Winning attitude

I've had to check my attitude a bit this past week.  Things haven't quite gone according to plan.  But I'm proud of myself for seeking and latching onto that ever-present silver lining.

First, lots of great ideas for names for the Charm Quilt.  The Random Number Generator selected commenter #11, Colorslut, as the winner of the 25 Charm Squares from me, which will be going out in the mail soon.

But before the name could be decided, there was a minor incident.  You see, my washer is on the blink again, so I brought the quilt to town with me to wash at the laundrymat along with the rest of my laundry.  I thought I'd be fine since I always pre-wash my fabrics, but I brought a couple of Shout Color Catchers to throw in, just in case.  Of course, I forgot that not all the  Charm Squares came from my stash, so some of them were from fabric that had never been washed.  And wouldn't you know it, some of the fabrics ran.  Not a lot, just enough to annoy me, and here I was, at a laundrymat half an hour from my home and a tight schedule and no extra color catchers, etc.  I had no choice but to take the quilt home with me.

I did a quick search online before leaving town, though, to see if there was something I should buy and soak the quilt in to fix the problem before drying the quilt.  Someone mentioned RIT Color Remover.  OK, I know where to find that, so I picked it up on my way home.  I put the quilt in some water to soak with this Color Remover, sure that soon my quilt would be back to its former glory and all clean and crinkly to boot.

WRONG!

Here's the before picture:

Here's the after picture:

I didn't cry.  I didn't cuss.  I didn't vomit, even though I felt a bit ill when I saw just how many COLORS had been REMOVED from my newly completed quilt and how unevenly they were removed.  Instead, I reassured myself that at least now, I would get to keep a quilt that I had made, since there was no way I was going to give something this UGLY to someone else.  My hubby made a great point - that it could be my home theater cuddle quilt since it is so dark down there that no one would be able to see it.  Now, I'm just kinda wishing I had ruined a larger quilt...but not really.

So now, I'm having no problems coming up with names for this puppy...

All Washed Up

 Faded Dreams

 Butt Ugly

I could go on and on...

Live and learn, right?  Any of you have some TRIED AND TRUE methods to share with me to get just a tiny bit of color running out of a quilt top without going all Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor from Home Improvement on it like I did?

The week wasn't all ugly.  I took Friday off to attend the first day of our annual Guild Quilt Retreat.  My checkboard flimsy

turned into this:

I was surprised at how quickly it went together, but also at how much the top shrank down.  What started out at 40.5" x 36" is now 22" X 25".  There was quite a bit of leftover fabric that COULD have been waste, but not for this Bonnie Hunter protoge!  I cut down what I could to make a pieced border (which I hope to get on there tonight), and the rest went into my 1.5" squares tin.  And being famous for being a scrap collector, many of my fellow retreat-ers gave me their leftovers as well.  I was able to add lots of variety to my 1.5", 2" and 2.5" squares tins.  And I'm happy to say I got it all trimmed up while I was there, so no scraps that still needed cutting came home with me.

Saturday was another "look for the silver lining" day.  I was invited to be a vendor and demonstrator at the Old Middlebrook Village Day in a nearby town.  It is an old-timey event with live music, food, and crafters.  I went last year, too, and it was lots of fun for not just me, but my kids, too.  Wouldn't you know it - it rained ALL DAY LONG!  A few hardy souls came out, but mostly it was just us vendors huddling under our tents, trying to stay warm and dry.  I'm so glad I was a hand-quilting demonstrator - not only did my quilt keep me warm throughout the day, but I also was able to make some progress quilting my Pick and Choose quilt.  Plus, I did sell a couple of things, enough to buy the kids and myself lunch and make a couple purchases from other vendors.  So, I spent a day sewing while my children cavorted about having a ball, and I made enough to break even on the day.  That's not all bad, right?

I will say that yesterday I did nothing except eat, nap and read.  After all the disappointment of the week, I needed some time to recharge my batteries so I could come to work with a winning attitude today.

Gimme a D!

D!

Gimme an O!

O!

Gimme an N!

N!

Gimme an E!

E!

What's that spell???

DONE!

Completed charm quilt - lap/baby size - 42.5"x47.5"

It needs a name besides Charm Quilt.  Got any ideas?  Leave a name suggestion in a comment and I'll draw a random winner on Sunday, May 6 to receive twenty-five different 5" charm squares from me, either all in one color family or assorted, your choice.  I used 60 different ones in this quilt, and I have MANY MORE where they came from.

