Jury Duty

What can I say about jury duty?  I spent an entire day at it this Monday, and it provided a good deal of quiet time!  I took a volume of the complete novels of Jane Austen and a bag containing the supplies required for finishing up the green-on-white Ti Leaf quilt block that I began nine months ago, during a family trip to Hawaii.  It was my first attempt at hand applique, and, thanks to the time I spent sitting on a bench in the courtroom with little else to do, that part is now complete.

I think my applique abilities improved over time, though I do not consider the work worth bragging about.  I like how the outside edges worked, but not the inside ones that were just snipped straight down:  they left little room to turn and little fabric to stitch down.  My stitches, though nicer than the ones on the inexpensive offerings at the flea market, are neither teeny nor invisible.  But I'd like to try it again sometime.

The question that remains is:  What shall I do with it?  The block is only about 20 inches square.  Should I put something else with it and make a somewhat larger wall hanging, or just quilt it and frame it?

Eight in One Blow

This began in December, just when everyone is itching for yet another project!  I had been serving as an Activity Day leader with Kara, and we traded off teaching the bi-monthly lessons.  This means, of course, that each of us took a turn teaching the six girls in the group once a month, attending and supporting the other during her turn.

For this project, I assembled eight quilt kits.  These included fifteen pre-stitched blocks, half of which were intentionally designed with clear spaces in the centers for the girls to write kind messages to one another.  Kara helped me with the last of these, and by the December activity the blocks and the backings for each quilt were ready for the girls to choose from.  We made eight so each girl would have choices!

Only four of the girls would attend.  The other two have never yet seen their quilts; one of them moved away shortly thereafter.  Each girl selected one or two colors of Sharpie that coordinated with her quilt kit and wrote her name on one of her blocks, then we rotated around the room to write our observations of the good qualities of the other girls on one of each girl's quilt blocks.  Surprisingly, this took a long time.  We had had a short opening exercise and we had a story afterwards, and we went over the hour that is allotted for our activities.

The following month's activity was a success.  We set up five sewing machines and worked with the girls as they organized their blocks into rows and stitched them together.  This was a new experience for each of the three girls who attended.  One girl, whose older sister is taking a sewing class at school, was enthusiastic about her progress and continued to remark on how much fun she was having and how good she was at sewing.  She begged to continue working on into the night!  Another girl, who had literally been dragged to the activity by her friend and who refused to participate until the others were engrossed in their own work, seemed very frustrated as she worked to arrange the blocks.  She was unable to get any sewing done before the time ran out. Yet, the following day, she reported to another friend (with an unheeded injunction "not to tell" the first friend) that she had had a great time!  You never know.

During the course of February, I tried unsuccessfully to get each of these three girls over to  my house to work with them on the stitching.  We decided to postpone tying the quilts until March's activity to allow them time to finish sewing the blocks together.  I used my February lesson to teach about modesty and personal style and image instead.


As the March activity approached, the quilts were not any more complete than they had been two months before.  Aunt Elizabeth's gift complete, I dragged out all of the parts to this project and gave them a temporary home on the parlor floor.  It was overwhelming, particularly since I had sick children.  I cut out strips for all of the borders, then tackled the sewing.  When Kara called with an offer to help, I confess I felt badly about it, but I accepted her kind assistance.  As she assembled three quilt tops, I finished the rest with a light heart and a glimmer of hope for the end of the project. 

By this time, our leaders had decided to change the program and had released us from this assignment, so tying these quilts was to be our last activity with the girls.  The project turned out to have been ideally timed, as it provided an opportunity for the girls to work with their old leaders and their new ones, offering needed continuity.  Additionally, the two extra quilts were required after all:  another girl moved into the neighborhood, and the birthday of a younger girl moved her into the group!  There was something for everyone.


Were the quilts completed?  According to the rules of this project, Yes.  Ends of two of them had to be stitched during the activity (while everyone was busily tying the two we sent home with their owners), but they were bound and are in the possession of the new leaders.  Two of my daughters attended the activity with us and added extra pairs of hands to the labor.  They also took photographs that day, to document the design and the activity.


The rest is a bit of a frustration about this blogging business:  I have tried three times before now to document this activity, and have had difficulties editing posts.  My computer died during my last attempt to insert photographs into the last set of text (which I have had to delete and write again), so we have been (and continue to be) without one.  And all of those pictures?  They shall have to be included another day, when we find a solution to the problem.

Binding Matters

Thursday morning was spent visiting and handstitching green pin-dot binding onto a quilt that my sister-in-law just finished for her oldest daughter.  It is lovely, constructed of 1930's prints on a cream background and featuring pieced tulips in pink.  It spent the past couple of weeks at the home of our husbands' parents, where many family members quilted on it.  What a happy day for her to have it finished!  The little girl's two sisters have matching quilts, so the set is complete --- for at least a month, until their new baby is born.

