Quilty Adoption Offerings

My husband and I will be celebrating 19 years of marriage this May.  One of the triumphs of our marriage is the level of compromise we have reached when it comes to STUFF.  I am a packrat; he is a minimalist.  We've had a couple battles around this difference in approach, but I've gotta say, mostly it has been me drifting over to his way of doing things.  It turns out, letting go of things lightens me somehow.

My sewing room, however, is the place where I feel no guilt about keeping any and everything I want.  But looking at some of my UFOs lingering in limbo, knowing that I'll never get around to finishing them, saddens me a bit.  What makes me HAPPY is participating in Cynthia's Quilty Adoption Event twice a year!  I am able to give away my UFOs to people who actually finish them! (Really, I've seen pictures!)

This time around, I have three projects I am ready to release into the quilt-iverse.  If you are interested in adopting a project (or two or three!), leave a comment, making sure there is an email address so I can contact you if you are a winner.  I will draw winners using a Random Number Generator on Monday, March 25 with hopes of having everything mailed out by Tuesday, March 26.  I am happy to cover postage in the US and Canada (so sorry to all my other international friends).  There are no restrictions on what you do with your winnings - make something for yourself, for a friend/family or for charity.  I'd love to see a photo of the finished project if you think of it (closure, you know).  OK, here goes!  Ready for some scrappiness?

A.  PLUS Blocks

Back in the fall of 2016, I joined in the Charming Plus Quiltalong.  I enjoyed making these scrappy 6.5' blocks as a leader/ender project for a while, but I've lost interest.  There are 27 of them.

B. VIOLETS Blocks

Back in the spring of 2016, I won a bunch of Violets blocks in Block Lotto.  I love participating in Block Lotto, but I'm terrible about putting the blocks together if I win.  I should just participate without throwing my name in the ring to win.  There are 43 of these 6.5" blocks: blue, purple and pink flowers with yellow centers on black/white/gray backgrounds.  Note that they are made by a bunch of different people, so actual size may vary a bit.

C.  FLANNEL BUZZSAW Blocks

I'm not exactly sure when I started this flannel quilt based on Aunt Betty's Attic in the February 2003 issue of McCall's Quilting, but definitely by 2009.  It is now 2019.  Time to "fish or cut bait", don't you think?  Actually, I wanted every block to be a different pattern, but when you make a block, you actually get pieces for two blocks.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to make a quilt that was twice the size, or if I'd have pieces for two quilts.  I've decided I want to keep one set of blocks, and give one away.  If I am making the smaller size, I am more likely to finish.  Please note that only 31 of the 36 six-inch blocks are pieced, but there is material prepped for six more (an extra for some reason). 

 I'll include the magazine article with the instructions.

Please know that 1) this will only include the blocks, not additional fabric for the borders, 2) I just cut up whatever flannel I had at the time so there is no color scheme or theme and 3) this was early on in my quilting career and I think it was my first time using flannel.  The quality of the materials and my piecing are both questionable...

Be sure to visit Cynthia's blog for more items up for grabs!

Getting it done

1. Bright Ideas quilt - I sewed on the borders, sandwiched it with this bright, fun, large-scale print as a backing (I have been wondering what to do with this fabric for years)

then got a significant start on the handquilting while watching the Bourne Identity on TV last night.

2. Quilting Studio - It took me FIVE hours, but I primed the entire room, including the ceiling. My shoulders and arms are so sore that I can barely lift the fork to my mouth as I type this while eating lunch at my desk. And for a color, I decided to approach the room the way I approach my fabric acquisition - I shopped in the "mis-tinted" paint section. Yup, it appears that I am not just a scrap quilter, but a scrap painter, too. There is surprisingly quite a bit of paint available for half price just because it isn't the color someone thought they were getting. I appreciated not only the price, but having a smaller selection to choose from - as a Libra, I'm as indecisive as they come. I chose a (hopefully) soft yellow - I was leaning towards yellow anyway. I want my quilting space to be bright and cheerful. Now, I just have to convince my aching body that it wants to go back down there and paint...

3. New Year's Eve UFO Challenge/Buzzsaw quilt - I cut out the last flannel pieces for the blocks for my flannel buzzsaw quilt and even sewed two blocks together. Of course, I sewed them together in the mirror image of what I actually need, so those two blocks are useless for this project, but there will undoubtably be an orphan flannel block quilt coming out of my studio at some point in the future, so it isn't a complete loss.

4. Christmas decorating - I promised my little guys that we would decorate this past weekend. Luckily, we went out to pick a tree BEFORE the freezing rain settled over the valley. The boys are old enough now that they truly do most of the tree trimming, and they take the job VERY seriously. Our tree is always very simple - white lights, red bows, red and white candy canes, strings of popcorn and cranberries, a couple ornaments that have been given to us, and whatever ornaments they have made and brought home over the years. It is so funny to listen to them, "Oh, I remember when I made this old thing." (OLD!?! You are SEVEN. I have underwear older than you!)


