Travelogue: Zion National Park, Utah

I've sailed out in the San Francisco Bay,

And I've seen fireworks light up the night.

I've eaten dinner with good friends,

Authentic Mexican, patio dining in the moonlight.

I've spent days skiing sunny powdered peaks,

And hiking up to Zion's where the angels land.

{Angel's Landing, Zion's National Park
Image Source}

I've dropped off cliffs into the crystal blue,

And I've set up tents on golden sand.

But all I need is you, here, falling in my arms

And me, there, subject to your charms

And I don't know if I have ever felt this way before

All I need is you

–All I Need is You, Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband

Thursday, October 4, 2012
8:13 am
It's been a busy week at work, made even busier by the fact that I'm taking tomorrow off. We're going to Zion National Park. I have to say, upfront, that I'm an indoors kind of girl. But I'm really looking forward to this. Because our trip falls at a very busy time at work, I had to push my first-of-the-month tasks back a day earlier in order to make this work. This included working last Saturday, which meant I didn't get my regular Saturday chores done. I only did the essentials. I could have used that time to prepare for the trip this weekend, because there hasn't been a spare minute this week to even think of it. Until last night at midnight that is, when I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep.

Sometimes I come up with some really brilliant stuff while I'm supposed to be sleeping but can't. Other times, it's a little bit of madness. Last night I decided that we should have family pictures taken while we are in Zion's. Mr. Bug's youngest brother and his wife dabble around in photography. We were going to have them do family photos a couple of months ago, but Mr. Bug's work schedule wasn't cooperating and we had to cancel. They're going to be at Zion's. We're going to be at Zion's. There won't be any competing work schedules. Why not?

Well, for starters, I'm not sure what LadyBug and Grasshopper will wear. I have a pretty good idea for Mr. Bug and me, but not the Little Bugs. I'd need to go shopping for them. And it would have to be a miracle shopping trip, indeed, where the perfect outfits are hanging on mannequins just inside the front door of the first store I go into, because today is another long work day; perhaps the longest work day of the week, in order to get everything tied up so that I can be absent tomorrow. Aside from the outfits, LadyBug and Grasshopper both need haircuts and I need a touch-up. I've got quite a bit of silver showing at the roots. I wonder if I could pass it off as hair bling and start a new fashion trend? Perhaps not. In any case, I can do our hair. If there were enough time. But what I really wish was that my sister could come down and do all three of us.

It is probably a little unrealistic to try to squeeze in all the prep this would take. Perhaps it would be better to do it a different weekend, when I have more time to get us pulled together.

Right now, I need to get to work. Sigh. I miss my stay-at-home-mom days.

--

Friday, October 5, 2012
8:31 am
The occasion for our trip to Zion's is Mr. Bug's annual family reunion. I'm always a little anxious to get together with his side of the family. There are some very strong personalities; too many Chieftainesses among the sisters and sisters-in-law trying to lead the tribe {and it's catching on with some of the older grand-daughters} and the men are just content to . . . well, they're just content. Getting a group of 50 {two parents, eight children, eight spouses, and thirty-two grandchildren} to all go in the same direction is pretty much impossible. There have been some squabbles and some hurt feelings. I guess that's what family is, but it takes me a few minutes to relax once we get there. After I've had a few minutes to settle in, I always have a great time and I always feel bad that I did not enthusiastically return the warm greetings we received when we got there. My goal today is to let all my stress go in the car on the way so that I can hit the ground running.

Yesterday was a long and stressful day at work. It was apparent, after I arrived and spent an hour helping someone else with their workload before my own because no one else had the time to train them, that trying to squeeze in the necessary prep for formal family photos was not going to contribute to my overall happiness and that finding another time soon to do them was in the best interest of my mental well-being. I have to go back to work today for a couple of hours. My goal is to get done only the essentials. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something "urgent" doesn't come up while I'm there because I know I'll have to take care of it. We still have to pack, so I really do need to get in and out quickly.

We really are a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants operation around here .

We'll pick the Little Bugs up from school and head out. It's a little under four hours, so barring any dawdling {which we are excellent at} we should get there about 7:00 tonight.

--

4:23 pm
We dawdled. We're finally on the road.

--

4:25 pm
False start. We have to stop and get gas.

