Sister's Choice Quilts

Weekly Progress Report

Thank you all so much for your suggestions on whether or not I should go for both the blues and browns in my next Raise the Roof quilt project, or just stick with one color or the other.  Overwhelmingly, you said use both.  So I will!  I haven't started cutting it out yet--figured I needed to finish something first!  I did vow to do that.  Didn't I?

I have been following the Hour A Day Rule this week,  but have managed to fit in more like two or three hours of sewing a day.  At least one hour has to be spent on my Celebrity Stunt Sewing Project, and whatever time is left is all mine!

I have been making two Flowers For Clara blocks every day.  Gosh, it is so satisfying to see them start to stack up.  Those guys are going to be done before I know it.

The October Schnibbles project is just so darn cute I had to jump right into it.  My choice of fabric is Blessings by Brannock and Patk.  Someone very cool gave me a layer cake of this fabric group, so I just pulled the lights, reds, greens and blacks out of it for my Cindy Lou Who Schnibble.  I omitted the blues and the browns.  (Maybe I should see if they go with my Raise the Roof fabrics?  lol)  Wherever you see gold in the quilt pictured on the pattern, I will be using black.  I should get a nice strong design that way.  The fabric yardage is now available for sale, so I will be ordering some of the large black floral for my border.

Did any of you go to A Quilting Life or Pink Pincushion to look at the September Schnibbles that people made using the pattern Winter White?  Could you believe how creative folks are?  I was blown away.  I just loved how a couple of  people divided the four large solid blocks and made hour glass blocks instead of leaving them large.  If you haven't had a look at what everyone did for September, please go check it out!  And, go to Thelma's blog to see what she did with Gobble Gobble (the collection I ruined in my first attempt).  For those of you who enjoy using panels, you will flip over what she did.  Thelma is new to blogging, and I highly recommend that you go visit her.  Please wish her well, she is the nicest person.  Her projects are beautiful and her talent considerable.  And if nothing else, you must see her Halloween socks.

Vicksburg

I was rummaging around in the stash closet and found this little bundle of beautiful blue fabrics my son Ahren had bought for me when he was at JJStitches in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin last January.  I had completely forgotten about them, and was thrilled when they turned up.  Vicksburg by Judie Rothermel.  Gosh, that sounded so familiar.....

Duh.  That was the fabric group Web Sampler II was using!  I bought the whole darn kit, and then sold it when I was having one of my fabric purges last spring.  What was I thinking, giving up that fabric group????  I tell you, my brain is turning to mush.

So.  Now I want more of it.  I have this great idea for a project and this will be Perfect.  PERFECT.  Do you all remember that I was making a quilt with the pattern Raise the Roof by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company more than a year ago?  I was using In the Pink fabric by Buggy Barn and just wasn't getting the contrast I wanted.  Some of the pinks were super light, and I was using them as medium/darks and the whole thing was just a big old mess.  I had the blocks laid out on the floor, trying to figure out what to do, and little Sophie, a puppy at the time peed all over my center blocks.   So I put that project up on a very high shelf.

But the pattern haunts me.  I really want to do that pattern.  With Vicksburg.

I need you to weigh in on this question.  I have tons of perfect carmelly lights.  I have these fabulous blues, and some nice browns.  Here's the question--should I just stick with the blues, or would it work to include the darker browns if they are the same value as the blues???

After a bit of a rummage in the stash, I came up with more blues and browns.  Should I just pick one or the other?  Or go with both????  Help.

Let Them Eat Apple Cake

I picked up this magazine at the grocery store the other day.  I love Cook's publications since the recipes are super well tested and come out great more often than not.  A collection of their All Time Best Recipes was too good sounding to pass up.  I have been browsing through it and decided to give one of the recipes a try.  I am not a terrific baker, but the recipe for Apple Cake was irresistible.

I made my list and stopped at the store on the way home, and started flinging bowls and pans around as soon as I came through the door.

This recipe involves dried apples!  Boiled in apple cider until soft, then pureed in the food processor until mushed.  The dried apples were a bit off putting to cut up, as they reminded me of ears.  Sorry.  I put that image out of my mind, and you must too.

Here is my effort, ready to pop into the oven.  My sugar dusting skills are a little weak, as it seems the sugar did not get distributed very evenly.  No matter.

And here is my cake, fresh out of the oven!

So was this big old pile of dirty bowls and utensils worth it?

Oh yes.

This is what I'm eating this week.  Being on your own means you can eat cake for dinner every night if you want to.  That's it.  I am on the apple cake diet.

Little By Little

Little by little is the way this quilt is going to get done!  I managed to make six blocks over three day's time.  Well, so be it.  The 64 blocks I need will be done at some point if I keep this up.  Little by little Flowers for Clara will become a quilt.

Hey, did you all check out Pink Pincushion and A Quilting Life to see the new Schnibbles for October?  "Cindy Lou Who?"  Well, I checked them out, and I already started my project!  I will post some pictures tomorrow.  I am using a layer cake of Blessings by Brannock and Patek, and am so anxious for the yardage to be available for sale so I can buy my border fabric.  Everywhere you look it says "fabric available in September".  Hello?  Aren't we done with September and on to October?  Where's my Blessings?  I am not using all the colors in the line, just the red, green and black.  And the lights of course.  This is why I love using layer cakes instead of those measly little charm pack.  More options!

