Goals, UFOs and other musings

I spotted this the other day on SusanB's Ramblings from Early Retirement

mouse potato - A person who spends an unusually large amount of time sitting in front of a computer.

I had not heard that before but boy, that described me pretty well for a few days this week. Apparently it is now an addition to the 2006 Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary along with some other computer related terms.

Yesterday I revised my August/September goals. As usual my August list was hopeful and I DID get some things done. My SIL's balloon quilt, binding for several quilts, the applique on the little Santa, some knitting though that is NOT on my list. I also started machine quilting my 30's sampler and just finished basting said Santa wallhanging for hand quilting. I did get the cat challenge fabric at least cut into something I can sit down to sew---always a good place to start. But the four sewing project were not to be. It is NOT that I don't want to do them that they keep moving to the next month but somehow it was just not happening.

Little Santa has got to be about 12-15 years antiqued. Below is a picture of one that WAS my oldest UFO circa 1989 or 1990. A Dorene Speckman handout in her own handwriting. I scanned just a portion of the page for space concerns. I finally tossed the components earlier this year because let's face it, I was never going to finish it but I kept the pattern. Who knows? Maybe with different colors than the stuff that doesn't and probably never did "go" with anything in my house. The pieces of it, like looking at the amateurish applique stitches on the Santa, reminds me of how far I have come---or better have come, in that length of time, LOL.

Pam was talking about repurposing or redirecting our old projects such as these and I would suggest, tossing as another option in my case. How many of these things do we have stuffed away? I can think of a couple I should just pitch. Save the pattern, perhaps, but just dump due to lack on interest. Give yourself permission to re-think those original plans and give up on the guilt you may feel about never getting to it.

Dot wondered this morning if her lack of focus on any one projects was Quilter's ADHD. We hear of so many children being diagnosed with that or ADD. (How many creative, slightly active kids get stuck with that label, I wonder?) But I submit, that we are probably more like adrenalin junkies. New projects give you that excitement and enthusiasm to go full steam ahead for a time--that's all we want to work on and it consumes us. Then we get to the more drudgery type things---more of the same darned block, sewing long rows together, sashing or borders. We know what the blocks look like, we have played with those fabrics, it goes together and looks nice that way, etc---where is the excitement in that? Meanwhile we here the siren call from something else---try me, cut me and off we go. The other becomes a UFO though we tell ourselves we really should work on it.

For myself, I know I do much better when I have something waiting for me---kids quilts to do, tops to make, some goal in mind. Give me a lot of unscheduled time that I can do anything I want and chances are, I'll be on the computer doing something.

Okay, what you are looking at here? A spider web top that I may eventually quilt. DJs aunt made it along with a bunch of others that his nieces and nephews now own. Not terribly well done but I have done two other quilts from the same maker. Have 4 others to do at some point. Another sibling has this one and one othe like it , I believe. It reminded me of the blocks that Evelyn and Cynthia have shared recently in their posts so I thought you might enjoy seeing it as well if only for the looks at the fabric that was used.

Obviously I AM caught up on my blog reading---or I was, LOL. Always something happening in bloggerland Now where is that black quilting thread?

quilt delivery post 1--other pics below

Linda's van right before we unloaded--amazingly all 71 fit back in there with enough room for transporting passengers. We took 2 vehicles because we thought one person may have been waiting at our usual pickup point--she wasn't but the vehicles were already rolling.

We were a few minutes late getting there but that didn't seem to matter. The director John David Phillips and Mary the staff Social Worker met us and we took the quilts down to the large community room. When we toured the facility earlier this spring, that is where we had gone before--on the other side is a gymasium and outside a small swimming pool and a gazebo the girls had built as a summer project. I don't think that either will show up in these pictures.

The founder of the both the Big Oak Boy's Ranch and Big Oak Girl's Ranch John Croyle had this built with the idea of the girls being able to have their wedding receptions in that room. In fact, John David and the Croyle's daughter Regan did just that! They have their Christmas parties and all kinds of events in the room.

If you read anything about the history of the facility from my previous links, John Croyle played football for the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Alabama. (Football is soooooooo big here in the South) It came time for him to decide whether to enter the football draft or work with troubled children. The children won out and the Boys Ranch was founded first--maybe in the early 70's? John David quarter backed for Alabama, Regan lettered in volleyball for Alabama and the Croyle's son just finished his playing days as AL quarterback.

I didn't take these pictures--John David did since he is certainly a lot taller than any of us quilters. And even then he stood up on the fireplace hearth to take a few of them. The quilts were basically just on half of the room. Three more in the other post. They have a meeting scheduled in that room tomorrow and he and Mary said they would leave the quilts exactly where they were they could be seen.

