I didn't do much quilting last night - but I did do a lot of pondering about quilting, especially thread color. And I took some photos of what's what with the current in-progress quilt, so here they are:
I have been thinking the past few weeks that the summer is flying by and that means that the end of the year started on September 11, 2001 is not far off. Does that seem possible? On the one hand, like all huge life-events, it seems large and looming and very near. On the other hand, it seems like it must have happened a forever ago.
How is it possible that it's almost a year ago already? Is it really possible that almost a year ago I was heading up to Brant Lake to calm my head and thoughts and came home to a changed world where the airport was closed and grief was newly defined?
is this too funny for words or WHAT? Don't you just want one of your own? Of course you do! (thanks to The MAD HADDers for the revelation! - also available at Archie McPhee
Written at:
7/25/2002 08:22:00 AM
Thursday already! I finished the quilting on the first side/edge of the new quilt and will start the other side tonight. Looks like I'll have to wind another few bobbins, since I'm working on the last of the first nine I'd wound. And yes, I've been doing some unstitching here and there. I'll go back tonight and see if there are any problem areas that I can find.
Huge rain storm today, which dropped the temperature a bit. It also took out some trees and washed away some shoulders from what I could see on the way home. Obviously the power has been off here at home and has blipped once since I got here. Thank goodness for batteries!
If I could do it, I'd do no writing at all here. It would be photographs; the rest would be fragments of cloth, bits of cotton, lumps of earth, records of speech, pieces of wood and iron, phials or odors, plates of food. -- James Agee
On a different note, I was trying to do some quilting late tonight and finally I thought - this is one of the goofiest things ever, trying to quilt on a night when it has be 80+F and it's 11 PM eastern time. Go to bed. Of course I didn't do that exactly. I came down here and played on the computer awhile.
Written at:
7/23/2002 01:39:00 AM
I am live and in person. The clean install and the moving of files has gone VERY well and it fixed my firewire port problem. So yeah! I'm back in business and I'm busily moving all my files either onto the clean and tidy HD, nice clean blank CDs or into the welcoming trash.
Hmmmmm this is my normal modus operandi for heavy cleaning of the household variety too -- move everything in a room out to a different space. Throw some of it away. Put some of it into new storage. Put a small bit of it back into the regular spaces.
All of this is temporary of course, since things seem to migrate back together, or new stuff fills the voids of the tidy space. Just proof that nature abhors a vacuum.
I was computer-less yesterday. I decided to go ahead and do a clean install of the operating system in hopes of fixing a hardware issue I've been having. I had an offer of help for this that I couldn't pass up. so right now I'm typing on Ron's G4. I'll be back on my own machine later today after getting all my own stuff (and there's lots of it!) back on the machine and in working order again. Should be exciting! If the hardware problem is resolved I'll be backing up a lot of files and getting them off the hard drive for good, but for now they're vacationing on the G4.
Wow - talk about flashbacks to my youth! Yes, I was "there" when this happened.
This was an event in family history as well - a rare appearance of television at Brant Lake where my parents have a summer place. Deemed worthy of watching no matter what.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
On a banking note - here's a place you can calculate the worth and create an inventory of US Savings Bonds. who knew?
Written at:
7/18/2002 08:13:00 PM
Whew it's hot! And humid. I'm a wet rag. Ran around today (day off) doing mostly banking errands, which is pretty unexciting stuff interrupted by savored moments of air conditioning. Guess banks have good points in that department. Gotta keep the cash cool.
Meanwhile, on the quilting front, I'm getting to know my seam ripper pretty darn well. It sort of goes with the territory that if you're doing smaller quilting, it's easy to get into a situation where there's too much unquilted area to ease in or quilt down between two points. The sad news is that you have to take out a larger area than you might expect to correct the problem. The good news is that it's almost always 100 per cent fixable if you take the time to do it.
My third 8-5 day this week coming up tomorrow. That's about 4 too many in a single 7 day period, LOL - my first one (of four) was last friday.
All of you worried about my sleeping habits.... take heart in the fact that I'm so tired I can barely keep my head up. SO! Being a rational person and because I have to get up at an ungodly hour tomorrow, I will indeed go to bed now. I did manage to drive home, make a quick dinner and then quilt a bobbin's worth on this quilt. But now I can barely keep my eyes open. Sleeeeeeeep, you're getting sleeeeeeeeeeeeepy. yeah yeah yeah - where's the pillow?
