On behalf of the 50 or so people who visit here daily and the handful who leave comments, a little update. I've got the binding on deadline #2 and the sleeves are made.
While making the sleeves there were approaching thunderstorm warnings posted so I took advantage of the few hours of sun that we'd had and mowed the "back 40". OK, it's more like a "back half" but that doesn't sound so good does it? Anyway, it's gotten the first big whack of the year. Would have happened sooner but that darn rain!
In other news, there will be fresh bread today and tomorrow as new batches of Pain au Levain and Vermont Sourdough are busy doing their thing in the kitchen.
You'd think that baking bread would be a good mix with quilting, but probably not for this choppy stuff at the end of a project. Every time I was making progress upstairs the timer would go off indicating time for a fold or two of dough downstairs. Oh well. It all works out in the end.
Off to do a quick tick check, quick shower and then should be time to pop the first loaves in the oven. Oh and put the sleeves on the quilts. Then it's all hand sewing.
Thursday night I decided enough was enough. The slides were good of my "I Remember Mama" quilt and I wasn't going to shoot anymore. When I looked up after doing all the entry stuff it had taken the whole evening:
Read through the rules again.
Look at the slides again.
Make labels for the slides and stick them on.
Cut a little twosome of slide holder and put the slides in it.
Look at the slides again.
Copy over the entry form. Read over the "artist statement" and edit it before copying.
Make a copy of that for me to keep.
Address the return envelope and the outer envelope.
Read over the entry instructions again: slides, form, check, photograph - ooops
Print off one of the digitals and trim it to size. Seem to remember that it's just for ID and book keeping so tried not to worry that it wasn't as good as the slides
Put it all into a bubble-wrap sort of envelope and sealed it with packing tape so I wouldn't open it up and look at it anymore.
A whole evening. But done is done. Now it's up to someone else to decide whether it's good enough or right enough for that exhibit.
Oy.
I like the quilt very much with all its words in the background. Beading. Me - I did beading. And best of all it doesn't look like a cheap Woolworth bracelet! LOL - it looks rather subtle like it belongs there. Regardless, I like the results, other people like it and even if it doesn't get into this show, it will be in others.
Did I mention the fluorescent color envelope I always use for the return envelope so I can spot it right away? Oy.
Whew - our guild getaway weekend was this weekend and what a lot of work on many projects got done! Including my own deadline-ridden/driven projects. Got the one completed - my entry for I Remember Mama 2005 is now done. OK, it needs a label, but other than that. It is, as we say, photographable. The other project was quilting and I got a little more than two-thirds of the quilting done. A couple little bloops to fix but it's definitely a LOT further along than it was.
As with all quilting projects, the quilting really changes the piece and I'm glad to say that it was worth procrastinating about it some. I went with two different threads: one for the inner third and a variagated for the two edge thirds. This just reinforces the color arrangements I think and the varigated adds a bit of movement because of the color changes. All good.
Today - back to work on it all so I can be done done done.
I've been so busy trying to get this quilt done that I actually ran out of thread and had to stop yesterday and go get some more. Now that's busy. Not normal thread of course but for beading. Fun but not something I really long to do. I do like how it's coming out though. Sort of subtle but definitely there.
OK - I'm off to do some more. Hope to have some photos soon but finishing and paperwork come first!
On a different note, the trees are really leaping into leaf around here and of course the lawn mowing season leapt it's normal thing - oh it's spring, grass can grow. RAIN. More rain. Grass really grows. Now it's very wet grass. And long. Oh well.
Need a good talking to? Try this from University of Texas, and courtesy of The Occupational Adventure. Sometimes we just need someone to remind us about what we can do better. Curt's always good for some help in that department.
There comes a point in every project where you're ready for it to be done. I've crested the hill on that - I finished the quilting on the piece I'm working on and binding and sleeves lay ahead and then of course photography. Maybe a little beading if time permits. Now that's something I don't say very often.
So tonight I hope to get the sleeves and binding ready and if all goes well, attached so I can proceed with the hand work. That's a great lunch time project.
It's great to be working again, even if all the normal feelings about it aren't quite where they've been in the past. This point is a normal point from my experience, but I was missing some of the stuff that goes before it. I'm not complaining though - I've spent quite a few nights lately parked in front of the Bernina and quilting, slowly, but quilting. And I certainly am liking the results.
It doesn't always happen this way but the quilting has really helped blur the piecing a bit. Maybe not blurred exactly, but blended. Well, you'll see soon enough.
