Quilt Guilt

The other day, one of the quilty bloggers I follow had a post apologizing for the lengthy gap since her last post.  She felt really bad about it.  I won't mention her name or blog, because she's not alone - I'm sure you've all read similar posts.  I responded, as did several others, telling her that we're glad to see her back and that she shouldn't feel bad.

Then, I was listening to a podcast.  I can't even remember the person who was being interviewed, but she was talking about how she had some kind of activity on her website to encourage her readers to quilt every day.  She said, "Maybe you can't make a quilt every day, but surely you can make a block every day."  My first thought was, "Make a quilt every day?  Who the heck does that?"  Then, I wondered about her choice of words.  "Surely, you can make a block every day."   Those are guilt inducing words!  Your dental hygienist uses the same language - "Surely you can spare 5 minutes to floss each day."  

Surely, nothing!  This is my HOBBY!  Don't try to guilt me into making a block every day, or even touching my sewing machine every day.  If I don't want to do it, why should I have to?

I had the same conversation with myself (yes, I talk to myself) after listening to another podcast where they were talking about creativity.  One of the speakers said that quilters should always challenge themselves to do more difficult projects.  Why??  If someone is happy putting big squares together or making quilts that don't require any points to match, what ever is wrong with that?  It is their hobby - they do it to relax and refresh themselves.  Why should they feel guilty if they choose to do easy quilts?

I feel guilty at the drop of a hat.  Sometimes it is helpful - yes, I do floss my teeth every day - but mostly, it is just stress inducing.  I feel guilty that I don't quilt very fast - my poor son graduated 2 years ago, and still has not received his quilt!  I feel guilty about the amount of fabric in my stash, and worry that I will never use it.  I feel guilty when I wander around a quilt store soaking in the quilty goodness and don't buy anything.  So I do buy - and then I feel guilty about adding to my stash!  I feel guilty that my house needs new curtains - but I keep putting them off because I would rather quilt.  (I could go buy curtains, but then I would feel guilty that I bought something that I could easily have made!)

So many things to feel guilty about.  Every now and then, I have to step back and tell myself to take a deep breath and let go all of the guilt!

What gives you quilt guilt?  What do you do to get rid of it?

Breathless!

That's the way I still feel,a day after finding out that Chelsea has chosen my quilt in her fabulous giveaway!

Chelsea is a longarmer, and has a blog at Pins and Bobbins.   She has agreed to quilt this quilt for me:

In this picture, it is missing two of the borders, but I sewed them on last night!  I'll press it up, remove all the loose threads and take another picture before I send it off.  I have to put the backing fabric together too.

Thanks so much Chelsea - this is SUCH a generous giveaway!

Finish-A-Long Third Quarter Goals

Well, it's time to link up again with Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap for the Finish-A-Long.  I feel much better about this quarter, having actually finished something in the last quarter!  So, I'm going to have 3 goals this time.

First, the FAL logo, so you can find Rhonda.

(P.S.  I have no clue what I'm doing, so it is such a thrill when I cut and paste some HTML here, and a logo actually appears.  Yay!)

On to the goals.

First, a simple one.  I have this table runner that I made up about a year ago, then put to the side because something else caught my fancy.

The green fabric off to the side is for the binding.  I thought that since the blocks reminded me of flowers, green trim could be leaves or stems.

This second one is a bit lot embarrassing.

I pulled it out of the bag I had been storing it in.  The magazine that had the pattern in it was there too.  It was a Quilter magazine from 2002!!  Now, I have to say that I didn't start sewing it in 2002.  But, I probably started in 2004.  I remember that I made it bigger than the pattern said.  There is still a piano key border to go around the outside, then another fuschia border

I started to put the border together, and panicked, because I had no idea how many pieces it would take to go around my new bigger centre.  I remember being really concerned that they wouldn't come out even, and I had no idea how to deal with that.

Luckily, I have since learned an important skill - how to fudge!  Looking at it now, it doesn't seem so difficult at all.  Isn't it interesting how time and practice make things easier?

Third goal is - you guessed it!  My ever patient son needs to have his quilt finished.

So that's it.  Three goals.  I'm really pumped for this quarter, so we'll see how it goes!

Great Giveaway at Pins and Bobbins!

Chelsea, over at Pins and Bobbins is having a wonderfully generous giveaway!

Her giveaway is that she will quilt your quilt for you!  Wow! The details are on her blog.  She lives in Canada, and while she doesn't say, I expect that you would have to pay the shipping costs.  I would be happy to!

What would I like her to quilt?  Right away, I thought of this quilt top.

I made this in a Saturday Sampler a couple years ago.  It isn't 100% complete - there are scrappy borders that go on what looks like the top and bottom here - to match the sides.  Again, I was hoping to do a quilt as you go technique and attach those two borders later.  But, if Chelsea picks me, I have have those borders on lickety split!  The quilt will finish up queen size.

I do have ideas for the centre and for the borders.  The centre would be the usual applique treatment, stitching around the applique, then meandering through the neutrals.  In the scrappy border, I wanted to do some quilting that was similar to the applique flowers.  But then, I'm stuck.  What to do with all of those pieced blocks is beyond me.  And the sashing too - who knows??  So, maybe Chelsea will have a good idea.

Thanks, Chelsea, for running this amazing giveaway!

Two...Count Em Two!

Well, it's time for the second quarter Finish-A-Long, sponsored by Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap.

I was a dismal failure at the end of the first quarter - I didn't finish the one quilt that I had submitted as a goal.  That was this quilt.  I included it as a goal for the second quarter.

Actually, this is half the quilt - I plan on doing a quilt as you go technique, then sew the two halves together.  I still have not started quilting it!  Can you tell I'm terrified?

But, I am happy to say that the other two goals that I had for this quarter were completed.  These were two almost identical baby quilts.

This is the first one.  The checkerboard blocks are done in Kona charcoal and white.  It's quilted in a free motion stars and circles design.

And here is the second one.

This one has the checkerboard done in black and white.  I quilted this with a pantograph - Sassy by Golden Threads.

And, just in case you think I'm trying to pass off the same quilt twice, here they are both together.

The pattern is called Celebration, by Judy Martin.  She had another partial border of the brights, but once I got the checkerboard all around, I decided I was done.

One of the quilts is going to my niece, who made me a Great Aunt on June 28th.  The other is going to a young woman who has been friends with my daughter since the first grade.  She is due any day, so I've completed them both in the nick of time!

Here is a close up of the bindings.  I loved the stripe!

Now, I'm off to think up goals for the third quarter. Yup, that blue quilt is going to be on the list!

Happy Canada Day!

It's Canada Day!  For me, it means the official start of summer.  We really don't have good weather until July, so now we can get started!

Today is the annual Veranda Quilt Show in Cochrane at Addie's Creative Fabrics.  I plan on taking that in.  And, of course, a trip to Cochrane would not be complete without an ice cream cone at MacKay's.  They have been selling the best ice cream there for the past 60 years.  It is a tradition for many Calgary families to take a trip to Cochrane just for the ice cream.  On a nice weekend day, the lineup will be out the door and down the street!

They have a map of the world inside, where you can put a pin from where you are from.   There are a lot of pins!