considering the hoard

on a day when 10.75 yards of my favorite fabric arrived in my mailbox, i ordered some "rare finds" on etsy, and spent half my morning reading about fabric selection and stash building (parts 1 and 2) at blue elephant stitches, ironically i also happened apon yet another of rebecca's brilliant ideas: fabriholics anonymous. she's come right out and admitted the problem many of us have with fabric buying, not only admitted it, but pledged to do something about it! brave, brave girl.

liz and i talk about this from time to time. we joke our friendship is built on our naughty buying habits. well, it did start that way. and i had another conversation with someone (amandak, maybe?) a few months ago about this very topic and perhaps the need for some help from each other in our community to stop the madness and the enabling. rebecca has addressed the issue and fleshed it out for us with some great guidelines for a 6 month fabric fast. i borrow from her page:

GOALS:

- To use the Stash I already have!

- Finish UFOs without distraction by shifting to other new beautiful fabric.

- Stop the insanity of constantly buying the latest and greatest fabric.

- Save the $$ I spend on stashing.

- Destash the fabrics that I realize I am never going to use.

FABRIC FAST RULES:

1) No fabric purchases for 6 months beginning January 1, 2014.   

2) At 6 months reevaluate status and decide whether to keep going for full year.  Evaluation July 1, 2014.

3) Create a UFO list and complete them!

4) Exceptions

• Backing: purchasing a backing to finish a quilt top is permissible.  However, attempting to use fabric in your possession for a backing is preferable.
• Books and Magazine purchases are allowed as they are not fabric.  Notions acceptable too.
• Swap Mama Fabric: if hosting a swap you are permitted to by fabric to execute swap duties, but you may not join a swap simply for the sake of being able to buy fabric!
• Quilts for Publication: if you are making a quilt for a publication and need certain fabric to execute it correctly then that is a major exception - who can blame you?

there is a link up on her page if you want to join in and pledge publicly. i'm pretty sure know i need to do this, but am not quite brave enough just yet. i'm thinking if i modified the rules a bit, i could do it.

my list of quilts i want to make as soon as i'm done with the kids' quilts for Christmas is already about 6 projects long. and i have the fabrics for them, too. there is just no end in sight to finding more projects and more fabrics to buy. fortunately, i'm not aware of any lines coming out that i'm dying to own. but i'm sure that's only because i don't know about them.

 i guess it's just time to come clean on this. i missed the "show me yours, i'll show you mine" confession link party this summer, so this is where i personally stand with my own stash & addiction:
 

 i was doing pretty well in my bawthroom sewing area, had the table all cleared off and everything stacked on the shelf. but then i cleared out the dining area and it all ended up on the table. there are several boxes under the table, too. no more room there.  i'll leave the actual amounts here to your imagination.

i'm not even going to try to classify all this garbage. the majority of what is on the shelves, i purchased online or at my local store in the first 6 months or year of becoming a new quilter. i just wanted pretty fabric and bought a ton of it. patterns, too. looking at it now, i know there is a good portion of it i won't use the way i originally intended to, if at all.

i've changed a lot as a quilter in the last 3 years, or at least i understand myself and my style a lot better than i once did. i could eventually use all of this, even if for charity quilting, which i'd like to do. but the reality is there is a good chunk i'm not so excited about anymore. i destashed bits of it in Lucy's fugly party earlier this year, but i could realistically get rid of more if i made myself.

my weakness has been precuts (!!!) and sales, online or in person. I've actually gotten a lot better at this, but many of these pieces made their way to me when they went on sale somewhere. maybe it's safe to say that i don't buy a whole lot of fabric anymore, but that i once did and that's my main problem.

so that's the ugly truth hiding away upstairs. let's look downstairs in my public space:

 on the shelves are 4 wicker baskets containg some bits of fabric: liberty basket, purl soho basket, epp project basket, and stuff that just needs to be put away. not much here and acceptably organized.

