Quilt frustration

Boston Molasses Flood is fighting me all the way.  Entirely and whole-heartedly.  My measurements are off, and I don't know how I managed.  I barely got enough fabric for the borders (but did), and failed miserably in purchasing backing material.  I got half as much as I needed.  HALF.  Seriously??

But all will be well.  I managed to find more of the same fabric, so I can piece the backing together.  But this quilt is getting more and more frustrating.  I know this, too, shall pass.  And it shall be a lovely quilt.  I just have to get there!!

And I need to work on garb.  And clean house.  And... and...

Oh, and exercise.  Seriously.

Of quilt patterns and such

To the stage on Boston Molasses Flood wherein I have to start quilting.  (Have to... more like get to!).  I knew going into BMF exactly what pattern I wanted to quilt.  And then changed my mind.  About seven times.  And now I am down to the wire - and I THINK I know what I want to do.  Since I am hand-quilting everything (not nearly enough money for a longarm quilter, which is what I so much want!), I am making choices.  And in all honesty, my original idea wouldn't have stood out at all - not just wouldn't have added anything, but wouldn't have really shown at all without WAY much work.  And if I really want to do so, I can add it afterwards.  Don't think I will, though.

So, now I am down to stitch in the ditch for most of the quilt, and borders featuring newspaper headlines and information about the Boston Molasses Disaster.  I know it will look good, but there is a part of me that mourns the loss of the original quilting plan.  *shrug*  I know it will be all right, maybe even better this way.

As far as quilts go, though... I have plenty of ideas.  I am up to 24 in my notebook, and I've only finished two... BMF is #3.  I'm getting further and further behind!  One of these days I want to take a day off from work and just... sew.  Quilt.  Piece.    Until then, I will toddle along as I've been doing, working at a randomly decent pace.  (I'm not complaining, just commenting.  I can't do more than I can do in a day!)

Soon enough (like this weekend), I start losing my weekends as far as sewing quilts.  Scarborough Faire (my home renaissance faire) starts getting into prep time soon, which means costuming and character work and all that.  And hopefully living chess match.  We shall see!

Boston Molasses Flood and Ostrich Stroganoff

The newest quilt in the works id the Boston Molasses Flood quilt.  I've finally got all the slivers pieced together and am in the process of stitching diagonals...  With luck, I'll have the top completely pieced by Saturday afternoon (once I get the material for the borders and such...).

The borders will also be brown - I haven't decided what fabric, but it will be a solid or tone-on-tone.  Then will come the fun part - quilting!  I've already figured out how I will quilt it - I just have to find the right picture and such.... more details on that later.

There is another color variant on this one that is done in blues - haven't started that one yet.  Might take a while to get to it, but it will happen eventually.  The blue variant is "Isaac's Storm," after the 1900's Galveston hurricane.

I am hoping to have Boston Molasses done before faire starts (well, before workshops start in earnest) because once faire happens, my sewing time drops dramatically.  Costumes, etc., have to take precendence. 

Other than that, we're settling into the house well.  I made ostrich stroganoff this weekend - easy to make!  I found ostrich at our local Central Market - love that store.  We also bought elk, but haven't done anything with it yet.  Anyway, the ostrich was very tasty, but I had strange nightmares afterwards.  Since I'm having leftovers today for lunch, we'll see if it's the ostrich that does it!  :)  Tonight's dinner will be a stir-fried chicken and veggies in a light cream sauce. 

I do wish the Texas weather would make up its mind.  It is supposed to get up into the 70's today.  In January.  *sigh*  I don't know WHAT'S going on.  Neither do the plants.  My lime tree has blossoms.  It's probably going to be unpleasantly surprised by the end of the week. 

Long time no bored

We're moved, we're in, we're mostly tidy.  And now I have the luxury to be bored again!  (And I have been, in brief spurts of time).  So here's what I've been up to.

1. Planning quilts.  I am now 19 quilts behind my designs.  I need to sew faster!

2. Making a Winter quilt.  It's simple, but I like it.  It's a very basic one, and the photo doesn't quite do it justice.  The background fabric is white with white dots of varying sizes that look like snow falling.  Quilted on the diagonal-ish - I wasn't too concerned with straight lines, because what little I know of snow, it doesn't fall in straight lines when there's even a breeze.  The trees are appliqued over the quilting.  Bound with plain white, and it's done!  I am pleased with it.  Just need to hang it up so the few little wrinkles will fall out.

3. Valentine's Hearts - aren't they cute?  I have a limited space to decorate for work, so I am making a bunch of little stuffed hearts for Valentine's Day.  I will put them in a nice clear glass vase that sits on my cabinet.  I am considering attaching numbers to them and having a stash of goodies to dole out by numbers... ("Here, draw one!  Oh, number 5 - that's x.  Here, have x!  Happy Valentine's Day!")  We'll see....

Other than that, it's been attack the overgrown shrubbery at home.  The house was unoccupied for a time, so things kinda... well, got out of hand.  The honeysuckle in particular!  So we're chopping honeysuckle and cleaning up the gardens and such.  No pictures there yet.  Maybe later.  It will be all pretty when we're done.  And I am looking at getting a birdbath and more bird feeders to attract the birds.  Yay!