Clean-a-thon AND Quilt-a-thon

Enough is enough!

I am going to spend some time on housework this weekend.  I figure if I can clean one day then I can quilt the other.....  Sounds like a good trade-off to me.

M finished one of the walls in our bedroom.  I am going to try to get him back at it this weekend.  Wish me luck.  I don't know what the next step is for the wall.  I think it's to sand it?

My kitchen needs some serious attention so that's where I think I will be.

For the Quilt-a-thon, I will be working on New Moon.  I can't wait to get back to it now that I have a plan.

I plan on hitting Goodwill for some tourist T-shirts for Bella's T-Shirt Quilt.  I have put the word out at my Twilight Yahoo Group so I'll see if I get any donations.  If anyone has a T-Shirt they'd like to donate to the cause, let me know.  I could even trade a FQ or two if you'd like!

Reap What You Sew

I spent the evening working on a palm tree and even attached it to the block.

I love it when M reinforces what I think even when I don't want to admit to something or say it out loud.  I showed him and I told him that I knew it didn't look great, but that he needed to like it.  He squirmed and told me it didn't look right, voicing what I already knew.  I wasn't annoyed with him.  I was mega annoyed with myself!

My addition was total crap and I am crazed trying to come up with a solution.  I will NOT make this block over.

****Edited

I tend to make things very difficult on myself by trying to be too smart.  I didn't want to do it this way, adding a strip of fabric and piecing more water, but I think it's the only thing that looks halfway decent.

I searched the 'Net today for Jacksonville travel info, etc.  I found a page with the logo I drew in the upper right.  I'm going to embroider that as soon as I get some perle cotton.  Oh, and I'm out of thread.  I don't believe it.  I ran out making this block and had to root around for thread to use in my bobbin to finish it.  I may have to wait until Friday for payday.  grrrrrr  M says we can't buy anything that's not edible until I get paid because he still needs to pay the mortgage.

Humbled

Quilting is the best medicine.

I am humbled every day by quilting.  I usually take something with me for next time every time I make something--usually it's:  if I ever do this again, I will not do it this way...

Quilting is about the only time I get to be creative or the only time I allow myself to be creative.

Quilting isn't easy for me.  I really have to put in the effort for things to come out the right way.  I am challenged every time I sew.

It's not enough for me to be good.  I want to be great even if THAT never happens.

I see quilts all the time and I am in AWE.

I worked on the latest Eclipse Charity Quilt block last night, Trip to Jacksonville.  I was up until after 2 a.m., because I refused to give up and I wanted to finish it.  I didn't finish it.....  It's almost done, but I have to add one more section, a palm tree, because I didn't plan very well and the block is .75" smaller in width than it needs to be.  (I also need to decide if I'm going to add any hand embroidered words, like "Welcome to Jacksonville" for my postcard effect.)  I'm actually surprised it turned out as well as it did considering I knew what I wanted to accomplish, but I didn't know how to do it.  I really should have drafted my own pattern even if it was to use the elements from the existing patterns I had instead of trying to force two blocks together.....after they were sewed.  As a result, my plane is coming in for a landing--maybe a crash landing--instead of taking off and I lost most the bottom of the block in order to get the planes wings in the block.

.....this is also one of those times when I would have benefited from group advice because I really DON'T know it all, but when advised I usually can sew it well!

Quilting with Half a Brain

Why is it when I have limited resources, I seem to make the most mistakes?  I tell myself to be careful, but Murphy's Law seems to dictate that I screw up.  Measure twice, cut once.  Check a pattern to make sure it's printed right before sewing.  These are only a couple of examples.

The fabric I picked for my moons and lettering was the perfect one.  It's from the Avlyn Calypso batik line, a very nice fabric that graduates across the WOF from light to dark.  It is not the perfect fabric for what I'm using it for because the tone I'm using is only about an 8" swatch through the middle of the yardage.  How idiotic of me....  I'm in the second yard and I really needed to be frugal and not make any mistakes.....

Too bad I quilt with half my brain MOST of the time.  Maybe I'm being too hard on myself.  I'm distracted when I'm sewing MOST of the time.  It really is a wonder that I haven't done more harm to myself rather than just having to sew things more than once.  I guess if this is the worst of my mistakes, I can count myself as lucky?