under the table are several project or scrap boxes: hst diamond project box, 4sq baby blankets project box, epp project boxes (one fabric, one paper pieces), triangle binding scraps box, selvages box, string stuffing scraps box, "paris daydreams" project box, "twirly" project box. each of these boxes is either a project i'm right in the middle of making or is a permanent site for a long-term collection that is slowly building up over time. i'm okay with all of these boxes. this is within the healthy realm, but it needs to move upstairs and out of sight simply for the sake of our home's aesthetic appearance.

oh, there is also the bag (on the right) that contains my pull for penny patch 2.0 and baby boy quilts for my two newest nephews. i ran out of boxes. all of these fabrics are spoken for.

so the downstairs looks pretty good. it's the huge hoard, and let's face this, too - it's a hoard, not a stash -that is the real problem.

if i look at my purchasing over the last 6 months or so, it has become more responsible, but is still on the unhealthy side considering what's sitting around. i almost always only buy for a specific project these days. the three exceptions to this type of more responsible purchasing are favorite fabrics, zakka, and stash-building.

1) i've found lately that i'm coming close to running out of some pieces i really like and know i will use more of them if i can get it. so i go look for it when it runs low. this is fairly intentional and reasonable stash purchasing.

2) my new little collection of Japanese/cute novelty prints for patchwork, please! style zakka projects is perhaps the biggest exception to my healthy buying. i've been gathering a little pile of these fabrics, mostly in fat quarters, for a few months, here and there, online. i probably have enough to fill one project box.

3) i've bought a few quarter yards and precuts of fabrics purely for stash after considering them several times before purchasing. it was more thought out, but not really "necessary" buying.

fortunately for me, i haven't traded any real necessities nor have my children done without so i could acquire all these fabrics. all spending has come from a regular personal discretionary fund of my own. the fact that i can technically afford all these fabrics in no way justifies my purchase of them, my consumption for the sake of consuming. oh, i did have plans for a large number of these buys, but i can't produce fast enough to keep up. penny patch did make a small dent in one corner of the old stash shelf. but there needs to be more of this happening. perhaps what i need to aim for is getting all unused fabrics to fit on my shelving before i consider more purchases and new projects.

so to what am i willing to commit?
i need to work from stash. honestly, i have enough to keep me busy for months with just the few projects i want to do next year once . . . you know, my 7 current projects are done. let's revisit rebecca's list with my comments and modifications in color:

GOALS:

- To use the Stash I already have! check! use the items from my stash that i really love before getting new stuff. i'm gong to have to discern between what i will likely use and what will be put away for charity.

- Finish UFOs without distraction by shifting to other new beautiful fabric. check!

- Stop the insanity of constantly buying the latest and greatest fabric. check! the only things i'm aware of that i really want are the new anna maria horner line and the blender true color fabrics from amh and heather bailey. lucky for me, they aren't moda and will likely be around for a bit.

- Save the $$ I spend on stashing. check! while i whittle away at my stash, i should be spending my fabric budget on some worthy projects and causes instead.

- Destash the fabrics that I realize I am never going to use. i am torn on this one because i feel i can use any fabrics i have for charity quilting. and I'd like to do this, eventually. i will have to think on this more before making any commitments.

FABRIC FAST RULES:

1) No fabric purchases for 6 months beginning January 1, 2014.   ouch! okay. i can do it for 6 months.

2) At 6 months reevaluate status and decide whether to keep going for full year.  Evaluation July 1, 2014. check! great idea! it's not forever, there is an end in sight!

3) Create a UFO list and complete them! already working on this. find some of the cool link parties for motivation.

4) Exceptions oh, yeah, i have some of these!

• Backing: purchasing a backing to finish a quilt top is permissible.  However, attempting to use fabric in your possession for a backing is preferable. definitely agree!
• Books and Magazine purchases are allowed as they are not fabric. actually, i have more than enough of these. i'm waiting for lee's vintage quilt revival this month, and then no more until i have begun using the books i have.  Notions acceptable too. agreed! i tend to buy these on an as-needed basis anyway.
• Swap Mama Fabric: if hosting a swap you are permitted to by fabric to execute swap duties, but you may not join a swap simply for the sake of being able to buy fabric! i'm not a swapper, no issues here.
• Quilts for Publication: if you are making a quilt for a publication and need certain fabric to execute it correctly then that is a major exception - who can blame you? not me either! however, i retain the right to shop in the middle of a project for more bits that might be needed for that specific project.
• there are two kinds of fabric that i now know i use that i don't have stashed: low-volume and solids. so i will retain the right to determine if i need any more of these two types for specific projects. if i find any i really like on a bargain sale, i will consider at length my desire for them before giving in.

