Monday Star Count

The star count for my first week of Monday Star Counts is...well, it's 1.  I have completed one hand-pieced star.  Eventually, it will become a quilt, but for now, it's a star, and I'm pretty excited that I stopped arranging and re-arranging these basted diamonds and finally just grouped them by colour, grabbed six of them and put them together.  I think that we can over-think what "scrappy" or "random" means sometimes.

I started this process at the beginning of July, and these diamonds were basted on vacation, and at the park.  I'm so glad I started this in the summertime.

More on the process later.  For now, the grated zucchini sitting on the counter is calling my name, and the garden isn't slowing down production anytime soon.

Doing it all and getting nothing done (at record speed)

Big plans in my world this weekend.  Nothing is really going as I imagined (how dull would that world be?) 

I still have the King of UFOs taking up real estate on the sewing table.  The sewing table is an old door that my husband made into a counter-height sewing table, so at least it's got a little room over there.

The overly ambitious bargello wall hanging is still waiting to be squared, and the "Mama Said Sew" project is awaiting some love and quilting. 

The inside of the sewing pit is probably beginning (beginning?) to look like the inside of my brain.  So many ideas.  It's almost like I worry that if I don't start, I'll forget.  Then other parts of life take over, and projects languish a little.  That's OK.  I'm sure a blog can only help, right?  Right?  Anyway.

The enabler is coming over tomorrow.  That's a big deal.  We talk several times a week, sometimes daily, but she's a 12 hour drive away.  She's in town to visit her mom, and we'll spend at least tomorrow visiting, exchanging fabric, shopping, project admiring, and shopping.  I said that twice. It's OK.

I'm excited and in my excitement, I may have started too many project.  I think I forgot to mention the table topper.  More on that later.  Anyway, for tonight, I'm going to make a little more headway on one of these projects, and tidy up the pit for her arrival.  Or make a pot-holder.  I totally bet I could do that.  I could definitely start.  

It's What's on the Machine Today

This hasty pic was snapped because part of me couldn't believe what I was looking at.  The king of all UFOs.   I made this in about 2000.  I don't even remember the year, I just vaguely recall where I lived and how many little people I had that needed to take naps so that I could drag out the machine to piece it. 

My mother-in-law taught me how to piece half-square triangles, and I'm so glad she did, because since recently returning to the world of quilting, I have met some folks that truly dislike making them. 

It was made from a book that lives up at the cabin, and I'll track down the name of it the next time I visit.  I have a photocopy of the quilting design recommended for it, and I really like it, so I've spent many hours on the floor chalk-marking this fella.  He's made it down to the sewing pit, and I've sewn a few lines.  Enough lines to think that maybe I should open the Craftsy machine quilting class that I'm sure is in my class list. 

I remember feeling pretty excited when I finished the top, and I was so eager to get to the quilting part.  I thought about how great it would be to pick up and stitch a few lines while the kids were busy.  Dragging the machine out was pretty tricky in those days in our little place.  I thought I'd sit and watch TV and drink tea and stitch a few more lines.  I was a cross-stitcher at the time, and how hard could it be?

Oh. 

Hand quilting didn't agree with me at all then.  I thought that the needle was too small (didn't occur to me to try another one), the thimble was too hot (didn't think to try again in winter), and really, who's got time for all that anyway? (Again, I didn't think that if I had just done a line here and there every month, that maybe I might not be staring at an unfinished quilt top 13 years later)

It was my daughter, the teenage sewing master, that found it in my stash, and we had a good laugh and I forgave myself and decided that this would be a fun way to learn machine quilting.  More on that to come.

I know this is a new blog, but if you stop by, I would love to get to know you.  Tell me about your UFOs!

Quick lap quilt with a Jelly Roll

My first jelly-roll quilt.  It's "Mama Said Sew" by Moda, and it's a pattern I bought from SweetJane called P.S. I Love You.

The jelly-roll was a lovely gift from the enabler (that friend we all have that we love shopping with, but shouldn't shop often with)  I love the fabric, and I had big ideas for this quilt.  Unfortunately, most of those ideas involved the strips being oriented horizontally, and these strips have writing that makes you want to be able to look at it newspaper style.  The  P.S. I Love You pattern to the rescue.  The pattern might have been inspired by the fabric too - it's exactly what I needed (and the fabric is featured on the model)   There really is something
out there for everyone, and I love supporting both local quilt/craft
stores and home entrepreneurs.

I love the way this looks.  I even love the mistake.  Is mistake the right word? Not sure, but it's what makes this quilt mine.

I was so excited to get this jelly roll and and unwind it.  You can almost smell the promise of fabulous projects to come when you arrange those strips and see the whole collection sitting there on the living room floor.  Like so many dream projects, the story almost ended there.  It took me forever to find a pattern that showcased the fabric the way I wanted to, and that suited my skill level. I've been away from quilting for awhile (15 years - maybe there's a word that means a little longer than awhile) and my first project was a bargello quilt that was maybe a liiiiiiiittle ambitious.  The pile of strips on the floor got tangled, and well, you know.

SO.  I found a project, found some time while we were up at the cabin to sew, and that bad boy became a near-reality.  Here's the thing. What do you think happens when you wait months and months to find a pattern when you already have the perfect fabric?  Yeah. It's on it's way out and impossible to find that one piece fabric that I wanted for the long strip.

I picked it up and got it home and cut it and pieced it, patted myself on the back for being so clever, and oh.  The same fabric is like right next to the strip.  Right there.  It's random, but not in a quilty way.  It's random in a life way.

Ugh.

I left it there.  I decided that life is too short to not embrace imperfect quilts.  It stayed, and I had to hold my nose while I sewed it, but you know what?  I really, really like it.  Yes!  Random won!

Welcome!  Quiltini is a tasty cocktail of all things crafty, quilty and all around creative.  Sometimes, it's a tasty cocktail of all things cocktails.