--

4:32 pm
OK. Now we're on the way. Zion Park ETA: 8:30 pm

--

9:05 pm
We're here and we're settled in. We're staying just outside of Zion's, near Navajo Lake and Brian Head. One of Mr. Bug's brothers found a lodge that we could rent out in its entirety. There are six rooms each with a double or queen bed and private bathroom, and three sets of suites with a varying number of beds and sleeper couches and each with a bathroom. There is also a large common area and a nice kitchen. 49 of the 50 of us are here, which is amazing. The beds have been supplemented with cots and air mattresses. Some of the kids are sleeping on the floor, but I think we're all comfortable enough. It beats camping by a long shot.

Mr. Bug & I, along with his youngest brother and his wife {the aforementioned photographers} are in charge of breakfast for 49 tomorrow. We're doing French Toast Casserole, so it is time to put that together.

--

Saturday, October 6
7:46 am
My head hurts, in that old familiar left-side-only way. Seriously? Can I play the it-is-so-not-fair-that-I-have-a-migraine-today card? I've been looking forward to this trip for a while, and I'd planned to take advantage of the outdoors experience. We're hiking The Narrows today. I don't want my day spoiled. Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away.

--

9:45 am
Breakfast was a big success.

My head still hurts. I'm still ignoring it, but I think hiking The Narrows is out. A smaller group is going on an easier/shorter hike to Cascade Falls, and I'm going to play it safe.

--

11:10 am
I'm really glad we're staying in a lodge. With beds. And flushing toilets. I've never been a big fan of camping. It's not like I just don't like the idea of camping. I've been {at least once every summer between the ages of 12 and 18 and in the winter a couple of times too} and I actually don't like it. My quarrels with camping are several, the first of which is the lack of indoor plumbing, and the second of which is a lack of indoors. I have allergies, so I'm either stuffy or sneezy or runny. But I think the biggest deterrent for me is the location of the required amount of Nature to make a successful camping trip. The roads to get there are bumpy and winding and usually on an incline. I get motion sick. There wasn't much I could do about it on those camping trips as a teen, except for grin and bear the ride up the canyon. Now, it helps when I can drive, but I still usually arrive feeling queasy and uneasy. I think I equate that unpleasant feeling with camping.

Having said that, I can not deny how beautiful it is here. We're trundling down a dirt road that cuts through a large, green meadow ringed by quakies and pine trees. The colors are amazing.

LadyBug just asked when we were going to get the trail head. It seems that life is mostly about the "hurry up and get there." But the answer came to me that today it's not about getting there. Today is about enjoying the ride. That seemed to satisfy both of us.

--

12:00 pm
We made it to the falls. It not so much a waterfall as it is a trickle down an incline of mossy rocks. But the trail was easy and the scenery and view are amazing.

One of the things I love best about Mr. Bug is his sense of humor. A short way in along the trail, there was a lookout with two benches. They were woven like chain-link, but made of a sturdier metal. The end of one of them was seriously bent out of shape towards the ground. Someone wondered if a tree had fallen on it. Mr. Bug was certain that it was a bear. One of his greatest {irrational} fears is that we'll all be eaten by bears. I laughed a lot at the commentary he provided for the bear who bent the bench . . . those humans make such puny furniture. Ah well. I'll sit here anyway.

It might be funnier if you were there.

The lookout from the trail head is to Zion Park. The elevation here is 10,000± ft above sea level.

I cobbled together a panoramic view. It is so beautiful.

--

1:00 pm
We're back from the hike. I can't ignore the headache anymore. I'm checking out for the afternoon.

--

6:00 pm
I'm slightly annoyed that I don't have anything more interesting to talk about than my head. Nothing is helping. I'm going back to ignoring it.

--

9:46 pm
Dinner was excellent. There are several different board and card games going on, lots of great conversation and fun cousin interaction. This is my favorite part of getting together.

--

Sunday, October 7, 2012
9:55 am
When Mr. Bug and I are away from the everyday drone we make an invincible team. Life is somehow easier and we're more in sync. It has been a really relaxing time but now we're packed and ready to go home. I really did not get my fill and we're going to plan something similar soon. Perhaps Yellowstone next. If I can convince Mr. Bug the bears aren't going to eat us.

Everyone is supposed to be on the back porch in 5 minutes for a group photo. It will take at least 30 minutes to get organized.

10:45 am

Four people in attendance missed the photo shoot {and one didn't make it on the trip}, so here are 45 of us. What a handsome group! And three more babies are due between January and May!