there. that feels reasonable. i can commit to this. i guess i better go sign the roster.

how do you feel about this, friends? where do you stand? how about only commiting to the fast until either your current quilt is done or for only 3 months? could you maybe at least think through your own habits and decide on some few ways to be more responsible?  i hope so! let me know if you need a sounding board or cheering section.

and thank you rebecca lynne!

on the reading shelf

 well, this is one thing we found on a reading shelf this week. hee, hee! her older sister asked me, "mom, is it ok that the baby is doing this?" yes, i'm okay with it. i even took a photo. lately she loves small spaces like cupboards and shelves. it's very cute.

 but really i was referring to the rotating display shelf in the reading corner. she did her reading there, too. this week's selections included:

Babies by Gyo Fujikawa (classic) {not on the shelf because she's reading it}
Otto the Book Bear by Katie Cleminson (book related)
The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst (altered fairy tale)
Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane by Victoria Sherrow (non-fiction/animal/science)
Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated by Florence Parry Heide (modern fairytale/friendship/dealing with differences)
The Mitten by Jan Brett (winter)
Cats' Night Out by Caroline Stutson (counting/rhyming/beautifully illustrated)
Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (classic/rhyming/altered fairytale)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (classic/counting)
Madeline by Ludwig Behmelmens (classic/rhyming)
Olivia by Ian Falconer (modern classic/humorous)
various board books for baby

i try to keep a good variety of books on here, books from various genres that cover a range of subjects or interests. on occasion,  i will choose all books by one author or about one subject. but one of the main factors in choosing what i put here is that i have to like to read them myself for i know i'll be doing that a lot over the week they spend on the shelf. also, i don't trade out every book. favorites or books i want them to engage a little more stay here for longer than one week.

my next wips and some scrappy help

i've expanded my palette for s2's quilt beyond the jelly roll of riley blake's "superstar." i just wasn't feeling it with the one line so i found more blues, greys, brown, and oranges to add to the mix. this project is up next in the kids' quilts for Christmas line-up.

goodness, there's been a lot of orange popping up around here lately. just look:

this little pile is actually all from one line of fabric, heather bailey's  new lottie da, but that's not bothering me here. it's a pull for a very, very special quilt i promised someone 3 years ago and has now been called into service. it's a great story that i'll share soon.

as i've been pulling fabric and quilting away, i've had help from this little lady. doesn't she look like the most innocent being in the universe? oh, but she's busy! into absolutely everything, growing that brain of hers through hands-on knowledge construction. she keeps me on my toes constantly.

i will do most anything to buy a few minutes peace from her so when she asked to play in the scrap basket just after i'd organized it a bit, i happily said yes! historically, this lasts for about 3.2 minutes, but it was a few minutes i needed. besides, i love it when she plays with the fabric bits.

she got right ot work laying the scraps out just like i'd been doing with my penny patch blocks. i'm happy to say i believe she stayed engaged for a full 10 minutes this time before moving on to her next project. it's high time i finished my current wip and moved on, too!

some fmq and family, too

 after having difficulty with fabric pushing and bunching on my first attempt at the straight line quilting for "twirly", i took leah day's advice from her craftsy class and tried to do the straight lines with my fmq foot, to varying degrees of success and disaster.

it felt good while i was doing the fmq, but it wasn't always working as well as i thought. i did manage to keep my stitching pretty darn straight, for the most part. my main problem with it was that occasionally the needle would jump to the left a stitch length or two when i would stop to move my hands. this is horribly noticeable when you look at the lines.

