Block Busting

As I attempt to both blog and sew with more regularity, I'm finding that blocks can get in my way.

Not quilt blocks ... creativity blocks.  Negative thinking and being that disturbs my ability to get posts written; get quilts finished without a deadline.  How do I learn to keep the promises I make to myself?

I've begun working through "The Artists Way."  It promises to help me work through the blocks and bust them up.

I've begun hanging around at SparkPeople (www.sparkpeople.com) and they emphasize the importance of small goals that are easily achieved.  Getting those little things done gives one energy for approaching larger goals.  It builds enthusiasm for goals that can only be achieved through persistence and perseverance.  So.

I've been setting small goals; quilt 4 blocks here.  Cut out 6 blocks there.  Piece them.  Find a new block construction technique and see how it changes your perspective.  Be kind and gracious to myself when it takes more than one day to get things done.  I'm still a mom and a homeschooler with many plates in the air.

Slowly but surely I've been picking away at the blocks in my way.  Achieving small goals and getting things done.  Like this quilt which has languished in my UFO pile for years now.

Catching Up and Digging In

Today I bring you photographic evidence of the list I wrote in the post below. Herewith I present my quilts ...

Kittens & Posies - the orange inner border is a bright orange silk velvet and the spokes (leaves) are made from silk chiffon backed with fusible interfacing for stability.

Artful Rag Quilt - Black Flannel with b&w prints and a variety of colors. Lots of fun and learning.

Ticker Tape Doll quilt for a niece. These are so easy, bright and fun to make.



Quilt I made and designed to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary. I sent out squares of hand-dyed fabric with gel pens for important people to trace their hands and write a special message for my parents inside. I cut out the hand "prints" and appliqued them to the quilt top.


Here is a detail of the hands ...

The back of a rag quilt I made for my niece when she graduated from high school.  I never did get a photo of the front.  She immediately named this quilt, "The Babymaker" so it shall be called :) 

 Another niece who graduated from high school and her quilt.  It was a busy year :)  This quilt is called Lady of Lake Champlain because this niece spends quite a bit of time on Lake Champlain.  The quilt design is Marcia Hohn's Lady of the Lake 2 from her Quilter's Cache.

It's Been A Really, Really Long Time

Judging from the content here on my blog, I've been dormant. Nothing could be further from the truth! I've been really busy ... quilting. Teaching. Friending (is that a word?). Parenting. Etc.

I've finished and distributed several of the quilts listed on that list in my previous post. I've started (and finished!) some additional quilts. I created a studio. I've learned a lot.

Here's a brief list of the quilts I've finished in the last year and a half ...

Kaffe Snowballs
Amber's Graduation Memories
Tristan's Rags
Kittens & Posies
A Scrap quilt for Miriam
Lady of Lake Champlain (Leah)
The Baby Maker (Aleana)
Orient Express (Lauren)

I think there were more ... but that's all I can remember off the top of my head.

Projects I'm Working On

UPDATED - October 25, 2011
Here's a list of all the projects I have going ... far too many, but I hope to reduce this number by quite a bit this year.

WHIMMs
Ocean Waves
Blue Hydrangeas
Aunt Grace kit
Stained Glass Phoenix
Alphabet Kit

Callahan Baby Quilt

Sonja’s T-shirts

WIPs
Pete & Jackie’s applique wedding quilt
Venice Rose
Lillie’s butterflies
Judy Niedermyer Double Wedding Ring

UFOs (ready to be quilted)

Posies & Kittens (Ana Lucia) - finished

Multi-Ethnic Baby Quilt

Amber’s Album Quilt - finished

Irish Chain
Lillie’s Butterflies

Kaffe Snowballs - finished

UFOs (some blocks done)
1930’s Pinwheels & Snowballs
Delectable Mountains
Ohio Stars (HBS-exchange)
Anvils (set with borders)

Orient Express - finished

Album Blocks
Dear Jane
President’s Blocks
Ross’ T-shirts
Tapestry Garden

UFOs (vintage rescues)
Vintage double wedding ring (add border & handquilt)
Vintage Lone Star
Molas from Panama

GARMENTS
Prom dress for Taylor Andersen
Grecian dress for Lillie
Sashiko jacket
Burda top & skirt
slip dress & jacket

UFO = UnFinished Object
WHIMM = Work Hidden In My Mind
WIP - Work In Progress (one that takes a while)

I've joined a yahoo group called StashBusters to help with this and for now, here are a couple baby quilts that are going to be the first to get finished. And the Snowballs? They have a date with the quilter at the end of April so that I can have them all finished by my birthday!

Desdemona's Top Is Finished

At long last ... it is finished!!

Photos later

Ugly Challenge

So the Prez issued a challenge. She got tired of hearing us all piss and moan about fabrics we "hate."

Oh I can't use "that," we all say ... it's too yucky. So she told us all to get a fat quarter of something we hate and bring it in to our meeting on Monday. Tell everyone what's so horrible about it ... then do something with it to make it un-horrible. More palatable, I think was what she said.

Here are the fabrics Jennifer and I chose:

Jenn's is from Robyn Pandolph's Empress Woo's line (which we normally love):


Ross says it looks like faded wallpaper in the diningroom of an old house from the 1920's ... I say it looks like an old hobo stumbled into that dininroom and took a pee on the wall. Jenn says we're both right. UGH!

No one had anything to even say about this ... it just made us all shudder:




Really! Who makes confectionary cupcakes into fabric. I think I might puke. But that might improve it. Double UGH!

Pathways of Peace - the final version

I never posted the end photo of what my challenge quilt looks like. Here it is for all posterity: