Overload

Have you ever felt completely overloaded with the things that you MUST get done?  Sometime outside commitments impinge on life and other times you place the pressure on yourself.  I got home from our holiday travels and had so much to accomplish that I felt like I had bricks on my head.  We also had an unusual number of household breakdowns to deal with and really frigid weather.  And, of course, I broke my big toe.  That limited my exercise to the detriment of my general well being.  I had one photography related project that I figured I wouldn't finish for months, but found a better, faster way to accomplish the tedious task in a couple of hours.  I was so excited and wired over this success that I ran to my sewing room, sat down and worked on my quilt.  What joy!  I had been unable to go in there with my self-inflicted pressure weighing me down.  Stagnation has been banished!

Not only did I sew, I think I solved a problem on one quilt that has been nagging at me for weeks.  I am doing a quilt of my sweet Lady dog (deceased).  The bow on top of her head has been a thorn in my side.  I have tried several ways of doing it and finally got fabric pieces to look like ribbon, but it has no life.  I have tried painting and Inktense pencils to put in highlights, but neither look right.  I toyed with the idea of using real ribbon, but it wouldn't look right if/when it got crushed.  Back at the sewing machine my first task was to try thread painting and I see potential in this method.  More experimentation is needed, and some shiny or metallic thread may be the way, but it is gratifying to finally be on a positive track.

The photo below shows all the pieces pinned to a board.  The upper part shows the values of the ribbon (black and white).  There is also an isolated piece on which I tried the thread painting.  It is not quite right, but I didn't have quite the right thread and was kind of sloppy in my technique.  I didn't have any stabilizer under it either.

Pieces of fabric simulating the bow on Lady's head.

So much for that quilt for the moment.  I am back to quilting the quilt that has been my companion for over a year.  I WILL finish it!!  The big center part is done!  Now I am doing a 1 inch border with diamonds and filler.  To mark...or not to mark?  I decided to mark the diamonds because it is important that they look straight.  Wonky diamonds would spoil the effect.  I am doing closely stitched lines with slightly darker thread as filler in between the diamonds.  This should make them pop without overpowering the main quilt design.  I'm not too good with the filler.  Need a bit of practice, which I will get as I move around the quilt.

Diamond border

Sew some happy seams this week.  Depressurize and have fun stitching.