when i stipple, i can move one hand or the other without having to stop very often for adjustments, but with straight lines, you have no choice but to stop to move your hands pretty much every time your hands reach the end of the quilting table. and that's when the needle would mysteriously shift over a bit and ruin the straight line effect. argh! i redid some of it and left other bits. i'm hoping a wash and crinkling will help hide the less-than-perfect lines in this quilt. i suppose i just need more practice and it will start to come more naturally to me.

the good news is that the fabric stopped shifting and bunching like it did under the walking foot. now the lines just don't look so good.

on the other hand, i tried out the wishbone pattern in the dark green sashing strips and it worked beautifully! i thoroughly enjoyed sewing this pattern and will definitely use it again. it was next to impossible to photograph, but it looks good on the quilt.

 all that looping was meditative and relaxing. it's a forgiving and pretty pattern.

 while i was busy quilting away, working out my arms (please tell me this counts as exercise of some sort because my arms are sore!), we had 4 daughters, 3 nieces, and 2 neighbor girls playing in the family room. they decided to create a play for us. of course they made a huge mess, but also a very cute production. i loved that they used as many of my quilts as they could find as part of the set. there were quilts laid out everywhere! they made it look homey, i suppose.

other family happenings this weekend: our snow pea plant produced it's first pods for consumption. the 5 yr old and i have been watering and watching these grow from seed since the end of September. it's the extent of our winter garden this year.

my oldest son sought out the hat loom and began a new hat for himself to keep his head warm in the dropping temperatures. i love that even my boys are handy with fibers when necessary. these are by no means high-quality hats, but they enjoy making them and will wear them around the house on a chilly morning.

d1 even made his own hook to replace the missing one from the kit. he fashioned it out of a paperclip and some beeswax. that's one handy boy.

happy holiday weekend, y'all

whether you had a lovely, long holiday weekend like we did here stateside or just a regular one, i hope yours included a good meal, some sewing, and enjoyment of a sort. personally, my weekend was spent with family, specifically highlighted by my 3 newest nephews, all under 6 months.

dylan, who is choosy about company, recognized a mother of many and let me lug him around a lot while his mother finished her hostess prepping for thanksgiving dinner. 3 different people tried to have a share with him, but it was either mamma or aunty hydee for him. everyone else got a squeal and crying.

on friday, one of my seesters hosted a brunch-til-bedtime family day at her house. we cooked, ate, played games, ate, talked, ate, gamed, ate. i took some time out for an almost-nap snuggling with baby trace. oh, yes, i could do this again. one more time.

i did my share of cooking, eating, and talking but no actual game playing because my hands were kept busy finishing the binding of jed's quilt. i literally finished burying the final knot just before they stepped out the door to go home. whew! it feels good to have that completed and delivered.

seeing as it was nearly 10pm and all good lighting was gone, i didn't get an official "finish" photo, but here is a different shot i took of jed and the quilt last month when i was working on the binding.

all these cute baby boys everywhere have my mr completely bonkers for another boy. at our age, we'll be lucky to get pregnant again period. we'll take what we can get or even just be satisfied with and grateful for the seven wonders we already have. they are at the top of my gratitude list this holiday and always. right there with them are God and my husband, who both had a hand in giving them to me. i am blessed and grateful indeed.

penny patch flimsy

penny patch: hello, quilt top! link party here.

books and quilts are us

reading time with the first grader on the couch, curled up under lolly lolly

this house has long been over run by books. now the quilts are starting to pile up, too. i think this is a good combination: books and quilts. what could be cozier?

when my quilting began 3 years ago (this month, actually!), i could not see down the line to a day when i would have so many quilts under my sewing belt. it just seemed impossible that i would find the time to make much of anything. now my kids ask, "where are you going to put all these quilts you are making, mom?" never fear, we haven't hit the saturation point yet.

reading and quilts collide at several points through out our day and our home.

sometimes we sit up to read during homeschool reading time with the younger girls and other times we lay down on the couch. d3 wanted to revisit BOB books, our go-to starter readers, a few days ago. since it was going to be easy, review type reading, we snuggled in on the couch. with the weather cooling off, the addition of a quilt was perfect. lolly lolly was her choice, of course.

 while she read, i may have also been studying the quilt in front of me. it's such a fascinating piece of work (not mine, you know - rachel hauser's). my fabric matching and purchasing has already been affected by it. i sure wish I knew what that awesome floral on the goldenrod background is.

