Back to the sewing machines

Okay, so maybe I could have spent more family time over the weekend.  But, really, I just needed to re-charge and the best place for me to do that is at the sewing machine. 

On Saturday, we kitted up blocks for the raffle quilt.  It’s always nice to be around the group, all working as hard as we can to pull off a wonderful quilt.  And, it’s really shaping up.

I took this block center, but no star points.  The idea is for me to take the star points assembled by another guild member and use this center to put the block together. 

I think the co-chair handed it to me as a joke, but it was assembled by bedtime.  It was a good way to work out some frustrations. 

The center looks wonky.  I had to sew the final seam by hand to get the points to meet, and while they don’t look like they do in this photo, they really do.  There are 16 pieces of fabric coming together, each doubled for a seam allowance, so 32 layers.  Yowza.  My sewing machine looked up at me and laughed.  It would sew them, but only if it could disregard the points.  A good old hand needle and thimble did the rest.

I also wanted to get to one of my own feathered stars. 

This is the February block.  In Feb, I was working on my Stargazer quilt.  So, what better fabrics to use than the fabrics from Stargazer.

Okay, so maybe it didn’t come out exactly like I thought it would, but it’s still exactly what I designed.

That makes the first three month blocks.

January, on the left, I shopped at my LQS with a giftcard from my boss.  February, I already explained.  March was fabrics picked up at a quilt show.  And, the April fabrics from my trip to Indiana are washed and pressed and ready to cut. 

I’m going to lay it out like a calendar, and at the bottom, I think I’m going to applique 2015 in some nice script like you’d have seen on an old kitchen towel calendar.  At least that’s the idea that’s percolating right now.

And, a shot from the garden.  I spent as much time as I could out there this weekend.

There’s been plenty of deadheading to do and a crop of little trees.  But, I loved the way all these textures in this picture are playing against one another.  Large, small, pointy, round, purple, green, and a tree limb.  Sydney would call that a good combination.

We’ve had storms.  Lots of rain, which is always welcome and wonderful.  But, last night, the power went out and it was out about half the night.  Just as I struck flame to candle this morning, the lights came on…it was like something out of a movie, it was so coincidental.

A couple weeks ago, I got stopped by someone that reads my blog who said they didn’t know what I believe in except gay rights.  That surprised me as much as it made me feel one sided.  And, it got me thinking about exactly what it is that I believe in.  I mean, I’m very involved in what’s going on and keep up with the news and vote my conscience, but what does it all mean to me?  And, I pulled lots of things together that I believe in.  As I thought about each thing, I realized that they all rise up into something bigger.  And, then those ideas condensed into something even bigger.  And, I was finally able to summarize it all into one statement. 

It’s not a right.  It’s not a responsibility.  I have an obligation to make the world a better place in every way that I can; for those less fortunate, for those that will lead later, for everyone that needs a helping hand.  I’m obligated by the fact that we live a good life.  I’m not obligated to move mountains.  I can’t solve poverty or hunger.  But, like the starfish thrower, “I can help that one”.

And, I try to do exactly that. 

But, sometimes, its so overwhelming.

Everybody have a great Monday.  I get quite philosophical at the sewing machine.

Lane