Where Have I Been?

Actually I have been home.  It started with house guests - my daughter and grandaughter.  What fun!  We got one hike in when DH developed some scary symptoms and within a week had donated a kidney to the pathology lab.  It all happened so fast, but he is now recovering well.  It sent the family into a spin and I have been too busy doing double duty here at home to spend time writing or sewing. Sewing was curtailed additionally by the fact that my granddaughter was sleeping with my sewing machine until time to report to camp where she is a counselor this summer.

I am now back to quilting and making good progress on a lot of tedious, small designs.  I am slowly making my way to the outer verges of the quilt, and looking forward to working on large feathers in a wide border.

I am also pondering what to quilt on four squares, each 4 inches.  I drew a design, but now that I am there I don't like it.  What do you do when you get stumped on what to do?

1.  Head for Pinterest for ideas.  I do not mean copy verbatim, but be inspired and let your brain digest what you see until your own creative ideas emerge.

2.  Grab pencil and paper.  Draw your ideas.  Some work.  Some don't.  Some lead to interesting effects.  Pretty soon you will have a design worth trying with your needle.

Playtime with pencil, trying a couple of ideas.

3.  Work it out on a scrap sandwich made from the same batting and fabric in your quilt.

Playtime with needle; three ideas on one block.

I still don't like any of the ideas with needle.  The corners are a serious issue.  Yes, it is wonky in the tester, but will be straight and precise on the quilt with better stitching.  This is only a scrap venue for trying it out in a hurry.

4. (optional)  Go back to #1 and hunt for more ideas.  Go further afield than just Pinterest.  Play with it.  In the meantime there are many other parts of the quilt to stitch.  It will come together eventually.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you a plethora of ideas.

Crunch Time

I am having guests all next week.  I'm down to the wire trying to get things done, but life doesn't always cooperate.

Thurs - Slush storm.  Have you ever seen slush come straight from the sky?  What a slippery mess and too cold to work in the unheated "Guest Cottage" (GC) (repurposed garage).

Sat - It is finally warmer.  I will do laundry while I clean the GC because my daughter will be sleeping out there if it doesn't turn too cold.  One load done and hung and the washing machine died so I spent my morning washing the rest at the laundromat.  No cleaning accomplished.

I did get some sewing done this week, but not on my quilt.  I will be traveling in the Fall and need a small bag to hold some knitting.  I will make some lacy bookmarks from crochet thread.  Check Pinterest.  They are so pretty.  I can't stand to sit around doing nothing.  I am a flea on a hot stove.  Thus, I ALWAYS take some kind of handwork.  I am also making an afghan, but it is too bulky to take along on planes and ships.  But I'll take it to work on in the car.

I bought a bag pattern that had a whole bunch of different bags to make...all sizes.  I am not a big fan of stitching bags, but the one I chose went together beautifully, even though I added canvas lining.  I didn't have any heavy fabric so used cotton from my quilting stash for the outside of the bag.  I am so pleased.  It is the perfect size (8 x 10"), and has a zipper closure at the top so I won't dribble knitting supplies everywhere I go.  It is squash-able for packing.  Don't you love it when things work out just right?

The new knitting bag on an afghan that I designed and made.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you a week of things working out just right.

PS.  Here is a pasque flower amazingly in full bloom even though it had been flattened by the heavy, slushy snow that buried it.

Pasque flower in full bloom.