Burnout

This is almost an appropriate blog title, given the flaming color of this tree, but that's not really what's going on. We are at the tail end of gorgeous leaf color. The bright red trees are mostly turning brown after this week's rain. Just figured I'd start this post with something inspiration since the rest of this post is kind of whiney. I am fried. Tired. Bored. Just plain burned out. Not on quilting in general, mind you. Just on the one quilt in particular that has been on my frame for 8 days now. Yesterday was my mental "finish it off" day, and it has come and gone. And you guessed it, "Fester" as I have most unaffectionately named the quilt, is still on the frame. It's a log cabin quilt, and it has proved more time consuming because all the quilting is along diagonals. Lots of stop-n-starts. Lots of color changes.

And late yesterday afternoon I discovered the unthinkable. It is like a four-letter word to a longarm quilter. Just gut-wrenching. Yes, (sigh) a pucker or two on the back. My eyes rolled halfway to the back of my head and about 35 obscenities flowed from my lips. If I were not going down diagonals and having unquilted space here and there, this never would have happened. I still have to figure out how to eradicate one of them, even if it means unpicking to the seam on the backing, and concealing the puck there. That means removing a fairly sizeable feather. UGH.

So rather than be more disgusted with my quilting, I chose to do something I generally prefer not to do...gather up all 3 kids and go roaming for the afternoon. The boys had a half-day and were home at lunchtime. It has rained the last 2 days so we were all feeling a bit of cabin fever. I dragged them to 3 or 4 scenic tree-picture-taking spots here in our town, and then off to the park for a while. I just needed to breathe fresh air and not stare at that festering quilt. It wouldn't bother me so much but I really need to finish it so I can get 3 others done. Committments, you know?! We stopped for ice cream on the way home. Way to go, MOM, butter up the babes before you get 'em home to tell them that there's a mandatory 1 hour "play in your room" time from 3-4pm so I can do my damndest to try to get Fester finished.

(my oldest up in a very yellow and large maple tree)

Things look brighter. I have quilted most of what I can do before conquering the pleats. Maybe Saturday will be my day??