Leftovers

Some of you who have been reading my blog for a while now may remember back last summer when I finished this quilt:

It is the free pattern for the Red Rooster fabric line by Jennifer Chiaverini based on her book "The Aloha Quilt."  I remember when the book came out and I eagerly read it, not just because I read her books, but certainly because I had recently moved here to Hawaii.  I did not know anything about the fabric collection, though, until a while later when I saw an ad in a magazine.  By then, it seemed too late.  No internet shops had much of it left.  What really shocked me was that no shop on this island had it, either.  I did find a kit online and ordered it.  That Christmas, we flew back to the mainland and I was in Lally's Quilt Shop in Shipshewana, and there was some of the fabric, including the hard-to-find panel and the outer border fabric.  I used my smart phone to look up the quilt pattern to see what I needed.  I found other fabrics to match, and bought some more.  After I got home, I put it with the kit (I still hadn't started it) and waited. 

One day I was browsing on an internet quilt shop, one that carries "discounted" fabrics, and lo and behold, there was quite an assortment of the Aloha Quilts fabric.  I ordered some that I didn't have and some more for backings.  When it came I got everything out and started.  When I got done I had these:

I finished four of the quilts.  I knew they may be popular here for gifts--not only from me, but to sell for others, maybe.  I also have 2 more pieced center star units which I did not make into quilts.  I packed up all the leftover bits and pieces in a box and stuck it in my closet.

Fast forward to last week.  I had finished various smaller projects and turned towards my list/pile of unstarted projects and yet nothing appealed to me.  Do you ever have that problem?  You have a pile of things to do that you have wanted to do for so long/have in fact bought necessary things for those projects, and then when it comes time, nothing screams "do me next?"  So I tidied up a bit and looked around.

My eyes rested on the box of leftovers.  I had shared some of the panel "blocks" with some friends, and even used some to cover journals for my Bee Christmas gifts.  I had learned when I lived in Alaska, that after I moved away, I never made any more "Alaska" themed quilts, so I got the box out and went through it.  Inside was this pattern which I had found in my searches for more fabric.  I looked over my fabric and determined that I had enough to make it, although I made it one row shorter. 

During consturction I got a chance to use the Fit To Be Geese ruler and the Square In A Square Ruler which I love but haven't been able to use much since I got them.  I can emphatically recommend them! 
I mostly did this on Saturday, International Quilting Day.

It just needs to be quilted, now.

When I finished, I picked up all the leftovers and put them in the box....   Don't you wish that fabric "came out even" at the end of a project?

Aloha,

JoAnne



More quilts and a burnt out lightbulb

This morning I got up and went downstairs and turned on the lamp under which I read and stitch while I watch tv.  (Yes, I do read and watch tv at the same time.)  The lightbulb promptly burned out.  I immediately got resentful.  In this house, changing lightbulbs is my husband's job just as if a button comes off his shirt, sewing it back on is my job.  We can both easily change a bulb or sew on a button, but he is the "expert" in electricity, ladders, etc., and I am the "expert" in sewing, needles, etc.  I quickly and easily changed the bulb myself but I was still resentful.  Not that I had to do it, but because when living through a deployment, the "missing" and the "hardship" etc. settles down to an annoyance level.  Like static on a radio station.  Over time, you learn to put up with it.  Big things happen, too, sometimes, like the car breaks down or someone gets hurt and it would be nice to have that partner to help out, to lean on.  But I have learned to expect those big events, and they are usually so fraught with frustration and other strong feelings, that I am focused on problem solving.  To me, the hard things are those little things, like a burnt out bulb or a centipede in the house (ok, maybe that isn't such a small thing) that make me resentful because it is like Life saying "ha ha ha ha ha, your husband is deployed!" Yep, life taunted me and I was resentful.  Until I remembered that I'm no ordinary wife.  I'm an Army wife!  So I stuck out my tongue at Life and said, "Yea, well, up your nose with a rubber hose!"  I feel better now.

Yesterday I worked on finishing machine quilting another quilt and hand sewing binding.  Again.  Still.  I did so while watching "Waking the Dead." on Netflix.  "Waking the Dead" is a British crime show sort of like combining Cold Case Files and CSI.  I like watching British crime shows because they seem to have writers who do not copy other show's plots and are not always predictable.  In otherwords, there is occasionally a plot twist that I didn't already figure out 10 minutes into the show.  Waking the Dead episodes also seem to be in two parts, so two hours allow for more plot development.  But since this is a mostly quilt-related blog, let's get on to the quilts:

Anyone out there read this book?

I did!  It was out last summer, but it wasn't until fall that I discovered that the author, Jennifer Chiaverini, had designed a fabric line for Red Rooster based on the book.  So a fabric line came out featuring Hawaiian quilts/quilting and no quilt shops in Hawaii carried it or knew about it?  Hmm, and I was surprised when one local shop went out of business... 
Red Rooster also has a free pattern for a quilt using this fabric.  You can find it here.  I liked it and set about searching for the fabric, but had trouble finding all I needed online.  I finally found a kit and a place to order some extra border and panel fabric (the panel features the stamped/stenciled looking hawaiian quilt patterns) so I got them.  Then at Christmas time I was on the mainland and in a quilt shop in Shipshewana, I discovered more border and panel fabric.  I passed it up at the time, but while over at the Blue Gate, eating chicken and noodles (is is an experience like none other--trust me) I decided that I could go back and get some more and use the opportunity to match other fabrics (not in the line, since the shop didn't have those) to the border and panel so I could make additional quilts other than the kit I got which makes one.  I knew those quilts would be popular here.  So after finishing my lunch, but skipping the pie (a huge mistake but I was way too full) I went back and using my smartphone, figured out what I needed and how much. 

So early this year I started.  I made 6 center medallions and then something interferred.  Maybe a deployment?!  And I put them away.  I got them back out a month ago and finished.  Here is how one looks:

But I didn't stop there.  I made three more.

Two are completely finished (with hanging sleeve and everything!) while I still am stitching binding on the other two.  So now I'm off to watch more British television and stitch under my bright new lightbulb!

Aloha,
JoAnne