Stop Time to Do What You Love

I read an excerpt from an anticipated book recently.  It had a wonderful line in it that I just loved.  Not a direct quote, but here goes....

Sometimes you have to stop time and do what you love.

I've continued to do some rearranging of the blog. I've got to keep things fresh or at least not so stale....

The only way I will know you are are here is if you leave a comment.  I love comments even if it's just to say, "Hi!"  I'm very open to them.  I certainly don't want people to curse at me or be indelicate, but I welcome open discussion and advice.

I'll be sharing what I am reading because I like to share and I'm always hoping someone will want to discuss.

I'm trying to organize all my photos of quilts from my past so I can make a slideshow or something because I need to be proud of what I have accomplished.

And, yes, I will be digging out all my UFOs so I can record and track them perhaps even in their own slideshow. I've got to start getting things done or giving more stuff away for others to enjoy.

This blog is one of the best parts of my day even if I'm having a down one because I can at least talk and work through some issues.  It's also the center of operations.  I like to put things in my sidebar for my ease to linking to my favorite places.The bottomline is that this blog will always be with me as it's number one reader.  See you in BlogLand!

Bella.....Swan

I hesitate to share because all my good ideas are lifted without credit by those I really don't want to share with anymore, but I can't resist sharing this because it's so pretty and I like to share more than I need to fuss at this point.  Besides, I'm beyond all that now (I am, I am, I am....)  Also, since my initial sharing of Silver Linings Originals, the patterns have been touted by the group even if few have been brave enough to use them so they probably now about this one, too.  Besides all that the fact that is no one visits anymore anyway.

Before I die, I will make my own Twilight quilt.  It has always been my plan to make a block to represent every main character.  There are any number of ideas for Bella.  I have a charm bracelet of Twilight charms.  I have a bookworm on it for Bella and I also have a......swan.

I found an applique pattern for a swan, but this swan pattern showed up in my Inbox tonight.

Absolutely beautiful!!!!!

Silver Linings Originals

I always think of swans because of Bella's name and because swans mate for life (even if it's not for romantic reasons....LOL)

A Paper Pieced World

Don't freak out and think you came to the wrong blog!  I'm actually writing about quilting in this post.....

And, word has it that I have no room to talk about M and him not finishing things as I'm long list of quilt UFOs is longer than my arm.  Don't I know it!

I'm nothing if not stubborn.  Stubborn is as stubborn does. Stubborn is especially stubborn when I'm trying to avoid doing something else.  I'm actually surprised that I'm being stubborn over this since I give up on so many other things.

Okay!

Why do I insist on this unnatural attachment to paper piecing everything?  It's not that I can't applique.  I'm not that crazy about hand applique:  needle turn or any of the other methods.  I could master the technique if I put in the time to practice.  I'm fairly skilled at machine whether it be blanket stitch or raw edge fused. Applique is simply put not a method I enjoy.

According to Cynthia England any picture can be made into a paper piecing pattern.  I have her book that shows how to do it, but I have yet to be successful.  I have watched tutorials on You Tube.  I have begged for assistance from my dad.  To be blunt, my brain just doesn't work in the right way for me to be able to do square up images and divide them logically into sections.

Recognizing this hasn't stopped me from trying....Hello..... STUBBORN, remember?!

My latest tortured attempt is to convert the Times New Roman font (only certain letters for now) into paper piecing patterns using EQ5 (After initially attempting to do it on paper and then EQ6, I went back to EQ5 which is still on my dinosaur of a laptop.  EQ6 has too many new tools and functions that make me twitchy.  I'm going to place the drawing book on order when I have some spare change, but until then I'm using what I know better even if minimally.)

This is what I finally came up with.  I used way to much border and so the sections are goofy.  I need to try again.

Design Isn't My Thing

Strange day today.

