Fighting through the inertia

Do you ever WANT to quilt, but you just can't muster up the energy and enthusiasm? That has been me lately. But this weekend, I decided to fight through it and CREATE. It helps that I was home during daylight hours - I feel much more creative when it is light outside.

I started by cleaning up my sewing room a bit. I had two big quilting frames set up, but wasn't using either one except for storage, so I dismantled one, freeing up more space. I rearranged my sewing table and my ironing board so there is more natural light on my workspace. And then I started with something quick and easy - a new pillow for my dog using some super thick batting and some home dec weight fabric that was gifted to me. So far, he hasn't eaten it. Instead, he has parked himself on there, and my husband says he has to physically drag him off the pillow in the morning when he wants him to go outside. I love a gift that is loved, even if it is by a dog!

(that blue and orange thing is another gift that he loved - a duck that has been decapitated and had the stuffing eaten out of him, but the dog absolutely LOVES it!)

Then I finished up the last of the scrappy log cabin blocks. As it now stands, the quilt will be about 64" square, not quite as big as I'd like it, but I don't have enough of the center fabric to make enough blocks to make it larger on all sides. Perhaps a thin-ish border and then a piano key border of scraps? Or, there's enough for one more row of blocks, so perhaps a border and then a "pillow row" of blocks? (I don't know the actual term when you have a row of blocks that is meant to lay over the pillows...is there an actual term for that?) Any other ideas out there for making this big enough to cover a twin bed?


While working on those blocks, I made some more free pieced letters as my leader and ender project. I'm not really loving the S, so we'll see if that stays or goes. I have some ideas about how to pull it all together...


And when it is dark outside, I'd rather be curled up in bed or on the couch than in my sewing room. So on Saturday night, I turned on the TV (gasp! yes, I turned on the TV. I remembered how it worked! It has truly been a while since I've watched the boob tube.) and finished up the last few stitches in my mother's Christmas quilt (yup, gave it to her for Christmas and then took it back because I wasn't done) while watching PRETTY WOMAN.




(Another aside, does anyone else just inexplicably LOVE that movie? I could watch it a hundred times and not tire of it, but I'm not quite sure why. Well, I know Richard Gere is definitely part of the reason. I remember the first two movies I ever saw on VCR back when our family first discovered VCRs in the 80s - The Neverending Story and The Cotton Club. Richard Gere was a horn player in The Cotton Club and my adolescent self fell in love with him. That adolescent self still lives on in me.)

So, anyway, the quilt is done, and I hope to give it back to my mom this weekend when I hope to go visit her. (Are you reading this, Mom? If so, can I come visit on Saturday? I'll call you.)

And then, finally, last night I decided to watch the Netflix movie that has been sitting on my counter since just before Christmas (NOT joking!). DUMMY. Not me, that's the name of the movie. I don't remember picking it out, and when it arrived, I just wasn't moved to watch it. But I popped it in last night and started the Birdie Stitches BOM that I've been wanting to do.

Hmmm...just went looking for that link and found a flicker photo stream and it seems everyone else's snowmen are white. Certainly he didn't HAVE to be white, did he? I'm just gonna say mine was so cold he turned blue. And now looking at the directions, apparently I was supposed to do a back stitch. I don't even know what a back stitch is. I did stem stitch, because that is all I know so far. I hope there aren't embroidery police out there! Anyway, I enjoyed the movie much more since I was stitching. Otherwise, I don't think it is one I would have sat through until the end.

So, I feel like I'm back in the saddle again, which is good because I need to get the Cub Scout quilt's final border on and sandwich it so we can practice our knots on Monday as we tie the quilt. And truly, I'd like to give Donald his Boys Will Be Boys quilt before winter is over - that needs sandwiching and quilting. And in case you were wondering, he's been good at school two days in a row and today at homework time, HE initiated, pulled everything out of his backpack and called me over to get started and did everything with enthusiasm and a good attitude. I'll be putting Donald's photo on a milk carton because OBVIOUSLY this wasn't my kid who came home with me today, but a good-natured, homework-loving look-alike imposter. But seriously, I was so proud of him and told him how I actually enjoyed doing homework with him today. It may not last forever, but I'll bask in it as long as it does!