most of the quilts i have in progress or in mind will either round out the collection of quilts that live in the family room, available for anyone to use in there, or will go on the play balcony for use during dramatic play. in addition to this, i've begun placing quilts in a few other strategic locations.

i recently turned this small corner of the landing at the top of our stairs into a junior readers corner. the little bookstand is nothing too special to look at, but it does the job of displaying books. perhaps i could paint it a pretty color. i was inspired to make this space by mariah bruehl's book playful learning. i won a spot in one of her ecourses about learning spaces 3 years ago and have been slowly implementing the ideas around the house. part of her philosophy is to make an attractive, inviting display to draw young learners in. (fyi - her website, playful learning, is a great parenting resource.)

this little corner could be a lot more attractive, but it's a good start and far better looking than the messy shelf of piled minutia i had here before. eventually i want to add some clip boards to the wall to hold the kids' art above the shelving and maybe make a comfy poof cushion for the reader to curl up on. for now, as an invitation to sit down and read, i'm using the little rocker d1 got for her first Christmas. at nearly 15 years old, it's starting to become a family heirloom. i draped out on a limb over the rocker for some added comfort and color in the corner. for the record, the invitation is working. even some bigger kids who can still fit their slender hips in that chair are perusing the selections or get suckered in to reading by their younger sisters.

each week, i change out most of the books on the shelf. this has been a great way to get them to revisit a few books several times during the week instead of just quickly browsing (and leaving huge messes behind) from the big shelves that hold literally thousands of children's books. with a few specially curated items, they engage more often and longer with individual titles. there is even a little shelf on the bottom for a collection of board books for the baby.

on the shelf this week:

stuck by oliver jeffers (hilarious)
the mitten by jan brett (classic/winter)
this is not my hat by jon klassen (again, hilarious!)
lilly's purple plastic purse by kevin henkes (classic/dealing with childhood issues)
each peach pear plum by janet and allan ahlberg (classic/rhyming)
oliver finds his way by phyllis root (childhood issue - getting lost)
the king who rained by fred gwynne (a child's literal look at common sayings)
why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears by verna aardema (classic fable)
the very hungry caterpillar by eric carle (classic)
olivia by ian falconer (classic/hilarious)
madeline by ludwig bemelmans (classic/rhymes)
the little house by viginia lee burton (classic)

maybe some readers would like to see what's on the shelf each week? i might could do that periodically.

another ritual around here that ebbs and flows in frequency is called "quilt time." my older children go to a math tutoring service for their math education in the afternoons. the 3 little girls and i have one hour to read together during this time. i tell them to grab their mama-mades and meet me in the family room for a read-aloud. it's the next best thing to an actual nap, which the older 2 don't do any more.

now that it's colder, they are piling on the quilts: one to lay on and another one or two to snuggle in.

our current read aloud picks: the flint heart by kathryn and john paterson, and the squirrel's birthday and other stories by toon tellegen.

so what's your favorite read under a quilt or spot in your home where reading and quilts collide?

wet weekend ready

 yesterday was just plain weird around here. i was sick, but i wasn't. honest to goodness, as long as i was sewing i didn't feel queasy and didn't notice my headache. the mr though i might have the flu, though, so ordered me not to touch anyone. that totally worked in my quilting progress favor while making kid control difficult. there were lots of air hugs and kisses thrown back and forth, but the little toads just ignored my verbal instructions when they felt like it.

my oldest daughter has been given notice that if her dog isn't properly potty (yard) trained to poo in the right spot by the end of the year, she (the dog) is leaving. the training involves the dog being tied to her poop spot until she goes. but we have the stubbornest dog on the planet, who wouldn't clear her bowels until around dinner time. hence we had a daughter stuck by her dog and a dog barking incessantly all day long, and well into the night. poor neighbors.

the toddler decided that now she is two, she's no longer staying in her crib. she climbed right out several times for hours after bedtime. the evening ended with her being put in a portacrib she can't escape, in the middle of the family room. decisions for adjustment need to be made now.