At lunch one of the group had wondered how they would distribute them--just turn the kids loose and let them pick out their own? It would be so neat to be able to just hand them out to the girls but would that lead to fights??--"you took the one I wanted!", well, just being kids really. We will let them figure out how best to handle that part since they know the girls. The only thing we asked is that they NOT have to wait for Christmas or some other event. John David said that he will be sure to get some pictures of the girls with their quilts and said to not be surprised if they crop up here and there in the publication that they send out

He was overwhelmed and could not believe that we had done all these quilts. Actually he thought they were wonderful BEFORE we even opened them up because so many of them had print backs on them and I always fold them with backing side out, LOL. He wondered how many had been involved with making them---17 of us made at least one, many of us more than one but we had help from friends from out of state who had heard what we were doing and wanted to help in some way (you know who you are!) He said that something like our sharing these quilts--the kindness that someone who doesn't even know one of the girls--might be just the thing to help them open up and confide in someone and let the healing begin.

He shared an instance of something that had happened in recent months where a young lady had gained the strength to tell her house parents what her attacker had done to her. The proper authorities were notified. Others came forward and said that he had done the same thing to them. Defense attorney, doing his job, said "let them go to open court and as an authority figure, they will back down". It almost worked. Though scared to death to do it, this young lady was the only one that stuck to her guns. The day before it was to go to trial he either plea bargained or plead guilty---sentenced to 100 years since there were so many counts against him. There was a similiar situation just last week.

Now ask me again, "why I quilt" I cannot care for children like these two facilities can but I can quilt and do what my heart leads me to do to help in some small way. The members of my quilt group are no different in that department--I am just the public face for them.

One last thing--we left one quilt with them for their little 2 year old son--one that we all had worked on. He lives there too and should have a quilt, don't you think? None of the group wanted to get in the shots so no Belles to see. It was a good visit today and good to know that the quilts were exactly where they needed to be and almost in the girls hands.

quilt delivery post 2

 

Monday notes

Let's try this again---a whole post when scurrying off into cyberspace. Blogger not playing nice or my network connection isn't?

At left we have Ms. Pippi on one of her favorite haunts. How that could possibly be a comfortable position, I don't know. It almost hurts my neck to look at her! The picture was taken before I cleaned those kitty nose prints off the window from her peering at the birds below in the holly bushes. No doubt that the curtains have their fair share of cat hair when you see that paw and leg pushing them out of the way.

I seem to be having some connectivity problems today. Earlier I could not get online at all but had to let it go till we got back from walking. Once we were home it was back working like it always did. Now it is "doing it" again--not sure who I need to call about it. The local yokels at the cable company? The 800 number that I was given when I first hooked up? All the green dots are NOT lit up on the external modem is all I know but the LAN icon says I am connected. HMMMMMM Is this expected with high speed internet? I have had no problems in the three weeks that I have had it. What do I know? After being stuck on hold for about 15 minutes I finally got to a humanoid who said the tech would be calling me back----that was 3 hours ago but I've been back in business since 5 or 530.


Not much quilting going on this past weekend. I had intended to quilt some more on my 30's sampler but............and you knew there was a "but", LOL. I was chatting with a friend on IM on Saturday and we so rarely get to visit like that with her back to the Monday-Friday 8 to 5 type hours. My quilting set up in this small bedroom means blocking access to the keyboard and so forth. That's a no brainer to me---talk with my friend and quilt when she is at work!

So I pulled out this antiqued Santa wall hanging that had more appliquing left than I thought and started putzing with that. It is a Wild Goose Chase Design that was set aside 10-12 year back. I purchased it from Keepsake Quilting as one of their Patterns Plus so the fabrics were all kitted up. Old Ginny Beyer stuff and some Roberta Horton plaid and the tree background is something I have used in another old UFO from a long ago class. I worked on it on Sunday as well so the top is done and ready to be basted. May hand quilt it as it is pretty small and would make a good grab it and go project.

Tomorrow is the red letter day for the quilt group though---we deliver the 71 quilts we have set aside for the Big Oak GirlsRanch. We have more but as I said, in my post from 8/19 the 28 have other destinations. I will take my camera but I don't know if it will be appropriate for us to take pictures there--check with the director first. I had called Linda S. earlier today as the quilts are all over at her house right now and offered to help load the van but she had it all under control.

So the day is slipping away---knit for a bit on that sweater front I started or do some bluework embroidery on those snowman calendar blocks. Always good to have options even if it means nothing ever gets done, LOL. Keeps you from being bored, right?

