Percolating along

Does anybody else remember people saying that when things were normal?  'How are you?'  'Percolating along.'  That's what it feels like now.  Just percolating along, getting things done.  Feeling calm and safe.  No highs, no lows.  Centered.

I went to my phone this morning to see what I'd taken pictures of this week to share.  And, there were just two, so I hurried around to find something to talk about.  You all know that I'm not taking on any new projects right now.  I have plenty of irons in the fire; quilting the falling leaves quilt, knitting a sweater, a half finished Linus afghan, and my normal working and cooking and cleaning.  Somehow, I managed to make time for all that last week, plus work on the new project I'm not starting yet.  

I finished the Daisy block from Ruby McKim's Flower Garden quilt.  I say finished, but let's not count on that yet.  I'm not very happy with the flowers.  If I hadn't done anything, they'd have been plain white blobs with a few French knots, and they didn't look very good.  So, I added some lines in brown perma-pen and a lot more French knots.  And, I'm still not sure I'm happy with it.  I'm thinking about taking some white fabric and cutting some petals and appliquéing them in, over the white background.  I've come up with a couple ways I could do that without having to completely remove the flowers and start over.  But, don't count on that either.  It's going to depend on how this block goes with the other blocks where every petal is a separate piece of fabric.  

I took most of Becky's online class again.  I only had access for 2 weeks and Saturday morning, about 9am, they cut me off.  But, I was so inspired that I started the Daffodil block and ordered some appliqué supplies, including good lightweight thread.  I went through my thread and found about a dozen spools that would work, but that wasn't much variety, so I bought a set of multi colored bobbins to go with it and some better pins than I'm using now.  

I should have everything I'll need on hand when I finally get around to starting this project...because I don't have time to start a new project right now.  No matter how much it looks like I've started one.

Honestly, the distraction is doing me good.  Who cares if I have 57 projects started and another 57 on the list I'd like to do.  It keeps me from focusing on the negative stuff in the world.  There's a lot to be said for sitting and sewing or working in the garden and feeling calm doing it.  

In lieu of pictures of anything else, I decided to show what's hanging on the wall.  We keep a seasonal rotation of quilts on the wall and these are some of the winter quilts.  

This is a kimono quilt I made many years ago.  I had fat eighths of actual kimono fabric that was passed down by my mentor and I used them to make the kimonos.  I made two of these at the time and gave one away.  I get to regularly visit it.  They're both very fun quilts.  I was too cheap to buy the pattern, so I drafted the block and paper pieced it from that.  I did that a LOT in the early days.  I'll still draft a block if I need to.  Drafting blocks is a very handy skill.

This is the Indian Orange Peel quilt.  The pattern is from Karen Kay Buckley.  I did NOT  re-draft this pattern.  I bought the printed papers and paper pieced it.  After I peeled the paper off the back of this, I really worked to perfect my freezer paper piecing method where you don't sew through the paper, which makes it much easier to remove and I can re-use the paper for about 5 blocks.  When Karen spoke at the guild, I took this quilt for show and tell.  She must have seen her fill of them because she didn't look up to check it out.  But, when she showed a picture of hers in her presentation, I know everybody was thinking about mine.  My mentor and I made this quilt together.  I don't know if she ever finished.  Her focus changed from quilting to gardening around that time.  

And, this quilt is hanging over the fireplace, which we don't use often.  I made this after a class with Sally Collins on miniatures.  The center block has hundreds of pieces in it and the book it came from said not to try to make it smaller than a 28ish inch block.  Of course, I had to cut that in half because the pattern said not to.  Sometimes, I'm real big on doing what I'm not supposed to.  I got in trouble for that when I was a kid, but as an adult, it's mostly led me on some fantastic adventures.  I made the center block and put it on point and made the borders, inspired by a couple of Sally's quilts.  I love this one.  And the quilting in it is fantabulous!  

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The president spent the weekend working in his office and going to church.  He didn't call anybody a disparaging name.  Think about that for a minute.  

I cried from 10:30-11:30 on Wednesday.  I am not at all ashamed of it.  I walked away from my desk, didn't pretend to work, and I watched good happen on TV.  Never discount normal behavior.  There's so much to be said in favor of it.  

Everybody have a great week!!  Lane