Decisions and Distractions

Decisions and distractions! I have definitely lost my quilting momentum. I traveled to Oklahoma in mid-July for the birth of my new grandson. Within a couple weeks after that, in early to mid-August, I vacationed with college friends in Colorado. At the very end of August, last Friday and Saturday I took three half-day classes on the use of my Handiquilter Sweet Sixteen. I have not put a stitch in a piece of fabric since early July. Shame on me. So now I am faced with the dilemma of how to regain my momentum and what to work on.

The classes I just took were Basics, Rulers, and Feathers taught my Megan Best, a Handiquilter educator. Be sure to check her out at http://www.bestquilter.com/. I had taken these classes from her a year ago when I was considering the purchase of my sit-down mid-arm but retaking was a good idea, giving me another perspective now that I am an HQ-16 owner and have played around a bit with my machine I affectionately named Heidi. Plus Megan is such a fun, upbeat, creative instructor. I got re-inspired to start back on my barnyard strip quilt. It is in the left foreground of the following photo. All those crowds of pigs and horses and cows will get a clamshell treatment with the assistance of the clamshell ruler to the right. I think that quilting pattern will echo the shapes of the bobbing heads of the horses, cows, pigs, etc. in the different fabrics without being too restrictive by striving to outline each one. I plan to use the wave ruler on the far right for undulating hillsides since I am not proficient at long smooth curves. That class on rulers really got my ideas flowing from my brain. Rulers are expensive; that class also got  money flowing from my wallet.

But what is all the other "stuff" on my cutting table? In the far right background is the fabric to make barstool covers for my daughter-in-law. What she picked out had been discontinued, of course, so my husband and I drove around to five different JoAnn fabric stores one day last week trying to gather enough of that cream/black/grey/gold starburst fabric from the end of bolts to cover five chair seats and backs. At least I got a good price. On top of that fabric is a sample beige cover that I will disassemble and hopefully use as a pattern.

The red/grey/black fabric in the center I bought at Sooner Quilts in Oklahoma on my visit there end of July, intending to make placemats out of it to practice my FMQ. I guess I will put off doing those placemats. And, especially before I do those, it really would not take me long to finish that striped bolster pillow I started for the chair in our master bedroom. It is the open cylindrical pillow form in the center back of the photo. Here is where is it meant to go, on the Funstripes Parsons Chair by   Jeffan next to the Land of Nod rope lamp.

Speaking of our master bedroom, I have had a bin of fabric selections tucked under the bed for months trying to decide on a style and color scheme for curtains in our newly updated room. My husband has put down hardwood floors, and painted, and added lights, gently querying me when I was going to get to those curtains. I decided on fabric, the beachy stripe with coral and periwinkle, but was waiting for inspiration to strike on a style. That striped fabric was also gathered on several trips with my husband to various JoAnn stores to accumulate enough yardage.

But let me get back to my sewing room. If I do an about face from my cutting table, here is the surface of my sewing machine table. I really do need to sort out and put away the stacks pushed up agains the back wall. I'll get to it, eventually. The four stacks of fabric in the foreground are more current and  are all 1 yard pieces of fabric I bought on sale or at shows. I am folding each in my standard storage configuration and getting ready to stack them in place on my 1-yd shelves. On the far right foreground is a pair of black pants my husband asked me fix. The hem on one leg came undone. All I have to do is run a stitch around it, by hand or machine. They have been there since early July...sigh. My machine is threaded with yellow. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it! On the far left foreground stack are several fabric samples I pulled  from my stash when my daughter was making her dinosaur quilt for her new baby. On top of the stack is a paper printout of fabric from the same line that I am going to use to make a coordinating crib sheet. She shows the beginning of her dinosaur quilt in her Robin Loves Quilting "quiltus-interruptus" post for July 29th. It is farther along now. The stacks of stripes and dots in the middle foreground are Riley Blake staples collections I bought during an online sale. I think even combined, they would make a cute quilt backing.

My new baby grandson is in daycare now since my daughter just went back to work this week so he could use some crib sheets for the slightly smaller mattresses in their cribs. These take higher priority that the full size mattress crib sheets. Off I go, from my sewing room to my laundry room, to pre-wash the crib sheet fabric. The yellow bear fabric on the far right is still wet. I am just about to transfer it to the dryer. The bug fabric I will use for a coordinated sheet with Bugs R Us, the completed quilt I show in my post for July 15th. The large dinosaur fabric is to be made into a sheet to coordinate with the quilt my daughter made.

I  head back to my sewing room to put away more fabric and clear a space to work. But I just found the greatest stuff in my stash to go with those three Hawaiian prints I blogged about in my previous post. Those colors and graphics just really want to play together! Gee, I distract easily!

I have not even touched on the hand knit sweaters I want to make for my grandbabies, the knit sweater I want to finish for myself, the vintage knit Christmas stocking for my new grandson. I still have not stitched a stitch even yet today. I took the time to write this post instead. In the next several days I still need to put sleeves on two quilts I am entering in a show and print name tag badges for my quilt guild members. Aah, decisions and distractions... I hope I have made other quilters out there feel productive at least by comparison to me. I will now check out vicarious progress via this week's Freshly Pieced's Works in Progress.