X Marks the Quilter

Who’s that? A Generation X Quilter? Wow, look, a Generation X Quilter! I want to be a quilter! I love quilts! Can I see pictures of your quilts?

Those are the comments I am sure I will get when I wear my new Generation X Quilter T-shirt around town. I can’t wait! Annemarie also sent me these gorgeous Hawaiian-style fat quarters and a sweet card. Thanks Annemarie!

Are you a Generation X Quilter? I admit, I had to look it up because I wasn’t sure. Generation X is 1965 to 1981. That’s barely me! I was born in 1981 (stop doing the math, I’m 30!), but I am also considered a Generation Y Quilter, which is 1981 to 1990. I straddle. :)



Anyway, if you fall between these letters and you love to make quilts, link up with Gen X Quilter on the Blogroll page and check out who else is there too!

Bustin Out

On Saturday morning we are leaving for a 5 day camping trip. I am so excited. I love camping, and this time we are camping with my family, which is a rare treat. I packed a few hand-appliqué pieces from my Christmas Sampler UFO, and will be working on those. I may or may not also pack my Bliss UFO, on which I am finally hand-stitching the binding. I don’t want it to get dirty, or rather, dirtier, but am excited to finally get this quilt finished!

Hopefully, next week when I link up with my fellow UFO Busters I’ll have a finish to show!

Will you be working on any UFOs this weekend? Grab a few hours and bust one of those lingering UFOs! Pick one now, snap a picture, and link up with Thearica at Pigtales and Quilts. Look what I won last week:

Awesome! I can’t wait to start playing with these appliqué shapes. Thanks Thearica!

This week I won’t be playing in the UFO Weekend Party. So sad. No internet or electricity where I’m going! Have a great weekend everyone!

Weekend UFO Quilt-A-Thon

For the last two days I've been quilting away on my Rehab quilt. I am linking up with Thearica at Pigtales and Quilts for her Weekend UFO Challenge. I'm so happy to be working on it and making some progress. I try NOT to think about how much more work I have to do on it. There is tons more. For this weekend I just picked a quadrant and quilted feather sprays. A reminder of the Before:

I know, you can't really see anything. Here's my paper stencils pinned to the quilt. I started with ten at a time.

My goal was to do 20 feather sprays this weekend. Here's what I did:

That's 25 done! It took me about 5 hours. And another hour to tear the paper off. Grrr.

Here's a close-up

I wish you could see better. When this quilt is finally done I think I'll have a photo shoot professionally done. There's such great quilting on there.

Some good progress! My FMQ is getting smoother and easier. I don't fight with the machine as much and feel more in control. I'm working better at quilting in the lines.

I hope you come play UFO's next week with us. Thearica will be picking prizes from everyone who links up and works on a UFO over the weekend. If enough people play you even have a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to her store, which carries quilting treasures such as buttons, charms, and extra-wide backings. There were only 2 participants this weekend, so there's a great chance you can win a prize! Plus, getting some work done on your UFO's is so worth it!

UFO Progress and Plans

First,

Where I’ve been:

This week not much sewing going on, UFO or otherwise. I’ve been hand quilting my Bliss Quilt. I did not think I would like hand quilting. It always seemed to me that it would be soooo boring. And why do something by hand that could easily (and much better) be done by machine? Surprise! Hand quilting is the MOST fun! It’s so relaxing and zen. Forget needle turn appliqué and hand-stitched binding. Those seem like chores compared to hand quilting. I really like the look of it too. Like it’s been stitched with lots of love.

At first I was just going to do the flower design by hand. Then I finished that and couldn’t stop! I decided to outline quilt inside the star. I thought it would make the star design stand out more. But I was worried it might make the quilting crowded and over-done. I was so wrong! I love how it looks.

I’m linking up with Susan at Blackberry Creek Home Arts. She’s been cracking the quilty whip on us to get our UFOs done. Thanks Susan! You’re awesome and inspiring!

Second,

Where I’m going:

This weekend I have some planned sewing time. First up will be my Rehab quilt. I searched every nook and cranny of my sewing room last night for my missing thread. I even dragged my husband from his video game and he helped. I blamed the cats, I found my little brother’s allergy medicine he lost 3 months ago, pulled the cushions from the couch and even had my husband look under the bed in our bedroom (blaming the cats again). Finally found it. In a drawer. Under my sewing machine. So I’m all set to FMQ to my heart’s content.

This is my before picture. I know, there’s not much to see. It’s hard to photograph. But I plan on completing 20 feather sprays this weekend. I think that’s doable. I can’t believe how huge this quilt is. It’s a monster.

I'm linking up with Thearica from Pigtales and Quilts. The idea is to work on your UFO this weekend and write a Before and After post. Thearica will be drawing prizes and you get some work done on some old UFO's. It's a win/win, so come by and hang out!

Civil War Update

I’ve been slowly working on my Civil War blocks. I really do love these. I can see myself working with Civil War Repros after this. I am so languid with these blocks.