M ended up taking Z out for his b'day lunch and movie. (M wrangled his way into doing the job when he found out that the reason Z wanted me to take them was because he thinks M rags on him too much. I think Z was afraid that M would embarass him in front of his friends. M took offense, but I guess they worked it out because the next thing I knew M was taking him?!) Only one of his friends ended up going. Ian is Z's friend from my mom's neighborhood. He's a nice kid and he's never been in any trouble. M doesn't totally approve because Ian is almost 16 and Z is just 12 tomorrow. Ian is really nice to Z, though, and I am so thankful that he didn't bail on Z today. They have hung out together for years since the kids spent all that time growing up at my mom's. They don't get together much anymore since the kids don't go to my mom's much these days. Z hasn't been able to make friends this year.

S assumed that because I wouldn't be taking Z that I was going to take her and her friend about town today. I wasn't prepared to do that and she had a fit. I got pretty annoyed with her, but ended up taking her and A out to Target so she could shop for some b'day gifts for her. She ended up with a new jean skirt and shirt, some stuff from the $1 bins, and some play food. I would have taken them to lunch, but she wanted cinnamon rolls from Target?! Her friend's mom texted while we were out so she ended up there for the afternoon.

I spent the afternoon doing laundry and sewing some in between some other chores. I was supposed to make Z's lemon cake, but I didn't have my mom's recipe since she forgot to bring the cake mix and the recipe when she dropped the kids home on Friday. M got it when he was with the boys this afternoon. I went to make the cake tonight, but I don't have all the ingredients. Dumb!

The kids want to take donuts for school treats tomorrow. More expensive than making cupcakes, but probably just as well for me to do this instead of making five dozen cupcakes. I can't believe Z wants to take some, too, but he said other kids have into his advisory/homeroom class.

Back to quilting..... I've never been good at designing anything. I usually use a pattern, book, or magazine to make my quilts because I can't design to save my life! I continue to struggle with the New Moon Quilt because I can't figure out how to set the blocks...that I've hardly made. I sewed the moon blocks together tonight. I know in my mind what I want to do, but I can't think of the best way to accomplish the idea. It's times like this when I wish I DID belong to a group at least to get some advice. I've tried doodling my ideas, but I am no artist! The other thing is I am so frustrated trying to paper piece my letters. I think I am going to have to applique.

On another note, I worked on more bubbles today. I am so proud of myself. I'm taking it slow and piecing the blocks very methodically so as not to waste fabric. I was frustrated on Saturday for awhile because the tension on my machine hasn't been spot on for awhile. I've been overlooking the fact that it's not been right through a couple of projects, but enough was enough. I fiddled and fiddled with it today. It's not perfect, but it's way better.

I guess there are SOME things I can live with.

The Girls vs. The Boys

My girls will probably grow up not wanting to get married or have any kids as much as they listen to me rant about the difficulties associated with marriage and motherhood. It's not all my fault, though. It's hard for them to miss how their dad and brothers behave on a regular basis without any help from me. C has just about had with her dad's refusal to help her with her room.

S is such a sweetie! She asked me tonight if she could clean at the closet. Of course!!!! She doesn't look too happy in this picture, but she really did volunteer.



C helped me with laundry today by doing her own. She's at a b'day party for one of her friends. I hope she is having fun!!

I refuse to talk about the boys, but you can guess.....

S's team won their soccer game. Yay!! The team played well, was aggressive, and S almost scored. I almost didn't mind the rain storm in the second half that made got me wet and off to Starbucks for a warm drink to warm up after the game. Yeah, any excuse! C's game was on the other side of town and conflicted with S's so M took her. They lost. Boo...

I finally took Brenda's suggestion and got a flannel backed table cloth to make a design wall. How's this for a nice invitiation to quilt something? It only cost me $3 at Walmart.



Oh, my? Is she actually working on something?! A couple of somethings....



I was bad and bought more fabric when I should have just used my stash. I had to have some Fairy Frost for my bubbles, though! Really!! The blue jumped off the shelf, but I decided to use a blue out of my stash instead. More soon....

Am I Actually a Quilter?

hmmm...... When are you actually considered a quilter? Do you have to have completed a certain amount of quilts?

I've got a ton of fabric. I've started a lot of projects, but not finished many considering I have considered myself a quilter for over 10 years. I have a library of books. I have a bunch of tools.

