Sunday, September 03, 2017

A Lost Week

Seriously, I was having trouble getting my head around the fact that it was Saturday and I'd not once sat at the machine the entire week. I tried in vain to reconstruct the days, Monday through Friday, that on the calendar were free, save one, of commitments. On Sunday, there was optimism that this was the week where I could put in consistent hours to finish quilting the area between the borders of the fat quarter quilt. I'd still have borders to quilt as I moved into September, not meeting my desire to have this top totally done and on my bed before summer ended. What happened day after day that took away my quilting time? I really was having a difficult time remembering as I tried to reconstruct each of those "free" days. It certainly wasn't spent on other creative or arty things.

It's still as hot as summer, forecasted to remain so for the next few weeks so I can still dream of finishing my quilt "this summer". But, as I whined in my previous post about turning the calendar to September feeling like the end of freedom, I'm feeling the pressure of returning to my art quilts, knowing that before long, another exhibit deadline will loom with nothing ready to go. I don't want to have to pull this quilt out of the machine and set it aside again, not now while I have the settings on the machine perfect and a rhythm for quilting this design established. So I'm putting in extra hours this weekend to see if I can't reach my goal. The rows are going faster than in the beginning, although I've had to stop now and then to mark in guide lines. I'd counted the number of rows left to see if I really could finish that quilting last week at my current pace, and it was doable. I didn't mind the doubled time yesterday, and hope I can make even more progress yet today. 

At the end of each session as I extricate myself from the machine and can view the quilt piled behind it, there is the pleasure of seeing the texture building on the back of the quilt. We love the fronts with their intricate patchwork patterns or beautiful applique set off by lines of quilt stitches, but then don't we always want to see the quilt from the back?

2 comments:

Lucia Sasaki said...

Wow, stunning picture of your quilt, Sheila!
I am sure that soon you will post a picture of it finished, don't worry about it! A little done per day and one day it will be history!
Thanks for posting!

The Idaho Beauty said...

Thank you, Lucia, for your encouragement and words of wisdom. I'm almost there but was wrong in thinking I'd bought enough thread. More arrived today so I will soon be done with the inner part and can work around the borders. Then it's the binding but that will not go very fast as I will be piecing together strips from the many fabrics in the top. But I think the extra effort will be worth it. :-) I look forward to sharing the finished quilt and then sleeping under it!