Eat Dessert First

   The recurring feeling I have is too much to do and not enough free time. Even though I am retired and my days are my own I still feel this way sometimes. As I was writing my Morning Pages I listed all of my to-dos. Then I wrote about wanting to do some fun sewing as a reward for doing the chores. But wait! I thought. Eat dessert first! Do the fun stuff first and then the chores. Who is the boss of me anyway?
   So here is a recap of some of the sewing projects I have finished since my last blog post. It will look like a lot because I haven't blogged in forever.

Rose Garden lotto blocks from the quilt club. I added a few in tones with a touch of yellow to push the color perspective. 

Bugss in the garden. I LOVE bug fabric. This is Cotton and Steel from my sister. 

I am donating the Rose Garden Quilt to my quilt guild's annual Quilt Auction. A portion of the money goes to our tiny community.The rose garden blocks were a UFO from several years ago.

Angies Butterfly Get Well Quilt.

The Butterfly quilt above was made for cousin Angie who battled lymphoma, and beat it into remission. The center big butterfly is made with golf fabrics. That is a nod to my cousin Angie's favorite hobby. My sister and I made the blocks, I put it together, and then Pam quilted it. It is 84" square, made from a fun Elizabeth Hartman Pattern.

I made another butterfly quilt to raffle for my son-in-law's fund raising efforts. He had a liver transplant 3 months ago for a fatal liver disease, PSC, and is recovering very well. His transplant was a partial liver from a living donor.  The donor, Rachel is completely recovered and both have regenerated full livers.

Don't Quit Before the Miracle Happens

This quilt was sewn with all Moda batiks and the colors are so pretty. Pam is quilting this one as well.

Other quilts I've made were for my aunt Sonja who is my prime fabric enabler. She sent me the fabrics and I did the fun part...sewing.

Pioneer Spirit panel and disappearing 4 patch blocks

Hidden Kittens, a Moda kit.

I modified the eyes and nose on this quilt. the pattern had tiny eyes too wide set. I found the repetitive piecing and machine applique a bit tedious, but the overall effect is modern and fun.

8 weeks old.

A kitten after my own heart, in the fabric

6 months old, still petite at 5 lb.

And our new family member, Rootin'Tootin' Raspberry. She is a sweet independent cat who likes to spend most of her time outside running Nascar laps around the 3 acre property. Mr. Thimblepie named her after a character we remember from 1962 TV, a pistol packin' cowboy of the same name.

Ahh the politically incorrect  old days. Enjoy your hobbies and eat dessert first.

Screw Your Courage to the Sticking Place

Hope's Nova Star is ready to quilt. I added prairie points within the borders for the baby's textural interest and I love the effect. It is super fun, and adorable. Just like little Nova (or Ralph, as baby's brother Aries likes to call it.)

Here is a little tidbit about the brown border/sashing. I was originally going to set the blocks without sashing, but at retreat my pal Leona suggested sashing to add definition to the stars. So I tried some grey scraps first, just to see.

Hmmm, We were on the right track but not grey. Jody suggested a very dark sash, and picked something black with tiny violet flowers. Not even worth a photo, I said NO WAY.  I had just received a care package at retreat (yes, can you even believe it? at retreat!) from Pam. It included some lovely fun camel brown Moda fabric with childhood primer text on it. I had sent that to her a while back, sharing the love, and she boomeranged it back. And as a sashing it was perfect, made my heart leap.

It pushes the neutrals, a concept Mary Mashuta wrote about where the contrast brightens the colors.  Kind of like the cheerleaders inviting a dull girl to join them in the mistaken idea that they will look better. Well, the neutral is the key, the element of interest. The neutrals are not overpowering but they are absolutely vital to the whole. Because they are true to themselves. Which is what I need to remember when I have self doubt.

In a world where you can be anything, be self confident. What does a lack of confidence come from? Comparison. And where does comparison come from? Old, very old, ancient tapes saying that we should be more like (fill in the blank) or why can't we be more like (fill in the blank.) What do you think all of the fashion magazines sell? SELF DOUBT.  Where was Mr. Rogers when I needed him? Thankfully I can figure it all out with some daily writing. Just be true to myself and screw the self doubt. Screw your courage to the sticking place, as Lady MacBeth said.