Okay, I'm crossing my fingers and hitting send.

slump ended/why I quilt

I will be the first to admit that I have been in a quilting/piecing slump. Part of the reason was just winding up the loose ends before we put the quilts out on the pews last weekend. Another part was my grandmother's passing and making that 5 day trip out to MO and then trying to get caught up at home from my absence. The other part is frankly, I just didn't feel like it. Who feels like having that hot thing on their lap when it is 80 degrees in the house and the fans are not cutting it? I know better than to sew when I don't have the desire.

I did manage to get the binding finished up on this one Thursday. Yesterday I added aome quilted lines around those large half square triangles and in the large red and plaid flying geese around that center star to get the large pieces to lay down a little better. My frequent readers will recognize the picture from a July post.

I threw it in the washer to remove the markings I had made and DJ was looking at it laid out on a chair in the kitchen as we ate supper. "That sure is a pretty quilt", says he. High praise indeed! (Thank you, Betsy for making the top and then giving permission to scale it back a notch)

The machine was and is still set up for quilting so my eyes lit next on my 30's Pioneer Sampler, pinned and waiting for me to decide whether I am handquilting any of it or machine quilting all of it. I don't know if my sore thumbs are up to the hand quilting part. I started locking in the outer border and some of the vertical lines and the next thing I know I am quilting a few of the blocks. Guess I made my decision though there are a couple blocks that would be easier to hand quilt more in the middle. Man, that thing is heavy with all the pins and just plain BIG!! I'm hoping that it will be easier to handle as I proceed because right now it feels like I have been wrestling a bear. I really want this on my bed sometime and this will make that happen quicker. Y'all have been after me to quilt or piece something for myself so I guess this was it.

Patti asked the question on her blog "why do you quilt?" Well, since I was in a bit of a slump that was a little harder to answer but I think I can come up with a few answers anyway.

Part of it is for the reason you see in the picture at left. Occasionally we get pictures of children with quilts we have donated. This happens to be a little fellow in Paraguay wrapped in a quilt I made and sent with my niece/godchild who had gone on a mission trip with a group from a church in the Bradley/Kankakee/Bourbonnais, IL area about 5 years back.

I feel that quilting is my mission and a way to use my God given talents. My own nieces and nephews don't necessarily need me to make them quilts--my mother has already taken care of that (or will do so if they are still waiting). They, fortunately, will never want for anything in their young lives. I have no children of my own--I've made DJ's grandson two quilts and probably another when he graduates from college so where should I best use my talents? You got it--for someone else that needs them.

I quilt because I do not care to make garments. This way I can still play with fabric but not have to wear it or expect it to fit properly. I have always done something creative with my hands and tried a lot of them. My husband swears that when I die they will have to beat my hands to death with a stick because they will still be fidgeting. He may be right, LOL. I cannot just sit and watch TV without having something else to do--redwork, knitting, even ugh, binding.

I quilt because I love trying new techniques and new patterns. I quilt because I am reasonably good at it and I can't really do things like draw or paint as much as I would like to. It is an art form I can embrace and be a part of.

I quilt because my mom and grandmothers did to some extent. It is something my mom and I can share since we both make quilts for WTIL. It is something that has always been around either on my bed or in borrowed quilt frames and my helping to tie them or at quilt shows I have attended. I own a quilt my great-grandmom made and will share that with you one day. It keeps me connected with all our quilting foremothers and their part in women's history and preserving our craft, seeing that it gets passed on to the next generation.

I quilt because I blog and blog because I quilt. I have friends that do as well and make new ones everyday through this medium. That's about it off the top of my head which is how I usually write anyway--and then re-read to see if it makes any sense, LOL. Hope you all are having a good weekend so far-------

this and that

Jealousy Rears Its Ugly Head
Okay, this picture doesn't have much to do with anything other than it came from a friend in morning email along with a joke. Joke was okay but the picture looks priceless. Perfect picture of human nature, even at this young age. The little one on the right is pretty upset about the attentions being paid elsewhere.

Yesterday I managed to slog through two more chapters on my continuing ed units--two to go today but these are a lot less reading. I promised myself a peek at the new Fons and Porter "Love Of Quilting" magazine that came in today's mail once I am done with the last exam on the material.

I also got the binding completed on Betsy's revamped medallion for the boys. I am going to stick a few more quilting lines in it before I stick it up in my closet for holding purposes. I see that the walking foot is still on the machine so maybe later today or tomorrow. I know it is silly, but once the machine is set up one way or the other I hate having to switch it over just to switch it back. It would be different if I had the room to move from one machine to the other like some do between machine and serger if they garment sew. Isn't happening here! I also prefer to do all the cutting at one time if I can and if not cutting, then keep things set up for pressing. It is not hard to take the pressing board down-- it just disrupts my flow to keep switching gears like that.

