Pondering, Thinking, Dreaming, Designing

and a little sewing.

It's a fact: I have gotten little to nothing done quilt-wise since my boys got out of school 3-1/2 weeks ago. They are trouble times two together, and I find I am all too often breaking up arguments or plans of mischief. One of them has no judgement whatsoever and is just not to be trusted if not watched. I am slow to get my momentum quilting full-force again after doing very little for 2 months because of the mirage of contractors in and out of my workspaces. My house addition is 98% done, and I so need the distraction of work to keep me sane. First: Inspiration and Momentum, then quilting.

I have been hand appliqueing most evenings when not holding a paint brush or glass of wine. I have gotten 2 of the 4 corners of leaves & flowers stitched down. Hard to believe there are still 14 flowers and 48 leaves remaining. It will probably done at the end of the summer at the soonest. I love the addition of the border. It is all very busy, but that is kind of my style.
Though there are weeks of hand stitching still to go, the quilting is imminent. It is never too soon to plan for how it might be quilted. I think I may have most of the threads I want to use, but I'm sort of a thread junkie like some girls are shoe junkies. What's a few hundred cones amongst friends? Here is my initial plan, very much incomplete still, but nevertheless, started. I want the quilting to be outside the box. It will not necessarily follow the piecing, for that would be boring since the quilt is mostly 30-90 diamonds. I will (hold your breath) use a contrasting color in some places...I get so fearful of thread showing that I usually choose very much matching top threads. There's just no way I will change thread colors 25 times throughout the star. No way.

And if that is not enough...I am pondering about another quilt I want to make. OK, it's a shade beyond wanting, since I made one of the plates today. Remember this post?... Good thing I really had my heart set on doing something else because for some reason, EQ7 had to be rebooted and now claims that the file cannot be opened. Well, it can be opened, but all of those quilt designs are poof! Sigh... I am making this probably for my bed eventually. It's a twist on the untraditionally traditional design in that I have a ton of modern-ish green prints to use. The plates are stitched on machine and then will be likely hand appliqued to the background.

OK, now time to decompress and look towards the impending bedtime of my kids. It's been A Day. My usually reasonable 9-year old was a monster today, draining me of all reasonable energy. And there is an apple pie in the oven -- my new oven, in my new kitchen. Yes, the kitchen is DONE. It has countertops and running water now too. Thank goodness. Or should I say finally. Finally! Renovations are not for the weak at heart :-))