My set-up is I spend a day cutting a bunch of blocks and stick them in Ziplock baggies on my bulletin board. Whenever I feel like it, I just grab a bag, lay out the blocks, and guess which block I grabbed. Sometimes I use the pieces as leaders and enders while working on another project. Sometimes I feel like just piecing CW blocks that night. No rush, no stress, no worries. Just right.

This block has been cut since it was posted. The other night I was feeling horrible and wanted some mindless sewing. Real mindless. Piecing was just too much for me. The appliqué stars were perfect. Set the Bernina to zig-zag and zone out.

Last night I put all my blocks in order. I can’t wait to see them altogether. I have a list of numbers and I just cross the number off as I do them. I have 15 out of 27 blocks completed. Not too bad.
There were a few I made wrong or short or cut wrong and didn’t notice until I went to put the block together. Those I circle on my list so I know to go back and re-cut the pieces. Or find another set of instructions for that block.

My basket block needs a handle. I’ll have to find a tutorial for that. Bias stem? Is that what the technique is called? I’m sure I’ll figure it out. I save those kinds of projects for nights when I’m really motivated to sew and want to work out a puzzle. Like I said, languid and relaxed.

BTW, a big thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post. I feel = so much better and really appreciate the support. Quilters in Blogland are the best!

Insults and Family

Being around family is tough. This weekend I went to a family BBQ. My little brother was there and said something that really hurt me. I don’t think he meant it to hurt, or even thought about what he said before he said it. My reaction was to make a joke, laugh it off, and then hide on the back patio for the rest of the evening before leaving the party early.

I am not going to share what he said, but I have the perfect analogy. It’s like a little 2 year old child who comes to you and says “You’re fat!” Except my brother is 21 years old. And though his comment wasn't about my weight (although there were some of those), it did hit me right in the shame-gut.

I was hurt he would think something like that of me. My first instinct was to lash out: “Well, at least I can hold down a job. Well, maybe, but I’ve seen and done more things in my life than you ever will. Well, at least I have manners.” You get the idea.

My second instinct was to forgive him. He’s young and very sheltered and has very little life experience with which to judge. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s just a rude little boy. He meant it as a joke. But thinking on this later makes me not want to forgive him. He is a rude boy. He should know better. He's an adult now and should think before he speaks.

Then last, I faced the truth in his statement. Well, maybe I am? Have I been slowly backsliding and allow myself to become this way? Is this what my family thinks of me? Does everyone think this of me? Is he finally bringing to my attention what everyone else is whispering behind my back?

So now I walk the fine line. Do I let this comment bother me? Do I accept it as constructive criticism? Do I take shame in it and begin to hide what I don’t want the family to see? Do I withdraw from my brother, nursing my wounds and feeding my resentment (aka: here’s your stupid Christmas present, brat). Do I let it roll off my back, and keep the family role as the easy-going-nothing-bothers-me child? I feel as though I’m at a fork in a trail and my decision will affect my future relationship not only with my brother, but with my family as well.
Ahh...family. Just when you think you can't live without them, somebody proves that you certainly can!

UFO Bust Report

I have been super motivated to work on my UFO’s these last two weeks. I am linking up with Susan's UFO Bust group. I finished the machine quilting on my Bliss Quilt and am working on hand-quilting the center design. Isn’t it cute?! I’m so proud of myself for doing all the FMQ free-hand. Weird Fact: I draw with my sewing machine MUCH better than I do with a pencil.

I also pulled out my ginormous Rehab quilt and quilted some feather wreaths. I’m still paper-quilting (following the design on paper pinned to the quilt). Don’t quite feel comfortable with feathers yet. I did 7 feather wreaths last Friday night. When I first started doing these, I would try to get 5 done in a week. Now I’m zooming right along! This quilt is all about slow progress, and I’m okay with that.

I misplaced the huge cone of bobbin thread I’ve been using and that has stalled me from pulling it out again. I knew I should never have cleaned my sewing room!

Then I pulled out my Christmas Sampler Quilt. This is going to be one funny quilt. It was the second quilt I ever started and there are a lot of techniques in this quilt: photo transfer, paper-piecing, needle-turn appliqué, machine appliqué, embroidery. Most of it was my first time trying that technique. Add that to the fact it was only my second quilt and I was still learning a correct ¼ inch seam. This is also where I learned the difference between “finished size” and “will finish at” size. So some of the blocks look like a kindergartner sewed them. Whatever! It was and still is a learning process. It’s a good quilt to watch my skills evolve. So I’ve been grabbing a few minutes here and there to put together a block.

I am a lot farther than I thought. Hopefully we will be able to put it out this Christmas! I would love to hang it on the wall.

(It's not the camera angle, that block is totally wonky!)

So lots of UFO progress this week! Better than that, I’m motivated and having fun working on these. Thanks for the motivation Susan!