In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

Last night's moon. At a smidge over fifty-one thousand words, it's safe to say that my current novel is on the downhill slide. The first in the series stands at one hundred six K, the second in the mid ninety thousands. Within the story I have recently introduced the objective, which might seem a little late in the game, but this book will directly correspond to the next installment, and there was a lot of backstory to establish. And just as I cemented where this novel is heading, I inadvertently threw in a wrench, like just as I was writing then WHAM! Whoa, well okay novel, you do you and I'll just sit here and keep typing. Sometimes stories are pretty full of themselves, but sometimes they know more than I do, because within that unexpected twist emerged an opening that will make this novel's conclusion more poignant, hey hey hey! I call that a win and another example of letting the muse lead the way and reveling in the writing for creativity's sake. Yesterday...

I literally finished this about twenty minutes ago. Well, forty minutes ago, but I took a celebratory ice cream bar break before pressing the final seams. Then I pressed, then hauled it downstairs to the laundry line. Snap snap, then slapped it back on the design wall. And now I'm writing this post because 1) The quilt is done (for now) and 2) I wanted to talk about simple quilt designs. I love admiring elaborate quilts. Curvy quilts. Angular quilts. Modern quilts. There are few designs I frown upon, and maybe it's not even the pattern but the fabric that makes me feel meh. I've made a few quilts that are slightly challenging, not including the English paper pieced quilts; those are a category unto themselves. But I'm drawn to basic patchwork squares for a couple of reasons; they are EASY, 'nuff said. The other reason is I make A LOT of quilts, or it feels like I do, and fancy quilts take extra time in cutting fabrics, etc, etc, etc. My patchwork quilts usually run ...

I'm sewing together the autumn quilt for one of my sisters. This sister ADORES Halloween, and I think she'll like the quilt, once the temperatures drop in her area, lol. It's warm here today, a sultry kind of heat, and smoky too. The AQI keeps jumping, then slipping, then spiking again. Fortunately I have plenty of indoor fun to keep me busy and if the air clears considerably, I'll spend an hour outside picking blackberries. I don't mean to rush summer off prematurely, what with fall-like quilts, but summer seems faraway, probably exacerbated by murky skies. We enjoyed a marine layer-free morning, but seeing how far the sun has moved south was another sign than autumn is approaching. Maybe writing also prods my feelings; I became a writer due to National Novel Writing Month, which occurs in November, so the sense of butt in chair truly blossoms as August winds to a close. So, that novel.... I'm not quite halfway done, but edging toward that marker, and I like ho...

Come to me my pretties, hehehe! Amid fires here up north and a tropical storm far to the south and east, my home state is feeling the brunt of nature's power. I'm feeling better thankfully; all it took was getting off my butt and spending two of the last three afternoons picking blackberries. And quilting, writing, and prayer of course. But to be honest, as soon as I wrote the previous post, then explored the horizon for blackberries, my mood shifted upward. In two days, an hour each afternoon, I gathered nearly five quarts, about sixteen cups' worth. I gently wash them, basically swirling about a cup and a half at a time in tepid water, then drain them, freezing them first on baking sheets lined with parchment paper for about four hours, then transferring them to plastic freezer bags. All those steps lifted my malaise, especially when combined with elements of my life that usually bring me the the most joy. Momentary lows beset everyone, the blues for whatever reason creep...

Finished quilt top. A quilt came together yesterday afternoon wholly out of the blue. I've been feasting my eyes on a placemat made of scraps from sixteen-patch blocks that have been languishing in a stack upon some surface area in my office. Those nine blocks merely required pinning, stitching, then pressing, but it hadn't been pressing within my soul to do all of that with them, lol. After lunch and laundry folded, I took stock of that stack, brought up the photograph below, snapped back in May when I decided their placement. Confirming which block went where, I pinned, stitched, then pressed. Suddenly I had a forty-eight inch square quilt, ta da! But I wasn't finished; forty-eight inches all the way around was a little small. Scrounging through scraps recently used, I came up with twenty-eight squares, made a top, then a bottom row, then spent the rest of the afternoon completing the quilt, which included ironing the entire top, what with rows pressed up, down, and side-...

Another pretty Cornflower block; might be the last one until the hand-quilting is done, lol. I sat with my novel yesterday morning, reading through chapters four and five. But the necessary motivation to start chapter six was elusive, and after a few moments I saved, then closed the document. Despite so much wanting to write, I didn't have the energy or impetus. And I'm smart enough to not push it. Instead I basted the Halloween quilt, which was necessary, also soothing, in I wasn't required to think much. The weekend was full of conversation and joy, and when guests leave, I'm deflated. And tired. And the washer repair person was due to arrive, so writing really wasn't gonna happen, no matter how much I wished otherwise. Usually I'm good at being aware that what is supposed to occur bests what I want to happen. Or I'm adept at adapting on the fly, lol. Yesterday I was out of sorts, but grateful that basting was mindless. I prepped my sewing machine, then it...

