Monday, November 24, 2014

Distract. Distract.

My antique Temperance block rescue is on the long-arm. I quilted about a foot before the thread ran out. Tension is so tricky that I wanted to use the same brand, but when my order arrived, it looked awfully different. What color did I use to begin with anyway? Cream? White? (I had thought Antique.) So I'm in for another round of wait-for-the-postman.


In the meantime, I decided I hate the quilt. Look at it from a distance. Ugh. Dead on arrival. I fell into a puling funk... (ask my husband)


To distract myself, I made some holiday gifts (hotpads? mug rugs?) out of other antique blocks.


I added a few ideas to my crazy quilt.


And I started a second antique block rescue quilt. This one will have a wide, crazy-patched inner border, mostly in darks:

At the end of the night, I decided I could applique more geese (antique scraps) to the front of my Temperance block quilt.

...and add some red here and there. It's not going to be easy with the quilt on the frame, but (I tell myself) it will be worth it. Wish me luck.

(Update here)

4 comments:

  1. You are far too hard on yourself. The Temperance block rescue looks awesome. I like it equally with/without the extra appliqued geese. And could you really tell a difference on the thread color? I wouldn't have been able to. The wide, crazy-patched inner border is AMAZING!! If you need a home for that one I'll gladly adopt it when it's all said and done. ;) I'm also making "kitchen aid" holiday gifts.

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  2. thanks, Zenia. This darned perfectionism definitely slows down the quilt output / stash busting. But with the center piece now appliqued and two of four red "bursts" also added in, I am happier with the Temperance quilt, if only because all that extra life is "distracting" -- ha! If I were a quilt designer, maybe I would spend some extra time and figure out exactly w(hat would make a beautiful "modern" quilt out of Temperance blocks. Note to self in case I ever become a quilt designer!) P.S. you are sweet to support my work thru thick and thin!

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  3. Its all good. relax, its most definitely worthy. It may not be the most exciting quilt top, but if I found this at a garage sale, I'd so happy to have something made by even unknown hands. Its priceless!

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    1. Ha ha, you've given me a new fallback... "If this ever shows up at a garage sale..." You are right, sometimes, you just want to get 'er done, but I am gifting this, so I'm glad I spent another day with my back hunched over the needle. Happy Thanksgiving, Caroline!

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