11:07 am
We've made our goodbyes and we're headed home now. T-minus 4 hours and counting. Hopefully it will be a quiet, uneventful trip.

1:15 pm
LadyBug is carsick. She timed it nicely with the appearance of a road stop.

3:07 pm
We've been off the twisty, winding roads for two hours now. Maybe she's not carsick. Maybe she has the flu. No rest stop this time. 25 miles 'til home.

6:00 pm
Home again.
The laundry is underway.
We get to sleep in our own beds tonight.

It was nice to get away.

In the Pink: A Study in Pinwheels — Finished {and it's about time, too!}

It is easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is best from the top. –Arnold Bennett

At long last, quilted, bound, washed, blocked and folded neatly waiting for the right occasion to be used.

I finished the quilting last Tuesday. I washed and blocked it on Wednesday. It wasn't dry until Friday. And there was finally good light to photograph it today.

I'm sort of at a loss for words. The only ones that come to mind are . . . terminus . . . finished . . . completed . . . finito . . . done. Those are happy words.

There's really not much more to say anyway. I've pretty much said it all in the 2¾ years it has taken me to make this quilt. If you've been following along, you're probably as sick of it as I am  glad to see the backside of it  cheering with me. But just in case, here are links to all the posts about this quilt.
Inspired
Block One
Block Two
Block Two, Take Two and Take Three
Block Three
Block Four
Block Four, Redux
Block Five
Block Six
Block Seven
Block Eight
Goal to Finish - 2011 Ph.D Challenge
Name, Label and Quilting Sketches
Getting Started with the Quilting
Quilting Update: still working on Stitching in the Ditch
Working on the Free-Motion Sections
Free-Motion Update
More quilting {and unpicking} a year later, with updated quilt label
Finished Quilting in Each of the Blocks
Quilting in the Sashings
Finished and Ready to be Blocked
Blocked but Not Dry

Yeah. It's been one epic quilt in the making.

Today's post brought to you by:

Just Ignore the Warnings. There isn't Malware Here. Really. I Promise. Also, 40 Before 40 Update

How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to? –Anthony Robbins

First things first. The malware warning is because the site that hosts my silly emoticons possibly has malware. It is highly doubtful that there is malware embedded in the little dudes. At any rate, I haven't been attacked and just to be safe I removed the main offender, so we should be good now.

Also, I know I promised photos of the completed Pinwheel Sampler, but it's not dry yet. I'm not sure why it's taking so long. We'll just have to make due with a photo of it pinned to the living room floor. Also, blocking a quilt is the most odious task on the planet. I almost gave up on it and threw the quilt in the dryer. I'm glad now that I didn't, but at midnight last night with just under half of the quilt left to go, I was seriously considering it.

Since my planned post has been rescheduled, filling in today is my 40 Before 40 list. It is fun to look back on all I had planned for this year. Looking at it ojectively, this list is for someone who does not work full-time sometimes and part-time most of the time. With only four more months to go, I made a few adjustments.

I crossed 8 things off the list that I've either missed out on or realistically don't have time to do.

I've checked 12 things off the list as finished.

4 things on the list are in progress. Mornings and I are, if not friends, allies.

7 things are still definitely going to happen.

I've adjusted some things to make them fit better and I'm still considering whether I want to do others. I reserve the right to cross them off the list. And I reserve the right to not do 40 things. The whole reason for the list was to expand my horizons, to improve myself and to make time to have fun. There are lots of things that I didn't include on my list because they were difficult to frame into a single thing to put on a list. But I've done a few of those kinds of things. And there's one thing that I did kind of on a whim, that should have been on the list had I thought of it beforehand. I think it deserves mentioning here.

I joined a bowling league and every Wednesday morning I bowl three games with a really cute group of ladies. Most of them are older than me. Most of them have grandchildren. My team captain has great-grandchildren. And she bowls a mean game. There are sponsors and competitions and prizes, but it's a handicap league, so it's mostly no pressure and I go just to have fun. I bowled a 125 scratch {actual score, handicap not figured in} {also, look at me already using the lingo} yesterday. It was pretty awesome.

Every time I think about bowling, I think about this Camper Van Beethoven song from 1985. I've had this earworm for three weeks now, so I thought I'd share.

