Indecision

Indecision always slows me down.  I think the reason so many of my quilts-in-progress get laid aside is because of indecision.  (Do you call quilts in this situation unfinished, having a time out, quilts in progress, laid aside, UFOs?  What's your name for them?)  These quilts are usually ones that I dream up myself or that I have to make some decisions to finish them and I get stuck.  This way or that?  This fabric or that?  Sashing this width or that?  And all the other decisions that go into a quilt.  When I have enough of these quilts-in-progress they become a cycle of picking up where I left off, again and again and again.

The quilt I'm getting ready to unstitch is Baskets of Plenty but I need to make some decisions before I pull out my seam ripper.

This is where I left it:  borders around each block, sashing, and cornerstones are all stitched.  The angel at the top is prepared but I don't think I stitched her down, so at least there's that. 

The problem is the brown sashing.  And maybe the burgundy borders, too. 
The brown color's wrong and the fabric itself is even more wrong.  I bought it on sale at JoAnn a few years ago.  It was such a great price that I was sure I could use it for something.  It's all cotton but it's both course and rough, almost scruffy.  I could leave it but I would never be satisfied.  Sadly, I don't know what fabric, or what color, to replace it with.  A darker brown, better quality fabric?  Grey borders instead of burgundy?  Or...?  I nearly always think of primitive quilts with dark colors.  Would this quilt work with medium tones?   If you have thoughts/ideas about borders and sashing for these blocks, I'd love to know! 
 
One of my problems is not being able to truly envision how a quilt will look before it's finished.  I guess I have an impaired imagination, or at least impaired mental vision.  It's rough when you have to sew something to be able to see it, then not like it and have to unstitch.  Anyone face that challenge?

But maybe my biggest problem with this quilt is that these blocks have become precious to me.  They were part of Cheri Payne's last sew-along on her Facebook page.  She provided the pieces of the patterns and we all chose how we wanted to use them.  It's always a bad thing when preciousness happens because objectivity flies out the window.  Who can be objective about someone or something they love?

I've also been scouting around for backing for Time Flies.  This is a quilt that won't get unstitched, thank goodness!

I'd like to find fabric that relates to time: clocks, hourglasses, watches, sundials, even dandelion clocks (you know, dandelion seed heads?).  I'm hoping for fabric with red/in the red range and perhaps grey, black, and/or tan.  I've been trying to think of other time-related images.  Ideas, anyone?  I saw Michael Miller's Vintage Treasures Children at Play fabric and considered play-time and the idea that children grow up so fast, as in time flies, but decided the front of this quilt wasn't quite playful enough for that fabric.  I'm sure some fabric will turn up.  I just hope it does before I finish the quilt that's in the hoop now!

I hope all is well in your part of the world.

--Nancy.

A Risky Goal for April

More often than not my One Monthly Goals are conservative--the minimum I know I can accomplish in a month.  But when I get started on a goal I'll keep going and usually go beyond my original intention for the month.  I also often choose some aspect of quilting that I would let linger, resulting in a longer-than-necessary process.  And when I set a goal, it's one I know positively that I can accomplish (barring any illness or calamity) because I have everything ready to work on it.

This month my One Monthly Goal is to layer and baste a quilt in preparation for quilting it.  That's an easy goal except the only thing I have ready to meet the goal is a top and the batting--no backing.  And I'm not sure which top!  I'm crazy to put this much pressure on myself because it means making creative decisions with materials I don't have at hand.  Below are the options.

Time Flies.

Possible backing options are a print fabric with red/black/grey/tan--if I can find one; the leftover plaids sewn together--if there are enough; solid red; solid grey or black; a print with clock-related images.  I don't have enough reds to make a scrappy back.  I think it would fun to see a print on the other side.

Linda Brannock's Flowers.

This still needs a border and I have the fabric--it's in the washer now--and then I'll have to cut and sew it onto the quilt. But what backing fabric for this one? I thought a folk-style print would be great, but where to find one, especially in colors and a pattern that would work with this quilt?  Other options include a putty-colored fabric with or without a print; a red print fabric.  Or...?  Maybe a neutral....  This quilt is so busy that maybe a calm fabric would be great for the back.

