Quilter with Commitments

Yes, it's good.

Did you ever have to practice musical scales when all you wanted to do was play the new song? I feel a little like that with learning EQ8. I wasn't proficient with EQ7, and didn't get a lot out of the money I spent years ago. I think I believed that playing with the program would be enough to get it, and I was mistaken. I needed real lessons, and never got them. This time I prepared better, and bought the books. I'm roughly halfway through the Beginner Lessons, shout out to Anja, and this is definitely the way to go. I do not always feel like doing the lessons, but I am committed.

Things That Can Go Wrong Do

Quilted

No, I did not cut a hole in my quilt or spill coffee on it.
Almost anything other than those things can be fixed. Almost.
I'll show you another screw-up I worked through.
(I should be famous for this kind of post by now.)

Yellow & Black Baby Quilt

A Baby Quilt to Donate

My scraps are like rabbits. They have had offspring, and are on at least a third litter by the looks of it. I decided to squeeze one baby quilt for charity out of the lot of them before sorting. 

As the Trip Around the World Turns

Scrappy Trip Around the World 

This class surprised me by all bringing in their quilt tops from the month before. I have a few proud quilters to show you. All tops were close, a few were together, and this one was even quilted! Big, bright, and beautiful!

Hurricane Stars on the Long Arm

New Name to Be Announced Soon!

While summer officially blows in today with cooler air, I am still trying to beat the heat while working in my second story studio. The pale, blue setting triangles above are getting some free-handed, ferny feathers.

Blogging Zen. Not.

 Quilt Art: A Zen Hangout

It was time to hang something significant at the top of the long stairway to my studio. I think this star is so enticing. Does it say, "Good things lie beyond this step?

Is Blogging Zen?

Those who fantasize about writing a blog may be erroneously led to believe the blogging process is a zen moment in the blogger's day. Said blogger sits in the early dawn with coffee, sleeping babies or dogs, and pours out accumulated wisdom to readers that await every post. (Insert sinister laughter.) Perhaps it is not so, say I. 

Vintage Drunkard's Path Finish

Combining the Old with New

Summer has been quick ins and outs at the studio with many little changes that mean more space for opportunities to come. Hours have been spent sifting, reorganizing, and happily rediscovering lost items. I am still sticking to working through the Pile of Unloved Projects, and it's getting sooooo small that I nearly lost it the other day. Okay, not really, but it's no longer as big as a piece of furniture, and easy to misplace. That's pretty amazing to me! There is officially light at the end of the tunnel.

So how about this quilt story now?

Half Hexie Flimsy & Backing

Whirligig Half Hexies

Such an interesting perspective of hexies taken at an angle. You can see it's a flimsy already. This is a quick quilt.

Whirligig Half Hexie Quilt

Half Hexie Whirligig

In the last post, Stolen Moments for Stitch & Play, I was playing with my scraps. Play is good. I traded the scraps for more moderate fabrics, and in a short afternoon put together the lower half of this sweet quilt. It's slightly under 45" from edge to edge here, and with a border/background will flesh out to a nice baby or toddler quilt a little larger.

Stolen Moments for Stitch & Play

Vintage Log Cabin...Again

I am still plugging away at this quilt. I have to be in a special frame of mind to work for long periods, but I've determined to finish it this summer. A little bit each day brings good progress, and maybe I'll have it done before I've had it a whole year.

When my husband needed to do some work far out in the country, I grabbed my project gear, and off we went. Cell phone service is good in town, but once you get into the hills around here it's hit or miss--mostly miss. I was the safety in case there was an accident. Poor me! I had to just sit there and quilt.