Blues Baby!

I finally picked out some fabric to start a new quilt. Wahoo!

Its two shades of blue that I'm hoping I will like once I put it together. I also have no particular game plan, although a rough inspiration is this quilt at dsquilts.com, although roughly. I'm not sure how attached I am to that design and how closely it will come out, since I don't really intend for it be exactly like that. We'll see. Its my first time to try anything "odd."

On a side note, I went for my first walk in the park and around the reservoir for the spring and that pleased me very much! I called my Mom and made her accompany while I walked (via cellphone, not in person) and that made in nice enough to walk for at least an hour. Yeah spring! Boo treadmill. The sun makes my apartment too hot in the mornings to get on the treadmill and the air conditioning really hasn't been turned on yet. Walks are looking good to me.

Oh - and I bought my first sandals of the season as well. Yay yay yay! I love sandals.

Another side note - I went to a quilt show and an orchid show this weekend. The quilt show was okay. I'm not too crazy about looking at most other people's quilts, since I'm not often a fan of their color choices, but it was interesting. Too many people have their quilts sent out for quilting by long arms, I think. I suppose it has its place, but why quilt if you don't actually "Quilt" anything? I did, however, briefly catch a shop owner doing a demo on needle punch embroidery. I'm intrigued. It did, however, seem to be another one of those things that I would enjoy doing, but what in the world would I do with it? We're still contemplating that. The orchid show was fun, but it was too crowded. I would have liked to get some different orchids. I have 2 at present and one is relatively new and the flowers have since died on it. The other one just grows. No flowers. Tsk.

My Boring Boring Blog

Sorry for being so darn boring. But I AM BORED. I have no projects right now. Last time I was at Mom and Dad's, I took my Seaside Rose quilt top, batting and backing all excited to get it basted and I forgot pins and clamps. Moron. So that's still all packed up in a bag waiting for the next trip.

I started a couple Christmas stockings that I'm making out of felt. I found the most perfect shade of blue by chance in JoAnns and I had to buy it. I bought half a yard and discovered that it was just right for two stockings. I wanted to applique some white felt stars on it and add some silver beading, maybe pearls. All of my favorites. I cut them out and I've done some of the beading. I've never managed to get any white felt. I got hung up on wanting to line them in white fabric with blue polka dots that now that I want it, I couldn't find. At least not in the shade of blue that would work right. So I lined one in plain white fabric and sewed it together. Now they are too small and I don't like that fabric as a cuff. They were the perfect size before they were sewed. Crap. So of course I have not made any progress since.

So I tried to work on my green and white quilt. I played a bit with free motion trying to do interlocking figure eights in the centers with a bit of echoing. I know exactly what I want, I just can't make my hands move evenly. So I practiced for awhile on muslin and it works just fine if I do little random stitches. If I try to follow a particular line or make bigger designs it looks ridiculous. So what to do? I love this quilt. I want it to be right.

So I went to both Barnes and Noble and Borders to look up Denyse Schmidt Quilts and The Modern Quilt Workshop to see what the fuss on all the blogs is about. So it was interesting, but I didn't bite. I'd like to read them, but I'm not sure I want to own. Ya know? I had looked at the Denyse Schmidt website and at all her quilts. I even printed out pictures of a couple of them to study. I take a very long time to decide what I think about some things. I didn't know that about myself until I started to quilt. Now I leave my projects lying about for weeks just so I can study them on a whim. If I'm making a quilt, it gets laid out on my floor for weeks until the top is finished. My stockings are currently hanging on my mantel so I can decide what I want to do next. Anyway, I've gotten off track. So I went to look and see what her instructions were on making these quilts, assuming that they would be well, random or something. Instead, for the Drunk Love in a Log Cabin quilt, which I'm intrigued by, I discovered that they are made up of a bazillion tiny templates that you're supposed to enlarge on a copier. I don't think so. Isn't the point of making a wonky square that the process should be wonky? (On a side note, my husband is really rather annoyed by my use of that word - am I the only one thinking its the appropriate term?). Whatever. I still am intrigued. I currently am contemplating Drunk Love, What a Bunch of Squares and just the whole aesthetic in general. I didn't get as much time to look at the Modern Quilt Workshop book, but I'll have to look it up again. I didn't like the designs at first glance as much, but it seemed like maybe they would be more helpful in explaining the process.

Anyway. These quilts are perhaps not my normal thing, but I'd like to try them. I was shopping for solids at Hancocks of Paducah and my next dilemma is that I don't know if the shades are accurate or not. Compare these to these. Not the same. They do have a sample card for sale at Hancocks for $15. Rip-off, if you ask me. I have a problem with paying for the privilege of looking at what you want to sell me. So we're stuck there as well.

I also still have to come up with a solution for the back of Tim and Carol's quilt. I'm tempted to try to do something like one of those quilts to make it reversible, but I think that may be a headache. On the other hand, bubbles and rings appliqued might be a pain as well...

See why I haven't posted? I'm cranky! I want to create something and nothing is coming together for me. On a related subject, my Dad recently gave me this book to read. Its Failing Forward: How to Make the Most of Your Mistakes by John Maxwell. Do you suppose he knows my secret? I can't do anything if I don't think I can do it the way I want?? That it paralyzes me?? Of course he does. I work for him and I do the same thing at work. So now you know my biggest darkest secret.

SHh.

Tedious

I started making some dresden plates last night for my Mom, who wants to use them as coasters for a thing that she's having. They are red and white and will match her china. They turned out quite cute, although cutting and piecing them is rather tedious. Although, what about quiltmaking isn't? So anyway, they're quite little as well. I think if I were to make a quilt out of those, I'd need some bigger templates. Oh, and I can't count worth a darn. I need eight and I only cut out enough of the reds to make four. Moron. So I have to do it again tonight. It will give me something to do.

Chubby Bunny

I stuffed my bunny last night and attached all his limbs. I now know that I don't have a future in bunny-making. The nose was pretty sad. Oh well. He's not too bad. I just have to find some eyes yet.