Uncategorized – Page 11

Practice, practice, practice

I’ve been practicing some hand guided quilting… on a white board… too chicken to try it on a live quilt. But, I think I’m ready!

I’m trying one of the design’s from the Pajama Quilter workbook. I have both DVD’s too. I don’t think they are still available anywhere but, if you ever see a used one for sale, grab it!

I’ve had them forever but, I get stuck in the same ole design and afraid intimidated to jump off the twig and see if I can fly. (Of course if you’re following the metaphor, chickens don’t step out on twigs nor do they fly. So, there’s that. lol)

Here’s the design I’m trying.

And, the front of the companion workbook to the DVD.

The 3rd quilt top from the Safe Haven is pretty ugly so I’m not sure if I can make it worse with the quilting. We’ll soon find out. I had 4 large 20″ blocks made that I didn’t want to waste. I added some of the original bird border and an outer border to bring the quilt up to a usable 57″ x 72″ size.

You may wonder why I bother to finish a quilt that I think is, shall we say, not particularly attractive?

It’s because I once had someone ask me “can you try and make some ugly quilts?” She was serious.

I’ve never deliberately set out to make one with that objective so, I ask the lady we were delivering the donated quilts why. She told us that a homeless person, if given a choice, well seek out the ugliest one. It’s less likely to be stolen.

It was something I’ve never forgotten. There’s someone who will love even the ugly quilts. If that’s true, they’re really going to love this one!

Quiet time

(Originally posted December 27th, 2020)

Last night when it was time to sit and relax, I worked on “de-boning” a bag of jeans I was given to make a quilt (hopefully two quilts) for the family of a friend that passed away last month.

This Christmas wasn’t normal for a lot of us trying to socially distance as much as we can. But, looking at a pair of jeans in my lap… jeans once worn by a friend, reminded me how important it is to savor every moment, even the imperfect ones.

I have a lot of projects going on but, these quilts need to be moved up to the top of the list.

Goals

The original post below is from December 21, 2020. Today is August 11, 2025.

I was feeling tired today and disappointed that I’ve once again re-gained the weight I’d lost. I know that’s why my knees hurt and I get tired quickly.

It’s time to get back on the wagon and I hope by seeing how happy I was when I’d reached my Weight Watchers goal this day that I’ll feel motivated to make a few changes.

I reached a big goal today! I’m normal now, at least in size.

I’ve spent most of my adult life hoping, wishing, and making multiple attempts to reach “normal”. I always gave up. Not because it was too hard to eat healthy food or, because tracking what I ate became too tedious. I quit because I got impatient.

I’ve had success in accomplishing goals in the past. Some were easier to achieve than others and many took a lot of work and dedication. None of them, however; challenged my ability to stay motivated like losing weight has.

One of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to overcome is looking in the mirror and not getting discouraged. It’s hard to persevere when the first thing you see every morning is the consequences of your bad choices staring back at you.

While I was working on losing the weight, people would often say “this is a marathon, just be patient”. They were wrong. Not the part about being patient, that’s important, but their analogy was incorrect. Losing weight isn’t a marathon, it’s navigating a maze.

You walk into brick walls, take wrong turns, and have to continue trying to figure out the path that moves you forward. Time and patience alone won’t do it. Staring down that image in the mirror and vowing to keep going (even when you run into that proverbial brick wall) is the only thing that works. Knowing with everything in you that there is no going back to where you began – no matter how familiar that path might feel.

Unfinished business

UFOs (unfinished objects) are common among quilters. Many people mention having over 100 UFOs! Some quilters may have only a few, but it’s rare to find one with none.

My goal for 2021 is to finish all my UFOs and release any I may decide that aren’t worth the time and expense. I need to face the issues with the patterns and my color choices. It’s time to boost my motivation to complete the ones with fabrics that no longer inspire me – those are the hardest to finish. I’m choosing one of four options for each UFO:

Get it done!
Make a smaller quilt
Re-stash the fabric
Give the UFO to someone who wants to finish it.

Quilts comfort people like no other object can. This is reason enough to complete them and share them with the world.

The quilt was a UFO on my shelf for years, but I finished it today. I won’t make this pattern again, but I’m happy with the mitered corners on the border fabric I used. I’m really thrilled to have it done before another Christmas passed by.

I think only another quilter, or maybe a carpenter, would understand why this photo makes me happy.

Mitered corners can be a pain to work on but some quilts keep begging you to do it until you finally give in!

Finding time

How often has there been something you really wanted to do but, you found yourself saying “I just can’t find the time”? I know I’ve said it – a lot! As if I had somehow lost time and had to go look for it. I can’t lose time nor can I make time. Time just is.

I’m starting this blog to document the choices I make on how I spend the time I’ve been given. Perhaps writing about the mirrors and windows of daily living will inspire me to be more intentional.

Reflecting on time well spent with family and friends, my home, and of course…the never ending battle of the bulge, the mirror.

Most posts will likely be glimpses into my own little corner of the quilting world or in this analogy, the window.

I hope the future me reads back through this journal with a smile on her face and sees that I did my very best to squeeze every bit of life out of the 24 hours I was given each day. I’m reminded of my favorite quote. I too, aspire to make the most out of all that I’ve been given in this life as well.

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything You gave me.” ~Erma Bombeck

Welcome to my blog!