The pathetic part of this story isn’t that I have nineteen out of twenty blocks finished or that I finished those nineteen blocks in three days but haven’t been able to get the last one done in three weeks or that my brother’s birthday is less than two weeks away—it’s that I have three other projects in the exact same state of unfinished-ness in the basket under my desk.
Somebody kick me in the ass please.
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That’s not a finished object you say—it has no binding. Well, yes, technically that’s true. But try telling him that.
There’s nothing complicated about this quilt. It’s sixteen-inch squares set four across by four down. It’s my plan to use this on the beach next week when we take our vacation. I wanted to quilt it densely for durability and I thought whimsical might be fun, but after a little while of quilting like this:
I surrendered and went with something a little less labor (and thread) intensive.
So it looks kind of ridiculous with two totally different quilting styles that just change at random but I plan to ignore it.
And instead of binding it I decided to work on something else.
And when I need a break from that, I work on this
I’ve heard it said that ADD can add to creativity. Let’s go with that.
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If you’ll indulge me one more post about my method for piecing curves I’ve got a few things I’d like to clarify.
First off, what made me feel like a dummy wasn’t how I did it. Actually, I kind of like that I dreamed a quilt and made it real all without being taught, well, anything at all. Why I felt silly was that there was another, very simple and obvious method out there that didn’t occur to me and that I didn’t put it forth as an option. Also that Niall had tried to explain it to me—at length—and all Andrea had to do was draw me a simple diagram and—click! (Anyone else out there a visual learner?)
I can report that I’ve tried both methods now and I think they both have their merits. For this particular quilt I like cutting both the pie and the slice from one piece of fabric because the design works nicely with pairs. I do think that cutting from two templates makes for easier sewing. Much easier sewing actually. And when using scraps, and in situations where you don’t need two pieces of each fabric I think I’ll go with that method.
As a final word I’ll point you to Niall’s comment left on the last post. Maybe you’ll understand what he’s saying or maybe you’ll see why I didn’t get it at first. Either way, it’s time to move on.
I’m making slow progress on the Roundabout quilt. The delightfully lazy afternoons of July are calling to me and the sewing machine hasn’t been all that compelling of late.
All the photos in this post (and yes, they are completely unrelated to the content) were taken this weekend in Vermont. We’ve been clearing out the front rooms in our house in preparation for an upcoming project. (Details to follow soon.) There were no fewer than five sewing machines in various states of un-usability upstairs. Does anyone know if these are of any value?
If nothing else, they’re fun to photograph!
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The Roundabout Quilt is finished.
I quilted free-motion spirals in the circles and stippled everywhere else.
It was really fun and I love it. So does Jake. He was home sick from school the day I went rummaging through my stash and started it. He helped with placement of the blocks and got very attached to it while we designed. He pushed me to quilt and then bind it and now he won’t part with it. The thing is, I wanted this one. For me. Not to mention that he is an eleven-year-old boy into heavy metal music and all things grunge.
Really? Pink and yellow flowers?
In an attempt to reclaim it I pieced a new top just for him:
but he’s not terribly interested. I think he likes the circles (I know I do). So the new plan is to make the same pattern again for him, but with fabrics that evoke more boyish thoughts (or at least less girlish ones). Now don’t get me wrong, I’m as open minded as the next left-wing-mommy. Jake had anatomically-correct girl and boy dolls. He played dress-up with my clothes and supports gay marriage. But I know how boys can be and I don’t think latching onto this quilt will be popular at the sleep overs.
Also, did I mention that I want this one?
When I posted these on Flickr, a few of people mentioned that they would like to know how difficult piecing the circles was. I was thinking about documenting the process of making Jake’s replacement quilt and writing a pattern and tutorial for it. Anyone interested?
It feels good to be quilting again. Now if I could just get to the dishes…
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This quilt top just came over me. I rummaged through my (very unorganized) stash and did all the cutting in one afternoon—the piecing took a bit longer though. I’d like to say that it was inspired by the roundabout fashion that this spring has taken to arrive, but mostly it was just about circles, pretty fabrics and spring colors. It’s big by my standards—50″ x 70″—so I think quilting it will be a challenge. I have some ideas about how I’m going to go about it and I’m just waiting for a chunk of down-time to attack the project (wishful thinking, I know).
I absolutely love it. And Jake loves it too. He has asked more than once if we are going to ‘get to keep it’ and the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. This one is ours baby!
Speaking of spring and how long it has taken to get here—let me show you some photos of what we did today.
I’ll just remind you for effect that it’s April 26th. The temperature was over ninety here today and my stubborn daffodils still haven’t bloomed. We spent the day slathered with sunscreen and romping in the Long Island Sound and there aren’t even any leaves on the trees yet. Strange and lovely all at once. Last night and tonight both, dinner was cooked and eaten outside and my shoes are nowhere to be found. I plan on collapsing in a damp happy heap on my bed as soon as I hit ‘post’.
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