A Few Epiphanies

One definition of Epiphany is: an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure. I noticed that even in the other definitions, it is not stated as pleasant or joyful.  While an epiphany can be a joyous one.  I've had a few this week that were kind of depressing.

Work this week seemed to sap my energy. Partially because my boss was out.  Partially because I started the week being off my usual schedule. Working full time is cutting into my quilting.  I am beginning to wonder if I am every going to put a dent into my projects.  I have come to the realization that as I get older I just don't have the drive that I used to. I get tired way to easy. Part of that is me not taking care of myself like I should.

I had made the decision about 6 months ago that I would work towards making my dream of opening a quilt shop my career choice.  I knew that I would have to continue my current job to pay off some debts first but my focus would not be work.  I would work my 8 hours and go home. I had found work to be a rather hostile environment.  I knew that as long as I focused my energy on that job, I would face constant set backs and disappointments. This helped release a lot of stress for me. I would hear the gossip about me and take the attitude that if the upper management believed it than it was their problem. I would do my job and if they didn't like it they could fire me.  I would still do things to put me in a better position financially but I would no longer treat my job as a career.

One of the Epiphanies I had this week is simply that work isn't going to let me just come in and work 8 hours.  I am not going to be able to just "do my job." I have been given a project at work to head up and am also sitting on a corporate committee to make similar projects happen corporate wide. I did not seek these out. They were handed to me.  I see that I am being groomed to take my boss's place should anything happen to him. Which would be awesome if I weren't 15 years older than him and more than likely I will reach retirement before he goes anywhere. I am not being given the freedom to  just do my job and leave after 8 hours. But I am also not being given compensation to do the extra work either. Which would be fine if I were working on my career. But since my career is build into a quilt shop, this has me a little down and more than a little frustrated.

Another Epiphany was that I am getting very territorial.   I love having a space where I can leave my tools and such out. I just stop where I am at and then I can just pick right where I left off. I don't need to set up my studio every time I want to do something. I love my grandchildren. Emerson is 18 months old. He is all boy and all go.  He loves all the cool things in my studio.  I told my husband that we may have to figure out how to put doors on the studio.  This would not be an easy feat since the whole house is open concept. We thought about gates but well Emerson would just see them as a challenge. He would find a way to use them to his advantage. I don't want my stuff messed with, but I still want my grandchildren to come over. Can't have both the way things are set up right now.

I have been busy squaring up the blocks for the first ribbon dance quilt. There are 336 blocks that need squared up. I have managed to get about 224 blocks squared up.  If I weren't on a deadline, baby coming in June, I would probably have set it aside and started something else.  But I am persevering. I want to get this one and another one done by Christmas at the latest.  It's not that I am bored with it, I just only have so much time and so many projects to get done. Another Epiphany was that I am accumulating more projects and losing sight of the ones I have planned. I need to step back and focus on what I have materials for and just do those.

The last Epiphany was that I am a scaredy cat.  I have not finished quilting the Christmas Lemonade quilt because I am scared to do it. I have started tracing the stars on and just need to switch to the open toe foot. Millie is just waiting for me to start using her.  I always seem to find an excuse not to do it.  I am going to have to set a dead line.  I need to get this quilt finished and off the machine before I have the first ribbon dance quilt ready to go on. Of course as along as it is taking me to get the blocks squared up I will have plenty of time.

So, Three not so pleasant epiphanies this week. Of course, I will just have to find a way to use these realizations to move forward. Not sure how to yet but that is just part of living. Figuring out how to be better.

Any Epiphanies in your world this week?

Good Tools and Better Tools

This week has gone by very fast.  I have not done nearly what I have wanted to.  Work as always has been a hindrance to my quilting. I wonder what it would be like to be financially secure and not have to work. But If I wasn't working, I wouldn't have the money for the long arm let alone, fabric and tools to quilt with. So working is a choice that I have made.  One that I must live with until I have paid down some debt.

Another hindrance, albeit a welcome one, has been the grandchildren.  I am lucky enough to have a couple of grandchildren close by. This week, we got to see them everyday and even had a sleep over.  I am really grateful for this time. I am afraid the reality is that most of my grandchildren don't know me at all.  This time has been good for us to get to know each other.  This too is a choice and one that is easy to make.  They won't be little forever.

Despite these two hindrances, I have done a little bit of quilting. Well mostly squaring up blocks.  In doing this I have found that I am grateful for having good tools.  I have two tools in mind. one is a rotating cutting mat and the other is a squaring up ruler.

