UFO No More

Started, oh, long ago, maybe six years. I pieced the background (actually drew it out and did paper piecing, that wouldn't happen now) and cut out the flowers, then didn't know what to do next. Took it out of my UFO box on Saturday, quilted every strip twice, and redid the flowers on fused fabric. Added a few beads. Happy Mother's Day, Steph.

I didn't measure it before I gave it to her - probably 14" x 14".

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everyone.

Coming Tomorrow

Hanging System

You can admire the quilt if you want to - it's from a Quilt University class several years ago. Long enough ago that the corners aren't mitered. Recently enough that I can remember making it in my bedroom at the Berea College Ecovillage.
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What we're really admiring today isn't the quilt but the hanging system, which is really just a Target curtain rod with little clips that are perfect for hanging small quilts. And swapping them out in a month or two. Perfect for my kitchen. Probably for your house, too.

I'm also the owner of a nifty new Craftsman stud finder. I had my usual moment of "you can't use that, you don't know how" followed by my usual moment of "any man can use it, I can too." Which is true, but I do wish the voice in my head would hush sometimes. All you have to do is drag the tool across the wall. Duh.

To Jess

My friend Jess is a great photographer with wonderful flower gardens to photograph. She sent me the top card last month to wish me a happy spring and my postcard below is on the way to her. I was using making the table topper last week and decided to serge a few curves to add to the pieced background. And I serged the edges - now why hadn't I thought of that before?

Not talking About It

We're not talking about what this serger project was supposed to be, because it isn't. What it will be is a batik pad for a rectangular casserole. (It actually is nicely squared, with two layers of batting.) And the knowledge that the chainstitch won't be replacing machine quilting for me any time soon.

Setting up the serger for a chainstitch/coverstitch is always a good exercise though. Lots of steps coming and going. The only thing that was really challenging was that the screw for the throat plate was really tight, which led to my usual dilema, which way does the screw go? The righty-tighty, lefty-loosy advice does nothing for me. Nothing at all. I can visualize that working either way.

So, I went to the internet and learned that the screw should go counterclockwise to loosen. Now that makes sense to me and I got a longer handled screwdriver and all was well. Am I the only person who had to research how to loosen a screw?

Times of Not Knowing

There are times of knowing, I think, just how a quilt will turn out. Maybe there was a picture in a magazine with good instructions. The quilt could have been computer-generated, with the ability to change colors and fabrics to get it just right. Or just a clear picture in the mind's eye. This wasn't one of these times.

It started in a Dena Crain design class on Quilt University. Lines on a sheet of paper, no more. Adding a few lines, taking more out. No color. No idea of what was intuitively forming.

And then the trying out of color and finally figuring out how to get it together. Wondering how to quilt it, figuring out what the quilt was trying to say. Going so slowly because I didn't know where I was going.

Yesterday, the bird, which gave me lots of thought. This morning, the binding, a different color than I'd planned.

As I often do, I'm thinking of my friend Jess and her leadership training, with her introduction of the concept that it's ok sometimes to not know where you're going as long as you're going in the right direction.

I miss you, Jess. And, thanks to Dena for the class and guidance.