Applique Therapy...

I get excited and optimistic about Eleanor Burns and her Quilt in a Day franchise. I mean what could be more promising and therapeutic than COMPLETING a quilt in day!? I have several of the books and several sets of blocks completed and ...

Well, I just get so distracted, you know!? I ran across another title in the QinaD menage... Applique in a Day. I learned to do needle turn applique at the end of the last decade (that would be December 2009! :-D), so I've been tempted to purchase another title just for the patterns, but really...? Is that wise?

I mean, Cheaper than Therapy Quilting is quickly turning into Obsessive/Compulsive Quilting. I can't just do ONE applique project! I must do...

Well, there's

• Circuit Rider by Jennifer Dick, and I have 17 of the 42 blocks done.
• Honoring Emma, the beautiful pattern by Lori Smith, 2 blocks of 16? or 18?
  

  

• Summertime from Primitive Gatherings...1 block of 12 (I think)
• Land of the Free from Piece O' Cake -- 4 blocks of 9

I've just started getting "Ladies of the Sea" by Susan Garman through a block of the month. You see where I'm going with this!!? And it's not just that I have more than one quilt started -- I've also taken to doing two or more blocks at the same time!

How many blocks at a time can I do!?

Is it really therapy if I'm bordering on insanity? And yet the quilts call to me! The fabric pleads for white chalk and serrated scissors and applique needles and upholstry plastic overlays. I, who never, ever, ever in a million years thought I could do needle-turn applique, am thoroughly, hopelessly, gloriously addicted.

I did a "spiritual gifts" survey a few weeks ago. Needle Arts rated in the top three. Hummph. BIG surprise there! :-D Does quilting really count as a spiritual gift!?

Ladies of the Sea

Yes, I believe so. Colossians 3:23 says "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord..." Philippians 4:8 tells us "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things."

KY Agriculture Development Team

While my father-in-law is undergoing a heart cath, or my husband is in Afghanistan, or my child is at college. Or when the day is long and hard, when times are restless and insecure, I turn to my quilts. And I pray or rest or glory in them. Quilting a spiritual gift!? Oh my yes!! One I am thankful for day after day after day.

And multiple projects in the works...Well all the best things come in multiples, don't they? :-) (You figure in out! :-D)

Blessings!

Mary Lou

Dear Jane, Why are you mocking me!?

I must be the queen of the unfinished projects! I dubb myself "Queen Startsalot!" I just get so excited about the fabrics and the colors and the fabrics and the designs and the fabrics, and -- oh! Did I mention the fabrics!?

Dear Jane on a Hanger, of course!

And it isn't a lack of work ethic that's the problem. Take Dear Jane -- the infamous civil war quilt of impoverished widow Jane A. Stickle with some 5,602 pieces!!! I've done the blocks!! I've cut my border triangles. I've even pieced some rows together with extra wide sashing so they can be gloriously hand quilted!!! (Ooops -- see my last blog to guess how THAT will go!)

I've displayed the thing on a hanger in my sewing room so I will be inspired to take those last few steps and finish -- the top at least (hand quilting...? well, maybe!).

And while I wait for the aforementioned inspiration, Jane mocks me! "Why are you looking at me!? Shouldn't you be sewing!? Don't you have forty-'leven projects to do!? No! Don't fondle your fabric!!!...Sigh."

I want to scream, "YES! Jane, there IS a Santa Claus, but he's not coming to see you tonight!!!!"

Actually, I just want to say, "Thanks, Lord, that I'm not Jane!" -- the quilt or the widow -- because God is not King Startsalot. Paul writes in Philippians 1:6 that "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." God finishes what He starts! I don't have to complete what He is doing in me; He'll take care of that Himself, more's the praise!

I wonder if I can get Him into quilting!?

Oh, fine! Jane, here I come!

Why do we have to sleep!?

I read somewhere that the great Thomas Edison -- inventor of the light bulb and a million other things -- rarely slept, and when he did, it was in "power naps" of twenty minutes or so. WHO can live like that!

Well, I would LIKE to, of course. There are ONLY 24 hours in a day, and I could fill them all with the things I need, want and like to do! There are the books I want to read (not to mention actually being consistent with a quiet time to read scripture and pray!), the dozens of quilts I have in the process, the dozens more in my brain wanting to get out. AND I'm a homeschooling mom! -- so there are lesson plans and activities and actual teaching and learning I need to do with my boys (Sam, 16, and Will, almost 11). And, of course, I'm certainly not going to give up eating! :-)

Then there's the Mountain Laurel Quilt Club Sampler -- a quilt I had the privilege of designing and showing/teaching (with lots of help!) to my quilt guild. The top was completed, hmmm...January 2008? and I started hand quilting it. I've gotten 24 of the 48-8 inch blocks and their immediate sashing strips completed. But it's getting embarrassing! At our October 2009 quilt show, there were TWO of these quilts, one hand and the other machine quilted!! I designed the dern thing! Why wasn't mine in the show!? Why won't it be in Oct. 2010?

Because there aren't enough hours in the day, of course!

Scripture tells us there is a time and purpose for everything under heaven....The time of this quilt is ...? The purpose -- CLEARLY -- is to teach me patience, endurance, and persistence :-), one of which, Patience, is a fruit of the Spirit.

Hmmm...maybe that consistent prayer time would help! :-) Or maybe I just need a nap!
Blessings!
Mary Lou

A Not-Quite-So-New-Year Resolution!

Last year a good friend explained that when she made New Year's resolutions, in addition to the usual weight loss and improvement of her character, she included at least one new skill she wanted to learn during the next 365 days. :-) I like that idea!! So for 2009 I vowed to learn traditional needle-turn hand applique' ...and would you believe I actually learned!

Granted, it was DECEMBER! when I finally picked it up, but with the help of a good teacher -- namely a video, How to Applique' the Piece O' Cake Way -- and some insistence from my LQS (Local Quilt Shop)'s proprieter (Paula Philpot at Paula's Quilting Pantry in East Bernstadt, KY) that we do a class on the Circuit Rider Quilt (seen here: www.cottonpatchfabrics.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?cart_id=7666476.11211.s0&product=bom_civil&productid=bom_circuitrider&keywrds1=circuit+rider&sales=0&lastmenu=
(especially since I'd ordered the Block of the Month kits from the Cotton Patch!) -- I tied in.

And I LOVE it! Hand applique is portable, relaxing, artistic -- what better way to demonstrate that quilting really is "cheaper than therapy!" I'll post some photos of my blocks so far in the coming days.

In the meantime, if you want to purchase the Circuit Rider Block of the Month, buy from Cotton Patch Fabrics -- they are generous with their fabric, have great service -- and if you mention my name I might get a discount on the (embarrassed now...) two other Blocks-of-the-Month I'm doing with them! :-) If you are in or near London, KY -- check out Paula's shop and the classes she has there!

Now, what is for 2010? Well, it's machine quilting - particularly free-motion. And I'm getting an earlier start on my New Year's resolution than last year! I just purchased a Bernina Quilt Frame on which I'm using my 440QE to quilt. There's definitely a learning curve to stitching on a frame, but already I'm better than when I stitched on the same machine at a table. We'll see if I take to this as quickly as I did applique'!

Blessings!
Mary Lou