has decided to play nice!
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| 35" x 35" |
The Star of Bethlehem got finished in short order. After discovering (and removing some of) the existing quilting, I did a simple 8-point star design (with white thread) in the four corner squares . . .
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| Not very easy to see, but all the other non-flash shots that showed the quilting were too blurry to keep. |
. . . some point-to-point lines in the triangles . . .
Today was the first day of my 3-week chorus-free "vacation". No singing commitments, no rehearsals--just free Monday nights until we start rehearsing again on the 8th of January.
The world and all my other commitments still roll merrily along, of course, but it's all in one's perception of time and how it's allotted, isn't it?
After a luxurious sleep in, I spent several hours today in my studio. The biggest accomplishment was going from this last month . . .
. . . to finally this:
The chorus had its tech rehearsal last night (for our December 2nd show) and we're sorted for all the Christmas gigs in the next 3 to 4 weeks, so I feel as though I'm on the countdown toward finishing the holiday season. As a result, I was quite relaxed during my day "off" today. That's the funny reality about performers/performing: by the 2nd week in December, we're done! It takes two more weeks for the rest of the world to catch up with the fact that Christmas is "over".
After accomplishing the two tasks I had promised myself I'd do (clean the litter boxes, catch up on Mom's finances/bills), for my reward I spent most of the afternoon planning Mom's December banner. It didn't take long to go from an idea of four 4" blocks and a series of 2" blocks as borders, to the idea of three 5" blocks with snowflake fabric (for the first day of Winter) separating and bordering them.
Fabric pull:
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| Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah |
Not a needle is stirring.
Triangles are strung on the ironing board with care.
This all must mean a big project was just finished!
Two shopping days before Christmas, not that that's relevant to my life other than peripherally. Ninety-seven days ago someone on the Heartstrings group noted there were 99 days left until Christmas Eve, and wouldn't it be fun to challenge ourselves to complete a task a day? I chose to interpret that as 'make daily progress on something sewing-related and stay accountable by reporting it to the group'. In that time I've completed the Twin Hugs, my Mom's wall-hanging from my Dad's shirt, and my brother Steve's quilt started by my Mom. I've made progress on other WIPs and started a new top as well. But while I'm encouraged by and happy about all the forward motion this challenge produced, I'll be so glad to end the challenge and stop holding myself publicly accountable every day!
One of the Big 2 under the needles lately is my latest idea of what to do with my rolls of scraps. This is how that unnamed one stands right now:
That's not as apocalyptic as it sounds. I'm nearing the finish line of my brother's quilt, at long last!
In the last 20 days I've been cross-hatching the borders, working around all the appliqued pieces which resulted in as much time burying ends as creating them. Once that was done, the edges were trimmed and the label made and basted to a corner on the back.
The hanging sleeves--I made two so there'd be a space in the top center where an additional hook or nail could be placed to prevent bowing--were basted to the top then the bottom edges sewn down. Finally, I attempted to determine a finished length for all the sides.
Mary's obsessed with bookshelf quilts, and while I've never made one, they remind me of a "bug (or canning) jar" wallhanging I made for my mother's Christmas gift in 2008. I just happen to have some pictures on my laptop I can share.
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| Original pattern from which I got some ideas. |
I made this for my neighbor's 18th birthday (the same girl for whom I made the turtle pillow). It was affectionately known as the "Wallhanging That Doesn't", for I was unsure that she would be able to hang anything on the walls of her trailer. I am pleased to report that she did indeed hang it up, almost immediately!
Whoo, baby! The project I'd been SO close to completing before/for the Australia trip is finally done and on the wall!!
This was a challenge wuh* I'd "completed" for the Rio Grande Valley Quilt Guild Challenge and show in 2002. The challenge fabric can be seen in the butterfly wings. The other element of the challenge was to use the "Flying Geese" pattern/block. The only quilting done on it was in the wings of the captive butterflies, and a tiny meander in the free butterfly's journey. All of that was done with metallic thread (I look at it now and wonder, "What was I thinking?" and "How on earth did I manage to do it so well?!?")
*short for "wallhanging", in honor of a certain Magpie who canNOT bring herself to say that word or create that item.
