Apparently I'm not the best at blogging regularly though it's hard to blog about something that you don't have time to work on. I slowly chipped away working on my quilt and finished it on Tuesday, February 28th (my Dad's birthday!). I worked on it the weekend of February 8th and finished the quilting part the weekend of the 25th. I trimmed the batting, cut the edges for the binding, and sewed the binding on Tuesday. I used it for my blanket that night as I was too excited not to. I couldn't believe I actually had enough follow through to get this big project done.
0 Comments
Update: I haven't had much time to work on my unfinished projects. Between work, work, work related to other work, kid, and life I haven't been able to take time out for me and my projects. The sewing quilt is still LITERALLY in my sewing machine ready to go...just waiting for me to quilt it. I had to take time off from that project to finish my opera hood/sortie cap for my 1860s ensemble. I had started this project last fall sometime, but stopped because there was no immediacy to complete it. I had no where to wear it BUT, now I do have somewhere to wear it. I am performing in the Western Illinois Museum's annual meeting program and will be wearing my 1860s dress. The program is "My Dear Patty: The Civil War Letters of Carter Van Vleck." I can't wear my bonnet as this event is inside and therefore need a cap to cover my short hair.
I will post pictures of that in progress and done sometime soon. I started a quilt top a couple of months ago...I purchased the fabric years ago (probably 3-4 years ago). I saw the colorful, sewing themed fabric and just HAD to have it. Of course I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but knew that I couldn't live without it. Hence my extremely large fabric collection. I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to make a quilt for myself. I made a quilt for my husband, Nick, last year and am quite jealous of it. I started the quilt, but didn't get too far before I abandoned the project. I had all blocks completed and started to sew three rows together. Maybe time is the excuse? I re-started this project and realized that I messed up on it. Some of my half-square-triangles were going one way and others going the other way. The issue resulted from some of the fabric being "one directional" or being "this side up." A mess up to me means to throw the whole thing away and to start over. BUT, I'm not doing that anymore. I am working through my mistakes. Nick and I figured to change a couple of squares to make it look intentional and create larger blocks in some areas. Can you find these cleverly disguised mistakes? While quilting, I spilled coffee on the bottom square! I was so mad at myself. I tried to wash the fabric, but there is a faint stain. Ugh. There is always something!
I have started to quilt the quilt as of today (January 13), but it is quite difficult to get the twin sized quilt in my sewing machine. I'll keep you updated on the progress. In other news, I might have to stop the quilting process for a moment and finish another project that I'm working on. I now have a "due date" of mid-February to wear my Civil War dress again and now need my opera cap! I started this bag for my mother over the summer of 2016: I messed up. Remember to always measure TWICE and cut ONCE...or in my case, sew once. I thought I was golden until I realized that the strap lengths were uneven and I had to shorten one side: Now if I wanted to shorten the strap the right way, I would have taken the strap off (it was one continuous piece), remeasure, and sew back on. BUT, of course, I waited till Christmas Day to fix this problem and this was a Christmas present for my mom...I was going to see her the next day and wouldn't have my sewing machine. What I did instead was to cut the extra off, fold one side down, and then sew a small rectangle around to hold the strap down. Like this: It's not the prettiest, BUT I need to learn to let go of flaws and imperfections. Plus, I don't think anyone but me would notice. I think that is *one* of my problems with finishing projects: the fear of failure. I have such a grandiose idea in my head and fear that it won't turn out the way I imagine (and it rarely ever does), AND THAT'S OKAY.
My Mother-in-Law, Sharon, gave me two skeins of the Red Heart Sashay yarn SEVERAL years ago to knit her a scarf. I just got around to knitting her scarf...well, one of them anyway. I still haven't gotten to the other one...I'll use TIME as an excuse (or maybe since I have already done one, I'm bored with making another).
I believe the reason that I never got around to knitting these scarves is because I had already knit a scarf like this for myself and didn't know how to finish it. Or now that I'm thinking about it, I think I needed to get a needle and thread and I was just too lazy to get it at the time...by the time I was ready to work again on projects, I was already onto the next one! I found this yarn while reorganizing my craft table/area and thought that it was finally time to make these scarves...and therefore finally time to tackle ALL of my unfinished projects. Throughout 2017 I will document the unfinished project in whatever state it is currently in and then work through the process of WHY it didn't get finished, WHAT it will take to finish, and then FINISH it. My life is a series of opened tabs...like literally, I currently have 12 open tabs right now on my work computer...just waiting to be used. My brain processes much faster than I would like so I need to open a new tab about an idea I have or that idea would be gone forever.
I am a person with many unfinished projects. I dabble in needlecrafts and so I have sewing and knitting projects started and discarded in a tub underneath my sewing table...just waiting to be completed. Will that ever happen? Maybe 2017 will be their year? I'm notorious to start a poject, any project, with great gusto only to fizzle out long before the project is completed and I'm already onto the next great idea. Why is this? I always ask myself this question and I can never find the answer. This year is the year! I will dedicate myself to completing these projects (and this blog) and finally clean out the tub (only to be filled again with more unfinished projects)! This blog is a chronicling of my journey to finish these projects. |
About the AuthorWife. Mother. Professor. Perpetually starting projects and not finishing them. Archives
March 2017
Categories |