I have two rotating cutting mats. One is a Fiskars rotating mat that I bought some time ago.  It is 14 inches square with a 13 inch cutting grid. When I bought it I thought it was ideal. I could easily square up 12 1/2 inch blocks.  I used it for a couple of years but was never really happy with it. It doesn't rotate easily. This is due to the fact that it is simply a cutting mat with a round disk attached to the back. This sits on another mat with a hole in it. It is thin and easily stored but using it is more of a work out than I would like. Still I've held on to it. I keep thinking I will find a use for it. Maybe pass it on to someone else. If nothing else it is a good cutting mat.

Fiskars rotating mat

base of the Fiskars mat

back side of the Fiskars mat

The second rotating mat I have is a Martelli rotating cutting mat.  I bought this about a year ago after seeing it on one of the Missouri Star Tutorials. It is 16 inches round but the useful cutting grid is only about 11 inches. So I am limited in the size of block I can square up. The base is actually a turntable with a felt like covering. This mat rotates easily and squaring up blocks goes quickly.  Mine came with a pressing mat that can be placed on the base instead of the cutting mat. The things is, it is cumbersome to store. I currently store it in the box it came. Once I get my studio the way I want it, I hope to have a cutting table with a drawer to hold it.

Martelli rotating cutting mat

base of Martelli cutting mat

Of the two rotating mats I find the Martelli to be the better choice. If I had to buy one of the two again I would buy the Martelli.

Creative grids 4 1/2 inch ruler

The other tool I have been using is a square up ruler.  I have many of these in multiple sizes. This week I have been using the 4 1/2 inch square.  I have a Creative Grids 4 1/2 inch square ruler that I have used many times. It has a diagonal line to help line up the block. It also has gripping dots on the back.  This ruler works well and I love it. The gripping dots keep it stable. Plus I can use it for cutting smaller sizes. It is a great tool.

I also have a 4 1/2 inch half square triangle Block-Loc ruler. This is a really nifty little tool. It has a little groove down the back that allows the ruler to be pushed up against the diagonally seam. This insures that the diagonal seam is centered.  This ruler is fun to use. It can be used for blocks smaller than 4 1/2 inches. The things is, I don't think it would work very well for other types of blocks. It really is only meant for half square triangle blocks.

4 1/2 inch Block-Loc ruler

back side of the Block-Loc ruler

 So if I had to pick one of the two rulers to buy, I would pick the Creative Grids ruler.  It is far more versatile. I do like the Block-Loc ruler. I would buy it again since I do a lot of half square triangle blocks.  I just feel it is a one trick pony. It would be fine to buy once you have a good set of other squaring up rulers.

This week I will be doing more squaring up of blocks and using my nifty tools.  I have barely made a dent in my pile of blocks. But a little each day is better than none.

What tools dis you sue this week that you really like?

 

Two Weeks Gone, Grand Kids and Connections

I can't believe I missed blogging last week.  I just don't know where the time went.  Well, maybe I do.  It has been harder to get out of the office after 8 hours a day this week. I have a new project at work that I need to make happen in the next two months.  On top of that, I have two grand kids living nearby for the first time ever.  So I am very busy.  But I have done some quilting.

First of all I decided what to do on the borders of the Christmas Lemonade quilt. I am tracing the stars onto the borders and will quilt then. If you look closely you can see the white star.  I need to change my hopping foot to the open toe foot so I can see to follow the lines.  But I did figure out what I want to do and have gotten started on doing it.

I also have started working on the Ribbon Dance quilts.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I am using 5" squares instead of 10" squares since I already have those.  I had 4 packs of Toy Chest 2 by Riley Blake and 4 packs of Micheal Miller's Cotton Couture in white. 

I am rather disappointed in the white squares. I was shocked to see that the edges were not straight and that the squares were not square.  These were not some cheap squares I picked up in a bargain bin somewhere. These were premier fabric and I am not pleased with it. I was also surprised that the white squares were noticeably smaller than the Toy Chest 2 squares.

But I did get all 336 squares sewn together.  I even got them cut apart and started pressing them. I will have to square them up and hopefully I will be able to square them up to 4 1/2 inches. But I am looking forward to sewing these squares into a quilt.

