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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fabric... Welcome to the Patriotic Quilter where I like to share all things quilty as well as red, white, and blue! Please feel free to look around and enjoy yourself! I would love to hear from you.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Trying to Get Back to Quilting

Hi Everyone,

It is Friday, so we have been living here two weeks now, and I still haven't done any sewing!  I'm beginning to get disappointed in myself, but in all fairness, I have been busy doing other things.  Also, I had a few impediments that I will share with you.

I set up my sewing area last week.  I will sew on a "church table" along the wall of our "dining area" here in our one bedroom apartment.  As I unpacked things, I discovered that the only cutting mat I brought was this one:


It is a 12" x 18" mat! What on earth was I thinking when I packed this?  It would work if I was making a miniature quilt, but I have large quilts to trim so that I can bind them.  I'm guessing that what I was thinking was that this mat fit into the bag I was packing.  It won't do though, so I went to the store and bought this:


An 18" x 24" mat.  Never mind that I have 3-4 more of that size in my stuff-where ever  it is right now in storage.  It just about killed me to have to buy this!  Ah well, maybe I can donate it somewhere later when I'm settled.  (Yes, the picture is crooked, sorry about that.)


With the mat issue settled, my next hurdle was that my ironing board was in my sister's garage.  I kept forgetting to get it when we were over there, but finally I remembered to get it last weekend.  Now I'm all set up and have no excuses except that I've been busy doing other things this week.

Wednesday was my niece's first day of school.  With my sister out of town, she spent the night before with us and I took her.  Right now we live just 2 blocks or so from her school.  When she got dressed, her uniform skirt was crumpled, so I set up my ironing board (for the first time,) unearthed my iron, got out the Best Press, and ironed her skirt.  It felt good!  I really need to get going on a project!


First Day of Third Grade (with a starched skirt.)

I have the makings of several easy projects with me.  I have the patterns and fabrics for both a full-sized Swoon quilt and the mini version.  I also have my Hampton Ridge quilt kit with me that I'm excited to make as well as a few other kits.  Kits seemed like a great thing to bring since the pattern and needed fabric is all complete.  As previously mentioned, I have several large quilts that came back from the long-armer and the binding all ready to go on them.

I don't usually have any problems getting motivated to quilt, so this feels a bit strange.  I think it is just the upheaval and distractions of house hunting and the dreaming of gorgeous paint colors that is keeping those creative juices fulfilled for the moment.  However, the ironing helped get me motivated.  So does reading other quilt blogs.  I need to get out my fabric and start touching it.  If that doesn't help, there may be no other choice for me but to go to some quilt shops!  What tips do you have to share about how you get motivated to quilt?  I would love to hear them!

Have a great day!
JoAnne

9 comments:

  1. Yes, I think you should check out the quilt shops in your new community. That will get you in the mood to quilt!

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  2. Glad you are getting sort of settled in :) I think a trip to a quilt shop is a must! I don't usually have any trouble - I'm always in the mood to quilt. But blogs, books, fabric petting, and a quilt shop (or two) visit should do the trick!

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  3. I come home from quilt shops feeling guilty that I bought more fabric that I don't need!
    I like to do a Google image search for a particular pattern I am interested in making, and see all of the different versions out there. That usually gets me eager to get stitching.
    No I don't search on the black hole site known as Pinterest, but the Google search often takes me to Pinterest pages, so what is the point? I just get the satisfaction of saying I don't browse on Pinterest. : )

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  4. I can totally understand not being too motivated to sew when you have unpacking, organizing and just general "settling in" to accomplish! It sounds like you have done a lot in two weeks--hope you get your mojo back soon!

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  5. I love to watch tutorials and browse through books (in addition to quilt shop visits, of course). I put little "stickies" on the pages of quilts that I want to add to my eternally long "bucket list" and sometimes I even DO get around to making those! SWOON is one of my most FAVORITE (yet to be made) quilts. Have you made one already? I am soooooo trying to finish off a few other commitments before I jump into that but every time I walk by the cutting table and see the pattern and FQs there I just want to abandon all reason and go for it. Your niece is adorable. So remember the days of taking care of my sister's kids when she had to work ... we had SUCH fun after school ... as I was the aunt who could never say no! LOL

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  6. Not surprising that you feel somewhat disoriented after such a major move and adjusting to a whole new world. We often feel like a fish out of water without our "normal" sewing setup but being quilters we always find a way. We have been on the road for over a month now and I am grateful for all the handwork projects brought. Spent a little time with my Featherweight too - enjoyed hearing it hum along. Take time to check out your new surroundings!

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  7. I totally understand! When we moved here I went through the same hassles and I wasn't even a quilter then! Good idea bringing the kits with you, hopefully you can get a little done and you feel like You again :-)

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  8. I know what you mean about having a hard time getting motivated to quilt. We can just get caught up in life and all it's distractions so easily. Another issue for me is that my sewing room is in the finished basement but I'm still having a bit of difficulty with stairs after my knee replacements. What has worked to get me going are to things: setting deadlines and just sitting at the sewing machine. Once you get started, you won't have any problem! Happy sewing!

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  9. Your niece is adorable. She had a cute smile for the first day of school.

    I think it is hard to get into the mood to do anything creative when the supplies are just not set up the way we need them to be. At least that is how I feel.

    However, you've relocated many times and are accustomed to making things work. You'll be the swing of things before you know it.

    I've wanted to make Swoon as soon as I saw it a while ago. I couldn't remember where I first saw it until today when Carol sent me to Thimble Blossoms for something else. Happy times two!,

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