I made good progress in the center of the quilt last night and was rewarded with many hours of sleep. Woke up at my normal time, got up and turned the alarm off and went back to sleep. Is there anything better than that? I always like that first look at last night's work and I'm liking it this morning. I also added more stitching to the July Journal Quilt last night and am happier with it. As I'm quilting around those little orange and red triangles I am reminded of my first Sept.11 quilt. This quilt is definitely next in that line. Sometimes when I see it hanging it seems full of light and what I might see in the local woods. Other times, it seems all about smoke and pain.
The America From The Heart book that Mom's, Sue's and my quilt are in is going into its third printing. The publisher is probably breathing a huge sigh of relief. Our second shipment is due any day now for people who ordered them at our show. Those quilts continue to tour and info about when and where can be found here
Written at:
7/14/2002 12:23:00 PM
I know it seems like I must be manic at the moment, but tonight I:
cleaned off my sewing tables (ok, again)
cleaned my sewing machine (cleaned, oiled, replaced the needle etc)
wound nine bobbins with a beautiful green thread
and so far, I've managed to quilt about 1.5 square feet of quilt.
Usually I have to work at keeping my spirals and designs large enough - I'm not worrying about this too much here. It's not likely that I'll be making a half inch spirals anytime soon. But this is smaller scale quilting than I've done in the past. Wheeeeeee!
Thanks for the comments -- I appreciate it. Nothing like a little outfield chatter to let you know that there are people out there watching and thinking about what you're doing.
Good news today -- my thread arrived via priority mail. Whooo hooo! Go Fabric loft of new england! and thanks! Now I can start serious quilting on my quilt (see below).
Written at:
7/13/2002 05:27:00 PM
Because the center portion of this quilt is open, and because for exhibit it might be better to put something behind it (rather than seeing the black sleeve back there) I tried different colors behind the open work: red, green, and black velvet Journal quilt photos updated here
I'm working on my July Journal quilt while waiting for a shipment of threads to arrive from the Fabric Loft of New England I ordered very late last night and it's supposed to be on its way Priority Mail. Last time I ordered from them, it was there literally the next day. Always nice to get that little package with yummy threads. I needed something to go with the light khaki color thread I chose for the top.
I'm pleased with the july journal quilt so far but it's too wet to know how it will be "in real life." Let's just say it involved all my thread clippings from the past week's quilting (pink, pink, pink) and some solvy.
Now -- all you people who are visiting here -- how about leaving a comment for all this free entertainment? yes you! I know you're there because I see you on my counter. Let's hear a little chatter out there.
I'm quilting! I'm quilting! whooo hoooo! I almost feel like typing -- I'm Fllllllllyyyyying! Feels great, can you tell?
I have about half the ninepatch quilt's center quilted. That's very slow going, trying to created a repetitive pattern, being careful where the patterns meet etc.
I was rooting around in my memory for a title for this quilt. It's unusual for me not to have at least a working title, but darned if I could remember anything and there was nothing written down. Mystery solved -- when I went back to find an in progress photo (back to March 31st btw), there it was: Reflection and Echo. Hmmmm Not sure that's more than a working title. Time will tell.
As a special bonus - here's a photo of my Mom's quilt using the Quiltmaker's gift fabrics. HER machine quilting is wonderful and really makes this quilt. All the stars and squiggles you see, especially in the black areas are indeed quilting! Good job Mom!
My quilt got linked over there for which I'm grateful for being momentarily famous! It's almost as exciting as the fact that said quilt got sold while hanging at the Vermont show.
Tonight I didn't have to work as late as expected, so I came home and managed to clean off my sewing table in preparation for quilting. Yes, the temperature broke last night. Felt good to wake up this morning with the cover tucked in around my chin and a few cats wandering around saying "lady - it's cold, don't you think? lady - would you like to snuggle with me? I'm warm and furry, remember?" Or something like that, LOL.
Anyway, I'm hoping to get some serious sewing machine time this weekend! What are your plans?
Here's a view of my quilt The View From Here, taken while hanging at the Vermont Quilt Festival. Lots of interest in it and nice things said about it by lots of people. Detail shot here.
We had a wonderful time at the show. Mom and I enjoy the quality time together. The quilts were phenomenal, both the contest quilts and the special exhibits. If you get Quilters Newsletter Magazine, the recent articles by Nancy Halpern about the "Pioneers" was brought to life by an exhibit of 60 quilts by people who really were pioneers in the revival period of quilting. It was fabulous. Came home with a modest amount of fabric, 100 more small squares for my new quilt and lots of good memories.
