Sunday, May 31, 2009

May Finish Mostly

I was so close to finishing off my May UFO. I used a straight line grid with cream thread and a walking foot for the middle. When I got to the border I decided to do some swirly circles in pink to play off the polka dots in the outer section. I was down to the last little section of quilting when I ran out of bobbin thread. As I watched the last of the pink thread wind onto the bobbin, I thought there was enough there to finish off the quilt if I used that on the top and switched the bobbin thread to something else. The tensioning looked a little off, I could tell it was too loose. Instead of stopping to fix it, I just kept turning up the tension dial and powered through. How many times have I kept pounding away at something that didn't look or feel right to have to undo it all at the end? You would think I would learn my lesson by now, but apparently I'm a slow study. By now the fabric store is closed, so it's too late to run out for more of the dark pink thread. I'll still get the binding put on, and save that last little section until I can get out again. So, not quite an on time finish, but pretty darn close I think. It's not my favorite quilt of all time, but it was fun to think about and it's not sitting in a tub waiting to be finished. I'll pat myself on the back for that.
Ryan has cub scout camp this week. He is packing his little bag now with all the things on his list. It is all day at a nearby park, he went last year and had a good time. The girls and I are going to head over to Orlando for a little shopping. Tomorrow night is our last Girl Scout meeting of the year and I need to pick up some badges for our awards ceremony. I thought we'd check out Ikea while we were over there. I've never been, but people tell me it is lots of fun.
I'm still trying to switch into summer vacation mode. So far I've had school work to do everyday, so It doesn't seem much different so far. I'm sure it will hit me by the middle of next week that I have hours and days of freedom to savor. I am enjoying the fact that this is Sunday evening and I'm not feeling the dread of thinking about what needs to be done to get ready for Monday morning.

OK -- Serious sidetrack rant here -- I'm noticing that all of my quilt pictures look like little quilt mug shots. I love the decoratively draped shots people post of their quilts in lovely setting with perfect light. I even love the little quilts with feet photos that people post while their loved ones are holding up the quilts for them. Why do my pictures all look so clinical and sterile? Maybe I should find a quilt photography class. Maybe I should worry less and quilt more.

3 comments:

Amanda said...

Doesn't that quilt look fun. I was tickled by your description of carrying on stitching even though you had an inkling it wasn't going well - I'm much the same, so often convinced that it will be fine really, or that you'll never notice once it's done. I always used to find that it took a week or so to wind down at the beginning of the summer holidays, but won't it be great once you do. I know what you mean about quilt photographs, but at least you can always see exactly what yours look like, no guessing and wishing you could see them more clearly.

Micki said...

Well, you are obviously not a quitter. All will turn out well with the quilt. It is lovely!
Micki

Amy said...

OOOOOoooooo! I LOVE the range of brights in your Things that Quilters say! That border is absolutely perfect!