Am I really a quilter?

Quilt Diva Terrorist Extraordinaire

Warning: this post is all over the place, but it does have a destination and a point.....

Do you know the feeling when you really want to do something, but for one reason or another you can't get 'er done?

1) You don't have the skills or knowledge

2) You don't have the patience

3) You don't have the time

4) You don't play well with others

I'm probably overconfident, but there's not much with quilting that I don't think I could learn eventually if I put my mind to it and.....if I really had the patience and time to learn it. I am, after all, self taught. I've never taken a skills class. I've learned everything through a lot of trial and error using books, television, online tutorial, and such as my references. (This is just me. I know people swear by classes. I've even taken a couple, but I've never felt I got my money's worth. I'm also too self-conscious.)

I've been dabbling in the quilting world for 12 years. I made my first quilt for C in celebration of being a big girl and moving to her new toddler bed when she was barely two years old. (Her brother had just been born and we needed her crib or I would have probably not moved her so soon.) The quilt was a Rail Fence quilt made from fabrics that I was to use for the homeade crib set that I was supposed to make for her before she was born. (Sound familiar to anyone else's story--the delaying getting something done part?) I used a Quilt in a Day book.

The Quilt in a Day T.V. show was how I got turned onto to quilting. I find Eleanor Burns a little annoying to this day, but she's certainly a treasure to the quilting world. One of my LQS is a sponsor of the quilt shows on PBS. I shopped there first, but it wasn't long before I found Great American Quilt Factory. I fell in love. (GAQF is celebrating their 29th Anniversary!) The cool thing is that they know me there and always greet me by name when I walk in--it's like Cheers. They also used to publish and I think I have almost all of their books. My other favorite store now, and I make it a point to shop there more and more because of their frequent shopper program, is Holly's Quilt Cabin. They willingly and happily will cut a FQ of any fabric and offer $25 g/c for every $250.00 one spends (regular exclusions apply).

I quickly got into Internet Quilting that first year or so. I'd never used the 'Net much before I started to work for the dentist in October 2008. I learned fast, though! I was soon ordering fabric online, joining Yahoo Groups for swaps, and retreating with people I'd met online in Arkansas. I had a passion for quilting!

I became consumed with swapping. I loved to buy fabric. I liked chatting online. I liked showing and sharing my quilting prowess in the groups. I was a DIVA even then and a show-off. (That's not to say that my blocks were spectacular as far as technique--most were simple and uninspired--but they were well pieced, the proper size, etc.) I rarely used the blocks I got back as you can well imagine. I wasn't a good swapper in the true sense--I was a notorious procrastinator, a few times I didn't meet deadlines, I spent oodles of money on expedited shipping, and I rarely completed any projects with the blocks I received. I know I missed the point of friendship and the swapping purpose even then. The groups had many level of quilters that participated. Most of the experienced and expert quilters were totally able to use the blocks they received because they understood what Swapping and Quilt Fellowship was all about.

I stopped swapping and focused on my quilting after a run-in at my main group. Ha--you're not surprised?! I remember the project well. Participants sent a group of blocks from a U.F.O. for someone else to finish. I procrastinated and missed a deadline. I fell out of touch. The person hated how I finished her blocks. I didn't appreciate how she finished my blocks. A war of words ensued. I left the group!

I was on my own in the quilting world for a number of years before the Twilight saga/disruption/addiction/ entered my life. No need to rehash. Not so stunningly, what happened there has a lot of similarities to my above mentioned issues. I never learn or change.

I certainly have an inflated opinion about my quilting, don't I? One would think I was a master? I'm pretty horrible! In a perfect world, because I know all this, I would change. The safer thing for me to do is to not participate in group projects and to just do my own thing. I don't look down my nose at everyone. Don't believe me? I don't! I'm fine with everyone's skill set if you are fine with it. The disconnect comes and the conflict is the group project.

I still have a lot of things I'd like to accomplish. I'm finding it so difficult to recognize that I may never be that person because of time, personality, and brain function. It's not enough for me to think and say I want to learn how to draft paper piecing patterns or machine quilt. I may not be able to.

I may not be able to do a lot of things.