Not Quite My "Tah-Dah" Moment

I read a post this past week with tips for bloggers suggesting a few do's and don't's for what readers are looking for (or not looking for) when they visit sewing/quilting blogs. The tip that will always provide the biggest challenge for me is to keep text/content short. For a long-winded gal like me, who actually considers this my personal online journal that others just happen to be able to peek in and read, I don't seem to know any other way to do it. 

Another suggestion is that readers like to see progress.... not only pretty stacks of fabrics or one WIP after the other... but results. According to her feedback, most people like to see the process rather than just the tah-dah moment. So, with that being said and the middle of the year drawing close, I thought it would be appropriate to give a status update on my two quilts in progress:

Camille Roskelley quilt pattern, "Swell" from Simply Retro (shown only in part until final reveal)

Started: February 2014
Fabrics: Various Amy Butler collections and Kona Cotton white
Current Status: Pieced top completed except for border
Issues: Completed listed size and decided to make larger. Indecisive about whether to put border as shown in original quilt or continue design and make larger?

Carolyn Freidlander quilt pattern, "Facing East" from Savor Each Stitch (finished blocks for a lap quilt size)

Started: January 2015
Fabrics: Various low volume backgrounds, Basic Grey grunges, and Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, and various additional prints.
Issues: Completed lap size, but indecisive about making it biggger. Quilting concerns about how to quilt as a new quilter - quilt as you go or have it professionally quilted?

I guess I kind of view quilting as a race for a long distance runner. So far I have been a short distance sprinter, and am having to train for a whole new kind of race... one where I will need to increase my stamina and focus. I've wanted to just stop the race now and finish my two quilts as they are, but my husband (who is 6' 5", 195 cm and actually needs a long quilt) and my quilting friend have been rooting me on from the sidelines to push myself further and go the extra mile. 

Does quilting ever seem like a long distance race to you? Do you get discouraged when you have such set backs? (i.e. thinking you are almost done with a quilt and then realizing you need to make it bigger)

Linking up this week to WIP Wednesday.

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Alle Vögel sind schon da!

Through my children attending kindergarden, I have naturally picked up on a few "standard" songs that everyone knows here in Germany... big and small alike. Even though "Vogelhochzeit" is perhaps my all time favorite German children's music, one particularly cute song that crosses the lips of just about every child almost as soon as they can form words is "Alle Vögel sind schon da" (translated, all the birds are already there... spring wants to march in!) ...  and these sweet winged creatures were the inspiration for my latest projects as featured in the June issue of Anna Magazin. (Oz Verlag, Germany) For me, there is nothing more delightful than to sit with my morning tea and...

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Mother's Pickledish

Which crafter or quilter doesn't have at least one Pinterest board filled with inspiration and projects that keep calling, "make me, make me"? I found a mini quilt project recently, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it... here is my inspiration pin. Since I didn't have the book that was mentioned, I decided to use the free Pickledish pattern from Aneela Hoey. I did, however, make one minor change to her pattern. My fabric placement was way off when sewing the arches according to the directions, and I found I needed to add drawn lines to the arch template. Isn't that the beauty of a paper pieced pattern... just sew on the lines? As part of my revised goals, it's been important...

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Experimenting

I've been doing a lot of experimenting these days.... things that I've had on my to-do/to-try list for quite some time. When I had visited the Edyta Sitar workshop at the beginning of  the year, as part of the workshop we received a kit for her Little Butterflies mini quilt. I had decided that this small project would be perfect for experimenting with free motion quilting. The whole time I was working on this, I have to admit that I was thinking.... how in the world would I be able to manage a whole quilt. Ok, ok, this is the part where I have to remind myself... little bites. After working with these sweet butterflies, I knew I wanted to repeat this project, but with a modern...

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