Pam asked me last week what I thought I wanted to sew on since I was close to being caught up with the kids quilts. I am still debating that one. I'm still thinking finishing up with the ostrich round robin center but which of the things on my August goals if any, do I want to work on. Creatively, I need a kick start so that almost makes it something that I have not started and it should definitely be a personal project, not anything kid related. HMMMMMM. This will need more thought. I miss seeing quilts up here too, Esteemarlu! Unless I drag out some I own or some from the past there may not be any quilts to see for a bit at this rate.

Last night I was looking at EQ and realized that I can now download those extra fabric palletes of the month a whole lot quicker with the new faster internet connection along with the RJR project files that the two companies have worked on. Zip, zip those were downloaded. Some EQ owners may not realize that you can also download the Quilt Design Wizard projects as well and they will open in EQ5 as it is an EQ product. There is a Project of the Month Archives available that also loads the various fabric lines into the computer to play with in other areas. Got caught up with downloading those in no time at all---gotta love it!!

Below is one of the designs that I thought would be kind of fun for the boys quilts. I guess I would pick up on this because Antoinette had just gotten some soccer ball fabric in two colors as well as a race car flag like stuff and handed it to me at a recent meeting. The block measure 13 inches and the whole quilt 60 x 60 or thereabouts. There are some other balls, jerseys and so forth in the Sew Precise 1-2 (or was it 3?) that could be added. Since all the libraries of the other software can be linked to EQ, it adds even MORE blocks that can be used. Not entirely sure what those green things are supposed to be---ball diamonds??? I do like the "curves" though---different.

Grocery shopping day got pushed back from my usual Monday to Thursday because of my being out of town for 5 days last week. I had to laugh though---I had stopped at Dollar General in our little burg to get some of the paper supplies and canned goods we needed. When I got back to the car I found something I had in the trunk of the car had spilled over and unbeknownst to me, my cart started rolling down the parking lot as I tried to corral that mess. The next thing I knew the clerk came running out the door hollering "your buggy is getting away" It almost collided with the UPS truck, she said, but it didn't stop and it kept rolling. The driver was in the back getting his delivery out and couldn't catch it either. I thought I had my foot hooked around the cart as I normally do. Apparently not--- there goes my purse and all my stuff headed down the slope almost out to Main Street. She caught up to it before it rounded the corner or went out into the road. Of course, it helps that this is a very, very small town. Talk about customer service!

Well, Chapter 8 and 9 here I come--get this over with.

another block find

Seesaw Brackman#1336 from Gutcheon's Perfect Patchwork Primer. 1973.

What brought this up? Well, I flipped the 365 Quilt Blocks perpetual calendar page that sits atop my computer and there it is. LOL, after I just asked Karen about the one she featured in her post dated 8/20. The fabrics are blending at bit in her blocks and the flying geese units are less prominent then in the colored sketch. I can see how using a no waste, 4 at once flying geese pattern would come in handy for making this block especially if you were doing a whole quilt.

Judy had asked where I was coming up with the numbers on the previous post--which book etc I was using. BlockBase software which is just Electric Quilt's version of the Barbara Brackman book, actually more like the quilting bible in my opinion, Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Blocks. The software is probably easier to use than the handdrawn quilt thumbnails but I still pull the book out occasionally.

I really enjoy learning about the history of quilt blocks--their names, where the blocks came from or when they date back to. The other night, as bedtime reading, I was looking at Young's Civil War Diary Quilt that I recently purchased at a quilt shop closing out sale and reading the diary entries.I may never make a block in that book but I can still enjoy their stories. What a connection we all have to those quilters who proceed us whether we consider ourselves traditional or maverick quilters! They are just geometric shapes, after all, endlessly rearranged and recolored. New methods perhaps for arriving at an end is all.

No sewing or binding got done yesterday--too much computer playing, I'm afraid. My husband thinks that now that I have high speed internet that I can get my computer time done quicker and wonders what I will do with that "extra time" HA! not extra when you just do more of it, faster. I was finding all kinds of fascinating things like the satellite view of my house--though they put the address in the middle of the main road. It must have been done in the fall or winter as everything looks brown or red dirt color plus it is about two years back because those houses across the road are not there either. I can watch video now--quilter's news network, anyone--which was never possible with dial-up. Still, I managed to slog through two chapters of my nursing continuing ed stuff (Elaine, just to keep my license current just in case--too expensive to re-instate) with another printed up for today's "hour". Three more to go after that so some progress is being made.

An errand to run and back at it----