I wonder about you. Are you like me and feel completely unmotivated to do anything besides sleep, and maybe eat? (I hope not!) I push myself to get out of bed in the morning, get ready for the day, to get going on a to-do list I made the night before. And I do it, but my heart's not quite in it. I know it wouldn't be good to just sleep but gosh, it's so tempting. I hope you are feeling well and are actively involved in activities you love to do (at home or at an appropriate distance from others). And to you who left comments on recent posts, I will respond to you, I promise.
My (little) goal for this month is to prepare and applique Basket #6 of Cheri Payne's Baskets of Plenty sew-along from several years ago. Her original pattern had this basket's background in a horizontal setting. I made it but I really want 9 blocks in the same orientation, hence the remaking of this basket. Below are the probable backgrounds and possible basket fabric, though the basket shape may change. The flower arrangement will definitely change.
Cheri supplied the pattern pieces for all of the blocks but no arrangement of them. She encouraged us to use whichever pattern pieces we chose in any arrangement we chose. I loved this sew-along because of that. (I have a lot of trouble sticking to other people's patterns.) We didn't just choose our fabrics but also how we wanted out blocks to look. The finished blocks had so much variety.
This block included what I see as tulip-shaped flowers, so I'm going with tulips (and maybe some other shapes, too). These are potential fabrics for the flowers. I'll choose several.
Tulips come in such
a great variety of colors but this basket needs to go with the others I've already made. I don't want it to stand out as odd. I'm finding it a challenge to go back in time, so to speak, to unfinished quilt blocks and try to come to the same view I had when I was actively working on them. I think it has to do with growth and changes in perspective over time that make it hard. So we'll see if this block and the last one work well with the older blocks.
And just for comparison, this was the original block I made. I'll adjust the basket's width and the arrangement and, of course, the flowers in the basket. (I think these flowers need some leaves!)
Below is the basket I was working on a few weeks ago, Basket #8. It's mostly finished but I think the basket itself needs something. I posted photos of a bird but no matter what fabric I used, either the front half or the back half of the bird disappeared. So I'm still playing with if/what the basket--or the block--needs to call it finished.
Finishing Baskets of Plenty #6 is my One Monthly Goal for April. I'm linking this post to
One Monthly Goal April Link-up at Elm Street Quilts. Thanks for hosting, Patty.
I hope you are able to stay safely at home, away from the covid-19 virus.
--Nancy.
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I have countless UFOs and a couple of years ago I pulled them all out and wrote a blog post about everyone Mostly for my own information. What I was doing at the time I started it and other thoughts. It was a fun journey down memory lane and I wanted to stop everything and complete each one but they all ended up back in their boxes and I pressed forward not starting anything new.
ReplyDeletePart of the reason most of them are not complete is because I don't know what to do next on them. So I am making little blocks for my second Dear Jane quilt in bright colours for RSC and I am content with that for now because I have been trying to complete my Cherries quit and I am so close.
I think many of us are in the same situation, Chris, with quilts we put aside for one reason or another. And I suspect that that next step is what stops many of us, too. For me, hand quilting is slow. It takes me longer to hand quilt than sew a top and I do both at the same time because I can't spend hour after hour hand quilting. And some of the tops I've finished I'm not sure they're really finished. I want to change one little thing or some other little thing.
DeleteI'm sure a rainbow Dear Jane will be beautiful!
Oh, the state of affairs in the world today is so sad. It's just natural for you to feel as you do. I hope spring is making an appearance in your areas and that warm sunshine will brighten your days.
ReplyDeleteYou have some lovely fabrics pulled to play with, Nancy! And just a thought, what about a yellow bird for that corner?
Thank you, Karin, for both your words of encouragement and your comments about the fabrics for this block.
DeleteWe are having spring weather, though still many grey and rainy days and its been fairly cool. But, our cherry tree is beginning to bloom, which is always fun to see. The bushes, flowers, and low trees are coming green and the higher trees have just that mist of green on them. But spring will be in full force soon!
I love your baskets...lovely fabric choices. I have some of those CP patterns but haven't as yet made any. I hope to do more applique this Summer...
ReplyDeleteHang in there; life has really changed from day to day. We are very tired out it seems all the time...~ ~ ~ waving from me to you Julierose
Thank you, Julierose. I edited out some of the colors but since the layout of the block is still in progress I may edit them back in again. Haha.
DeleteI hope things are going well for you and your husband and that you're able to stay safe inside. One of these days we'll all be able to go outside together at the same time!
I'm glad you posted, I was starting to worry about you. Your Cheri Baskets are developing nicely and will be beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was just me! I want to sleep and sleep. I am not a napper, instead I just want to crawl back in bed after Mo's morning walk. And sometimes I take my kindle and do just that on dark windy days, seems lazy but harmless... and who is to care.
Thank you, Lizzy. You're so kind of think of me. I haven't decided on the addition to the basket with the big orange flower but the other basket is in progress, at least as far as layout and cutting and preparing the pieces. More to do with that and then I can decide on the layout.