Aaahhhh!  It feels so good to FINISH something!

(And yes, I was a cheerleader in the 80s.  And a spelling bee champ.)

Will you help me decide? (giveaway)

My sister called with something akin to panic in her voice, wondering if I had dropped off the face of the earth.  Apparently, I haven't posted anything on my blog for a while.  OK, sis, I get the hint.  It's just that I haven't done anything new lately, and I don't want to bore anyone, myself included.

But seriously, I have made significant progress hand quilting my Charm lap/baby quilt.  I'm hoping to have it done this weekend. I like the meander around the polka dots on the backing, but it isn't the fastest way to quilt. 

The back - I'm quilting from the back with the dots as a guide

The front - makes me even more diligent about making sure my stitches are even since it is the back of my quilting that will be on the front of my quilt!

For my next hand quilting project, I want to do something even simpler, something with straight lines, either a crosshatch or outline stitch.  And I would like my next quilt that I finish to be one that is big enough to sleep under.  So, I pulled out my quilt tops and selected the bed-sized ones that could conceivably look nice with simple, straight line stitching. 

I can't decide which to quilt first, so I'm hoping you all will help me decide.  There will be a fabric surprise in store for one lucky commenter - I plan to use some credit at a quilt shop next week to buy some batting, and I'm willing to use some of that credit on one of you.  Let me know which of the following quilts YOU think I should quilt next, and if you want to suggest a quilting motif, too, even better!  Next Tuesday (4/10/12), I'll choose a random commenter and find out what kind of fabric that person would like me to find for him/her at the quilt shop next week.  Just consider me your personal shopper!

Anyway, here are the options, with names that I am trying out for now.  Feel free to suggest better names if you think of something. (ignore the wrinkles - the poor tops have been squirreled away in an armoire for months, or even YEARS, in some cases.  I swear I could hear them breathe a sigh of relief to see the light of day when I pulled them out!):

A. Plaid Dresden

It isn't really as washed out looking as it appears in this bright sunlight

B. Ribbon of Hope

Flapping in the breeze - this quilt just wouldn't stay still for a photo!  It was like photographing one of my children!

C. Star Power

I completely forgot I had made this top!

D. Lincoln Logs

I thought you were supposed to photograph your quilts in natural light - why do all mine seem so washed out?

E. Make Mine Nine

Just pretend this is a decent photo - I despair of ever getting a good-looking shot of these quilts!

Got an opinion about which I should plan to quilt next?  I'd love to hear it!

Some of you may be wondering what I've been doing since I haven't whipped out anything new or finished anything old lately.  Honestly, I've been reading.  Somehow I completely missed that Jennifer Chiaverini's Sonomo Rose came out, so that's what I'm reading now.  I didn't even realize it was an Elm Creek Quilts book since it doesn't have "quilt" in the name, like all the others do!  I also discovered a new-to-me cozy mystery series.  Some of you know I grew up (mostly) in Maine and that I majored in Archaeology in college.  Dana Cameron writes a series of mysteries with a female archaeologist from Maine named Emma Fielding as the protagonist.  I picked up the first book in the series, Site Unseen, at a used book store last weekend and blazed through it, thoroughly enjoying it.  The only thing that could have made it better is some quilts.  And lucky me, there are 5 more books to enjoy in the series!  I ordered the 2nd and 3rd in the series from paperbackswap.com.  Which of you introduced me to that site, anyway?  I have yet to properly thank you - I LOVE IT!  It is my go-to location when I am looking to acquire new books, and such a great way to unload the books I have that I don't want to keep.

I've also been playing basketball.  Me, the 5 foot tall soccer player (well, 25 years ago, anyway) who has never played an organized game of basketball in my life!  I got together a team of women (we called ourselves the I Team - I for Ibruprofen!) who also work at the University where I work, and we've played a game every week for the last 5 weeks against some sorority girls, also known as tall, quick, lithe, energizer bunnies half our age.  We beat them the first 4 times out, but last night, we just couldn't keep up and lost.  I can't wait to play again next year!  My bruises should have faded by then...