Buckeye Beauty.

This is a small quilt.  The blocks finish at 6" and I think the border is 5", for a quilt that's about 46" x 52".  A red back?  Dark red?  A red print back?  Again, I don't have enough reds to make a scrappy back for it.

Anyway, layering and basting one of these quilts is my One Monthly Goal for April. 

(Do you come away from this post thinking that I like red?  I do!)

I'm linking this post to One Monthly Goal April Linkup at Elm Street Quilts.  Thank you for hosting, Patty.

--Nancy.

Time Flies Has a Border

Time Flies now has a border, completing my One Monthly Goal for August, 2021.

I was fairly certain I would use the strips of red fabric left over from another quilt for the border.  They were just 6½" wide which was perfect.  When I realized I didn't quite have enough I improvised and used 4 leftover hourglass blocks and an-already-cut-apart shirt that was almost a match.  I had to cut several strips--very carefully so I could align the stripes--then sew them and cut to size.  I don't notice the difference from a distance but it's obvious when close.

The border improves what I think of this quilt and how much I like it.  I didn't like it much before the border. 

I probably made a bad choice in the way I measured the fabric for the border.  Instead of measuring the whole quilt top, I counted the blocks, multiplied by 6, added ½", cut the length, pinned, and sewed.  I'm sure that's an unconventional way to measure a border knowing that even though a block is supposed to be 6" doesn't mean every block is 6".  But the quilt is flat all the way to the outer edges.  Perhaps I'm getting over the idea of a quilt being precious.

By the time I finish a scrap/scrappy quilt I see all the ways I could have improved it, perhaps with fabric or color choices, or the placement of either, block placement, or in some other way.  It's so with this one.  Sometimes I take parts of quilt tops apart to improve them, but it's a habit I'm going to try to break.  If a top was fine when I folded it to await quilting I'm going (to try hard) to leave it and just layer, baste, and quilt.  (I'll let you know how that works when I pull the next quilt top out to layer and baste it.)

Already I'm wondering what fabric to use for binding.  Maybe one of the lighter reds in the center blocks.  Or maybe one of the plaids, or just the red striped shirt fabric, though I don't really want to cut up the rest of that wonderful fabric for a binding.  Hmmm.  I have a long time till I have to make that decision.

I'm linking this post to
> One Monthly Goal August Finish Link-up at Elm Street Quilts.
> Finished (or not) Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Can I get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Thanks for hosting, Patty, Alycia, Wendy, and Sarah.

I hope you're staying healthy!  Covid has certainly created a mess.  My younger daughter is a nurse who works in an ICU caring primarily for Covid patients.  She's so ready to be done with Covid.  In fact, I think she may be suffering from PTSD because she's see so many horrendous medical procedures and so many deaths.  She said the cases are rising to the level they were when Covid was last at its worst.  Around here, people behave as though we're finished with Covid -- no masks, no social distancing, and who knows about hand washing.  My daughter has had the vaccine and she continues to wear a mask and tries her best not to be close to people.  The vaccine may help the symptoms be milder but it certainly doesn't prevent people from getting Covid. 

Take good care!
--Nancy.

Time Flies - One Monthly Goal for August

Time flies whether I'm having fun or not and I'm almost missing the deadline for posting my One Monthly Goal for August.  (How did it get to be August already?  Didn't we just start the year a month or two ago?!)

I'm feeling unmotivated after having been away from quilting for a few weeks.  I do less when family is visiting and even less when we travel, and then I have a hard time getting back into the routine.  (And I do nothing when there are computer problems, as there were a few weeks ago.)  Thank goodness for One Monthly Goal:  it helps motivate and keep me on track.

My goal for this month is to add borders to this hourglass quilt.  (It occurred to me that "Time Flies" might be a good name for it.

And here it is hanging over a chair.  (Don't mind the clutter in the background.  All the furniture is crammed together at the side of the room so I could lay the quilt on the floor in the center.)

I don't think this should take too much time.  I just have to focus, allot time, and do it.