DeleteIt's strange about the stay-at-home situation. I think a lot of us either have less energy or need naps. It's not like I used to go out all the time but not being out at all makes me wonder what's going on out there. And then, too, it feels like being confined. Good for you to get back in bed after Mo's walk. Maybe in the summer we won't want to do that but sleeping late or getting back in bed in the morning seems like a great thing to do just now.
I love block 8. The bright flowers are so cheery. I kind of like the idea of a geometric shape on the basket instead of a bird, sort of like it looks with the sample for color. That looked finished to me (once sewn, of course). And I like the red. It pulls the red of the flowers into the bottom half and adds unity.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading more blogs with my extra at-home time. Not forcing productivity.
Thank you, Claire, both for your kind words about basket #8 and for sharing your thoughts about the shape on the basket. And for visiting and leaving a comment.
DeleteGood for you to do more blog reading and not forcing productivity. Sometimes when we force it the results aren't as good as we hoped for.
I think the stress we are all feeling is HUGE, and therefore exhausting. I've been surprised at how hard it is for me to concentrate on things, and the days are melding together with very little difference on the weekends. Anyway, your basket block will be pretty, and it's nice to be flexible and willing to make adjustments and changes. The tulip/basket theme is lovely.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Cynthia, stress makes us tired/exhausted. For me it is feeling unsettled, unfocused. It's not like I'm thinking of the pandemic all the time except that I am almost constantly playing for my daughter who is a nurse working with covid-19 patients.
DeleteThanks for your comments about the basket block with the tulips. I went back and forth but I think the basket will have tulips. I'm still playing with layout and colors. I so admire people who can imagine blocks, cut fabric, and sew. I'm sure there are people like that, aren't there? Anyway, I'm not one of them!
Lovely block. Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and good luck with your project.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Patty.
DeleteThank you, too, for clarifying the last day to post our OMGs this month. I'm grateful to have till the end of the month!
I absolutely love that picture of all your flower possibilities! I would probably start a tulip quilt and use them all. I love the colors in your original tulip block, maybe your could just replicate it. Ah, don't listen to me, you do a good job on your own. I'm working on block #4 for the flowers quilt. I have it all prepped and my blue for the morning glories is really too dark. But, I have dark or I have light - I don't have a medium blue so it will have to do. I'm totally undecided about the dish that the flowers are in. I've tried a green and a gold beige but I'm not really satisfied. Glad you're sewing, such an appropriate block for spring.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robin. I love the colors in that original tulip block, too, Robin. I didn't use them because I think they're too light to go against the light background of this block. I did unstitch the basket, thinking I might use it, but I'm not sure. Can you tell I'm still playing with colors, fabrics, and layout? I told someone else, I wish I were one of those people who can imagine it, cut the fabric, and stitch it down. Of course, that would cut out all the play with colors and fabric that I enjoy so much.
DeleteI'm so sorry you don't have a good blue for the glories. I wonder if I have any blues you could use. If you want me to take photos or send samples, let me know. I'd be pleased to do that. I can take photos on Monday. I think the dish is such a classic shape, almost Oriental, and is an unusual choice for this quilt. I hope you find a fabric you're happy with.
I love your basket blocks! I've got a bunch of Cheri's patterns tucked away but haven't started any projects. Sure does look like fun!
ReplyDeleteI saw some good advice about handling stress-induced inertia and depression - every day just do one thing that isn't nothing. It can range from rearranging the entire pantry (imagine my surprise to find we had four opened containers of cocoa!) to just trimming dead leaves from a houseplant. Or picking out fabrics for an applique block. Just something you can point to and say "hey - I did that." Hang in there and stay safe!
Thank you, Gayle. Will you make a Cheri pattern sometime? They ARE fun!
DeleteI like that advice. Thank you. It's actually something I do every day -- just one thing, and then I want a nap. ;-) But maybe I need to be more purposeful and recognize the one thing I've done.
That's amazing you found four containers of cocoa! You're set for lots of chocolate cake and hot cocoa next winter. And good for you to clean your pantry.
I hope you're able to stay home and stay safely away from the virus, too, Gayle!
Enjoyed reading your musings this morning, Nancy. Something of interest in hearing another speak of their ideas for reshaping designs and making them unique to you. You definitely accomplished that today! Baskets are always fun to work with too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jocelyn. With this Cheri basket, I'm trying to use patterns she provided somewhere in the Baskets of Plenty patterns, but one of her purposes in this sew-along was for us to use the pattern pieces each month in any way we chose, so we all ended up with unique basket blocks.
DeleteI never finished making baskets for Cheri's pattern. I still have a few blocks stashed somewhere and with good intentions. Good that you are giving it a whirl and attempting to finish the project.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Karen. I quit making these baskets blocks because the last one Cheri gave us was a bird on a branch, not a basket at all. Somehow it didn't fit with my vision of the finished quilt so I just didn't make it. Then, too, I wanted a bigger quilt than was her original idea and without that 9th block, I was stuck trying to figure out how to make the quilt larger. I hope the blocks I make will still read as Cheri blocks, that I'll do justice to her design ideas. We'll see.
DeleteLove those baskets and this one is on my to-do list! Great work Nancy they are lovely!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karrin. I love making these baskets even though they take me days to choose which pieces to use or whether to use them all and to decide on a layout. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun when you make these baskets!
Delete