The chicken coop is coming together slowly.  Unfortunately, I approached its construction much like I do my quilts, with a general idea of what I want, but no pattern.  I've discovered it is easier to fudge things with fabric than with wood.  And my kids have the attention span of gnats, so they only ever want to work on it for about 20 minutes before they lose interest and want to skateboard or ride bikes or do anything other than build.  We might not have chickens for a long time...

I've also been busy with Cub Scouts.  We've been working on Language and Culture Belt Loops and Pins, which included a trip to a Mexican restaurant in town with some native speakers and a performance of a skit/song at last night's pack meeting where I was the ONLY ONE SINGING!  The little twerps left me hanging out to dry, which was unfair since they were wearing homemade Elephant masks to disguise themselves and I was just myself.  We've also been working on Art Belt Loops and Pins, which included a visit to an art gallery with lots of western (read Cowboys and Indians) art that the boys loved.  And finally, we've been working on Disability Awareness Belt Loops and Pins, which included a trip to a Special Olympics event and a visit from a blind Eagle Scout who shared with us his guide dog, his cane, his talking computer, his braille, and his Goalball.  Goalball is a Paralypmics sport, and he was on a world championship 19-and-under team, and is still playing now on the US National Team.  Needless to say, not only were the boys rapt, but so were the parents!  Cub Scouts is a lot of time and effort and work for me, but it is one of the most rewarding things that I do!

As of last weekend, it is Drive-In Movie season again.  I'm still on the Board of Directors, and still the Volunteer Coordinator, so that is keeping me busy, too.  We'll be heading there tonight for a double feature of kids movies - The Adventures of TinTin and We Bought A Zoo.  I'm not sure who's more excited, the kids or me!

Finally, I'm still teaching karate once a week, as well as taking classes myself.  I find it hard to believe that I enjoy teaching it even more than I enjoy learning it myself.  I know I do a lot, but they are all things that I really enjoy doing - how can I say "no"?

And for those of you who are wondering, no, I didn't quit my job.  I'm still going there every day, too.  Somehow I convinced myself that things would slow down in April, but I haven't had lunch or left on time all week. (sigh) I'm so glad I enjoy my job since I spend so much time there.

Salvage, soccer and snow

Strange weather we are having!  Saturday was a warm, sunny 60 degrees and I participated in a charity soccer tournament (http://www.conwaycup.com/) with my co-workers to help support an office mate who was recently diagnosed with ALS.  What fun!!!  I played soccer in high school, but the last time I used my shin guards was Fall 1988.  I'm glad to say that I still knew what to do, but I must unhappily report that my body was about 3 steps behind my mind.  Also, I figured, since we were playing in the 30 years old and over bracket that we'd be playing against other hodge podge groups like us.  NOT SO!  Every team we played against had UNIFORMS.  With NUMBERS on them.  Because they were actual TEAMS!  That practice 2 times a week YEAR ROUND!  Needless to say, my team of has-beens, some of whom had never played soccer before got CRUSHED, but what fun!  Well, except for the pain.  By the end of our 4th match (short 25 minute games), both of my knees were bleeding and I had caught a ball with my face, somehow dislodging my nose piercing.  Luckily, I have spare studs at home.  I also found some lovely bruises in the shower yesterday.  Battle scars!

Then yesterday, Sunday, it snowed EIGHT INCHES!  I wasn't planning to leave the house anyway, since I could barely walk from my soccer escapades.  Know what that means?  Time to sew!

I worked on my hand quilting a bit on the Charm Quilt, and then remembered that my mother's birthday is in about 2 weeks.  Down to the sewing room I went. (Mom, if you are reading, this is your cue to STOP READING!)

Do you remember the summer coverlet I inherited this spring, made by my Great Aunt (or someone - I should make an effort to find out who made it), that was falling apart and needing to be repurposed? 

Summer bedspread made by my Great Aunt Somebody or other. Flowers are made from french knots on muslin.

I pulled out two of the embroidered blocks and some coordinating fabric to make a pair of throw pillows for my mom for her birthday.  The back has an envelope closure for easy removal and laundering.

I liked them so much and I had a tiny bit of the fabric left over that I made one more to be the first item in my new ETSY shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/mypatchworklife. 

Yup, that's right, I've taken the plunge.  I make more stuff than I have intended recipients.  And besides, at the Old Middlebrook Village Day last year where I had a booth, many people asked for a business card.  So now, I have a shop, business cards and labels to sew into my stuff.  Cool, huh?  Now, if I can just finish some actual QUILTS to put in there!

