Every Quilt Has A Story.

Every quilt has a story, right?  So, just blogging about my quilting projects inspired me to finish project #4, the Penny Quilt.  This quilt is from the book Jelly Roll Dreams by mother and daughter team Pam and Nicky Lintott. I LOVE their books and all of my Lintott books are full of sticky notes.

My Penny Quilt is made from a jelly roll of Rue Indienne by French General for Moda Fabrics. I am double addicted to all of the French General fabrics.  I bought the jelly roll at my local quilt store on impulse even though I had a little talk with myself about no more fabric before getting out of my car.  It didn’t work!  I always check out the new fabric and there it was – on display in a Venus Fly Trap plant. Once my hand touched the jelly roll it was stuck to my fingers. Without any plan in mind, I walked to the counter to check out with a jelly roll of gorgeous fabric.

Going to a fabric store is like being a kid at Christmas for me. I just have a visceral response to the colors and the soft feel of the fabric.  And I always take my “gift” to my bedroom to open the jelly roll and spread all the strips on my bed to savor the fabric and to smile.  The fun part of new fabric is waiting to solve the mystery of what quilt the fabric will become.  This is my favorite part of the process. The quilt pattern always pops into my head unexpectedly.  More fun!

With a jelly roll quilt I spend a lot of time deciding which fabrics are going to live next to each other.  For the Penny Quilt I put all the pieces on my design wall to see the quilt as it would look finished. After moving around many crosses and even starting over completely once, I was satisfied.  I have made the Penny Quilt once before as a wedding gift for a family member. It seemed like a great first applique project. My “pennies” on the first version weren’t that round. Luckily a friend introduced me to teflon circles to make the edges of the pennies perfect.  This quilt is for me. Love the pattern, love the fabric.

The story of this quilt is that spontaneous combustion quilting is mysterious, exciting, fun, happy, beautiful, satisfying…..you get the idea. Happy quilting, Turtle.

When we last met, I declared my intentions to take an inventory of all my quilting projects.  Sitting in my yellow chair as the queen of my quilting domain, I saw all the project boxes that are stacked under my quilting table because they will not fit in the fabric closet.  Who am I kidding? I am clearly not in control of my quilting domain.

In the photo of the project boxes under my quilting table I count 11 project boxes.  Do I at least get a gold star for having a Turtle’s To Do List on the wall of my sewing room?  And look how neatly organized my spools of thread and patterns are! Do I get bonus points for that?

So, let’s start the inventory with Turtle’s To Do List.  I have had all the fabric to make a Dear Jane quilt for several years.  I am so afraid of this quilt, but I know that when I finish it I will be a much better quilter.  I made my first and only Dear Jane block this January. It’s a start! Since I get to make the rules, I declare that this quilt will NOT get finished this year. Dear Jane isn’t a project, it’s a journey.

Next on the list is Prairie Rose block of the month, a project purchased through my local quilt shop. If I had made a block every month like I was supposed to, it would have been finished in December 2014.  This project stays on the “Will Finish This Year List.”  Project number three is the Amish With a Twist block of the month project which started this January.  I have completed all of the first month’s  blocks.  Yeah Me!  Wait, today is the last day of February.  That means I am one month behind!

Moving on. Item number four is the Penny quilt so named because the outer border consists of round applique circles.  Thank the Lord this quilt top is almost done. I only have 25 pennies (out of 100) to go.  Easy breezy.

Item number five is a minky throw that just needs the binding sewn on and it will be finished.  I am starting to notice a pattern here. How many other projects do I have that are 90% finished?  On one hand, getting 90% done then stopping is a bad habit.  On the other hand, the more projects that are 90% done the better my chances to finish my projects this year.  There is always a silver lining.

And last but not least is project number six from a layer cake of a fabric line named Regent Street.  This was a lovely Christmas gift to me from a dear friend and her daughter.  The fabric is a light weight cotton that is so pretty I decided to put sashing around the 10 inch squares instead of cutting them up.  And since the fabric is so soft, I just had to go buy enough to make a pair of pajama pants for myself.  The last time I saw these blocks they were stacked on a bookshelf in my bedroom….just waiting for me.

I am exhausted now. I think I have done enough inventory work for one night.  Those project boxes aren’t going anywhere so no worries.  Until tomorrow! Turtle

I have a confession.  I am addicted to quilting fabric.  And, I am not that picky.  I love just about every kind of fabric that I see or that calls my name.  I rationalize my addiction by telling myself that I could have a much worse addiction.  Fabric is not intrinsically harmful anyway.  The problem is that all of my fabric doesn’t fit in my fabric closet anymore so my addiction is hard to ignore.  I am not sure that my fabric qualifies as a stash which implies that you have extra fabric that you could use in any project.  Most of the fabric in my closet is for specific projects.  At last count I was up to 20 something unfinished projects.  And didn’t I just buy another quilt kit even though I know I already have at least 20 unfinished projects? YES!  Why do I not have more self control?  Because I have an addiction silly.  When I see fabric that looks yummy to me, I get it.

The first step in dealing with an addiction is to recognize there is a problem.  See paragraph one above.  What am I going to do next?  Make an inventory of my unfinished projects, of course.  Then one by one, I am going to either give away projects I have outgrown or complete all of these projects.  Don’t tell my best friend though.  I have left my fabric to her in my will and if she finds out I am going to use it all up she might try to knock me off.  Nah, she wouldn’t do that.  She is pretty sure that I will buy more fabric.

My goal is to finish my projects by the end of this year.  I am not sure that is realistic, but I am putting it out there so that other quilters can help hold me accountable or commiserate – whatever floats your boat.  So my next post will be the first item of a large inventory of projects.  And I promise I will not buy a new quilt kit in February.  Okay, March.