The best part of this past two weeks was coming home to the grand kids at the house.  Rorie, who is 3 years old, pulls up my saddle stool next to my desk, climbs up on it and watches me while I sew.  Or she climbs int a chair next to me and watches while I cut fabric.  She even leaned on the desk and watched as I was pressing to the dark side.  And being the smart little bug that she is, she is asking questions the whole time.

On time while I was cutting the half square triangles, She sat beside me and handed the square to me. We took the time to look at each square. Rorie told me what color each one was and what was printed on it. When her mom tried to get her to go play she wanted to stay next to me.  She said she wanted to help grandma. She even told my husband that she is learning to quilt.  It was very gratifying to have her there by me even if it took twice as long to get things done.  Hopefully these will be good memories that she will treasure.

I never knew my Grandmother Borden, I did get to sew some of her hand work though. She had made some of my parents square dancing clothes. They were amazing. I barely knew my grandmother Thomson but I don't think she sewed much. I am glad that my grand daughter is getting to know me. And I am glad that I can share this hobby with her.

I know that I have grandmothers and great grandmothers who quilted. In fact I have a quilt top that my great grandmother Borden pieced for my mother's seventh birthday. (I really need to get that finished.)  I am sure for those women quilting was a way to "use it up." The quilt top that my great grandmother made, has fabric in it that my mom remembered having dresses out of. Now I don't cut up old clothes or take left over scraps to make my quilts. I buy fabric. I plan out what I am going to do with it. It isn't a way of economizing for me.  Yet still when I sew and quilt I feel like I am connecting to those women.  I hope that in spending time teaching my granddaughter to quilt I am honoring my grandmothers and mother. I also hope Rorie will feel that connection. 

Why do you quilt? Who do you share it with?

Minimal (Okay No) Quilting

This week was not a Quilting week.  I worked very long days all week.  Which in and of itself is not all that unusual.  It happens from time to time. But on top of the very long week, my Husband and I went on an adventure.  Basically we went tourist for a weekend.  We needed some time away to blow off steam and spoil ourselves for a few days.  We went down to St. Augustine, FL. It was a fun few days full of walking, good food, and much needed time together.  We had a great time and spent way too much money. 

We went down without any plans or itinerary. We left after work on Friday. On the way down my husband pointed out a sign for a quilt shop but promptly said we weren't stopping which is fine. Quilt shops are not his thing. Me, on the other hand, I love to wander around and pet fabrics.  But we live in a Quilt Shop desert and I don't get to go to them very often.

We stayed a few miles away from St. Augustine in a little town called Palatka, FL. It was a nice little town with some awesome seafood restaurants. We decided we needed a couple of things so on Saturday morning we went to Walmart. On our way we saw a sign for a blueberry festival for that day. So off we went to the Blueberry Festival. It was a nice small town festival. Afterwards we headed into St. Augustine and did the tourist thing.

Saturday night Kim suggested that I see if there were any quilt shops around. I googled quilt shops and found there is one in St Augustine and one in Palatka. Both closed early on Saturday and were not open on Sunday.  I then googled quilt shops in Jacksonville, FL. There are three in Jacksonville and only one is open on Sunday and only from 12:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Jacksonville was not really on our way home but it wasn't too far out of the way.

Garden Poppies in Blue color way

 So we went to Cinnamon's Quilt Shoppe.  My plan was to get some   inspiration, maybe a pattern or two and a notion or two. The   mistake I made was taking my husband in with me. Almost $400   and an hour later we walked out with our treasures. 

 While browsing Kim pointed out some very pretty fabric.  He told   me I could keep shopping but he knew what he was buying. Yes he   said he knew what HE was buying.  Three of the four fabrics he   picked out were from Free Spirit  by Jacob Phillips for Kaffe   Fassett.

Garden Poppies in pink color way

Succulent

Junebee

The fourth fabric was Junebee by Ink and Arrow. All were big prints and vary colorful.  He had the good sense to get 3 yards of each to make sure I had enough to do something with them. On top of that, they will go very well with some fabric he bought for me in Las Vegas last year.

"lollies" kit

I picked out a few things myself.  I was looking for the pattern of a quilt they had on the wall. They called the quilt "Lollies" and it was made using a "Cake Mix" paper piecing set. It was more than just the cake mix though and they didn't have just a pattern so I ended up buying the kit.








I did select a book and a really cute pattern.  The book is Fat Quarter Quickies by Kathy Brown. I have bunches of fat quarters so a book using them is always a good idea.  The pattern is called Tetris Tumble. It also uses fat quarters and is very cute. I am torn between using primary colors or going with a collection of prints. 

