Florabunda Blocks Finished!!

I finished the center block of Florabunda earlier this week.  And here it is...

I have to give credit to my husband for picking out the fabric for the basket.  While we were on vacation, I dragged him to 2 quilt shops looking for fabric for this basket and two purples that I will use as sashing for the quilt.  I found a plaid that was 'basket-ish', and he went poking around the shop and found this basket weave fabric! 

So, as I was approaching the end of the stitching on this block, I started to panic because I don't have another hand work project lined up.  My original idea was to baste the iris quilt top and start the hand quilting on that.



I love this quilt!!!  I'll do a whole blog post on it some time later.  This was started quite some time ago and was nicknamed the 'forever' quilt.  Anyway, my plan was that hand quilting this was to be my winter project.  But, money is a tad tight and I don't have the extra cash to get backing and a king sized batting for this beauty, so it will have to wait for a while.

So, what to do.  I decided to find  my sewing machine under all the clutter that has accumulated on my sewing table for the last 6 months or so and become reacquainted with her.   I found some small UFOs that needed some attention and got them completed.  I could machine quilt the maple leaf quilt since it is all prepared and everything, but that doesn't give me something to do while watching TV and wouldn't have given me the happy jolt of finishing a project.

This one was some extra blocks from my maple leaf top that I put together and machine quilted.  All it needed was a binding.  I've never been happy with my mitered corners on my bindings, so I used this as a learning exercise to try a different technique.  My conclusion is that I like this, but I need more practice.

OK, don't look at the miters too closely.  Like I said, I need practice.  Yes, the leaf placement was intentional.  I think I'll use this as a trivet for the table.

The next jolt of happiness for finishing a project came from these pot holders.

Aren't they cute?  Again, left over flowers from another project put together for something useful.

Then I started a new project - a pin cushion/thread catcher.  I've had the pattern for quite some time and have been planning to make one of these  since April.  I'm still not quite done.  I have the hand stitching to do and I have a plan on when that will happen.

More Updates

I got a nice note from a follower with a nudge to post more frequently.  First of all, I have a follower?!  Wow.

Not much going on quilt-wise.  Nothing speedy anyway.  I'm still working on the center block of Florabunda.  This is what I've got so far.

I realized on this block that most of my projects go in sort of a 3-legged wave.  The first leg is like the down hill slope of a roller coaster.  I'm excited about the project and am anxious to see how it is going to look.  I choose fabrics and stitch on it as often as I can.  Then, I either get bored or stuck and I'm on the up hill climb on that roller coaster.  I either know how it is going to turn out, or I can't imagine how it will go, and I drag my feet and find other things to do or excuses not to do this.  This is the phase when lots of projects turn into UFOs.  I've managed to power through that phase on this particular block and am now onto the coasting into home stage.  I've pretty much decided on how everything will look and am looking forward to the next ride - that is, I'm looking forward to getting all 13 blocks together with sashing and seeing this come together as a quilt rather than a set of blocks.   This picture was taken a few days ago and I have all the petals of the center pink flower sewed on and all but one of the missing 6 leaves done.  I'm guessing it will be done in a week or so.  Then maybe I'll have more exciting things to blog about.

Life is Moving Fast

I don't remember the last time I posted a blog.  I suppose I could go and look, but it doesn't really matter.  Life has been busy.  In the last 2 months, our daughter graduated from college and we attended both ceremonies and went to two of her gallery shows.  She had knee surgery, we celebrated our 31st anniversary with an overnight trip to the cape and another wonderful lobster roll, celebrated Mother's day, Father's day, my husband's birthday, my daughter's birthday, moved daughter into an apartment, kept a business running and are winding down on our office remodel.  Quilting has sort of taken a back seat to the rest of life, although I have been trying to do a little stitching in the evenings for the past week or so.  We're on a push to get the office/basement updates completed before the 16th because we're having a party that day and relatives staying in the house.  Right now, the spare room/sewing room/guest room looks like an episode of Hoarders.  That is where everything from the basement and office went (well, all the small stuff) while we did the remodel.  As of today, we have new walls, new carpet, new ceiling, new lights and outlets, painted walls and stained woodwork, and new desks.  We're waiting on the delivery of some cabinetry and plugs for telephone and computer that should both arrive this week.  In the mean time, I'm struggling to try to get the house back to what used to be normal.

Having our office in the kitchen makes everything cramped, but I have a terrific view.  We have two bay windows meeting in the corner of the kitchen which gives me a wonderful view of the back yard and my cherry tree.  The birds are out in force and I've really enjoying watching all the babies being fed and taught to look for food by parents.  I've also seen more new birds this year than I have seen lately.  New to me this year are red starts, orchard oriels and red breasted nuthatches.  Today I saw a lot of a new cardinal family and seemingly dozens of titmouse.  I made sure that I picked cherries yesterday because we are getting lots of birds, squirrels and chipmunks visiting that tree for juicy treats.  I get most annoyed at the robins because they eat half a cherry and move on to the next.  (I'm sounding like a crazy bird lady!).

Happy Independence Day!