I'm linking this post to One Monthly Goal August Link-up at Elm Street Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Patty.

--Nancy.

Hourglass Top and a Farm Photo

I've been resting most of this week after my week of huge energy expenditure at my daughter's home.  It usually happens that it takes a week to recover after a week's visit.  It's all good and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

This quilt was on the floor when I left.  It's sewn into a top, awaiting the next step.  (Ignore the white tags on the left.  They are the row numbers that I didn't remove after sewing.)
I really didn't think I would do the "Chinese lanterns," but then I hit on the idea of making a lighter rectangle in the middle with the hourglasses turned the other way.  It's a little different, a little interesting, I think.

I thought maybe a red border would work.  I have ~6" wide strips left over from another quilt, a backing, I think.  This red looks better in the photo than in person but I might still use it.  No red will be perfect because there are so many reds in the blocks.  When I have more energy next week maybe I'll try out some other colors/fabrics.  Maybe the top would benefit from a narrow inner border....  Pink, like the center blocks?  Grey/brown?  Black?  Hmmm....  I have some playing to do.

I'm still stitching the binding on Autumn Maples.  I hope to have it finished by the end of the week.

What else?  A reader said she'd like to see photos of my daughter & son-in-law's farm.  I hope to post those soon.

It was rainy most of the days we were there so there aren't any photos with blue skies.  Even so, it's always beautiful and peaceful outside at the farm.

--Nancy.

Oh, What a June!

Early in the month our trusty, old, 1998 Honda CR-V (we call her R-V-etta) died.  When we learned she needed a new transmission we decided it would be better to buy a newer car instead of having R-V-etta repaired.  Oh, sad day.  She has over 311,000 miles and she's taken us to and from work, on trips around Ohio, and safely across the U.S. several times for over 200,000 of those miles.  How I love that car.  We're a one-car family so there was a bit of stress involved in getting a rental, then shopping for a car.  (Car shopping is always stressful for us, no matter the situation.)  We found a 2006 CR-V with 151,000 miles.  I hope it lasts as long as R-V-etta! 

Three days after buying the 2006 CR-V (yet unnamed) we drove to Lexington, Kentucky, to visit with our daughters and grandchildren and take them and our son-in-law out to dinner.  Fun times (but no great photos).

While our younger daughter has been home, she and I drove to Malabar Farm, home of author Louis Bromfield.  It's currently a state park, still operating as a farm. 

The silo with some of the barns behind.  The animals at the farm include horses, ponies, sheep, pigs, chickens, cows, and a cat or two.

The Big House.  We didn't tour it this time but from previous visits I know it feels very homey and comfortable.  This is the home where Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married.  Many other Hollywood stars, friends of Bromfield, visited.  We understand that anyone who came to stay was asked to help with the farm chores.

On the way up to Mount Jeez and views from the top.  It was a beautiful day, cool for June, with mostly clear blue skies and a lively breeze.  We understand you can see three counties from the top of Mount Jeez, one of Ohio's highest elevations.  This is a wonderfully green June in Ohio.  We have a friend who grew up out west.  When he was living here he  complained about how many trees there were and that there was too much green!

The Produce Market Stand. 

This structure stands over a spring where the water is diverted into a trough that was used to hold fruits and vegetables to keep them fresh and cool.  It is said that Bacall and Bogart both worked at this stand.   Can you imagine stopping to buy vegetables and finding them there?!  See photos of the produce stand then and now here.

We also drove to Buckeye Lake.  A few weeks ago the wheat was green.  On the way to the lake we saw it was golden and looked like it was probably ready for harvest.
Because some aspects of quilting are portable I made progress on several quilts.  I pinned and sewed together hourglass blocks.  I thought this was a fun view of them folded after pinning.
And I finished quilting Autumn Maples.  Don't you love those windy curves?