and it rained all evening and night.

with all this upheaval going on, i couldn't get to sleep. so about 12:45, i gave up and started messing with fabric and the quilting blogosphere for a few hours. i feel completely turned upside down and disoriented.

this morning has dawned gloriously cloudy and wet. the younger half of the family is snail hunting in the impromptu ponds created by the rain.

there are snails and light-catching water droplets everywhere. the liquid gems look especially lovely in the ripening citrus, making the fruit look fresh and juicy. only a few more weeks and it will be ready!

 
as for the inside of the house, i may not have been touching my children yesterday, but i did lay a hand on my sewing area. just look how clean i got it! that end of the table hasn't been clear since before Halloween. i've got my cutting mat hiding under the table cloth. there is still a bit of flotsam to put away, but it's looking respectable in comparison to the recent norm.

i made sure not to include penny patch in the photo too much becaue i'm sure everyone is as sick of looking at that as i am. yes, sad to say, but like all torrid love affairs, my obsession with this quilt is quickly turning to . . . ick. or maybe impatience. how else do i say it? having conquered the layout of the quilt, i'm heartily sick of sewing it together. about 2/5ths of the top are done. i just want to move on and see something besides the penny patch. although i suspect learning to dogwood quilt it will help revive the joy before we settle into a cozy but less passionate relationship.

my goal for this weekend is to get twirly back under the fmq foot and finished off.
the penny patch fully pieced, too.
i also want to dive into this box, my late-night puzzle when i couldn't sleep.

see, i had a simple pattern sketched out so i could quickly put together a quilt for my second son. it was made from a jellyroll and a few large cuts of yardage. he's not really that into quilts and would like anything i threw at him, so fast and simple (just to get it done and in his hands) was my plan.

however, when i looked at it last night and broke open the jellyroll, i realized i have changed as a quilter in the months since i designed this and bought the fabric. just this month i decided i don't prefer working with a single fabric line as much as i like mixing it up. and simple was good, but i wanted to take it up a notch creatively with this quilt. i didn't want the quilt coming out looking like one large pieced line of fabric that i threw together just so i could make my son a quilt. this is going to be his mamma made and i want it to be a bit more special now. i'm not going to let the Christmas deadline cheat him or me.

i toyed with a few ideas and fell asleep thinking maybe i could make a boxy, male-ish version of lolly lolly. that would be cool. this morning i pulled a few more fabrics to mix in with the jellyroll for some added depth. but i'm kind of nixing the lolly lolly boy idea. i think it's back to my original design with some modifications and a trip to the store for some solids to use as a field for the strips. only time will tell! it's back to the experimentation/infatuation stage.

with this wet, cozy weekend before me, i think i'll get some of this knocked out!

my making Christmas update:

d1 - "plus a diamond" needs handbinding

s1 - wonky stacked coins not started

d2 - "taite" needs handbinding

s2 - "bandwidth" not started

d3 - "twirly" is in process of quilting

d4 - flowered pillow sham not started

d5 - "paris daydreams" flimsy

penny patch qal - laid out and piecing top 

penny patch evolution

 the obsession with penny patch continues. really, such a simple quilt, but i've turned it into an epic quilt journey. all my blocks are laid out now. i've been much happier with it since the changes i made to my original fabric pull.

terri ann said to me in a comment, "it's funny how obsessed we can become with creating perfect balance on even a scrappy style quilt huh?" too true. this one keeps dragging me over and sucking me in. having it on the design wall where i see it all the time is a completely different experience. it's actually rather silly how much enjoyment i get out of messing with these blocks, rearranging the squares.

however, this weekend there was still something bothering me. a few somethings.

1. i have never been happy with my choice of the pink as the "pop color". it just didn't pop. but it was the only other color besides the oranges and blues from the pull, so i was using it.

2. i wanted some more color fabrics that were less color dense, included more low-volume in them, as a way to add more low-volume to the over all look.

3. i didn't have enough different blue prints, especially once i decided to remove the green prints as my filler blues.

