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!

I made coffee!

It's been cold around here lately, so yesterday, I made coffee!

Hot coffee!

No real plan yet, we'll see where I go from here. I sure am having fun making something with no recipient or end result in mind - how liberating! Although, I'll be honest - I was a bit dismayed at how NOT wonky my letters were. I didn't measure, so they arent' the same size, but they aren't wonky either. I guess I really need Tonya's new Word Play Quilts book.

Speaking of liberating, on Saturday, we had a trunk show by Judy Loope at our guild meeting. The woman used to be an art teacher, and I think it shows in her creative quilts.

Most are wallhangings, and she incorporates lots of techniques into her quilts. Her work was AMAZING! Unfortunately, I don't think photos can do justice to the detail and texture and depth to her work, but in case you want to check it out, her website is http://www.judyloope.com/.

And then we get to this morning. I had a doctor's appointment, and on my way back from the doctor's office, I passed the new location of a quilt shop near me that had re-located. I HAD to stop in, right? It turns out, this was opening day, and I was her first official customer. Well, then, I HAD to buy something, right? I mean, this is a woman in my quilt guild that I just MUST support! In case Mrs. P is laughing so hard that her coffee is going up her nose, please know that I was VERY good. I limited myself to the $20 bill I had in my purse. I bought 1.5 yards of Kona white muslin for a cub scout project, and then 2 spring-y fabrics (2/3 yd and 5/8 yd) to remind me that it won't be cold and gray forever.

The shop is delightful, in a big old house set back from the road, surrounded by a shaded yard, with two porches and a deck. There are plantation shutters on the windows (I love plantation shutters!), a cozy, bright sunroom for her longarm, a little classroom, and lots of wonderful fabrics artfully arranged on neat old pieces of furniture. If you are ever zipping down I-81 in Virginia, I encourage you to stop to stretch your legs (and lighten your purse) at exit 200 at the Quiltery. Tell them Erin sent ya!

Now I'm just being silly!

There's a new chick in the henhouse! And lots of clucking going on as these two birds catch up with each other over a huge cup of joe!

So, where am I going with this? Who knows? My gut reaction is that I need to make some wonky letters. But what do I say?

Cluck, cluck, sip?

Two chicks, one cuppa joe?

Chicks dig coffee?

Anyone have any ideas? I think two or three words would be best, but I don't really know what to say. I'd love to hear what you think.

Meanwhile, my log cabin quilt continues to grow.

How long did it take to build a log cabin back in the day? Certainly not as long as it takes me to complete one measley quilt!

Skittering with the little chicks!

There's a children's book I love to read(sing) to my kids - Barnyard Dance, by Sandra Boynton. They are probably getting too old for it, but I love it still. In it, you are encouraged to "skitter with the little chicks", and that is exactly what I felt like I was doing yesterday, skittering about, doing a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.

While the kids were bathing in my tub, I stitched a bit more on my mom's GGG quilt. Yeah, I gave it to her for Christmas, but I took it back because I wanted to add some more stitches. Do you ever do that? Seems like I'm always doing it with HER gifts! Oh well, I'll likely be done this weekend, and can give it to her for real then.

After bathtime was bedtime. Over Christmas, I found some Stories From Grandma's Attic books at my mom's house. Growing up, I adored those stories! I read them over and over again. So I brought them home with me to share with my boys. The stories are about growing up on a farm in Michigan in the mid-1800s, and just like I do/did, my boys love learning about how people lived in the past. After reading one of the stories to them last night, both of them wanted to read more on their own, so I had to go get another one of the books for Donald. Mind you, Donald is in Kindergarten, and can sound out a couple of words, but certainly isn't up to the challenge of a chapter book, but that didn't deter him. When I went up for lights out (they are allowed to read in bed every night), there he was, telling himself stories from this chapter book with very few pictures.

(ignore the fact that his walls have flowery wallpaper and his curtains are pink - he is a real boy, not afraid of pink! Actually, I'm afraid of redecorating - ugh! The room is exactly as it was when we moved in 7 years ago. Do you hear that bed crying out for his Boys Will Be Boys quilt? That will be my next quilting project as soon as I finish this other one off for my mom!)

Next, I wandered down to the sewing room to make a chicken. Yup, you read that correctly - make a chicken. I took some scrap quilt books with me to the gym on Monday while Jason had basketball practice, and in one of my favorites, Quick Quilts from your Scrap Bag, there was a quilt with pieced chickens in the border. For some reason, I've been thinking about pieced chickens ever since. Measure, measure, cut, cut, stitch, stich, VOILA!

He/she is going to have at least one buddy because I don't think I can stop at just one. What will I do with him/her, you ask? Beats me! Ideas, anyone?

As my leader/ender project for the chicken, I finished a couple more log cabin blocks. I think I'm gonna really like this when it's done!

Finally, it was approaching midnight, and I needed to go to bed. Did I go right to sleep like I should? Of course not! Instead, I picked up Earlene Fowler's Love Mercy, which I had just brought home from the library. I've been fiending for another Benni Harper mystery from her, but, of course, she needs time to write them. Imagine my delight when I discovered that Benni and Gabe and Dove all have bit parts in this book! I'm only on chapter 3, but I can tell already that I'm really going to like it.

Speaking of books I liked, I received The Middle Place, by Kelly Corrigan for Christmas, and read it very quickly. Memoir of a young woman with breast cancer. Horrifying, but also delightful - I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The irony is that I was reading it on the trip to Atlanta with the basketball team. On the team (and on the bus) was a young man who lost his mother to breast cancer this Christmas holiday. He's on his way back from his mom's funeral today. I'm so saddened that my throat closes up every time I see him. I've lost a parent, so I know how hard it is, but I was also a grown woman with a spouse and children of my own when it happened. I just want to cuddle the poor kid up to my bosom and rock him to sleep, never mind that he is twice my size. Have you clicked the Breast Cancer Site to give free mammograms today?