I am on my way

So, I hung out with my quilt psychologist, and truly basted my quilt ... it is on its way.

Now, I am staring at it ... what to do now? Lol 

I have become fascinated with the ways people baste their quilts. I recently met someone who tapes her backing to the floor and pins the layers on top.

Andrea and I clamp the quilt to her table as tightly as we can, and then pin.

I wish I could see how other quilters baste their quilts. It could be an interesting study.

What a Dream

I don't have a sewing room ... I wish I did. What a fun place to have ... where NO ONE CAN TOUCH YOUR STUFF. One day, I will have one. So, I am living vicariously through my friend. I have to show you a picture. Everytime she looks at this, she thinks about how much she has to do. When I see the this room, I think of how much I could create if it all belonged to me!

I always feel like I am in a private quilt shop! I love it.

And one day, when I am all grown up, I shall have one a lot like this one!

The Tools We Use to Create

I love my machine. It is nearly as old as I am, but it saw me through the horrors of high school, the craziness of college, the loneliness of living on my own, and the downside of divorce.

And like me ... it is still kicking.

Someone said to me ... why don't you just go and buy a better machine? I will, someday, but this machine can sew tulle as well as it can sew upholestery fabric. It can make a quilt or a pair of pants, and it never whines, complains, or worse yet, beeps at me. And it goes FAST.

Someone else teased me, saying that it looked like the machines on the Mrs. Sew and Sew fabric. I don't care. This machine got knocked over by a two year old and survived! The worst thing that happened is the curlicue feeder on the above picture got bent. But I picked it up and started sewing right after the incident!

I love my machine. I think I will name her Serenity. (Because I also love alliteration!)

Too Pretty to Unwrap

See this pretty package? Isn't it gorgeous?

This is my Christmas gift to Noelle because every time we went into our favorite fabric store, she would go straight for the sea turtles.

Yes ... I said sea turtles.

What does a seven-year old born in land-locked Ohio, growning up in Southeast Michigan, know about sea turtles? I have no earthly idea. But she is so excited about this fabric. So excited that ...

She still hasn't opened it.

Oh well, someday, I suppose!

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!

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).

 

The Dilemma of the Youngest

My circle of sewing friends is expanding and we are having a great time stealing what time we can to sew. I love doing something creative with beautifully graphic fabrics.

My daughters have even gotten into the act. The youngest one received a lot of squares from Andrea for her birthday to make her first quilt. This project has been up and down, however.

First, Noelle (7 years old) was very anxious to start. Then, when she got started (this is her very first quilt), everything was going smoothly. Her siblings wanted to get into the act. Then she got mad because they were sewing more squares than she, taking all the cool patterns, so that little piece of heaven stopped.

The she announced she was making this quilt for her father. Not a problem, but as I looked at the squares made up of decent size leftover fabric from Andrea’s many projects, I thought about how this quilt was very feminine, and my ex-husband is NOT an effeminate man. In addition, Andrea had given her enough squares to make a small lap quilt. This definitely wasn’t going to cover Noelle’s father.

So, off I go to find inexpensive additions to this quilt. I have to find enough variety so that it doesn’t look like two different quilts sewn into one, and so that no one pattern dominates.

It is still not finished. It will have interesting combinations.  But she will have made it with love.

I will post a picture when it is complete.

Just … let it go!

I have some inhibitions.

That got your attention, right?

I cannot seem to create anything that is not symmetrical, orderly, matching. So this is going to be a challenging journey for me.

I am trying to become a Modern Quilter. This means that I have to let go of the even steven, and try to just go for it.

This is a tall order for the girl who likes the same style of end table on either side of the bed. Or who likes the same kind of wood furniture all in one room. Or whose food doesn’t touch on the plate.

Sigh.

To combat this phobia of mine, I have enlisted the help of a quilting psychologist, Andrea. She lives on the wild side! She puts all sorts of crazy colors and patterns together. And sometimes, she starts piecing without a direction in mind. (Gasp!)

Sacrilege!

So, I bought this fabric I am in love with. I want to make a small throw quilt for my bed, to bring more color into my bedroom. Andrea said, “Start cutting.” I screamed and ran the other way.

Told you it was a tall order.

So she sat down with me at her kitchen table with an assignment (which of course my daughters, Paige and Noelle, jumped in on right away). We were supposed to take turns “piecing” a quilt together on paper using colored pencils and odd shapes. Paige and Noelle were doing absolutely new-fangled crazy things, having fun with this coloring exercise.

Every time it was my turn, I evened up the pattern. Tried to balance it in some way. My quilting psychologist gave me a few looks.

Fail.

Well I tried. But when I looked at the end pattern, it was so icky to me that I threw it away, so I can’t even post it for you.

So, I have decided to take a new approach.

I know that I just can’t let go (yet) and slice into fabric bought with my hard earned money (ugh) and selected with care (ack)… what I can do is piece together the scraps into a scrap quilt (whew). That will be my foray into true modern quilting.

So far, this is really fun. I haven’t made a full quilt yet … but as I work on my more orderly quilts, the scraps also get pieced, almost as a closing exercise to my sewing time. I get to try something sorta new and free form, and not feel like I am risking wasting $50 doing it.

My quilt psychologist says it is almost like I am working on 6 quilts at once. I love it!

Who knows? Maybe this foray into Modern Quilting actually WILL work!