Piles

Yesterday I went into my quilt room and was confronted by a mess of piles on my cutting island.  I couldn't stand it anymore!  I started going through things.  On top were half-finished bags that I'm making with the petals, off to the side was my Speck disaster, in another corner were the pieces I've been cutting for my king-size star quilt, and mixed in were pieces and parts to another project:  adding a fabric band to the bottom of some curtains to lengthen them.  I should have photographed the disaster, but it was a bit embarrassing.  So I set to work organizing.

The truth is that Monday night, I got a fabric delivery for a new project and I wanted to start playing with that, but I decided I need to tackle the other stuff first.

The bags are at a stopping point while they wait for some hand work to be completed, so I put away all the extra strips and fabrics.

The bed quilt stars are not going to get done all at once, so I put the pieces in a bin and set it aside for now.

I have one set of the curtains completed, but the other pair needs to be done.  I have to be in the "right mood" for doing them, because it involves long measurements and if I'm not in the right frame of mind, I know I will make a cutting/measuring mistake.  The pieces I need are already cut, so I put them in a "safe place" and put the rest of that mess away.

That just left Speck.



Speck, if you remember, is September's Schnibble project.  I've been seeing some really excellent ones appearing out there in blogland, but here I'm stuggling.  I think I need "Speckacles" or something.  My first struggle is with the pressing--some of it seemed counter-intuitve to me, so I was constantly needing to repress.  (I MUST add that the pressing instructions make the blocks go together like a dream, though, so it was worth it.)  My next problem was with fabric selection.  I've noticed that whenever I'm stuggling with one of these Schnibbles it is because of making a poor choice.  I really struggled to find a "background" fabric that would go with the charm pack that I chose.  I wasn't "in love" with the project from the get-go, but I had the required 20 blocks done when I realized that the color balance wasn't good, so I started 5-6 more blocks and once again pressed them incorrectly.  That was the mess I unearthed yesterday.

I managed to finish the 5-6 blocks and laid them out.  I still didn't like it!  So I tried something else, and then a third idea, and I could live with that, so I sewed everything together.  I'll share pics and more details later towards the end of the month.  The important thing for yesterday was that I finished something!

I had a few minutes to play with my new stuff, but then I had to get ready to go to guild!

It was my first visit to the local guild and I was excited.  The guild has a night meeting and a day meeting each month.  Last night was the night one and Friday morning I plan to go to the day meeting.  I met some really wonderful ladies last night.  One thing going on was to vote for the yearly challenge quilt.  The instructions were to select a magazine, turn to an assigned page number, and make a quilt (28" x 30") based on inspiration from that page.  The quilts were lots of fun to look at, but reading the artist statement was great, too.  The program consisted of a presentation of an upcoming "expo" put on by a local shop.  They are bringing in instructors and teaching lots of fun projects.  I ended up signing up for one.  That will be in the middle of October, so it gives me something to look forward to.  I also mentioned when I stood to introduce myself that I was interested in getting into a Bee, and three different people approached me to invite me to their bees!  I felt so welcomed.

Have a Great Day!
JoAnne