Quilting a challenging Challenge

I've hit the work schedule pretty hard this week for a Quilt Challenge due in April. At the end of the display I'll post a picture but for now all I can show are the fabrics I'm using. I spent a good portion of Saturday prepared to cut and sew pieces together only to be challenged by the design I made last weekend. It was just too too much. I needed to incorporate a much simpler element and now that I've accomplished those changes I know I'll be more confident when construction begins tomorrow. I'm way behind schedule, but I think I'll like this plan better. I've entered many challenges before, always reaching to do the best that I can and many times I'm rewarded with only the satisfaction of knowing it's a one of a kind work of art, but with a desire for that elusive ribbon. The ribbons are nice to receive, sort of an "at ta boy", pat on the back kind of thing from quilting peers. My ribbons are curled up in a shoebox. The shoebox is high on a closet shelf. The shoebox only means something to me. The quilts I enter are all over the house. The quilts mean something to not only myself but my family as well. They all know what it takes for me to be completely happy with the end results of my projects. Most of the time they are a patient bunch having to put up with either late meals, poorly planned meals or meals on the fly because I'm in the studio longer than planned. It's just how my kids grew up, and they knew the planning and piecing and cutting and sewing was all a therapy that kept me wrapped a little tighter than I normally would have been. So here are the fabrics that I'm using in the challenge and at the close of the first week of May I'll post a picture of the challenge wallhanging quilt I've entered and if we think positive we'll see a ribbon in the picture. A ribbon that will be put in a shoebox on a high shelf in a closet. A ribbon that will be forgotten by everyone, except me!

Game On 4.5

Begin at the Beginning. Just Fine!

Somewhere during my elementary years Mrs Lempke told our class that everything has a beginning. So at the start of this blog and the start of this new year, I begin here.

Our New Years day started off just as in past years, parades on the television in the morning followed by the buzz of Football games in the afternoon. By mid morning I was upstairs in the studio sewing quilt blocks for a "Saturday Sampler" class I started at the end of October. I told myself years ago that I'd never do another Saturday Sampler having four under my belt already, but here I was enjoying another year after a 3 year hiatus. Up and down the stairs I'd scoot checking on the football scores and the simple cherry pie I had in the oven. My husband is deep into the Big 10 but channel surfs all the games. It's the surfing that keeps me at bay and in my studio.

This first blog post reminds of my first essay. You never know what to write, when it's too much or too little. The ringing of the stove timer reminds me to remove that cherry pie so I'll wish all a Happy New Year with good health and wisdon. My families ordinary start to another year suits me just fine. Just fine!