Last quilt of the year

-

Not to box myself into anything permanent, but.... What you see above is MOST LIKELY the last completed sewing project for 2024. Currently it's in the dryer, but since it hasn't rained today, I decided to hang it on the line, snapping one picture, then hustling myself and said quilt back in the house. It's chilly out today and I have a small cold and 'nuff said about being outside in those conditions.

I hesitate to write this, but perhaps (PERHAPS) this is the last quilt I'll display on the ancient laundry line. We're hoping for some home improvements in 2025, and if that occurs, the laundry line will be removed, oh my! Kind of funny to even consider that because the home improvement plan has been in the works for a couple of years without anything occurring. Because sometimes life is like that.

Anyways.... Who knows really? Maybe I'll get inspired and quickly machine-sew some kind of impetuous comforter. Maybe a Christmas quilt. Maybe something else entirely. Or maybe I'll wind down the stitching year that is fast coming to a close, it is the middle of November already, WHOA! Maybe I'll English paper-piece myself into a creative tizzy. Or I'll meander as I have been, a little of this, a tad bit of that, a tiny smidge of who-knows-what over there. And if that's the case, then yes, the quilt at the top of this entry is the last one for this calendar year, hung on a laundry line over one hundred years old.

That's a long time, you know. A long time for a house to be standing, a long time for any human being to exist in this corporeal plane. An AGE for a quilt to last (or a REALLY LONG TIME FOR A QUILT TO BE CONSTRUCTED). Oh, that's an idea, to start a quilt on such-and-such a date, then ask one's kids, grandkids, etc, etc, etc to JUST KEEP SEWING. Never finish this quilt until over a hundred years have passed.

Huh. Never thought about that before. Wild.

I'm feeling a little silly right now. (A little? Future Me smirks.) Not that I'm jacked up on NyQuil or any other cold medicine, although I did just enjoy Rocky Road ice cream with some vanilla to cut the chocolate. Not lactose-free either, but lately I've been okay with lactose, so.... So it's a Saturday, in the middle of November, and a quilt I put together on a whim, then with focus, is twirling in the dryer, la-la-la-la! Soon it will be done as though the weeks (but not as many as it takes to make a century) were mere seconds and I made that quilt by snapping my fingers. A quilt I hand-quilted in its entirety, la-la-la-HAH! A quilt that initially was going to be for myself until I realized that by adding an old crocheted blanket over my half of the bed obscured the quilt already there, so why make myself a new one when no one even sees the old one huh? Better to adjust my quilt parameters (and the design) and give it to someone I care about, right?

Right?

(Future Me is now standing with Past Me, both with their arms crossed over their chests, staring at me like I did just chug a bottle of something.)

Anyway.... I'm feeling feisty, or as full of myself as my cold allows. I'm feeling pretty darn great, the sniffles notwithstanding, because I'm done with the hand-quilting, the quilt, the Red Sky at Night blocks (for now). I'm done with sewing tasks I set for myself and it's not even the end of the month, la-la-la-la! It's only the middle of the month (of November, ahem) and I can freely dabble in whatever sewing project that tickles my fancy. Like Ice Cream Soda blocks, or the Alexandria medallion quilt. Or a Mandolin or Myrtle block, made with the same fabrics, la-la-la-la!

I could make a cuppa to go along with the sewing, although I don't need any more ice cream, la-la-la-ha!

I could ALSO wrap up this odd little (or NOT SO LITTLE) entry. Not that I could keep writing for the next hundred years because then I'd be 158 years old, and that's kinda implausible.

(Hmmmm. Maybe there was something in the Rocky Road????)

All I know (and I really mean ALL) is that a quilt I had been fretting over finishing in time is DONE. In the DRYER. TUMBLING and everything. LA-LA-LA! The RSAN blocks are D-O-N-E as well, ha-ha-hah! (Unless I do decide to stitch the large center block, but I'm not going to ponder that until like January or something.) My husband's birthday bash has come and gone and while there are other familial birthdays to prep for, at this small current moment of time, all I need to do (and need is a relative word) is find an end to this post, then retrieve the quilt from the dryer, as the chime just went off, telling me it's DONE.

DONE!

DONE.

Done, la-la-la-la! Just like this post; finito, cerrado, fin. Future Me and Past Me are walking away, shaking their heads, but I bet they'll be back, ha-ha-ha!

Popular posts from this blog

Good to be home

-
Image
This Mandolin block was waiting for me last night; I added four perimeter diamonds and it was finished! Subsequent pics are all EPP made during our holiday. Despite a head cold that emerged late Monday/early Tuesday, our holiday was marvelous! I add this disclaimer because right now I feel pretty crappy, so if this post rambles, it's due to my current state of health. Ice Cream Soda block My goodness, there is a lot I want to say, perhaps the best way to get back into the blogging swing is to eke out bits here and there. The Gee's Bend Quilts Collection was AMAZING! Thirteen quilts were on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art , beautiful comforters I never thought I might see in person. All were hand-quilted, most were completely hand-stitched. Designs, colors, and purpose made me grateful for my minor contributions to the quilting world, as well as causing me to wonder at future projects and ponder my fabric stash. Much food for thought at that deeply touching exhibit, wh
Read more

Always good to be home

-
Image
  Heading west on I-580, just having crossed over a lengthy bridge. My goodness, where has the time gone? I've been back for two days, but no moment has been free to post here. I enjoyed a lovely getaway with an old friend, some warm temps, and an environment wholly altered to where I live. All in all, a terrific holiday, and now guests are arriving, which will probably preclude my usual flow of entries, although I truly am hoping to release my next book VERY SOON, lol. Getting out of one's routine is full of positives, the sense of adventure, especially when going somewhere new. Spending time with a pal from the the past enhanced the sojourn, much over which to chat. She knew our locale well, for which I was grateful. And I didn't miss my hexie box at all, instead spending my downtime reading one of my old novels, again falling in love with the sense of writing merely for my own pleasure. Our impending visitors will preclude me from diving into the prose, but I'm certa
Read more

Earthquake recovery

-
Image
Records and box sets spilled out, blocking the door to a closet. An unexpected beginning to our day yesterday; at 2.34 am a 6.4 quake roughly stirred us from bed. In all my years dwelling in California, I have never experienced such turbulence, and boy howdy, this one packed a punch. Several striking memories remain, reaching for my bedside phone, but finding it had been tossed to the floor along with a small bookcase. Putting on shoes as a 4.6 aftershock rumbled through. Locating my computer tower on the floor next to my desk (spoiler alert; once power was restored at 8 pm, both my machine and my husband's were just fine!). A large bookshelf was toppled, vinyl albums flung from shelves in the living room, a few dishes scattered on the floor. Several framed photos had fallen, but only two sported cracked glass, one from which I was able to extricate the picture. No structural damage to our knowledge, and we had hot running water and a generator going all day. For all that could hav
Read more