Progress!!

I had to get out early today to get some labwork done before my annual checkup in May- but once I got home and had something to eat, I went down to the studio and spent the entire afternoon there.  It is now officially a disaster, but I have most of the upper section pieced!

I am loving that orange ribbon 'border', and the zing it adds!  The top will have two more flying geese added to finish it off.  I've figured out the arrangement of the blocks- you can kind of see it here.

It just amazes me how well Margaret Miller's template system using graph paper works.  I've only had to re-do one piece, and that was due to my error.  I found some gridded freezer paper I had dumped in a drawer years ago, and it works great.  I hope I can find more somewhere, I don't even remember where I bought this stuff.  It has made constructing this design, which has all kinds of weird angles, relatively simple.

I will have lots of time next weekend to sew, also.  This is definitely not a quilt top I can sew on after work when I'm brain dead- I really have to pay attention, since I'm making templates and figuring out the sewing order as I go.  Lots of partial seaming, so the quilt I did for my son Ian's girlfriend was a good warm-up for this.  I know what the final destination will look like, but I have not a clue the route I'll be taking to get there.  So I guess that makes this project an interesting combination of structure and improvisation!

I can feel a glimmer of mojo. . .

AWOL

Away without leave, that's where what creative mojo I have has gone.  So I am taking some advice, posted on the Quiltart list- (via a video on You Tube, which I cannot figure out how to do here)

 Do Something

Do Anything

I am working on a quilt.  Not art, not Art- just a quilt.  It's actually one I started on my one and only trip to Asilomar in 2005, in an independent study workshop with Margaret Miller.  I did part of one corner while there, just to be sure I got the process.  Then it sat in a drawer for five years.

It's a sampler, using wonky blocks I got (and made) as part of the one and only time I participated in a Round Robin through the Utah Quilt Guild.  My wonky blocks freaked out some people- some managed to make them, others just threw up their hands in despair.  I wanted to combine bright prints with black and white prints.  So these are some of the blocks-

This is the  corner I managed to get done at the workshop--

 

You can see up at the top where I've started adding more pieces- they still have their freezer paper templates attached.

So I will be playing with this, and maybe sewing more clothes.  I'm enjoying that again, now that I don't need to do all kinds of alterations.

Got to do something to keep my sense of humor and sanity.  We're still cold, barely got into the fifties today.  Yes, I can see green- but I want to feel WARM!!!

A Sense of Humor

I have absolutely no doubt that God has a sense of humor, and He enjoys playing practical jokes on earthly beings.  How else to explain the last couple of days?

Friday was gorgeous, in the low 70's, sunny.  Yesterday was almost as warm, although overcast, and I managed to get out for an hour or so and walk the dog.  I went with Shannon's small camera, hoping to catch signs that spring really is on the way.

I had to look carefully for those signs- as you can see, it is still pretty brown/gray out there.

Look closer, though- there is green on the lawns, and weeds on the riverbank.  The river (creek?) is really muddy, fast, and pretty high on the banks- all a sign that spring runoff in the mountains has started.

A little further down, we saw one woman hanging laundry outside to dry.  Can't do that in bad weather!!

I saw lots of a red seed pod or something on the trail.  Later on, I finally figured out which tree it was coming from.

Along the riverbank, there were some bushes with new leaves showing.

I was happy, spring really does appear to be making her presence known!  Driving home, I had to stop at one garden I photograph every year.  Marjan, the gardener, has gorgeous spring flowers.  Most haven't started to bloom yet, but we saw--

 

Perfect!!  Complementary colors the first to be seen in her garden!  The last best part of the day- I wore sandals all day, and my feet loved it.  They are crying to be out of winter shoes!

I won't even show what I woke up to this morning- at least 6 inches of wet, heavy snow.  Give me a break!!  I haven't left the house, I just can't face the cold and wet.

So I've been down in the studio, altering tank tops so I can wear them this summer without embarrassing myself.  I have another summer top to cut out, and sewing it up shouldn't take long.  Sooner or later, the weather will actually catch up to where my brain and heart are.  Hey, the weather forecast says we should be back at 70 by the end of the week!!