A Prolonged Sew-in

I'm a little late in posting about... or you can say I couldn't stop... a Saturday Morning Sew-in from last weekend.  This last Saturday, Brye from Sew~Stitch~Create (sewstitchcreate.com) hosted a dedicated time to be at our machines.  Although I'm not active with Twitter, I still wanted to be a part of it.

Then, low and behold, we got news that my older son's basketball team was to participate in a tournament that same Saturday morning.  Although my sew-in time at my machine was nix, I could still take something with me to sew at the basketball games.

We started early-early in the morning and endured the one hour drive.  Our team had played very well, which led us to the championship game.  The game would be played in the evening, so we were there all day.  I had a lot accomplished with my hand sewing on my Kaleidoscope quilt. 

But I couldn't stop.  As of yesterday, I had continued with my own personal sew-in.  I had finished the tedious clean-up work at the game Saturday but I had added the border and edge-work.  I thought I'm going to need to see if my ideas will work, might as well try it out.

 

I think I'll use (try to envision) black as the binding...

Or should I applique the scalloped border to a black background?

What do you think?

Jane

p.s. 
At the long day of basketball, one of my son's teammate's little sister was there also, with their family.  I had caught her attention with my sewing and soon she was helping me out.  She was snipping the thread at the of its knot, and she seemed to the interested when I was explaining what I was trying to do with my quilt.
So, to help her keep her busy during those long basketball games that her older brother has to play, I thought I would make her a little bag and fill it up with some sewing things.  Hopefully, she and I will be sewing away together.

Working On My PhD

I usually call my unfinshed quilts "UFO's" (UnFinished Objects)."

I had recently had seen it referred to as "PhD's" (Projects Half Done).   And I love the new name!  Calling it a PhD makes me feel less ashamed about them.  In a way, the more PhD's you have, the prouder I should be.  Right?

I'm still working on my Kaleidoscope quilt.

Anybody got any catchy names for it?  A few names I've come up with:
            Organized Chaos
            Coming Out of the Dark
            Rainbows in the Dark  

I'm sorry to say that SeamUp, the online community for quilters and crafters, had to say "goodbye."  After two years, the developers, Brye, Allison, and Jennifer, had only part-time to devote to a project that needed full-time effort. Although I am sadden by the news, I am looking forward to hearing and seeing more of Brye, Allison, and Jennifer on their blogs and/or podcasts.  I really have missed them!!

Jane

Labor Day Sew In

During the Labor Day weekend, Seamed UP (click here--> seamedup.com), they had a Labor Day Sew In.  Since I don't have a twitter account, I couldn't officially participate.  I still felt the urge to take advantage of the three-day weekend.

I had worked on my Kaleidoscope quilt (I still need to have a catchy name for this one).  It will be completely hand pieced and I had pieced about two more rows.

Having to make new blocks, I had to draft more black triangles... lots and lots of triangles.

To give you an idea of how many triangles will be in this quilt, I'm planning 31 blocks across and 31 blocks down (making it a square quilt).  With 12 pieces in each block, that will make it about 11,500 triangles total!

I'm going to have to set this quilt aside for a little while.  My Cub Scout will be participating in his Pack's Raingutter Regatta next weekend.  He has selected the theme for his boat (his latest obsession) and we will have to decide the paint job.  Oh, the excitement!!!

Jane

Back In Black

I'm finally feeling that I'm accomplishing some progress in my UFO's.  No quilts are finished but I feeling I have been moving forward, at least.

I had decided to work on two different UFO's.  You had seen the Sunflower quilt from the last post.  I have appliqued all the sunflower on the body of the quilt.  I have just received the fabrics for the borders and once they are sewn on, I can continue with the appliqueing.

I've got a pile of sunflowers ready.

One good reason not to leave your UFO's unfinished for a long period of time is that it becomes difficult to find the same fabrics you may have used.  I've had to substitute the black fabric in the border for a solid black because I was unable to find it anywhere online or at my local quilts shops.

And you know that I can't work on just one quilt.  I have been avoiding this quilt for a while.  Although I still love this quilt, it is a very complex and tedious one.  But I think it will be all worth it once it is done.  Here's a sneak peak!

I hadn't planned it, but black is predominate in both of these quilts.

Jane

Creative Block

I just wanted to write a quick post about something that was bothering me.

A few months ago, I had decided to go on a "quilt diet." I was not going to start any new quilts until my pile of WIP's or UFO's was dwindled down to a reasonable number. I had a lot of quilts started and each one was important to me. I was still very interested in finishing each one. But I was starting more quilts than I was finishing and the pile seemed to be growing bigger and bigger.

I thought I had great idea. I would work on a quilt and it seemed as if I was going no-where. The more I worked on my UFO's, the less progress I seemed to make. It seemed I was in a "creative" block or a "quilting" block. It seemed as if I wasn't getting anything finished.

That was a few months ago. I realize that I still need to finish my quilts, but now, I realize that I can't work like that. I have to feed my creativity. Whether if it's just drawing out the quilt on paper or testing out a few block to see what they would look like, I have to start a new quilt to move forward. I may start a few more quilt ideas, but it fuels me to finish the quilts I'm working on.

This last month, I am amazed about the number of quilts that are almost finished (before quilting). I may have started three or four more ideas but I had to express those ideas to more forward. And what fun would it be if I didn't!

I just may be one of those quilters who will never get rid of their UFO's. But I'll never be without a quilt to work on. It took me a while to realize just how my creativity works. I'm not going to feel guilty about my UFO's (well, maybe a little). I have to understand that it is how my creativity works.

Thank you for listening,

Jane