Quilting Progress Report: Pookie Edition

My last quilting progress report was two months ago; I had just finished binding “Merry Go Round” and piecing the top for “Prairie Gothic”. Since then, I’ve finished… nothing. Nothing at all. But I have had a lots of irons in the fire, and have been expanding my pipeline of projects well into next year.

First up, I finished “Prairie Gothic”. Mary, the long-arm quilter, used a fabulous variegated thread and chose a really funky pattern that compliments the fabric perfectly. I picked a cute blue picnic blanket check for the binding, and couldn’t be happier with the finished results!

As with “Merry Go Round”, my one problem with it is that it’s a strange size. I’ve been using it as a summer lap quilt because I wanted to be able to gaze adoringly at the awesome fabrics while watching tv, but it’s really just way too large for that. It keeps dragging on the floor and getting filthy. So, clearly, I need to work on figuring out how to make my quilts sized right for the job I want them to do.

I noted in my last progress report that “Prairie Gothic” was too quick and easy to make, that I wanted a quilt that would take forever. I found it in “Broken Dishes” and eagerly got started on that. After 6 weeks or so, I had gotten this far (plus one more block not pictured):

And then I stopped. Heh. It’s actually a really fun pattern, and each block goes up much quicker than you’d expect (even when you’re piecing by hand). But… I needed a break. This one is, indeed, going to take forever! I think part of my problem is the fabric seems like it should be cold outside while I’m working with it. It’s not a summertime project, at all.

No, the project I had earmarked for summer way back in February when I bought the fabrics for it is “Magic Carpet”. I fell in love with “Midwest Modern II” when it was prominently displayed at Pennington Quilt Works, and knew I just had to have it. I mean, look at how summery and fun these colors are:

I chose the “Magic Carpet” pattern from American Jane and spent all of late-winter and spring looking forward to a time when it would be appropriately sunny and warm out to be using these fabrics. Of course, this summer has turned out so that it’s felt like early fall all along, ruining my perfectly laid plans This has also led to me having strange mood-swings with this quilt. Some days I love it and think it’s fabulous. Others I hate it and think I chose the wrong fabrics, in particular the darker blues.

When all is said and done, though, I think I love it. I love the wacky 16 patch area where the corners meet, and I really do love the fabrics and the scrappy feel. I’m getting very close to the stretch run, too, having completed 23 out of 36 blocks! It’ll be finished in no time…

… provided I stop dabbling in other projects like this:

When I first started quilting (ages ago… way back in December!) I was fairly certain I’d not fall prey to any seasonal stuff. I just sort of assumed no one would make nice seasonal fabrics. Boy, was I wrong! Turns out there are all kinds of fun, fucky, cool, and even classy seasonal prints for Halloween and Christmas. What a pleasant surprise! After much deliberation, I chose “Have a Sheri Berry Holiday” to make a quilt just for Christmastime.

One of my favorite moments at Christmastime is divvying up the presents on Christmas morning. Boomer and Schnookie sip mimosas while I carefully stack all the presents on each recipient’s footstool. Now, imagine having an adorably cute retro quilt on said footstool! What could be better? I’m using a free sawtooth star pattern I found on Sew, Mama Sew. It’s so quick and easy, it’s the perfect project for dabbling in while working on other stuff.

I’m becoming very attracted to the idea of dabbling in all kinds of quilts all at the same time. As of right now, I have made a small-to-medium amount of progress on “Magic Carpet”, “Darla”, “Neptune”, “Broken Dishes”, and now this Christmas quilt, and yet I’m not anxious to have any of them done any time soon. I think I’m finally putting my money where my mouth is when I say I’m a process crafter. All this dabbling, though, as encouraged me to continue to add new projects to my pipeline so that I always have something fresh and new to dabble in when the time comes.

On her trip over here last month, KtG picked out all the materials for me and Schnookie to make her a quilt of hexagons with appliqued details, but I think that one will be perfectly suited to working on during hockey games (it’s all just big medium-length straight seams). Recently, I added the materials to make the absolutely stunning “Deer Valley” quilt. I’m excited to learn how to do circles, and the fabric just screams “early hockey season” to me. So that’s on hold until cooler weather (and until I am no longer scared of circle templates). I also couldn’t resist the siren song of “Red Letter Day”, so I snatched up enough of that to make a pinwheel lap quilt.

Schnookie commented to me that it’s odd that I haven’t broken into it yet to start working with it. I wish she wouldn’t encourage me like that. I could take just a little nibble… Make just one pinwheel… Look at those colors! Sheesh, but this quilting thing is so hard to stay on target. I can’t think of a better craft for me to learn to just let go and enjoy having all kinds of fun projects, which will unfold at whatever pace suits me. Just like I pledged to do in my crafting New Year’s Resolution.