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! 

Defining boredom

Now that I'm this far into my blog, I guess I should take a moment of time to explain boredom.  (Well, THAT sounds pretentious!)  Okay, explain what boredom is for me.  That should be easier.

Boredom = getting all my chores done and having nothing planned that I must do, or having my brain not entirely occupied by whatever task I am on.  Now, since I live with ADD (not the worst case, by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to make things interesting usually.  I multi-task like a pro!), it doesn't take much for my brain to go wandering.  It can be a five second trip or far far longer.

Lately, while I've not had the time to be bored physically, my brain is still taking side trips.  From that springs more ideas and more plans.  Today, boredom means I have three new quilt ideas.  Gr.  Not a bad thing - not saying that - but it does make me wish my brain would settle down a little every so often!  Let me catch up a little.  I feel sometimes like I am about to be lapped by my brain.

My design notebook - because yes, I am keeping one - is up to 14 more quilts planned (as well as the finished one and the one I am working on).  I need to sew faster!  I need to stay off the computer in the evenings!  I have two quilts planned for gifts - one for this year, one for an event next year.  I've got time, but they lurk in the background, waiting to pounce.

Yesterday at work we were allowed to dress up for Halloween.  Not many did, but I was one of those few!  It's an excuse to haul out the good stuff and ponce around!  How can I not?  So, here I am: La Catrina - the elegant one!  (symbol that even though you're rich, you're still going to die!)  The costume was a borrowed one; made it too too easy!  Many compliments and not a few creep-outs!  (Bonus!)  You can't see all the hat's glory in this shot, but I'll try to root out a few others - I got my photo snapped a LOT.


At any rate, have a blessed Day of the Innocents or All Saint's Day, as you choose.  Remember thiose who've gone before, and ready your thoughts for those days ahead.  Take time for yourself - the season's about to get crazy!


 

bored bored?

No, not really.  Only for a few minutes here and there.  And yet, that is apparently sufficient.  For what?  Well, for designing more quilts.  Sheesh.  I am up to 12 now, putting me at 1 finished, 1 in process, and ten more to go.  Always assuming I don't come up with more, which is highly unlikely at this point.  As my roommate says: "Eh, give it a day.  You'll have another."  Too true, it seems.  Now, I am not going to say they are all winners - I have no idea on that score.  But so far they seem to be rolling.

So in between packing and working and prepping for other stuffus, I have quilt ideas.  Wheeee!  (Actually, this is a good thing, and I am not complaining).  It feels weird to be this... productive, at least on an idea scale, when there's so much else going on!

Halloween is over (well, in a few hours, anyway).  Day of the Dead is tomorrow.  After that, the stretch to Thanksgiving and beyond.  I have no small crafts going.  But I AM still being creative, and that somehow eases the lack of projects.  I may not be MAKING with fabric, but I am MAKING.  I am making designs and plans.  So long as I carry through with those plans and designs, it's not wasted time.

And tomorrow at work I'll take down the Halloween decorations and put up some autumn-themed ones until we're closer to Thanksgiving.  The turkey has to stay tucked away just a little while longer.  :)

Sarlaac Pit Rug

J. Random Thought for the moment - I found a lovely quilt pattern.  It's a Pine Burr Quilt pattern, and it's the state quilt of Alabama.  http://www.archives.state.al.us/emblems/st_quilt.html  I wonder if Texas has a state quilt?  I'll have to look.

However, the point of this post is this: the Pine Burr quilt is lovely.  Beautiful.  And I looked at it and thought to myself "Hmm... do that in browns, ivories and pink and you have the Sarlaac Pit from Return of the Jedi!"  So now I want to make one - not as a quilt, but as a rug.  Out of felt.  I think it's do-able.

The Sarlaac Pit rug would have one major advantage/disadvantage: it would catch all the dust and random pieces of stuff on the floor.  All those layers.  So I may make one, for a dust catcher and cat toy, if nothing else!

Random Thought of the Moment over.

P.S.  I didn't immediately find a State Quilt for Texas.  Wouldn't surprise me if there is one.