More Florabunda Block Pictures

This is a shot at the quilting retreat with all the Florabunda blocks together.  Block 12 wasn't quite complete at that time.  I've decided to change two of the blocks.  I don't like the colors of the leaves in either, and one block doesn't have any pink in it so I'm changing the color of the flower centers.  Otherwise, I'm very pleased with how they look together.

After those two blocks are finished, I can start with the 24" center block.  I think I have an idea of the flower colors, but no idea for the color of the basket.  I guess I'll have to play for a bit.



Florabunda Block 12 Completed

I've been doing a little stitching nearly every evening, but finally sat down to finish the last of the 12" Florabunda blocks last night. 

Next is the 24" center block.  I'm excited to see it all come together!

A Quilting Retreat

I went on my second quilting retreat this past weekend.  This was 48 hours of quilting, eating, sleeping and chatting.  Well, I did take a break at one point and took a walk to stretch my legs and enjoy the glorious New England spring weather, but really the rest of it was quilting, sleeping and eating in that order of the time I took.

The two things I like best about a quilting retreat is that I get a huge block of time to indulge myself in my favorite hobby, and a lot of space in which to spread out.  At home, it's a few minutes here and there or an afternoon if I'm lucky.  And right now, my sewing room is doubling as a storage area for most of the stuff that was stored in the basement while we remodel that.  So, it's not really usable for large projects. 

I went on the weekend with two quilt tops, and a few smaller projects in mind to work on.  My goal was to get both tops basted, one top quilted and make a  cover for my new Kindle.  I got that all accomplished and a little more.  I made the back, ironed, basted and machine quilted a UFO that was originally just a scrap project to keep me busy.  Then I was going to complete the top and donate it to a raffle for my troop.  But that never came to be, so I decided the quilt would be a Christmas gift for my sister.  That is not complete with the exception of a label and hand stitching the binding down.

The second project was to make the backing for and baste the maple leaf quilt top.  I had made 140-ish 4 1/2" maple leaf blocks by hand because I was looking for a hand work project to work on.  In addition, there are about 10 9" maple leaf blocks that I got as part of a box exchange project with my guild.  This project will be machine quilted and as of now, has no specific home.  But, I'm thinking I should be giving more of my quilts away, so this one will go to another relative.  I just don't know who yet.

The third project I did was a little, scrappy sleeve for my kindle.  My "table-mate" was making a lap sized quilt of bright colors and a white fabric with black swirls on it.  The method she used for the blocks made a lot of good sized scraps left over.  So, I scooped some of them up and put them together in a random fashion to make this sleeve.  It probably took me all Saturday morning to make, but it's bright and cheery and will protect my Kindle which is all the criteria I wanted for the item.

I found that Sunday morning is a perfect time for small, mindless sewing projects.  Sunday morning before lunch is a great time to gather up what I've worked on and just putter with little things.  I took some cut out applique flowers to make pot holders and sewed them to a background.  I've made a few of these before, but they aren't very heat resistant.  I have some heat resistant batting at home, so these three tiny projects will be finished up later.

Oh, and I also did some prep work for the last of my Florabunda applique blocks.  I don't enjoy using the iron, but being surrounded by other quilters makes it tolerable.  So now I just have the stitching to do on that block and it will be done.

The worst part of a weekend quilting retreat is that it ends.  I was tired because I don't sleep well in a strange place without Wayne, and I had a room mate that I didn't really know well and I didn't want to annoy her, so I was very self-conscience of  what I was doing.  So, coming home to sleep in my own bed is the good balance to coming home to real life and work.

I'll post pictures soon.

Finding Time to Quilt

I took part in a challenge posted by my on-line applique group last week.  The challenge was to spend at least 15 minutes every day doing some stitching.  That is not a lot of time.  Mostly it was a reminder to take time for yourself every day doing the things you love to do.  Considering that my current hand projet is a set of applique blocks, I almost always have something sitting by my chair to pick up and sew in the evening while relaxing and watching TV.

Yes, I did spend at least 15 minutes for every day for those 7 days doing some sort of stitching, preparing, choosing fabrics, etc.  But, it got me thinking...  I have no projects with deadlines.  I am doing these applique blocks because I thought the patterns were beautiful and wanted a portable stitching project.  There were some days that I picked up needle and thread because I had this challenge hanging over my head and I felt guilty NOT stitching.  And, I do admit that I rarely just spent 15 minutes.  Once I got going, I typically sewed for at least 30 minutes.  And, a few days I took a stitch or two and put the block down only to pick it up again and repeat this because I hadn't gotten to my 15 minues. 

So, why am I doing this?  I do this for enjoyment.  I do this because I like making things.  I enjoy being able to step back and admire something I created and I enjoy sharing them with other people.  I've never really been a selfless person who never takes time for myself.  So, why force myslef to do something on a hobby if forcing makes it seem like a chore?

I guess I have mixed feelings about this challenge.  It did focus my attention on getting the 11th block of this series done.  I had been feeling less than enthusiastic about the project and it may have gotten put away onto the pile of UFOs.  So, this challenge did get me over that hump, but I did resent HAVING to sew.  Perhaps I need a different spin on this of not necessarily having to do something every day, but having to finish a project before jumping off to the next.