And, here is my other quilt top finish:::

The center butterfly is huge. 38.5" x 29.5" huge. The details on this big fat mama are a surprise for the recipient so I won't talk about them. The three center butterflies were sewn by my sister, Pam. We are collaborating on a get well quilt for my cousin Angie who has battled lymphoma into remission with 6 months of grueling chemotherapy. She had asked for a butterfly quilt as a commission for a wedding gift a while back. I pfffft'd and said we wouldn't accept pay. Then with her diagnosis, I told her that the only good news about cancer is that you get cuts to the front of the quilt line.

Here is the complete quilt top, all 84.5" x 84.5" of wonderful colorful loveliness of it. Lots of the fabrics are scraps of favorites from my stash. And lots of my stash is from Pam.The large upper right feller is all bird fabrics with a few of my  most favored china dishes fabric. The fabric that looks like my beloved china that I lost in the divorce. Lower left wide blue feller is tropical beach fabrics to remind Angie of her days being a beach bum in Mexico.  There are flowers, polka dots, stripes, Kaffe, Cori Dantini banners, Lots of Moda, and every color under the rainbow.

It is off in the mail to Pam for long arm quilting magic. She does the most lovely custom work.

I am linking to Let's Bee Social.

Wanting to be Above it All

I have been dividing my time between gardening to get ready for planting, taking care of the house,  sewing epic quilts, and cooking. I have recently been working to learn new cooking and eating with much lower sodium. The goal being to stay under 1500 mg a day. I know about processed foods, but for example I had no idea flour tortillas were so full of sodium! I have been instructed to lose some weight for my blood pressure. This is no small feat. I am well versed on the science of weight loss, and know about exercise and metabolism. It is not easy at my advanced age of 61 yrs and 11 months. My body fat is about 27%. I saw a meme that said "I want to lose weight and I want to eat." yep. And age gracefully. And be natural. And also above it all and self actualized.

Hope's Star baby quilt is coming along nicely. I still want to add a row of dimensional prairie points and another camel colored border. I like the cheery, scrappy, colorfulness of this quilt.

The light brown sashing fabric is a sampler of sayings and childhood primer writings. Sweet.

Here is part of the Big Beautiful Butterfly quilt. I have since finished the giant middle butterfly that is 38" x 29", and a yellow side middle butterfly. One more side middle guy and two bottom bigger butterflies and then I can piece the top together.  It is so fun seeing the quilts come together.

Finishing What I Started

I have worked to become more of a finisher rather than indulging my impulses and being mainly a starter. Starting new quilts and projects is so fun and exciting. Getting past the middle part of questioning whether the project is really worth it is the tougher part, and the finishing has often been under the pressure of a deadline. That whole procrastinating thing got tiresome to me, because of the lameness of shoddy workmanship and making excuses.

So... I am joining a "Finish Along."  Three months to finish, no consequences if I don't finish, prizes to some lucky quilters (Including, hopefully, yours truly,) and new friends in the interwebs.

Here is my list, ready, set, go!

1. Bugs in the Rosegarden. This small quilt is 44" x 57." The blocks were from my quilt club. I added sashing and borders. The back is pieced pinks, mainly a lovely rosy fossil fern. It is ready to quilt.

2. Thrifty Thirties. These old blocks were found at a thrift store by my sister, Pam. She gave them to me knowing that I love the challenge of turning straw into gold. The quilt is 32" x 47." I sashed it aiming for a woven look. The back is red 30's reproduction.

3. Butterflies. This is a get well quilt for my cousin, Angie, who is in treatment for lymphoma. She asked for a butterfly quilt for her bed, and I told her that the only good thing about cancer is that it pushes her to the front of the quilt line. I made #12 blocks and sister Pam made #5, including one huge butterfly. There are a few more blocks to make. I am going to finish the top as my goal, and Pam is going to longarm quilt it. It is an Elizabeth Hartman pattern called, Lepidoptera. It will be 84" square.

4. Hope's Star.  I blogged about this a few days ago. this will be about 32" square when it is finished. It is a baby quilt for my cousin Hope who has 2 young adult children and is surprisingly expecting a baby later this summer. It is made from 30's reproduction prints in pattern called Original Star by Fons and Porter. I want to finish it soon so I can enter it in the Council Qult Show in June, as the theme this year is stars.