The bindings for the first two quilts (not shown in the photographs) matched the yellow or blue checked backings, and were identical prints (except for the color, of course). Tiny white silhouetted birds and vines softened the buttercup and deep sky backgrounds.  They were straight cut and went on quickly, without a hitch.  They will communicate that the quilts are a set.  I mailed the quilts Friday, before lunch; they should have arrived today.

The children were home from school for the past couple of days; I did little with this project.  But a minor marathon looms around the corner of the weekend....

Two Down: Fifty to Go.

The second quilt was stipple quilted in less than an hour.  The back looks good and I even had a few feet of thread to spare.

I know why these took so long to finish:  I decided that I don't really like everything about them, and wish I had done things differently.

What does that mean?  I would rather that the little blue squares were not there; that the hearts looked like they were just floating along in a sea of white.  While I am partial to the fabric used for the small green border on the second one, I think the project would have looked better if I had chosen something blue, to bring out the blue flowers in one of the fabrics inside the quilt.

My motto, which has gotten at least one frustrated perfectionist through the process of learning to quilt, has long been:  Each quilt is practice for the next one.  These patterns will probably be used again, and certainly the principles will come in handy in other situations.  I need to look longer and more carefully, before installing a border.  And I plan to keep going, even when there is an "ugly stage" to the current project.  It seems like there usually is an ugly stage.

Now it's time to make a visit....

Make a Start!

Yesterday I began a list of the projects that needed my attention.  It quickly grew to the point that it got out of hand; it became so discouraging that I quit writing and went to the parlor closet to see just how bad things were! As I began to pull bags of partially-complete quilts from the closet, I realized that what I needed was a strategy of attack.  I held out the most urgent and closed the door.

The first two quilts were begun nearly two years ago, after a visit to my father's aunt.  Aunt Elizabeth has always held a cherished place in his heart, and she has become beloved to me as well.  As a child, I enjoyed each visit to her house, for she had a swing indoors, as well as a smile that didn't stop.

Aunt Elizabeth's kitchen and nearby sitting room are fresh and crisp in white, yellow, and blue.  For her quilt tops, I mostly used fabrics that I already had, including greens (my favorite) and primarily utilizing 30's and 40's style prints.  The quilts are small, about the size of a crib quilt --- just the right size for a naptime or board game snuggle.

These two came out of the cupboard with their gingham, flannel backings already folded neatly with the tops.  They needed batting cut and they still need something for the binding, but otherwise they were ready.  I pressed them, cut some batting, then pinned them together.  Within two hours, the first was machine quilted.  This includes the time my eight-year-old and I spent picking out little lumps that happen when the backing bunches up in little places (I haven't yet figured out how to completely avoid this).  While I cannot yet consider that this is done, according to my definition of complete, two hours was a small price to pay for progress!  And the other one is also pinned and ready to go!  Aunt Elizabeth, of course, hand quilts everything and these are just machine stippled, but they are not worth being embarrassed over.  I hope to finish them up this week and take a drive through the canyon to deliver them to her.

The Big Idea

I guess this idea has been a long time in coming, but it arrived today.  I have accepted the challenge from myself to finish fifty-two quilts this year.  It is already a week into March, I know, but I think it will be possible.  And it may well be essential.

As a long-time collector of fabric, I always think of myself as a quilter.  I have dozens of projects started, and for many others I have a complete --- or nearly complete --- collection of ideas and materials assembled to accomplish what I have in mind.  But the only person who is even a little impressed with this stuff is me.  As long as the creativity is only expressed in my mind, nobody else can appreciate it. 

Frankly, my family is not enjoying this "hobby", and neither is anyone else for whom these generous projects are supposedly planned!  The fabric storage is bursting at its seams, and I continue to think that I need to acquire more fabric to "finish" projects that are not really even begun.  I don't just want to be an idea gal; I need --- and want --- to become a Finisher.

So here it is:  Starting today, I shall work to finish fifty-two quilts this year.  These projects may be of any size, but the edges must be bound or otherwise finished in order to be counted as complete.  Quilts may be tied, hand quilted, or quilted by machine.  They may be kept or donated; given as gifts within or without my family; hung or draped or folded in the car for emergencies.  But they are to be completed by January 1 of 2012.  Projects that I help my children complete shall, for the purposes of this count, count.

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle the progress of the project, and to share photos of the finished quilts.  I confess that I have done poorly at recording life through photos, so this will require figuring out a way to take pictures and post them.  I recognize that all of this will require discipline, because the other responsibilities of life will not just get away and let me take all the time I need to do this:  I still have laundry and dishes and shopping and chauffering for my family, and I still have two little boys at home with me during the days.  My college classes will still require attention, as will the assignments from Marie for her website.  But I have hope that it will help me to clear out the clutter and to organize and beautify my life --- and the lives of others around me.  I think it will.