23 December 2012

2013: i'm coming for you

Since 2012 has been rather hellish for me, I've decided to kick 2013's ass before it starts.  There are going to be big changes in short periods of time; I may not even be living in the same state by the end of January.  I resolve to do a bunch of stuff, and I have hope that a few of my resolutions will be achieved.

I do know that I can go all out when I put my mind to it.  See for proof all the Christmas presents I've churned out in the past two weeks.  That's right, just two weeks.  And even though it's December 23, I'm going to get a whole quilt top done for Christmas day (granted it won't be quilted or bound yet, but having a quilt top to unwrap is better than nothing).
2013 is going to be my year, and I refuse to acknowledge otherwise.  It can't get worse than 2012, so it's already off to an amazing start.  Just eight more days and about half an hour, and I will be off...

27 August 2012

quilting and procrastination

I have always been a procrastinator, and now it has even shown up in my creative life.  During school I would always write papers at the last minute (I mean seriously--I’d be writing a paper at 7AM for an 11AM class).  The thing was that I loved doing the research for the paper and would do it ahead of time, but I never liked to actually write it.  Cue to this quilt:


I put together the fabrics about three years ago.  I knew my mom would adore the red Asian print and went from there.  Eventually I created the blocks and put the quilt top together.  I basted it probably around twenty or so months ago and then started the straight-line quilting about fifteen months ago.  Then I didn’t touch it again until last week.  There’s nothing like a deadline to get me to actually finish something, and I wanted to get this to my mom for her birthday.  Success!


Just like my school papers, I love the process of putting things together (gathering research/piecing the blocks).  But I must have that deadline to actually get it done.  I’m not even sure how to improve on this as there’s always a new quilt to begin, but unless I’m planning it for someone it rarely gets finished.  I'm always amazed at the quilters who seem to whip up a new one every week; I've been quilting for going on four years and have only completed about ten large quilts (and various wall hangings/table runners).



I guess I'm just going to keep enjoying the process.

13 June 2012

impulse shopping for the poor reader

I currently have 63 items checked out from two different libraries (33 from one, 30 from the other).



I went to the library after work with two items in mind, and after an hour I came out with the above stack (if you're wondering--the two items I actually planned on checking out are at the top).

This is the poor reader equivalent of grocery shopping when you're hungry...and the sample lady is hanging around.