Self doubt?

One of the many things I have learned since I started quilting is that there will always be a point in putting a quilt together that I will look at it and think I have made a horrible mistake.
Not to brag on myself but I have a really good eye for color. I think it is like some people having perfect pitch, some people just see color. I can look at something and know if it will match something else I have at home. It is almost like the colors hurt my eyes if they aren't right. This is both good and bad. The good part is obvious, but the bad is that I have a very hard time doing scrappy. I love scrappy, and I know once all of the colors are in the quilt they will all match. The problem comes when I an assembling the individual blocks and the colors within the blocks do not match until the other blocks join them. I know this time will come and I just have to push ahead, tell myself that I am being too picky and stick to the plan. Last night I worked on the Kaleidoscope. This is the Ricky Tims pattern, or I guess it is more of a technique. It isn't new, I just missed it when it first came out. It is not the Kaleidoscope block. It is using stratas to cut mirror image sets. One big image. So last night I told myself that I was being silly and I did not need to re-do any of the stratas. I pushed myself to get to the assembling point so I could get an idea if the finished product. I told myself it is just a top, no one else would know what it could have been it I had chosen colors better... Guess what? It is so pretty! I will finish the assembling today and see if I can figure out how to post a picture.

Side tracked...

I am trying to get myself on a schedule, but I am so easily distracted! I have found if I have a check list, a real written down check list, I do much better.

While I was off track yesterday I spent some time up in the sewing room and I worked on a new project. I know I should be working on an old project, maybe finishing something, but this Kaleidoscope by Ricky Tims really has me interested. I need a wedding present for a friends daughter, who's wedding was last November, and I wanted to test this technique. Finding a pattern that will work in a somewhat modern/Asian home has been a little challenging. I think this might work.

The test one is made of purple scraps. I am not sure where the purple one will end up but I will be needing some baby quilt replacements soon, some medium kid quilts. I always think of the time Dana came to me with her very worn out baby quilt and ask me to make her a new one "4 inches bigger". She had grown out of that one. I live the things kids say.

I better go make a list for the day. we will see how that works for keeping me on track...

New plan...

Will I ever make it up to the sewing room? I have decided I need to make more time to create. I keep giving myself too many projects. While Glenn is gone, I thought somehow I would have more time, but the opposite is true. Single parenting of a 15 year old is a full time job. Then, of course, there are three dogs and 4 cats in this house. Just trying to keep the hair under control can be a full time job... Then there is my business... When all I really want to do is SEW!
Maybe I can put myself on a schedule. Since I always feel like I should be doing more I stay up too late at night, then I sleep too late. I am not a morning person, never have been but when I worked outside the home I could get up and go to work, do what needed done even if I was not feeling it until 10am. So that is my plan - I will get up and sweep dog hair, feed the livestock and what ever else needs done that day. Then Maybe I will have some time to sew...

A Quilter's scattered thoughts

So I have created a Blog... Funny because I was really just trying to comment on a fellow quilter's blog. I have always been amazed that people can write things that interest others enough for them to spend precious time reading them. I really don't know if I have anything interesting to say. Some people blog to complain. I do not want to do that. The subjects I talk best about are my children, and my quilts. My children are really young adults, well mostly. Dana is my oldest, 24, and she is very much an oldest child, much more grounded than her scattered mother. Kelly is 23 and she is a free spirit, an artist looking for her passion. Then there is my Baby Boy, Ross. He is 15, born when the girls were 8 and 9. He is my husband Glenn's only natural child, even though the girls call Glenn Dad and he treats them the same as if they were. Ross was born to a family of people to adore him, his sisters were his greatest fans. I kind of feel sorry for the woman he marries. He is turning out to be a really great young man. He has goals and manners. All of my children are above average... I guess I am their greatest fan.

I have been Quilting since the girls were very young. It is my passion. Quilters are a different kind of people, but I suppose that can be said of any group that involves like minded people. We have our own rules and language. We hoard fabric. We save scraps. We like old things, especially old quilts. We like new things, especially new quilts. We live for dealines! We are usually a few years behind on quilts. Baby quilts by the second birthday are not un common. We will drive out of our way to go to a quilt shop.

I really do not know if I will ever write another blog... like I said I was only trying to comment on fellow quilter, Bonnie Hunter's blog. Now she can write a blog...

Kristy