And while they did most of the work, I drank most of the eggnog and nearly polished off a whole container of chocolate covered peanut brittle (if you've never tried it, it is heavenly and decadent and completely addictive) while crooning along with Nat King Cole.

Tonight is the last Cub Scout outing of 2009 - we are going Christmas Caroling at a nursing home. I'm thrilled - I haven't been caroling in decades, literally. Gotta warm up the old pipes - fa la la la la!

Quilt Fiction Catalogued

A local quilting friend, Mamanance/Nancy, recently shared that she had catalogued her quilting books on LibraryThing. With my desire to collect quilt fiction, that seemed like a pretty neat idea, since I have purchased a book I already own on more than one occasion. I set up my own Library Catalog this morning, and I was THRILLED with how EASY it was. Type in the ISBN number from the back of the book, and Voila!, there's a thumbnail photo, the title, the author, everything. I'm so tickled, that I put a widget on my sidebar so I can share some of my quilt fiction. Right now, there are 49 titles, but some are out on loan so they aren't all in there yet. Hopefully, this will help me acquire some of the other quilt fiction titles that I know are out there.

After work yesterday, I did a little more piecing on my flannel buzzsaw quilt. I also rearranged the blocks into 2 fabric blocks to see if I liked more orderly scrappiness. I'm not sure. But I do know that I'm going to have to put this project on hold until I get some more flannel scraps for additional blocks. I have lots of juvenile flannel, but I'm making this quilt with other prints, of which I have much less. I also may decide to make this into two quilts, one with the softer colors, and one with the bolder colors. We'll see.

In the meantime, I plan to work on my Scrappy Stars some more today, and possibly revisit my Bonnie Hunter "Virginia Star" since I now have more neutral scraps to finish up some blocks. And speaking of Bonnie Hunter...my guild is working on getting her as a presenter and teacher in early 2011. Hooray! I told them I don't care when she comes - consider me already signed up! What a treat that would be! My quilting hero right here in person! My fingers are crossed that it works out.

Rollercoaster

The last few days have been a wild ride. I am emotionally and physically exhausted. I arrived home Friday night, and set to work making dinner for the family and making Rice Krispie Treats for the Cub Scout Pack meeting on Saturday. Luckily, I had a little helper.

Then, I gave a presentation at work Saturday morning that went horribly. There were some malcontents in the audience that made the experience very uncomfortable. People have been very supportive, and have been approaching me to tell me that I handled myself well, but ugh! I just wanted to go home and climb in the bed for the rest of the day. Of course, that was not to be. First, I had to make an appearance at the Homecoming football game. Then the kids and I left that for the Cub Scout Pack Meeting, which was a fun, but exhausting 3 hours. For my station, I brought along a student that I recruited from Costa Rica a few years ago, and we taught them some things about Costa Rica and some useful phrases in Spanish so we could earn our Culture belt loop. After that, we went home and the kids let me take a quick nap before we went out to the Homecoming Dance. My kids love to dance! How is it that they don't need sleep, though?

My plan on Sunday was to just sew, which I did a bit but not nearly as much as I had hoped. I worked on my scrappy flannel buzzsaw quilt a bit.

My leader and ender project for that session was my Scrappy Star quilt, so I also got one more of those blocks done.

Today was also supposed to be a busy day - a day full of interviews at work, followed by karate and a cub scout den meeting. Just as I was about to start my first interview, my friend and co-den leader who is also the mother to my oldest son's best friend called to tell me that her oldest daughter had just passed away. She was 18 and severely disabled, but this was unexpected and I am still in shock. I feel so helpless and sad for my friend, and for Jason's little friend who just lost his big sister. I don't know what to do - I want to be there for her, but I also want to give her space if she needs it. I have no frame of reference. I've lost a parent and friends, but I can't even conceive of losing my child. I have been emotional all day, but I made it through the workday, and then went to karate to yell and kick and punch out my anger and frustration with impunity. The kids and I went to the cub scout meeting just in case someone didn't get my email letting them know what happened, and I'm glad I did, because someone showed up. Then, I came home and cuddled with my kids and thanked God for every day I have with them.

At bedtime, I didn't draw the line at two stories like I usually do. The third book they pulled out tonight is one that makes me feel weepy on a good day, and I couldn't make it through the book without crying tonight - Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch.

It is a beautiful story about a mother's love for her son, and the song she sings to him about how he will always be her baby no matter how big he grows. At the end, the tables are turned as the grown man is now rocking his dying mother and singing to her about how she will always be his Mommy. Being a mother has been the most profound and rewarding experience in my life, and the thought of losing one of my children terrifies me. I know my friend isn't reading this, but if she were, I would want her to know that I love her, and I'm here for her, and I am so, so sorry.