Planning (Versus Panicking)

Working on the table runner has given me a chance to clear my head every night and think about the future instead of panicking over the present. Pandemic-related panic has already wrecked too much of this year for me, and facing the potential end of my ability to hand-stitch can be terrifying or inspiring. I'd rather be inspired than terrified, so I'm going to focus on what I can do for as long as I can do it.

Once I'm finished the quilting I might do a bit of feather stitching on this one with one of these embroidery threads. There's an unmatched seam in the white patchwork in just one spot (directly below the threads in this pic) that annoys me.

I decided last month that I want to make a couple of quilts that combine artistry and function. Thanks to Theo, I was able to purchase a quilt kit and a second panel featuring prints of some architectural/nature watercolor paintings by Noelle Phares:

I'm going to make this one according to the kit. I think it's perfect for Katherine's new room, and the colors remind me of her.

I want to design a quilt around this panel. Lots to think about in how I might do that.

Trying to keep our spirits up while navigating these frightening times is exhausting and disheartening. If you get a chance today, do something nice for yourself.

Comments

nightsmusic said…

Today...today, I made grape jam with the grapes from my vines in the back yard. Not sure I can say that was for me, I'll give half of what I made away, but I can't stand leaving the grapes to rot on the vines. Or to feed the deer. And it's always a race to see if it's me or them that gets there first.

You need to keep moving forward and not worry about it. Worrying about it isn't going to change things and it's better to be happy in your current abilities than to look far forward to things you can't guarantee. I have a couple things in my life like that that I've finally stopped worrying about the outcome. I'm going to enjoy what I have while I have it and take each day as I can.

Love you, woman.

August 25, 2020 at 11:06 AM

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to...

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

Valerean

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