Focus on Finishing…sort of!

This weekend was way too short!

I’ve been so focused lately on trying to get everything done that I want, and need, to get done, that it seems that nothing actually gets finished, everything seems to be in various states of completion…and I’m finding that frustrating right now.  I feel like I’m just *this close* to having something to show for my efforts, but it’s just not ready yet.  I guess that’s how I end up with several projects in progress at a time!  Oh, that, and the fact that ideas pop into my head, one right after another, and I don’t have enough time in the day to do them all!  Or I need to learn a new skill in order to even start….

I ended up working on the computer for most of yesterday, rather than getting into the Quilt Cave as I’d intended, then stayed up far too late trying to finish up a separate computer project, so I slept away half the morning.  That’s just Robbing Peter to Pay Paul…hmmm…maybe I need to make that quilt to remind myself not to do this anymore….!

Today, though, I finished one of my customer’s quilts that I’d started last weekend, although I haven’t had a chance to take pictures yet.  Once I finished it and trimmed it up, I started auditioning border fabrics for two small baby quilts that I’ve had hanging in my closet for awhile.  I got news that one of my cousins just had a baby girl, and I’d like to send them a quilt, and I’m thinking one of these would be perfect!  That is, after all, why I made them!

Speaking of finishing projects, earlier in the week I was excited to find more of the white and pink border fabric I had purchased to complete the flannel quilt.  Yesterday I realized that the amount that was cut was actually less than I’d asked for, but I can also use that initial amount of fabric I’d purchased to complete the project.  So now I just need to find it, then cut and add the borders.  Now, where did I put that??  The backing was purchased awhile ago and the perfect thread arrived last week with my Superior Threads order.  I’ve been thinking I should do an overall meander because it’s so busy, rather than a pantograph design, although on flannel, a design could be really interesting.  I’m still not sure if I should use cotton batting or cotton/poly, though, considering the nature of flannel, that is.  It sure would be nice to have this done in the next couple of days, so I can take it to the Guild meeting on Thursday!

Borders are sort of a stumbling block for me, although I’m not quite sure why.  Maybe it’s the pressure of putting them on so that they aren’t wavy when I’m quilting them.  Or maybe, it’s knowing that the borders can make or break a quilt; they add such personality!  Or maybe it’s just the perfectionist in me….

In any case, I wish I had another day to play…

Keeping Busy

Where does the time go???  I thought it was just a few days ago that I last posted!

Where to begin?

I completed my customers’ three lap quilts, which you can see in my quilt gallery

and this *darling* pink and white 9 patch baby quilt, which she is giving to her new grand-niece.  I quilted it with the Valentine Hearts panto by Gali Design.

 

She promptly brought me two more quilts when she picked those up!  I was thrilled!  It sure is nice when someone likes your work and has confidence in your ability.

I was also able to get another customer’s first lap quilt completed, all in freehand feathers.  I really like how you can see them on the back of the quilt.

I’ve also been working on wrapping up a project to create a website for a law firm in Helena, Jackson, Murdo, & Grant P.C  Disclaimer here, my mom is a partner in the firm, so yes, I do have some affiliation!  It’s been a great learning experience and I am even more interested in the prospect of taking on other customers.

I’ve also been playing with the possibility of a website re-design of my own.  I like a lot of the features I currently have, but the current site design just doesn’t *grab* me!  I have been adding new items to the photo gallery, including my pantograph library, and making the thumbnail images larger, and I want to put my own store back online.

I’ve been investigating additional software packages, too, so I can add more features and take advantage of some new ideas I have…you might say I’m on a software binge!

Most people don’t see any correlation to software, programming, databases or computers to quilting, but I really think they have similar traits.  Some of it is science and some of it’s art, and you take the basic building blocks of what you need and you can come up with some of the most interesting, varied, and unexpected outcomes all starting out with the same pieces.  It’s amazing, it’s creative, and it’s powerful.

No wonder I like them both!

Pink Flannel Quilt

I started this quilt on Christmas break.  It’s a controlled scrappy pattern I found in Quilt Magazine and the minute I saw it, I wanted to make it.  It’s not often that I see a flannel quilt in a magazine, either, but it completely goes along with my goal of working from my stash.  I have plans for at least 2 more of these in flannel, and I might be able to clear out a cupboard!