Today my daughter and I collected some sweet clover.  It's really a weed--an untidy one--that grows wild in the countryside and sometimes in untended areas of the city.  When I was a child we used to visit my aunt who lived in rural Pennsylvania.  In summer it always smelled so fresh and sweet near her home.  I once asked my father what smelled so good.  He told me it was sweet clover.  At the time I thought white clover was sweet clover, which we had plenty of in our yard, and I couldn't understand why our yard didn't smell as wonderful as my aunt's.  I finally learned exactly what sweet clover is, and now I try to cut some every summer, weed or not. Sweet clover has a chemical called coumarin which produces the wonderful fragrance.  Other plants with coumarin that smell similar are sweet woodruff, meadowsweet, angelica, lady's bedstraw, and sometimes some kinds of fresh-mown hay.  The fragrance seems to come after the plant has been cut and is drying.

For all the reactions my skin has to plants I'm grateful that I don't get a rash from my favorite perennials:  sweet clover, lavender, honeysuckle, violets, and lilacs.

And that was my June.  I hope yours was a good one!

--Nancy.

Hourglass Blocks: Three Things

#1  I forgot is how hard it is (for me) to sew together four blocks where 8 points meet at the corner so they meet accurately and lie flat after pressing.  Whew!  I haven't tried it with these but from past experiences I know it's a challenge.

#2  I forgot how hard it is not to see pinwheels or lozenges when hourglass blocks meet.  It requires really careful placement.  I haven't rearranged these blocks for that placement so who knows what you see.

To avoid both, I thought maybe I could separate the blocks with sashing.

But probably not black sashing.  But if not black, what color?  And maybe not sashing at all.  A bad idea, I think.

#3  I didn't realize how light grey these plaid fabrics would look, especially when just looking at the fabric up close they look black and natural-to-tan in color.  I thought they would look warmer.

Maybe I could turn the blocks so the triangles together form squares.  That takes care of the pinwheel problem but there's just so much light grey!  And now I have rows and columns.  They remind me of Chinese Lanterns.

Or maybe I could makes stars (if I turn all the blocks in the right direction to form a star).

Or maybe not.  Unless I do something different about the blocks beside the star points.  Or maybe not, anyway.

As so often happens, I'm wondering:  What was I thinking?!

The results of these blocks do not come close to the vision I had in mind when I began.

What do you think?

Linking to Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More.  Thanks for hosting, Wendy.

--Nancy.

What Do You See?

What I see depends on how I look at it.  Or what I'm looking for.  Or what I expect to see.  How about you?

I appreciated this quote in The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley.  She said, “We rarely see the things we don’t expect to see.”  Which is mostly true for me, but also, when things are out of place, I notice them but when everything's in the right place I don't notice.

And I thought this short video showing the selective attention test was fun and interesting.  Talk about seeing!  I missed everything except what I was looking for.



So this brings me back to the blocks at the top of this post.  What do you see first?  Do you see hourglasses or pinwheels or something else?

In the back of my mind, sometime in October or November last year, the idea of an hourglass quilt surfaced, no particular colors or fabrics in mind.  It seems Januarys begin with my deciding I have too much of one kind of fabric and that I need to make a quilt with it.  This year it's the plaid shirts, below, all so similar in color, with similar plaids.  (Have you ever noticed that the lines in most plaids are stronger in one direction than the other?)  

Last week I cut some triangles to make 5" blocks and decided they were too small.  I cut some more to make 6" blocks -- just four to begin with.  Who can tell whether to continue with only four blocks?  Not me.  So I made some more.  And now I don't know whether this quilt's a go or not.  I'm imagining the possibilities -- same pattern all over (think cabin-in-the-woods kind of quilt), or colors/plaids grouped to form a center medallion with color changes for each successive border, or groups of blocks with a border around them.  Or maybe even a narrow border between each block.  Who knows where this will go, or if it will go at all.

I hope you'll please leave a comment and tell me what you saw first in the photo of these blocks.  I'm trying to have one pattern stand out more strongly than the other. 

In other quilting news, I've been diligently hand quilting the maple leaves.  I should have taken it a little more slowly to help my fingers adapt after not quilting for two months.  I'm taking a few days' break just now.  I've also been trying to imagine a quilt for a baby girl and haven't settled on a pattern or colors yet.  I need to do that soon if I want to have it finished by the beginning of May!

I'm linking this post to
> Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

I hope all is well in your world!

--Nancy.