15 December 2010

Hoot Hoot!

I hate Halloween.
Literally, I do. I think it is a stupid holiday. It isn’t even a holiday. It is a stupid excuse for kids to run around like fools, get free candy, and get sick off it.
So when I went into my favorite quilt store to look at the clearance, all of the gorgeous colors were in Halloween collections.
Ick.
Andrea, my quilting psychologist, encouraged me to think outside the box. “Instead of looking at the entire collection and thinking Halloween, just look at individual items within the collections and select one or two fabrics you like.”
Hmm.
Why are the simplest solutions the ones we can’t seem to fathom?
Look at my fun collection of fabrics!
Now that I am part of a quilt guild, they are challenging the members to try different kinds of squares. In 6 months, we are supposed to have a full quilt. Well, I just can’t wait that long! So I am starting at least two, and making squares until I am sick of it!
Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
We will see what happens!

The Middle Child is Now in the Act

Paige, who is 10, and my very ambitious Girl Scout Junior, caught the quilt bug after horning in on her sister’s project. So we went to a very inexpensive store to get fabric for her first quilt project. She decided that her first project would be for herself (I like the way that girl thinks). She picked out a variety of fabrics that I think are very 10 – peace signs, smiley faces, stripes, dots, circles. All very colorful and most on a black background, which makes those colors pop. She was so happy, she danced out of the store.
Noelle … not so much. She was so jealous she couldn’t walk a straight line. AND … her face was so pouty it literally came to a point. It was all I could do to keep from laughing. I assured her that as soon as she finished her original project, she could come to the same store and pick out her next project.
That was not good enough.
Back to Paige’s joy … which is exactly what it was … pure JOY. The hardest part for her was waiting until after the Thanksgiving holiday. I cut her squares and in one evening, she put together the rows of her quilt. 

I will post when it is complete. But I don’t think it will take very long!

12 December 2010

Oh No She Di-int!

Noelle’s dance team has decided to do Secret Santas. There was not a dollar amount put on this activity, but there was one stipulation. The gift had to be handmade.
Thanks.
Because guess what Noelle wants to make.  A QUILT.
Oh, and did I mention that we have two weeks to do it? And that she hasn’t finished the quilt for her father? That she can’t keep her eyes open in the evening to sew? That she can’t seem to stay focused though she really wants to quilt? And that I work nearly 50 hours a week?
Oh no she di-int!
I need a nap.
OK, so this beautiful fabric I found at my favorite quilt store now goes to my daughter because the gift has to be red, black, white and silver, the colors of the dance team (darn it). So my quilting psychologist, Andrea, suggested that we cut 10 inch squares to make the piecing go faster.

Yeah right.
She should have suggested that we cut 10 inch squares to make the piecing go faster for me.
Yeah, laugh if you wanna.
So, 1 week of piecing this quilt in the late evenings after school and activities. Friday night, she fell asleep, so I finished the piecing. Saturday, we bought the sashing and backing and went to Andrea’s to put it all together. This #@!& quilt has to be done this weekend, because we just don’t have the time to finish it during the coming week.
Why oh how oh why oh how do I get myself into these predicaments?
So, new parameters for making quilts as gifts.
To my darling daughters, you are not to commission yourself to make a quilt unless you have at least two months to do so, and you dedicate yourself to doing a little at a time.
There. I have said my piece. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.
Here is Noelle's quilt … the first quilt finished in our household since declaring myself a Modern Quilter. These are simple squares that are tied with silver embroidery floss for finishing, and I have to admit I want to make another for myself ... I am in love with it. Most times, it was a joy working on this quilt with my baby girl. But it becomes my first entry into my Modern Quilt era (though it probably isn't really a modern quilt).