I’ve been working on customer quilts so I had put it aside, but I had a few minutes last night and finished adding the inner border.  I’m not sure why, but borders are not my favorite step!  I modified the pattern a bit to use a single piece of fabric, rather than piece the border, and I got the flannel at JoAnn Fabrics’ half off sale.

Now that I’m looking at it, though, I’m not sure this border is the right fabric for this quilt, and I’m not exactly sure why.  Maybe it’s not a dark enough pink?  Maybe it just needs a different pink?  Maybe it’s the plaid style design against the squares?  It’s not “bad”, it just doesn’t speak to me.

Of course, I feel compelled to use the fabric, not accumulate more, but I’ll probably have to visit the fabric store this weekend to see if I like anything else better.  Or, maybe I should just go back to the pattern and piece the border.  It’s not like I don’t have a bunch of squares already cut.  Hmm…..

Quilt video–Awesome!

This is well worth the 6 minutes, sit down with a cuppa Joe and enjoy!

Reflections on Family

I’ve been thinking about “family” quilt a lot lately, and the life cycles each of us experience.

Weddings, anniversaries and retirements.  My family has been caught up in all of those things in the last month.

Our family is far flung, with my husband’s family in the Seattle area, my mom in Montana, and my brother in New Hampshire.  I have more cousins than most, and they are all over the place; I can’t even keep track, especially since they are having their own kids now!

My husband and I flew to Seattle to attend the wedding of his youngest daughter a couple of weeks ago.  Even though it was a short trip, I was glad to get back home.  We couldn’t pick up the dogs (my kids!) until late on Sunday and the house sure was quiet without them.

Our wedding anniversary is today.  We spent the weekend together, going out on Saturday night, talking and re-connecting.

I spoke with my mom yesterday afternoon.  She’s getting ready to retire and one of her biggest disappointments is not getting to be near her grandkids, who range in age from 7 to 12.   I suggested that maybe she consider moving near them; they will change drastically over the next 10 years, and this is a time that can’t be lived via video chat.  While there would be some challenges to address, I think she would regret not taking advantage of the opportunity.

Obviously, there has to be personally compelling reason to move across the country than to do it for someone else.  My mother is highly intelligent, well educated, loves gardening and being outside so it’s not like she’s ready to sit back in a rocker waiting for someone to visit.  I’m hoping she would write the novel she’s always wanted to write, incorporating the local history into that story or become a visiting professor in a local college.

She was concerned that I not feel left behind.  I know my mother cares about me, but re-connecting with her grandkids is something that she needs and wants, and that is most important to me.  As I told her, it’s just as expensive to fly from Montana to Boise as it is from Boise to New Hampshire!  And I am OK with video chats!

We mark milestones with celebration and quilts and I’m recognizing those events cycling through my life.  The year is already speeding by, and I want to slow it down to enjoy it to its fullest.

ACE Raffle Quilt

I quilted a full size quilt on Sunday, for the Boise State University Association of Classified Employees Chili Feed and Quilt Raffle.

This is an annual event that the Association puts on to assist eligible Boise State University employees with food vouchers for meals on campus once or twice a week.  The top was made by a volunteer, who will also bind the quilt.

I did the quilting, an overall meandering style with orange thread and Warm and Natural 100% cotton batting, and pieced the back.

Raffle tickets are available for $2 each, or 12 for $10.  Email me if you’d like tickets, and I’ll get you in touch with an ACE Senate member.

Sew close!

I am *sew* close to having some finished tops!

I thought I was ready to put borders on the flannel quilt, but I measured and I need another row, then I can add the borders.

I found some border fabric for the 10 Minute Block throw, so just have to add those.

And, I went and bought more flannel to make another flannel quilt!  Yes, the goal was, and still is, to get that flannel stash used up, but I am making them for my nieces, so it’s not stash building!  At least, that’s the plan for now.  And they can’t both have the same quilt!  Not only that, a lot of the flannel I have left has baby prints and that is not really appropriate for a 7 year old, will be 8 year old by the time she gets the quilt.  So, I took advantage of the 50% off sale at JoAnn’s to add more variety and get the backs for both quilts.

I also took in a gorgeous customer quilt on Sunday, and can’t wait to see it finished!

What’s prompting me to clear out my stash is that I want to re-organize and/or remodel the Quilt Cave.  So I’m looking over my stash and feeling very blessed.

Dreams.  Oh, the dreams!