Autumnal fabrics shine in this Cornflower block completed recently. I know it's not even the middle of August. In SO MANY PLACES it's hot as hades. Yet the angle of the sunshine has dipped, and despite being extremely pleasant here temperature-wise, the sense of summer's cessation lingers in the air. Perhaps it's due to when we lived in England, summer seemed to end as September began, which was when autumn started on the UK calendar. Blackberries are still getting ripe, marigolds planted late are blooming, bees are buzzing, and as I noted it is just mid-August. Still I'm feeling the altering season wrapping around me. Our weekend guests left this morning, so I dived right into making a backing for the Halloween quilt top. Working on that project adds to the feeling of fall, not that I'm eager for cool weather, but rain would be nice. We had a bright morning, I actually witnessed the sunrise! That sun has moved to the south coming on 7 weeks since the solstice, ...

Ta da, an autumnal/Halloween themed quilt top! Since Saturday, minus Sunday, I have been splitting my waking hours mostly between one quilt and the new novel. A little laundry muscled its way into the fray, but now something is wrong with the washer, so.... That leaves more time to write and sew, lol. And write and sew I have! We have guests arriving tomorrow, thusly I wanted to finish the quilt so they wouldn't worry about loose squares on the design wall, which resides in the guest room, sigh. But it was a great reason to machine-stitch all seventeen rows across and down, and I'll make the backing for it next week. I was so into sewing the squares, then pressing various lengths of rows, then nesting seams, sewing those rows, aligning them correctly, then more sewing, more pressing.... I like mixing eight-inch squares amid the four-inch squares, sewing two rows at a time, which might or might not make the whole thing come together more quickly, but it feels advantageous to plo...

Nine of seventeen rows completed, but my fictional series has a long way to go. My husband likes to say he's not so good with colours. Which is a little funny, what with me and fabrics. But while I thrive in writing about relationships, spaceships are another animal. Or beast, or whatever. I'm not so good at hard tech or action adventure or that kind of thing. Yet I'm three chapters into the new draft and LOVING IT! I realized yesterday, or maybe Sunday, that despite bringing a character over from the previous installment, said character has undergone some...changes, ahem. And despite introducing two new characters, I know them well because they originated from a single chapter of a tale deeply pondered but not completed. It will be the book after this one, so while this novel fills in their backstories, they have been in my heart a long time. Huh, fascinating! And then there are the spaceships. LOL. Spaceships, really? Really really! Well, o-kay.... Yeah, that's what I...

Adorable purple pumpkins were the impetus behind this block, combined with scrappy Art Gallery fabric that isn't hard to EPP. Sherri Lynn Wood's amazing book underneath the block is a real winner and not merely for improv quilting. Despite starting a new book yesterday, I'm not writing today. That's not typical of how I approach a first draft, but I'm so glad to be back on the storytelling path, I'm not overly bothered. So, a new manuscript, hehehe. I read over that initial chapter a few hours after completing it, making notes for some immediate alterations, which I put into place this morning. It's early here, I didn't sleep well, but having mentally prepared myself to NOT WRITE today, I was only good for small revisions. That's a funny mix of go with the flow and stay the course if ever there was one. This series is all about spontaneity and structure intersecting in a manner I can't try to overthink. Yesterday's writing was a little stop a...

I don't remember the designer, but how adorable is this holiday print? A few months ago I bought some Halloween fabrics. I made two quilts and heaps of coasters last year and wanted to sew a couple more H'ween quilts this year, aware I would require a wee bit more fabric. Those prints were immediately tucked into a tote, and while not summarily forgotten, they were certainly out of sight, out of mind. Earlier this week I retrieved that tote and said fabric, pleasantly thrilled for Past Me's choices, which included stashed away non-Halloween prints that matched in colour. The last few days I've been cutting all these cottons into simple squares, then yesterday I started plopping said squares onto the design wall. The first quilt isn't going to be small; my two grandsons need plenty of yardage to snuggle together. The second is for my sister who LOVES Halloween. If she could eat and breath skeletons etc, she would. Hers will be a large lap-sized blanket, enough space ...

A not-quite-complete Cornflower block, the perfect pictorial example of Past, Present, and Future Me. This past weekend Future Me and I crossed paths, but not in our usual way, her in the distance and me trying to ascertain what she's hoping I'll gather from her scattered pearls of wisdom. This time we practically sat side by side as I chatted with sisters from my various walks of life. Conversations about knee replacements and shoulder surgeries were rife between myself and these marvelous women while Future Me quietly cleared her throat, grasping my hand tightly as though trying to maintain her presence as well as keep my attention focused on so many subjects; precarious health as one ages, gratitude for recovery, thankfulness for friendships, and the knowledge that all of us aren't as young as the grandkids clamoring for our attentions. Future Me tagged along as I went from household to household in my hometown, stealthily admonishing me to revel in these exquisite discu...