Anyway, today is a snow day for the kids, so I am working from home.  I just finished reading a bunch of files, and now my bed is calling to me to come take a little nap.  My bedroom is perfectly situated in the house, warm and sunny throughout the day, perfect for napping.  YAWN!  Happy Monday, everyone!

Change of pace

Oh my goodness!  I have so much going on right now, I don't know if I'm coming or going.  I showed up to karate an hour early yesterday.  How frustrating!  So instead of spending an hour there, we were there for 2 hours, and then still had to come home and do the whole Valentine's Day sweatshop routine!  Here's Jason with the 40 Lollypop flowers we made to give out in his and his brother's classes.

Lollypop flowers for Valentine's Day 2012

Plus, I had a full 4 hours of cub scouts on Sunday, first a trip to the fire station with my Tigers (super fun!  Firemen, like quilters, have all kinds of gadgets and gizmos to make their jobs easier.), then a den meeting, and then off to a handy old cubmaster's house to use his power tools to cut our pinewood derby cars.  By the end of the day, I was exhausted!  Isn't Sunday supposed to be a day of rest?

So I've decided that I need a change of pace.  It is cold and gray, perfect weather to sit and stitch by hand.  I pulled out this lap/baby Charm Quilt that I finished piecing back in October 2010,

pieced a backing, pieced a batting (I used my Heat Press Batting Together tape for the first time, and it worked like a dream! Quick, easy, and I couldn't even tell where it was when I was hand quilting through it!), and plopped myself in front of the TV to quilt.

I wanted to do a big meander stitch, but I know myself too well - if I tried doing that on the front of the quilt, I'd be paying attention to seams and how much stitching was in one particular block - you know, overthinking it.  So I turned the quilt over, and I am quilting it upside down.  I purposefully chose this big polka dot so I could use those as a basic guide - my only rule is to only quilt in the white.  So here's what I'm quilting

Back of Charm Quilt

and here's what it looks like on the other side.

Front of Charm Quilt

It's kind of fun quilting upside down, because I can't tell as I stitch how it will look on the other side.

OK, enough computer time.  All I've been doing at work lately is computer work, and I'm determined to not spend time on the computer at home these days, even though it means I am missing out on everyone's blogs.  Once basketball season is over and my job slows down a bit, I promise I'll come visit, OK?

Reluctant realization

I'm not as liberated a quilter as I'd like to think I am. Sure, my stuff is scrappy; I have no qualms putting a batik next to a repro next to a novelty fabric. Sure, patterns are merely suggestions in my mind, and I rarely do as told. Sure, I think wonky is wonderful, and do not stress over points that don't match or corners that aren't square.


However, I realized today that I am a slave to symmetry. I was playing around, continuing to add to my ERIN quilt, and was careful to make sure that the odd fabric triangles in the 2 rows of green/beige that I added were diagonally opposite each other.

Then, I almost didn't add the bottom row with the 4 Drunkards Path blocks connected by the strips because I didn't have a similar batch of orphans to add to the top of the quilt. Why is symmetry so important to me? Especially in a project like this, which is my version of V's/BumbleBean's "15 Minutes of Play", a vehicle to use up orphans and other scraps of fabric? Here I thought I was so liberated, but as I look back over my creations, I realize I am not. That makes me a little bit sad - it is hard to come to terms with the fact that you are not exactly the way you imagine yourself to be.

So, I'm challenging myself. At some point soon, I'm going to try to make something that is not symmetrical. Please help me hold myself to that challenge.


In the meantime, I was also playing around with all those new scraps of mine, and couldn't resist starting something new, something that could be made with 5" charm squares.

(note that only the right side has been sewn together, which is why the left side looks so wonky)
So far, 50 fabrics have been incorporated into this project, but I think I'm going to have 6 rows of 12 fabrics rather than the 5 rows of 10 fabrics that I have so far. That will leave me with just enough of the white fabric to add a 2" finished border and then that white fabric is all gone - stash busted!

Tomorrow morning, I head off to West Virginia. I wish I could make this weekend last just one day longer. I accomplished all the goals I set out for myself on Friday with the exception of going through the kids' clothes for Goodwill donations. Not bad! Here's hoping that my week on the road is just as productive, if not as creative.