A Random Update

Well....

I haven't got that much done on anything lately.

Although I did make these Cherry Heart Mini Pies, so I have accomplished something this past week.

And, yes, this is the last one. 

OK, and I have worked a little bit on my son's Christmas stocking:

I'm pretty sure that brown underneath the cat is not the right color....

I'm going to be really honest with you: I've been toying with the idea of shutting this whole thing down-maybe a hiatus for the summer? Maybe permanent?

Since the move, I have been driving about 34 miles each way so the kids could finish out the school year at their old school. I love this little school they are in and don't regret the decision, but it means that for about five hours every day, I'm not home. That's five hours of not getting chores done, of working on meals, of working to make our vegetable garden happen.  I feel like even though we moved back in November, I still haven't moved completely in: things still feel all strewn all over the place, there are a couple of boxes I can't find to save my life, and the whole house just doesn't feel settled to me.

The worst part is I haven't found a great place for my sewing stuff. The place where it is now doesn't have great light, and it feels even more dark and cold down there in the evenings when I do most of my work. Having my sewing machine on my dining room table, while really accessible and in the most light-filled place in the house, isn't exactly practical.

So, I feel a little lost.

Plus, maybe I need to re-think my whole premise of this blog.  I think what has happened is I have painted myself into a corner of "having" to do certain projects before I start other ones and sewing, quilting and crafting has now become a chore, rather than fun.

So, what do you do when you are in a slump? Chuck it all? Take a step back? Keep pushing forward?

I'm going to sit on this for a little bit and I will let you know what I come up with; in the mean time, feel free to chime in your ideas!

Kate

Quilting the Daisy Chain

Hi Friends!

Confession time: I have two, maybe weird but I think totally normal, habits.

The first is, if I really want to sew but there is something that is more important to get done (for example, taxes) I won't sew anything until I get the more important task done.

Second, if I do have a big task in front of me (like, say, quilting) I have a hard time doing it until I have wrapped my head around how I am going to get it done.

Both of those little quirks dominated this past week.

We were on Spring Break and I was pretty determined to get at least two things done (while our roof was being replaced): finish our taxes and quilt my Daisy Chain quilt.

The taxes got done without many problems (thank you, 2009 self, for keeping the closing documents from the house we bought-life was so much easier because of that!), and I wasn't going to start quilting until it got done. The only problem was I couldn't figure out the particulars about actually quilting my Daisy Chain.

For those of you who are non-quilters, all the work I have done up to this point has just been piecing all the fabric together into a pattern-this particular pattern is called Daisy Chain; the quilting part doesn't start until the quilt top is completed and it is layered with a bottom piece of fabric and batting in between the two. The quilting is the design that you sew to attach all three layers together and form a nice little quilt.

You can see all three layers here: the bottom layer of fabric (wrong side up), the batting, and the quilt top. 

Getting to the actual quilting part requires pinning all three layers together and, frankly, it's my least favorite step. I suppose if I was doing a small quilt it wouldn't be a big deal, but I have to lay everything down on my floor of my living room and get down on my hands and knees to pin the whole thing.

To be honest, I was putting off the pinning part; instead, I worked on my son's Christmas stocking for a few days. It was actually kind of nice to take a break from the sewing machine and focus on my first love, counted cross stitch.

Where I am at now.

Where I was the last time I wrote about the stocking.

But soon, I got back to the quilt. I decided to do a cross hatch design which is a pretty fancy way of saying I'm going to put diagonal lines all over it. It's taken me about three days to do the first half of all the diagonals which I think is pretty good time. I'm going to bury all my threads and then start on the second half of the quilting.

I decided to not quilt the crosses in the Daisy Chain, but I am thinking of doing a stitch-in-the-ditch (or "outlining" them) to make them pop. I'll see how it looks when I am done. 

Any questions you have about making a quilt?

Happy Sewing!

Kate

Daisy Chain (part 3)

Hello Friends!

I just returned home earlier this week from two weeks in AZ with my family. We had so much fun: the kids were able to play with their cousins, we went to parks, we saw plays, we rode trains and carousels! Whew! I am beat! We left 95 degree weather and it is about 50 degrees right now and I am loving it (albeit, I have a couple of sweaters on today!).

I had the good sense to bring my Daisy Chain blocks with me and Mom watched the kids for me while I just put my nose to the grindstone and pieced all the blocks together. She sews with a Pfaff Quilt Expressions 2048 and it was a DREAM to use!


The quilt top came out great! I laid it out on a twin bed and decided not to add additional borders and will go ahead and quilt as is.

Mom also let me go through her fabric stash which was pretty much like Christmas for me! I almost borrowed another bag from her so I could take more fabric.

Oh happy day!

We also went to a few quilting stores and we tried out the BabyLock: Sashiko machine. It only does one stitch but that stitch makes your quilt look hand quilted. It was so easy to use and did beautiful work! Mom and I were very impressed but, sadly, I was unable to walk away with one. Totally bummed.

All in all, we had a great trip! Next week is Spring Break and I am hoping to get this Daisy Chain quilted during the week!

Happy Sewing!

Kate