... and when I looked up, it was October already!
That's how I felt when I realized I hadn't posted anything since the end of August. What the heck, September?? Where did you go while I wasn't looking???
I wasn't idle, that's for sure. This orphaned piece from a year ago . . .
So, back to the Arkansas Cross Road blocks and project.
From this layout of all the pieces . . .
We've all been there: a room with a hint of a suggestion of a loose idea of a line. Nobody's officially in charge, but every person in that room knows exactly their position in the invisible queue. Newcomers are eyeballed suspiciously--will they try to jump ahead? Fat chance of that happening; a gentle correction ("I believe she was here before you") generally keeps things well in (invisible) line. The only time I've heard any kind of disagreement in these situations is when one person suggests, "You were here before me?" and the other replies, "No, no--you go first."
This phenomenon isn't restricted to mere mortals, by the way. As various projects were coming out of Leader-Ender status and into Full-on-Project mode . . .
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| All the triangle squares for the Lady of the Lake centers, sewn into 3- and 5-square strips. |
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| 53" x 66" |
This doesn't look much different from the last time I posted about it (gosh, nearly a year ago?!?), but let me show you what's changed.
. . . 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!
I'm definitely not winning any races with this approach, but things are getting done!
Two weeks ago in my last post, I showed these columns, the medium lights and the darks sewn together.
Those were moved to a different location as the other half of the columns were created from the light and medium dark strings, filling the design wall once again.
And naturally from there everything got sewn together.
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 |
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!!
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.
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| Now that's a full design wall! |
I've been idly wondering what vanity I'll carry with me to the Afterlife, and I think it'll be about my intelligence. It's useful, and plenty, and I'm proud of it.
Always have been.
Most of the time.
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.
Yesterday I didn't put a single stitch into any project. In fact, the only times I entered my studio was to put things away, as yesterday's Dreadful task was to clean up the dumping grounds that used to be my desk. It took all day and well into the evening, but what a joy it is to look at that nice clear surface again!
This morning I've been making up for my non-stitch day by putting in some serious time with the Easy Breezy blocks. In previous days I've been sewing blocks into columns of 8, then columns into pairs, until things got too unwieldy for easy rearranging. Instead, I hung what I had completed so far on the design wall, took pictures . . .
I hadn't meant to stay quiet for so long, but although I've been busy, I haven't had much to point to and exclaim, "TA-DA!"
This morning I put the final quilting stitch into Sugar Skull. I'd decided on diamonds in the white strips, which meant straight-line quilting, which meant my Brother 1500 on the "dinner" table.
This morning I putzed around with the various elements of this project. I had 18 finished blocks (measuring at most 10.25" square), 82 centers (measuring roughly 6.5" square), and a theoretical 720 HTSs (measuring 2.5" square). For starters, how many blocks could I complete with those 720 HTSs? (Counts on fingers--720 divided by 16--ah! Forty-five blocks can be completed.)
Then I wondered what various settings are 'out there' for Lady of the Lake blocks, and how is an on-point setting handled?
That's when I started to notice something: the typical LotL block doesn't look like the 18 that I "inherited".
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| Sample of the 18 blocks on left, traditional Lady of the Lake block on the right. |
Well, not quite that fine, but I can feel daily improvement. The next phase of recovery is "I feel happy! I feel happy!"
Pictures!
I finally sewed together the 3 panels and 4 strips that made up the backing for this (the panels were created months ago), and got it pin basted today. Another tick in the Yay! box.
As part of the size evaluation journey I've been taking with the various flimsies hanging around, I cast my eye on the two piles of Leader-Ender challenge blocks lurking about:
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| 120 at 6" finished |
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| 80 at 8" finished |
I've been expecting this. I just didn't think it would take nearly 3 weeks of constant sewing before it happened!
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.