I also selected a couple of fat quarter bundles. One is simply a bright Batik bundle and the other is from a collection called Sea Glass

Sea Glass fat quarter bundle

Bright Batik fat quarter bundle

 

 Lastly I selected a really cute bird print yardage. I think I will probably fussy cut around the birds for block centers.

Now here is the problem. Did I blow goal #4?  I didn't actually buy the fabric. My husband did. I was going after patterns to use what I have.  Hmmm, I say it's a gray area. I am calling it as safe. Kim paid for it with his card and it was part of the adventure. I was just along for the ride and being spoiled. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Seriously though it was a great weekend and I have some more ideas to work with and a few more supplies.  All in all still a good week.

How was your week?

A Pretty Productive Week

This week I feel like I really accomplished some things.  Despite having to work long hours and being sick one day. I got a lot accomplished and learned some thing new along the way.  Even with the grand-babies coming over.

I started out this week by trying to figure out why Quilt Path and Millie weren't talking. Last year when I bought this set up, I was told to let windows update about once a month. Otherwise keep the tablet in airplane mode. Yeah, I never did update the software. I spent most of the week getting the tablet software to update. Then Friday night I finally got the new version of Windows 10 installed and the software updated. Saturday morning, I woke up at 4:00 am despite being up from 3:30 am until 11:00 pm the day before.  I finally gave up on getting back to sleep and got up around 5:00 am. (my son insists it was 4:30 am)  I reinstalled the Quilt Path drivers and I was good to go. When all else fails read the manual. Sometimes I can be as bad as a man when it comes to reading the directions.

Some of the quilting 

I got the center part of the Christmas Lemonade quilted. I didn't get quite how I wanted it. I wanted a panto-graph in the center but not in the borders. I have some space along the edges.
After reading the Thread Waggle Quilting blog, I think I may be able to figure out how to not have that happen again.

Empty space

Now I just need to do the borders. I was going to quilt around a star shaped ruler/template but I am struggling with that. I did find a border pattern that might work but I am not sure how to make that work in quilt path. I think I probably should have designed that before I started quilting. I may have to draw on the border and then quilt freehand.  I will figure it out one way or another.  But this is definitely slowing down the completion of the quilt. But that is okay to because I am learning so much. I know I have made the binding for it. the question is where did I put it? Oh well still plenty of time to find it.

Star Quilt top

Since I was home sick one day, I got to do some more concentrated sewing than I usually would. The top of the star quilt is now done. Yay!!! I really like how it turned out. The colors pop and I am pretty proud of the little star corner stones. I haven't done the back or binding yet. I am toying with using the left over 5 inch squares. cutting them in half and sewing them end to end for the binding. But then again I planned just binding it in the same fabric as the sashing and I think it will frame it the way I want it too. Decisions, decisions! Oh well I will figure it out sometime this week or next. Or maybe just wait until I am ready to quilt it. 

star corner stone

I am not sure how I want to quilt it yet and I really do want to do more of a customized pattern on it.  Which means more time to quilt it. I do have to granddaughter quilts to make before the end of summer. Plus I still have the Christmas Lemonade quilt on Millie.

Speaking of Granddaughter quilts. I have marked the blocks for the first one. I will start sewing it this week. I finally settled on Ribbon Dance. I am using 1930's prints. One bordered in pink and one bordered in lavender. I am kind of excite to get moving on these. 

Plus I finally figured out what to do for my youngest grandson's quilt. I am going to do a Keyhole quilt and use some of the Batik jelly roll strips I have. They are the primary colors so it will be masculine and can grow with him. Yay for using stash items. Then I think I may do the Butterfly Blossom quilt for his older sister. I have the squares for that as well. Lots of quilts planned, now to just execute them. I have more projects than time. 

Anyway that was my quilting week. How did yours go?

Missing Week and Target Practice

Wow it has been two weeks already. Not sure where the last week went. Life continues to be crazy.  Short handed at work. Hubby is in and out of town. And I now have grand-babies living close by.  Which is totally great but wonderfully time consuming. So time just slipped away. 

I did get some things done though.  I mended the slit in the backing for the Christmas Lemonade quilt and it is now on the machine ready to quilt. I have the pattern loaded into QuiltPath and everything.  I just need to get QuiltPath to communicate with Millie.  I don't know what happened but I will be trying to figure that out this week. I would love to get this one finished and figure out who I am going to give it to.

