Wordless Wednesday

Words

I spent most of the weekend making words.  Out of fabric, that is!  I will be helping to present at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild tomorrow.  We are doing a tutorial of wonky letters ala Tonya Ricucci.    I participated in her Lazy Gal Quilting Summer sew-along many years ago and had a blast.  I love creating wonky letters and words and have done most of the alphabet, some letters many times.  I now tend to just improvise and not even look at the pattern, but that usually results in letters in the same word that are extremely varied in size.

Step outs of E and A

We will be putting all our words together for some Project Nite Nite quilts we will be donating at our April meeting along with books and stuffed animals.  Here's what I have so far...

This one I made for my friend John while we had our artsy fartsy date on Friday at his studio.  This is one of his favorite sayings.  I've picked this phrase up from him and have gotten myself into trouble using it when it wasn't exactly appropriate!  
(Imagine this: We're on vacation at a lovely inn in Door County, WI.  Very sweet waitress: "Would you like your cherry pie now?"  Me: "Duh!" Everyone else at the table: Gasp! *looks of horror on their faces*)

Sweatshop Mode & Adulation

Once again, I overbooked myself and didn't give myself adequate time to finish projects I had started.  Granted, these deadlines for quilts are completely in my head and in no way imposed on me by anyone else.  So why do I beat myself up if I don't meet these deadlines?  Why do I torture myself trying to get things done by these self-imposed deadlines?  I have no idea.  Maybe I secretly crave stress in my life.

This past week I was in what I call "sweatshop"mode - coming home after a full day of work and meetings and evening classes to gobble some dinner and SEW SEW SEW SEW!  I realized last weekend that I had a baby shower for a good work friend in one week (today) and I had intended to sew her a baby quilt.  Oops!  I had been so focused on my other sewing that I spaced it out.  So I spent lots of late nights getting it done.  I picked a large scale pattern to make it a bit easier/simpler to and chose colors from her nursery theme. 

 At times I was so exhausted that I seriously doubted my construction and design.  But in the end, it turned out alright.  In fact, when my gift was opened at the baby shower, the attendees began to applaud!  Really?  I have never had that happen before - maybe some ooo-ing and ahh-ing, lots of thanking, but never applause.  Has this ever happened to you?

 

Stinky christening the quilt before I wrapped it up

 I was honored, shocked, humbled, embarrassed, and of course got a bit emotional (which I blame on the extreme lack of decent sleep this week).  It never ceases to amaze me how people view my quilts in such a different light than I do.  Most of the time I only see the crooked quilting lines or the uneven edges.  I'm glad to be reminded that folks appreciate my work. 

Inauguration Sewing

I had MLK Jr. Day off and go to spend most of it hanging out with my friend John at his studio in Chicago.  I worked mostly on my Madrona Rd. Challenge quilt.  It's always good to work with John - he's got a great eye for color and pattern.  His studio is the perfect size and has amazing light which is great for working on fabric projects.  Plus we get along so well we have great conversations and spend the majority of our time laughing!  We have another artsy fartsy day planned for February already and I can't wait!

Possible triangle layout for Orbs block

Strip pieced and ready for cutting