A Change of Direction

Well, I came across an interesting thing this past weekend. I couldn't really do any of my hand work due to the fact that I had caught my thimble finger in the garage door late last week so I just worked a lot on some machine projects. However, I also had ample time to think and ponder my love of quilting. I just thought I'd share what I'd discovered.

I have learned that I don't like traditional quilts. I realize that I find them boring and a pain to do. Quilting them isn't any fun either. However, when I'm working on my own personal designs, I love every part of it, even the quilting. So I am now working hard on finishing up all my 'traditional' quilts to get them out of the way. From here on out, I'm pretty much going to be designing and making my own stuff. The great thing about that is that I've already been 'hit' with several awesome ideas. I can't wait to clear some things off of my quilting plate so that I can get going on them.

I'm currently working hard on quilting my husband's quilt. I had to stop on that when I bruised that silly finger. It takes too much hand control and pressure to shove his quilt through the sewing machine. My finger is pretty much ready to tackle that again. Yay!

Then there's my step-son's quilt that I'm about 1/3 of the way through quilting. I stopped working on that ages ago. I put in a poor quality batting and have to quilt really close together. Silly me decided to do a free motion-type design. I call it "doodle quilting." It takes a lot of thread and a lot of strength to do it as his quilt is large too. Pending the Army's decision that we're expecting today, I might have to put it through the machine ASAP as well.

While waiting for my finger to heal, I brought out my brother's quilt. I had told him before that I could finish him a quilt before he finished building his airplane. Yup. He's building his very own airplane. Not one of those RC radio flyer things. An honest to goodness airplane that seats people. LOL Here's his log that he has to do while he's building it. Sean's RV-10

I am making him a nice quilt in blue, black, green, and silver. He actually picked the colors, the rest of it was up to me. I picked a pattern called Irish Plaid. I got the pattern from quilterscache.com. I've had it in the making for years now. Story of my life. However, I managed to get a ton of it pieced this weekend and I'm making great progress. I actually have the first block finished and put together. I've had the border pieced (it's all paper pieced) for some time now. Each block takes 4 sections with a Y-seam in the center. There are 8 pieces to each section. That's a lot of fabric and a lot of sewing! His quilt takes 30 blocks (120 sections) before the border. Eep! I have all the 'fancy' edges finished now. The blue and green intertwine along the edge with a color I call 'ocean' throughout the rest of it. You'll see it when it's finished. My brother gets to see it first. *smile*

The list of 'traditional' quilts or any quilt not designed by me that I need to finish is rather large. I think the number is up around 20. I had several on my list that I was doing the "I want to do" with. However, with my change in thinking, all those quilts might get put by the wayside. I didn't design them, so they'd probably drive me nuts. However, I'm still going to do the other three McKenna Ryan Coffee Series quilts I have. I love her stuff and she's actually the one who 'inspired' me to "break free" from traditional quilting. So I think it's only fitting that I finish up my inspirations before heading off in my own direction. Besides! I love coffee!! *grin*

Well, I'm going to go pull up my "Quilt To Do List" and see about revamping it. I'll finish the ones I've started to date, but all new ones need to be carefully planned. Have a marvelous day!