Binding is finished and it is wrapped for shipping. It still amazes me how scrap quilts turn out. As always, the recipient was on my mind as I finished it. She is planning another surgery and will have this to snuggle under during her recuperation.
I got the lights strung in front. I do them inside so they are easy to hang over the small nails I put in years ago. I used to decorate the house and yard every year, and just got tired of fighting the cold and dealing with random bulbs going out and messing up the whole strand.
Anyway, her quilt is thrown over my loveseat and is down right gorgeous. I turned the corner to show a bit of the back, which was another piece that had no projected goal. The pattern for the center is called a 'granny square' and the border is a modification of the 'piano border'. I had so much of that purply color and used quite a bit of it. Now both the purply and the back fabrics will get cut into pieces themselves and blend in.
Not being able to sit still is my SuperPower, so I cut & pinned pieces to one of the next blocks for the ROW quilt along. Its only for the top and I have no idea how I will do the back. I can be casual with it and take my time.
I am in two of those BOM's; one is a Row of the Month and the other is a Row of the Week, for crying out loud! As much as I love both of them, I started feeling a little bit of pressure, so was glad when the facilitators said they were taking time off this month. I got one set of lights hung on three windows in my front. I string them together and put them on a timer. I watered plants, pulled off dead leaves and made soup. The other three strands are lying on the futon waiting. Busy morning.
My last quilt is 3/4 finished for the binding and could ship out on Tuesday. Its raining and blowing outside but not leaking on that studio window frame. It looks cold out and so being under a quilt feels cozy.
It is so nice to take time off from quilting because my next project is to make some non-bake dolce (sweets) to send to family. Nice not to be conflicted. I'll get this one off and then turn to what needs doing in the house and gardens for awhile.
I have my plan for 2017, agreed with myself not to make more things for gifts, and slowed down with the exchanges on Swap-Bot. I feel really good about it.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving is my annual shopping trip to Bakersfield, where I go to Cost Plus Market and then out to lunch. Its easy to drop a couple hundred dollars. Among things I bought, were a couple of birthday gifts, teas, a jar of ginger jam, a Winter Sweater for my Cat, a Panetonne, a soup mix, and a 12-pack of Winter Beers. All of these are items I cannot get in town. Then I went to a movie, and by the time I got home, it was snowing!
I am working on binding the last quilt of the year. It is truly a scrap quilt, but really lovely. It is my hope to finish it and get it shipped off by Tuesday. I need to wrap one of the birthday gifts for mailing, finish some exchanges for Swap-Bot and address my holiday cards.
It is also the weekend that I put up the indoor lights. The weather turned so darned cold and windy that first of all, I am glad the grass project is complete, and then second, when it gets nice again, I want to take up last year's fairy lights and replace the portions that don't work. I really love having the back garden lit.
This is what I traditionally do the weekend after Thanksgiving.
I thought about the UFO project list and know I've given each of them a month. I won't pressure myself by saying they will be finished. It is a month to work on them and at least bring them through another step. It seems that this will honor the process of what I do.
I worked on the house blocks and finished #3 & 4. What a challenge they are for me. I've stopped whining now and printed off the instructions for the next row, and even pulled out fabrics for them. Because there are not enough scraps to do my patriotic theme, it will require shifting to let the colors flow better.
People talk about tolerance and acceptance of differences all the time until the time they have to deal with it personally. Then all bets are off and judgment returns. It would be so easy to move houses and people and countries around so that they coordinate better.
I've been reading the 'real' story of the pilgrims and Natives. I've known it for most of my life, but people discover their truth as they are able to receive it. Perhaps the recent protests spark their discovery. And again, all my life, I have stood up for the indigenous people, so its not new.
As I watch more of the quilt samples unfold, it strikes me how pleasant the solid colors are and so I am going to try and do more solids if possible. Although I re-did the tree on block #1, I do not plan to rip and re-do any others. If that happened, the quilt might go under many re-dos. It will be what it is.
I also worked on the last quilt of 2016 some more but have several stitch lines to finish before it is ready for binding. It is starting to bother me that the tension will not hold, but, again, it is doing the job for now.
Admittedly, I like action movies. I must have lived another life as leader who was comfortable in battle, with all its strategy, and violence. In this lifetime, I prefer a peaceful life and do live one. No matter how brave we are, how well fitted with armor and tactics, reality gives way to that gritty experience. I don't want to train under adverse conditions. Let the Marines do that. Maybe my battle is internal and all fought in my mind, in my thoughts.
There are no photos of what is happening here in the studio.
I am halfway finished with the machine quilting on the last quilt finish for the year. My machine doesn't hold its tension as good as I would like but good enough to keep going. For as much as I use it, it has served me well. I am glad this is the last of the year for that reason.
I exchanged the two pine branches for darker colors on block #1. It meant ripping the lighter ones out and starting over. Then I worked on #3. Good goddess, what was I thinking to work with those half square triangles (HST)???? Its all turning out, but taking really a long time. This quilt is a block of the week not a block of the month. The only pressure to work on it comes from me. I've pinned what could work and will piece it later today.
It took me awhile to find the 'nurse' fabric only to discover it wasn't long enough. That switched the theme of #6. As it happens, there is not enough to do the patriotic theme with reds and blues for the quilt, so Its going to have other shades of blue that include aquas. Its going to be wonderful no matter how it turns out.
What is important is that scraps are being used!
With the first two blocks done, I started cutting for the next two blocks. These are big blocks when finished, take more material than I thought. I keep looking at the tree in the first one and don't like the lighter green in it. I wonder how much work it would be to rip it and add two other pieces.
The concept of do-over is interesting anyway.
I also printed off the next row of blocks and browsed group pics in order to get a feel for what works and what didn't. There are two of the blocks that I am not wild about, but after browsing, do have a better idea of what I can make. It is my hope that there is enough fabric to finish this using the various reds, and blues. Of course, other colors exist on the quilt but are meant to be more in the background.
After using the kids/nationality flags material, I think they just get lost. If I had more solids to work with, that busy print would find its voice. They just get lost in what I have to work with. I fear I have limited myself by saying this would be patriotic and pulling out the reds and blues. I am already asking myself what I was thinking. Well it will evolve as it does, and I will simply be ok with however it turns out.
I love scrap quilting and love shopping from my closet.
It was challenging to work with half square triangles. I know I said I was done with them, however, most house blocks have pointed roofs.
I finished the first two and made them in red to resemble (in my mind) a farm house, barn and silo. Red needs to be used sparingly or it dominates the project so it will be interesting to see how this evolves. Again, scrap quilting is challenging simply because of the matching it requires.
I want to turn my attention to the quilt next and get it on the machine. I did spend time with swap bot exchanges and am caught up with them. After some sticker shock at the PO, I have withdrawn from a lot of swaps for now, and the ones I kept were ones I am hosting and actually created.
