I spent the weekend cleaning?

It wasn't supposed to be that way but a very nice but somewhat wicked person asked for a couple of "organizational tips" for a project she's got coming up next month, and the end result is that I had to clean and dust and straighten up a bit because her project meant I was going to have to take some pictures.  

Does that make sense?

When I have a little more information about the whens, whats, whos and whys, I'll let you know.

This was supposed to be the weekend I finished up the last of the Christmas presents I've been making and finished stitching the Primitive Gatherings pincushion for 2011.

Pretty cute, huh?  

This is the perle cotton kit I bought to go with the "free" kit.  Yes, I see the irony of this... I spent $35.00 for the thread kit to make a free pincushion kit.  But I'm making extra pincushions and I did share some perle cotton with a couple of friends who also got the kits.  So that sort of amortizes the cost a bit.  Come on... stretch with me here.  

By the way, while getting my pictures together for this project, I noticed a recurring theme.  Do you see how compulsive organized I am?  I have little trays or baskets for each project I work on.  Even though the balls of perle cotton look like they've been casually tossed into the tray, looks can be deceiving.  The balls are usually in neat little rows with the label facing up so that the color number is visible.  And the O-numbers are not allowed to mingle with the M-numbers.  To make it worse, when the project is done, the balls go back into the storage box, the pins go back into the box with the pins and the pattern gets put in a pattern bag and filed away.  I don't know how I got this way but I'm hoping there is a 12-step program of some kind.    

I was also supposed to be working on a couple of other things but since I can't show them to you, I won't tell you about them.  Do you remember the days when being a "tease" was a bad thing?  Now it seems to be de rigueur.  It's annoying, isn't it?

Though it also means that I won't have much to show for a little while.  Except this.  This has been hanging out in a basket, waiting to be cut up into pieces:

Sandi Henderson ~ Secret Garden.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I've had it for a little while but just haven't been able to get to it.  I know exactly what I want to make with it, though I do need to make a decision about background.  I'm considering two options - one is obvious, the other will almost certainly elicit a "that doesn't look like you" comment from someone.  Yes, I do hear that.  I heard it a lot with Fresh Palette and Nine Dots.    

And yes, it was one of the things that I was referring to last week when I expressed some frustration about what direction I want to go with the quilts I'm making.  

I appreciate all the kind comments from last week about direction and risk, and about my quote box.  Though I did have to laugh when I got an e-mail from someone who suggested I had been raised in a monastery and taught handwriting by monks... like I could ever live someplace where folks take a vow of silence?!?  As if!  Can you imagine?

What I was trying to express was this -- I love the quilts I've made because each one has presented a different challenge or fulfilled some kind of whim.  When I first started quilting, I tried almost every style of fabric and color palette, everything was an exploration.  Part of that was because everything was new and different, and I was still trying to figure out what I liked.  But it is also my nature in that I like variety - which might explain why I have Le Creuset pieces in four different colors.  When I started teaching at a local quilt shop, I was given pretty free rein over what I taught so I continued to experiment with different things.  But lately, I feel like I've done less of that, especially with bigger quilts.

So that's where I am right now.  

The scariest part about actually making some of the quilts I have had living in my head the past few years is that I haven't got a clue how I would write the pattern.  

But I'll worry about that later.  I have to go finish that {thing} I'm working on.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Dianne]

oh i can't wait to see what {thing}s you have up there in your brain!...of course...only the quilt related things! pretty fabric :)

[abby]

Please share what you're thinking about for Secret Garden, I love that line, but haven't bought any yet due to the fact that I have no idea what to do with it!

Thanks!

[Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts]

You cleaned and we only got 2 photo's? :-) LOL Guess that means we have to wait for that 'person's' project. Bummer. LOL Love what comes out of that brain of yours! Have a happy day!

[Archie the wonder dog]

I can't wait to see what you're working on!! Have fun with it!

[Carol]

You are my organizing hero...love your compulsiveness...oh I mean organizational skills. Oh share more please...

[Elizabeth E.]

Boy, do I hear you. When I went to the National Gallery of Art in DC with my sister this year, we stood in front of a Sol LeWitt painting and I said, I wish I could capture in a quilt what I feel from this painting.

I love the quilting grid, I love the ordered-ness (is that a word) of what I've done for years and years and will continue to do that. But sometimes I wish I could break out in a new direction, try that New Thing and have it bend me to a new curve in my creativity. Does this make any sense? I think we all get to a certain place and need to push in a different direction, using what we know.

I'll stay tuned to see your journey. . .
Elizabeth E.