4. that really bright tangerine was sorta buggin' me, too.

see, i like all these fabrics. but the original pull only incorporated 2 different lines and one of the prints, that sprig, was in the quilt in 6 different colors. i was craving more variety. but i did not want to spend any more money on more fabric. a lady with a bookcase full of fabric, and several boxes to boot, should surely be able to make-do from her stash.

 so i inserted a butterfly print from sandi henderson's meadowsweet collection. every quilt needs a bit of meadowsweet, right? it stayed on the board all week and i thought i liked it. but then i stopped liking the linear nature of the butterflies. they were fluttering in my face too much. it just didn't flow with the feel of the quilt.

by the way, because of the size of my design wall, the quilt is laid out on its side, hence the odd orientation of the blocks in the photos. just in case you noticed and were wondering.

well, i visited my stash again and again. orange is sort of a new color for me and apparently i don't have much low volume, either. darn it!

by saturday, i just couldn't stand it any more. i was going to have to either be unsatisfied with the quilt i had already invested so much time into or GO SHOP. shopping definitely won out.

i brought home a 1/4 yard of everything in the store that i thought might even come close to working. i looked for a different pop color that i could somehow still tie into what i already had and prints in my current color that included a lot of neutral/low volume as well. to really complicate matters, this quilt has a very specific 60's/70's feel to it that i'm trying to maintain.

strike two

strike three

i replaced the butterfly print with a sweet orange floral from happy go lucky by bonnie and camille for moda. it was much better . . . and then it wasn't.

honestly, the more i started pulling out prints and trying to add in the new ones, the more i felt like i was just creating fabric vomit. was i making a huge mistake? had i wasted enough time and effort already? (the fabric is not wasted - it'll get used somewhere, sometime.) self-doubt was trampling me. but as i continued to plow through, switching and culling, it started to feel right.

a closer look at the notebook low-volume print. see the light blue lines that make this look like aged notebook paper? love it.

i could have just sewn everything together the way it was and decided not to care. sometimes you have to cut your losses and make do. i really believe that. but i also believe in not settling. deciding when to do which is hard. however, this quilt has been a learning experiment for me all along, so i made the choice to keep learning. i kept thinking about a recent post where rachel hauser said "don't settle." it seemed right.



and it's paying off. i'm so much happier with the results now even though i suspect that it really doesn't look all that different to anyone else.

some new low-volumes added and a few more blues, including darker ones

i was completely surprised by what ended up working for me. the dark horse, long shot choices were the ones i liked best. goodness, i even pulled that happy go lucky floral that replaced the butterfly that replaced the tangerine sprig, and put the tangerine sprig back in in a few select places.

finally, a home run - several of the new add-ins are seen here

but it's okay. it's all okay. i'm feeling my way through what i like and what works for me. it's stretching and growing going on over here. it's not even so much about the final quilt any more as it is about what i'm experiencing. that's important to me this time around. it won't always be my priority with a quilt, but this time it is.

***surprise, surprise - since i wrote and scheduled this post, laura has said this even better than i have over at little and lots. not only is she a great quilter, she's a writer, too; always speaking to the heart and getting inside the head of quilting. how does she do it? "So, to me, these quilts have ended up being about me as a creator. About pushing aside those evil voices that nag at you when you’re working–voices that sometimes make you put down your work in discouragement." ditto what she said.

all in place now - sewing together of blocks has commenced

i haven't recreated vintage tangerine in exactness here. not by a long shot. i have a more aged tone going on and my colors are stronger, there is less lightness to it. but i do have something i like a whole lot. the fact that this looks very fall-ish is an added bonus since I was just thinking some of the quilts in my family room look so very summer they should probably be put away for a few months.

the last question is what to do with all the cut rejects, because surely i have nearly enough for another quilt by now. i'm probably going to throw them together into a second (third?) penny patch called "leftover pennies" and give it away to someone special i have in mind. i like that idea. i think God can take the messes we make in our lives and make something beautiful or useful out of them. why can't i do that with quilt leftovers, hmm? it won't even make a bit of difference to me how that 2nd one turns out because i already know it's going to be a big, beautiful scrappy pile of culled fabrics. and that's good, too.

the stack for penny patch 1.2

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