Friday Morning Musings

Butterscotch and Roses by Fig Tree and Co. for Moda

  Good Morning Guppies. With all the rain here I sort of feel like we have been swimming upstream lately. Our lawns are swamps, the rivers are swollen and my dogs are sneezing as much as I am from the tree pollen.

I found a nice little Jelly Roll, unrolled, in a storage drawer. It was pretty fabric in a shabby chic sort of way. But I only had one. What to do? What to do? Just having attended the Jenny Doan event I had a little spark of an idea for a quick project. I needed to make a few little lap quilts to park here and there because I get cold in the air conditioning. Something lighter in color, perky. So here we go with another Jelly Roll quilt, modified. I know, I know, how boring you say? No, no, no. It was fun, fast and will look good where I plan to use it. Here is the flimsy. I think I am going to glam it up a bit with some applique.

I inserted 2 1/2 square blocks at the end of each strip. Not a bias match, just a square. If I had another Jelly Roll I would have done a log cabin type of quilt. I plan to applique some vines and leaves here and there to add some dimension. By machine. That should be interesting.

The backing will be another white-on-white, simple quilting.
Thoughts:

• I am beginning to understand quilting for the fun of quilting. Not obsessing over every little thing. I will be unceremoniously expelled from certain groups as a result of this, I am sure. 
• I am thinking of starting some kind of business in the quilting genre just so I can attend the International Quilt Market. I am not joking. Here I am, living in the host city and they won't let me in! Not right I am telling you, it's not right!
•  Or, I could loose weight, pack myself in a large suitcase and ship myself in like a quilt vendor. I will need to think on that a little more. 
• I would like to take a little spa vacation, you know, pleasant breezes, someone else does the cooking and I might finally be able to finish the book I have been reading for a month. Relax. 
• Why does every flying insect with a stinger or a biting habit find me? Little beasts. I wear no perfumed anything and they still find me, buzz my head, land in my hair. How am I supposed to plant, weed or water? I know, a bee keepers get up. That's it. 
• Have you watched this season of Call the Midwife, on PBS? Powerful drama all season now we have to wait another year. So many endings up in the air. I suppose I connect with the show because it is about nurses, nursing and changes. Half the time I end up all weepy like an old Oprah episode!
•   Mr. Sewtopia does not understand why I prefer stale (meaning dry on the outside) apple fritters. I do, I'll let him figure it out. 
•  I just received a call from a former student. Funny how things work out, come full circle. I never cease to be amazed about the whole  Six Degrees of Separation Theory. 
• This week was a productive one. I have been tracking my quilting time and quilt related activity time to make sure I am staying true to my resolution to quilt more. (that was wordy, wasn't it?) Last week I spent 11 hours, just sewing.  Add to that 5 hours at the Jenny event and 1 hour quilt shopping, not bad. I want more dedicated time.  I will work on that this coming week.

 
While I work on how to manage that, listen to this:

Mercy, by 14 year old on X-Factor, Britain.

Mercy, by Duffy. Here is the original.