Practice Makes Perfect??

Today I went to an on-going needle-turn applique class at my favorite LQS taught by a lovely lady named Zita. After ripping out the centers of my flowers in Forever Flowers, Block One, I tried again with her help. She taught me how to do tiny stitches and to stay on the line as I turned the fabric under and that I needed good light and that I needed to Practice, Practice, Practice....Hummmmm.......... where I have I heard that phrase before---well, in just about everything I have ever tried from piano playing to pie crust making!!!!!

We don't like to hear that do we? We want to be able to do everything right away and do it well, but I could see an improvement in my stitches as I worked this afternoon---in just 2 hours time, so I know she's right. And of course, being a mother how many times did I tell my kids the same thing....what goes around comes around, I guess!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Pumpkins in August???

Yesterday at Tuesday Sit N Sew several of us were picking out orange fabric for pumpkin quilts even though the heat index hovered around 100+ degrees. Made me feel a little bit cooler to think fall thoughts!

Here is one of the finished pumpkins and the fall leaves to go with my pumpkins. Every time I do paper pieceing, I think "never again," but I always find something else that I like that's paper pieced and this pattern on my Quilt Wizard was no exception. So after tweaking it to my liking, I trudged forward and did the paper pieced pumpkins and once again after doing one said, "Never again!" and I still have 4 left to do. I did learn now to do freezer paper paper piecing once in a class, but it's all the same idea, ya know??!!

But it's good that we all have likes and dislikes in the quilting world because otherwise who would buy all the boatloads of notions and diverse array of fabrics? Who would try all the variety of techniques and actually prefer to do paper pieceing or applique (you know who you are, Sheryl!!) I know I prefer just plain old piecing and am happiest doing that, but find fun wandering into the forest of "other" techniques every now and then--just for fun and something to "blog" about!!!!

PS to this post: I have added this again today because I had trouble with the blog yesterday and today, so I am sorry I lost my comments from you from Wednesday. I apologize for this. Hopefully this will be the last of the problems!!!!!

Jan

Boot Scootin' Boogie

Just finished this quilt for my 4 year old grandson, Evan, to hang in his room. It is a pattern from an old Fons and Porter magazine. Fun to do. My husband, Maynard quilted it and I just finished the binding on it this afternoon. I'm not a Country Western music fan, but just might try some line dancing if I had a pair of boots like this--ha ha!!! I like to listen to light Classical music Bach and Handel and some of those types especially. To each his own--right? But every now and then , it's fun to turn the radio on and listen to the old rock and roll music from the past and get into a "rhythm" while free motion quilting--it does help you to relax and enjoy what you are doing and that's what it's all about--right? ----enjoying what you are doing!!!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!
Jan

Truly Tulips Finished!

Block 2 of Forever Flowers is called "Truly Tulips" and I finished this one today. This one even has a pretty little butterfly for an added effect! Now I am one day ahead of this BOM--what a good feeling! I pick up the next one on Tuesday at the LQS.

Now to do some hand quilting on a big quilt that I have been working on for quite awhile--hand quilting is very therapeutic in my mind--you can think about other things and you can think about how your grandma used to do this and you can transport yourself back to a different time and place if you want. We talk about the "good old days", but I for one, would NOT want to be without my air conditioning, microwave and nice car, not to mention my good washing machine and dryer, plus there's lots of other things we could name. Maybe we miss the company of friends and family and the slower pace of life,---but are those things really totally impossible now,---- I wonder????

Anne's Sunshine!

Today I finished the top of this quilt for my daughter, Anne. It's from the April Cornell collection called "Sunshine." The original pattern is from Suzy's in Garland, Texas called "Stars and More." I made it half the size of the original pattern. The fabric was such fun to work with --besides being soft and easy to handle, the colors made me happy as I worked with them.

It didn't turn into a "What was I thinking" or "why did I start this" type of quilt as some have in the past! Maybe that's why we have an unfinished pile or UFO's---we start something with good intentions and really love what we are doing, but then something better comes along and off we go down another "rabbit trail" following another bright idea until our pile of UFO's is bigger than what we want it to be--oh dear, how did that happen?

Now we feel over whelmed. This is what has happened to me and now I want things to be DONE and I've forgotten how to enjoy the journey. Really it's okay if things aren't done, what's the hurry anyway, unless you do really and truly have a deadline, why not just enjoy the process???!

Mission Accomplished!

It does feel good to accomplish a goal and I accomplished two today--finished the BOM for Thimbleberries for this quarter (still have part to do though) and completed the block for the first Forever Flowers. Hopefully the second one will not be such a long drawn out process--or I won't make it such a long process this time!!!!! Sometimes I do that--make mountains out of molehills and then wonder why in the world did I do that?--it was such a simple thing and I made it so hard....I wonder how many other folks do that with any task at hand?

Now my next Misson to Accomplish is getting supper on the table....sigh!!!!!!!!

Lost in the Cornfield

"Lost In The Cornfield" was hung up today on my seasonal wall and I thought I would share it with you. It's a good one for this time of year because the corn is so high and growing so well in most parts of the country. But it also has another meaning for me as well--SLOW DOWN!!!!!! These little chicks are in a big hurry don't you think? They end up running in circles, which is what we so often find ourselves doing--so much that we meet ourselves as we turn the corner. I had this quilt hanging in my office when I worked in Medical Records at a nursing home and called it "Lost In Medical Records". It seemed fitting since there was always so much paper work in medical records and at times it seemed overwhelming as so often life can seem overwhelming, too.

Maybe that's why I find quilting to be such a "pieceful" undertaking--it is broken down into little pieces--sure we look at the end goal and see the whole, but we break it down into little pieces to actually do it and therein lies the key--taking the little parts to make the whole--as maybe we should for life perhaps?