Saturday, September 10, 2011

Sometimes you have to...........

......... admit when it's time to stop working on something and come back afresh

When I looked at Sarah's DofE quilt I realised that there were two blocks with only three of the four fabrics included so I decided to add a little applique to bring in that elusive fourth fabric

With this in mind I remembered that one of the blocks had originally been destined to be a honeybee block and Sarah's reluctance to learn hand applique was the stumbling block preventing completion at the time
Well to an old applique addict like me the addition of the four bees was a five minute (okay half an hour) job

This left the final block................
and what could be sweeter to break up that centre yellow diamond than the 'Mary Quant' style flower I'd used on Quilts 4 Leukaemia blocks previously sent to Clare

I then proceeded to the borders.........
and the narrow green one went on quietly.

But my enthusiasm waned with the outer flowery pink border and the work sat on the cutting table for several days

My attention wandered and I sneaked back into my neat and tidy, labelled to within an inch of its life cupboard where my gaze settled on........

an assortment of fabric I'd selected for a baby quilt for a dear friend who is due to have a caesarean in a couple of weeks

That was it - the DofE quilt had been usurped

Usually I would leave it and all its accompanying fabrics out, shove it to the corner of my sewing area and make a start on the new project - as you can imagine several projects later the detritus mountain will have reformed

But you would have been very proud of me. I packed the DofE quilt and its assorted fabrics back up into its labelled bag and returned it to the correct labelled ufo box in the cupboard.

That's my new philosophy, if it isn't the current project put it back in its correct home - it will eventually surface again as the favourite of the moment to be worked on at another time

So I changed allegiance to the baby quilt and settled for nice and simple friendship stars at 9" finished

Some toning 3"spotty sashing and striped cornerstones to pick out the green of the crocodiles

and voila! The top is complete!!! Sadly I don't have enough of the block centre animal fabric to do an outer border so I think I shall leave it at this - it's 39" square and probably just a nice size for a baby so borderless it shall be

Mind you it wasn't without the odd hiccup - last night, after an extremely emotional day including a family funeral and a lengthy drive there and back, when stitching all the blocks together I managed to transpose the two left hand blocks on the middle row - obviously time to admit defeat and head off to bed.

A good night's sleep left me refreshed, and delighted by the England win in their initial Rugby World Cup game, to do a bit of unpicking and restitch the blocks in their correct places this morning

......... and now the top is back in the cupboard with all my other completed tops in their neatly labelled box as I'm not quite in the mood for sandwiching yet so I'm hunting another ufo to come out and play with me for a while

9 comments:

Sew Create It - Jane said...

Gorgeous baby quilt...I'm sure it will be well appreciated.

((hugs)) to you for your difficult day...it sounds quite tiring.

Andrea said...

Yes - I am very proud of you - lol ! Funny how we switch from one thing to another - I have the attention span of a gnat at the moment and am doing bits of lots of different things. As long as I start nothing new this will be fine as they'll all get done in the end. Not sure if that will be the case though. Perhaps you could quilt Sarahs top as a Christmas pressie. Btw I love your hexies from the last post xxxx

sewkalico said...

Both tops look fabulous and I am in awe of your discipline, I do hope you can keep it up!!
I took the boys to a movie this morning and came home to find Hubby had 'tidied' the kitchen after painting it. This set a panic in motion that his Lordship would feel holier than though and have a go about my sewing room that looks like not only did a bomb go off, but that every plastic container in the house has been utilised for fabric storage on every horizontal surface including the floor, sink, ironing area, worktops... I can now get to the above areas, but there is still vast amounts of sorting and tidying work to be done... So I am so very proud of you!
Hope the rugby is cheering you up ;)

Plum Cox said...

Lovely quilt top - and all sounding fantastically organised - well done you!

Libby said...

Oh how I wish that some of your organizational resolve could rub off on me!

McIrish Annie said...

Good rule. I have started doing the same and it keeps things under control. Sometimes you just need a change of pace.

love the little quilt. soo cute.

AnnieO said...

Love your applique additions to that quilt--and congrats on sticking to your organization plan. My sewing area is decidedly out of control. However, having lost a sewing room over a year ago, all my stuff is in four rooms of the house so I guess I earn a bye for that, no?

Love the friendship stars.

Sorry to hear you lost a family member. My sympathies indeed.

Clare said...

Sorry to hear of your sad day. Hope you are feeling a little bit more cheerful.

I love the colours of Sarah's DofE quilt. That purple is gorgeous. Goodness me, you are being disciplined!

Meggie said...

The baby quilt is lovely, so light for a baby.
Sounds like you had a trying day. It is always good to start refreshed the next day.