The Nevada Grand-babies quilts are out of the planning stage. I have the fabric picked out to do two Ribbons Dance quilts. I have even started marking the 5 inch squares. Okay, that was only because the power was out and I couldn't sew on other projects. But I did work on a quilt for over 20 minutes even though there wasn't any power. that counts toward the goal. I will need to order some backing material though.  That can wait until the tops are done. 

I also worked on the Star quilt. I sewed the star points on the remaining sashing strips. I was going to put this quilt away but thought I would just lay out the blocks and maybe pre-sash them.  Then it happened. The quilt I was getting bored with became exciting again.  I love how the blocks are looking with the sashing on them. The dark batik sashing makes the colors really pop. I have the first row sewn together and have started the next row. I expect I will finish the top at least before putting the quilt away. I did order the backing fabric for this quilt.  I needed it to finish the quilt so I am still good with the no buying fabric except to finish a project goal.

Speaking of goals,Time for a goal review:

1. Three quilts for family - can be started, especially finish UFO (UnFinished Objects) or NSY (Not Started Yet) - one quilt done for Aliyah. Two more planned and started.
2. Complete three UFO or NSY - can be used for #1 - one down and two more nearing completion
3. Work on something 20-30 minutes each day. Can be sewing, Cutting, Prepping, Quilting or Studying -  a hold over from last year  -  not even close but I am doing more than I did last year so am improvement but I still need to be better about it.
4. Use what I have and only buy fabric to finish a project. - So far so good, but I see a possible break down here when the 3 of us girls do a Girls Day trip to the Suwanee quilt shop. If we can get the grand babies' daddy to watch them it might be 4 girls
5. Document Quilts I have made, this is a hold over from last year. - still haven't started this.
6. Read The Technical part of the Thread Waggle quilt blog. - haven't done much with this either.
7. Try Paper piecing - use the cake mixes you have. - still in the planning stage
8. Do an easy project now and then. Life isn't all about learning. - this will be coming up soon
9. Clean up after each project. it is easy to let things sit and then I don't get going on the next project. - doing much better with this than I had thought I would.

Okay, I am not doing as well as I had thought I would, but I am making progress. That is what counts. Goals are simply targets. In shooting when you don't hit a target, you look at  where you did hit, make adjustments, re-aim and shoot again.  Repeat the process until you hit the target. Then practice until you can hit the target consistently. That is what I am trying to do. Every little bit counts. Each mis-step or set back is an opportunity to re-aim and shoot again. Eventually I will be consistently achieving these goals and they will eventually become habits.

How is your quilting going? Where are you with your goals? Remember to keep trying, adjust where needed and try again. 

Busy Life

Here it is Thursday and I am just starting my post for the week. I usually do it on Sunday but well life has gone awry again. My daughter and her family have moved back to Georgia.  I have 2 grand babies near by. Then we had Easter, with 2 children, It was an adventure. It has been awhile since I have had little ones around. They wear you out. Plus we had my daughters birthday. On top of that I have been putting in 12 -13 hour days at work.  I did make some progress though.

First - I changed the hopping foot on Millie. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. And it was level on the first try. I also carefully checked the height to make sure it was just two business cards high. So I now have the scoop foot on to go over the thick seams in the Christmas Lemonade quilt.  I also changed the needle and threaded the machine with the red thread. I think I will adopt the habit of putting a new needle in with every new quilt. And I wound some bobbins.  I am just about ready to get the quilting started. First I need to mend a nick in the backing I have no idea where it came from but it should land in the selvage of the quilt. (the part I will trim off) I expect I will get going with the quilting on Saturday, if life doesn't go awry again.

Second - I got the remaining sashing strips cut for the star quilt. I still need to put the star points on them. I hope to work on that a little tonight and tomorrow. No hurry there and I may put it away for a while.

Viri and Winry need their quilts made. I am now leaning towards Ribbon Dance. It is suppose to use 10 inch squares but I can do it with 5 inch squares.  I just have to make all the half square triangles separately instead of 8 at once. I will make the same pattern but use different borders and backing. That should let them coordinate for their bedroom but still be different.

Third - I cleaned up the studio. I moved stuff and mopped the floor and dusted the corners. I didn't get it all completed but it felt so much nicer to have things cleaned up a little.

So with Easter and Birthdays I didn't get as much done as I would have liked but I did make Progress.
And that is what counts.

Hope you had a Joyful Easter or Passover.