Merry Christmas to you!

Good health and much happiness to you and yours in the new year!

Did you know that extreme makeover home edition is being filmed a few blocks from our house? We saw the florida gator mascots there today.

citrus stars

Several year ago, a good friend of mine (craftyturtle) got married. When I heard about her engagement, I picked out a quilt pattern. A pattern that takes a lot of concentration. Well, that plan didn't mix well with young children, homeschooling, my quilting abilities and life in general. (Can you tell where this is going?) I never did finish that quilt. So this year I planned to make a more reasonable quilt for her anniversary in March. (Yes, I know it's not March) I finished the blocks in spring, sewed the top together and basted it at the end of summer, and quilted and bound it last week. Just in time for her birthday.





Craftyturtle and I have been friends since high school - over 20 years now - gasp! We were camp counselors for many summers and many weekend getaways. We have similar college degrees from rival colleges. Go Gators! And we are both teachers. (I taught in a private school for a couple of years before staying home to raise our children and homeschool) Our friendship just picks up where we left off when we are together. Which isn't often enough since she lives several states away.




We also have another "tradition". We almost never manage to give presents on time, so we send random packages to each other with a little note of "this was for Christmas, Birthday etc". The package is usually to cover all the holidays since the last package. And how fun is it to get a package out of the blue? So even though this package arrived on her birthday, it is actually several years and months late. hee hee

The colors were her wedding colors. She's from Florida too. And she picked citrus colors. Aren't they fun?!



48" x 72"
machine pieced and quilted
hand bound




These two hearts hidden in all the loopies represent the two of them and their marriage.

perfection

random thoughts about perfection
list style

i've had two quilts pinned and ready to quilt for a couple of months
well, i quilted and bound one last week and got it in the mail
i'm quilting the second one now
as i was quilting the first one i was thinking about perfection
and how we strive for that in quilting
perfect 1/4" seams
perfect corners and points
beautiful quilting
even stitches
perfect binding and lets not forget those corners
and if we don't achieve all of the above?
do you feel bad?
like you let someone down?
did you let yourself down?
does it ruin the process for you?
does it negate all the good in the quilt?
so back to the first quilt i was quilting...
a few seams don't line up
there are a few jerky starts and stops in the quilting
there are a few jumbo quilting stitches
there are lots of teeny tiny quilting stitches
there are a few tucks on the back (gasp!)
and i was beginning to feel like a quilting failure
should i rip out the stitches?
should i not send it?
have you had these thoughts?
i consider myself a wonky/liberated quilter
should i obsess over these things?
is my quilting wonky or liberated?
or is it just sloppy and lazy?
have i done my best?
if i'm doing my best, should i rip out all the "bad" parts?
when is it enough?
why am i making this quilt?
is it to be judged in a quilt show?
is it going to be published?
is it going on tour?
NO!
it is for a friend and her husband
i love this friend
the quilt is to share that love with her
it's filled with her favorite colors
has plenty (not all) perfect points and corners
has plenty of nice looking quilting stitches
the binding is good
the "tucks" kind of disappear once it's been washed
as i'm listing the good points, it brings me back to "am i being judged?"
why do we do this to ourselves?
is the "quilting police" knocking on our door?

i quilt because i enjoy it
(gee, does it sound like it?)
i share my quilts to share my love
to share beauty and kindness
i'll do my best
i'll (try to) not obsess
and i'll remember why i'm quilting in the first place

the quilt will live on a couch
not hanging on a wall to be scrutinized

the quilt was mailed
and i feel good about it

do you obsess?





my new motto:
i'll do my best.
i'll not obsess.

on my mind

Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again

p. 161

(mostly) wordless wednesday

more pics of our trip on flickr

and blogger's still being a booger

placemat quilt swap 2

13" x 17"

free pieced

top made with scraps from my scrapbox

machine pieced, quilted and bound

We're home from the beach! It was fun, but we're glad to be home. Nothing like your own bed, your own tap water, your own toilet (you know's it's true) and your own space (from each other). I'll try and share some pictures later on this week.

I mailed out my placemat to Kristin/knit one quilt too the Saturday we left.

Remember what I said in my last post about perfectionism? And that a few parts of the placemat were bothering me? Well, it was a couple of letters. Part of me wanted to leave them, but then my husband wisely pointed out that if I want the words to be read, I'd better change them. Good point.

Kristin and I had decide to make placemats with a fall theme, use free pieced letters and use as many scraps as we could.

Thanks Kristin! It was a fun swap!

PS blogger's being a real booger. grrrr.