PS---Fatquartershop has Blessings yardage for sale this morning!!!  Yea!

October Gave a Party, Indeed

My sister Andrea had a great picture on her blog post today.  October Gave A Party was the title of her blog post.  It's the first line in a poem by George Cooper called "October's Party".  It's October people!  How the heck did that happen, I ask you?  Sheesh.  The picture in Andrea's post is of our dad's backyard in Palo Alto, California.  Palo Alto is not a place associated with brilliant fall color, but in my dad's backyard, this is what happens in October.  Our mother had the foresight to plant beautiful Japanese maples who do the fall color thing every year without fail.  This is another of her plantings, probably my most favorite tree ever.  A waterfall Japanese maple at the entrance to my dad's home.

So, this is what I did to celebrate October:

A new centerpiece for the kitchen table.

A new mantel display in the TV room.

New Welcome Baskets on the front doors.

New front entry display.

Fresh coffee table display. Sophie approves.

New table centerpiece.  Those pears are actually candles!   I may donate this one to my Dad's house for Thanksgiving, but will enjoy it in the meantime.

New bookcase arrangement.

By the way, did I ever tell you that I had twins, born nine years apart?  Well, I did.  There they are, in the picture.  Sara and Ahren, loves of my life.

Happy October everyone!

 
 

 

I'm A Starter

I'm a Starter.  Someone used those words in a comment to me on yesterday's post.  The words rang true.

So often I get very excited about tackling a new project.  I am full of passion, fire, and determination.  I set a goal and prepare everything I need to succeed in my endeavor---whatever it is.  I may even make a fabulous beginning.  And then.   Things get de-railed.  Things slow down.  Things happen.  Things stop.

I lose momentum.

I am not a procrastinator, and I am not afraid of failure.  I dive right in, but life intervenes, and then....The progress stops.  I lose focus.  I do not Follow Through.

Are any of you like me?  You notice your pants are tight.  Oh no, is that a double chin?  Muffin top over the jeans?  A DIET is in order!  You gather your resources, buy a new diet book, a diet scale, stock the fridge with diet friendly foods.  And that is as far as you get.

This is a photo of some of the diet books on my book shelf.  The purchase of each one represents a fresh start at eating right, losing those last 10 pounds and dropping a dress size.  I buy the book and think my work is done.  If I lost ten pounds for every book shown in that picture, I would have lost 130 pounds.  (Of course I would also be dead since there aren't many 25 pound adults walking around).  I may fill the pantry with Lean Cuisine, carrot sticks and mineral water.  I start a new Weight Loss Journal.  I bought the book for goodness sake, that ought to do the trick.  And the first time someone tempts me with lunch at a restaurant to celebrate________(fill in the blank), I loose focus.  Eating a couple of pieces of bread that night with dinner seems like an ok idea.  After all, I did blow it at lunch.  I'm not THAT fat, am I?  And so on and so on.

The house is looking pretty grungy.  Dust on the furniture, scum on the tub, streaks on the windows.  I know!  I need New Cleaning Products!  A trip to the store, $60 worth of new housecleaning aids and I am good to go.  My work is done.   They don't clean the place all on their own?  Just buying them isn't enough?  Really?  I have to DO something with them?????

You all know how great I am at starting brilliant new quilting projects, as you saw evidence of them in yesterday's post.  I get inspired with a pattern, a fabric group, or someone else's great work, and think "Ah ha!  I must begin a new project!"  That is just great, but when you are a Starter and not a Finisher, that is a problem.  Oh, I know I finish plenty of stuff.  I crank out more quilts than most people I know.  But I sure as heck start a lot more of them that don't get finished! 

So.  Here's the thing.  I think the key to finishing is Creating Momentum.  Take small steps if you have to, but get started and make something happen.   Do a little bit every day, every week.  It will add up.

Write down your goal.  Estimate what it will take to get it done.  How much time do you need to spend?  Can you carve out some time every day to work towards this goal?  Do it.  Make it a habit.  Life getting in the way?  Think you don't have time?  Make it a priority .  Fit it in.  A half hour, an hour, whatever you can squeeze out.  Monitor your progress.    Do not lose momentum and do not lose focus.

Let's try it together.  Pick something you have set aside and make a vow that now you will get it done.  Just one thing, not ten.  We don't want to overwhelm anyone here.  Post it on your blog and update your progress every week until the project is done.  No deadline.  Just think of all the gorgeous projects that will get finished all over Blogland!!!!!!!!!  Share with me.  Honey, if you finish something I will sing it to the rafters on my blog.  Or, if that is too much for you,  I'll try it on my own and you all just sit back and watch.  We'll use the Flowers For Clara project I picked up yesterday as my Finish It project.  I need to complete a boatload of blocks, sew the blocks together, put on a border, and applique some vines and flowers on the border.  Think I can do it?  Without getting distracted?  Without starting something new and getting off track?  Ok, watch me now.  I will keep you all posted on how this goes.