Grandma Week 2012: Day 3, Hogle Zoo

Families are like fudge—mostly sweet with a few nuts.
–Unknown

Every summer my mom hosts a stay-cation for her grandkids. We love it and look forward to it every year. We divided it up this year into two parts. Day 1 and 2 were in June. We kicked off part two at the zoo, which is a perennial favorite for our family.

{l to r: Mantis, Lizard Boy, Mouse
Cap'n Underpants, Roly Poly
Miss Butterfly, Grasshopper, LadyBug}

Our little zoo has made some huge improvements in animal habitats over the last few years and we really enjoyed watching the animals, especially the newest exhibits this year; the polar bear habitat and the sea lion and seal habitat. It was pretty spectacular.

At lunch, we had an unexpected guest. This Tom Turkey wandered into the picnic area. That is LadyBug sitting in the chair, so you can see how close he got to us looking for food.

One of the things I like most about Grandma Week is watching the cousins play together. We assigned buddies at the zoo, pairing the smaller kids with the bigger ones. Grasshopper was Roly Poly's buddy and he made it his mission to make sure Roly Poly got to see all of the animals and didn't get lost. I love it!

{Grasshopper, Roly Poly, Miss Butterfly}

Quote of the day:
Lizard Boy, age 7
After nearly completing our circuit of the zoo . . .
Me: I don't think I've had a squeeze from you today.
Lizard Boy: I think that's because you didn't ask.

Pinwheel Sampler: Quilting Inspired by . . .

To be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. Tests of creativity measure not only the number of alternatives that people can generate but the uniqueness of those alternatives. The ability to generate alternatives or to see things uniquely does not occur by change; it is linked to other, more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of things heretofore unknown. –Robert E. Franken, Human Motivation, 3rd ed.

A long time ago I read a story about a future where government experts could detect a person's talents shortly after birth. Only those who had extraordinary gifts were allowed to create. They were removed from society where they were encouraged to develop their talents free from the influence of the work other artists. The story follows a man who had prodigious musical talent. From childhood he lived with his caregiver in a secluded cabin in the woods, and his companion ensured that he was never exposed to any music created by anyone but himself.

The man grew curious and somehow procured a piece of Beethoven's work, unbeknownst to his caregiver. He listened to the music, enjoying it immensely. However, as soon as he had finished, he knew that he could not use what he heard in Beethoven's music in his own. His music became inhibited as he avoided those chords and combinations he had heard in the great composer's work, and eventually his transgression was discovered. For his crime, he was forbidden to ever play music again and he was returned to normal society.

Years later, he entered a bar where an forlorn piano sat in the corner. The temptation was too much. The man could not resist. To the shock of the occupants of the bar, he sat down and began to play, producing the most beautiful and harmonious music from the dilapidated and out-of-tune instrument. It was not long before government officials came to deliver justice to this man who had twice broken the law. His punishment was swift and irrevocable; they cut off his fingers. Surely this would prevent him from breaking the law again.

He was assigned to work on a road crew. Without fingers, he couldn't do much, except for hold a sign. He began to hear rhythms in the world around him and again began to make music, this time without an instrument. He used what was around him, beating out beautiful rhythms and melodies. The officials again came quickly to silence the law-breaker, this time taking his life.

I can't remember what this story was called or who wrote it, but I have vivid mental pictures of it. I may have gotten the ending a little confused, but this story has stuck with me for a long time. I've been thinking a lot about creativity in the last little while. Sewfrench posted about it earlier this month, and since then I've been thinking about how I create.

Once upon a time, I thought I was not creative. I thought that a lack of original ideas made me not creative. In the quote above, which I borrowed from Sewfrench's post on this subject, it says that being creative means looking at things from a different perspective and being able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. To be honest, I don't think there are any new ideas left. It's all been said and done. But that doesn't mean there aren't creative people.

Think about it this way; using a pattern to make an item of clothing is not considered as an uncreative endeavor. You get to choose the fabrics, colors and perhaps make an alteration or two and you make it your own. Even if you choose the very same colors as shown on the pattern, you’ve still created something that was not in existence before. And nobody says, “well, you used a pattern so you’re not creative.” You can apply the same line of thinking to using a recipe when cooking. Why shouldn't that also be the case with quilt making or gardening or writing? Just because you saw it somewhere else doesn’t mean you’re not creative. And why re-invent the wheel every time, anyway? I consider myself to be very creative, but hardly ever come up with a project from nothing. I almost always see something that inspires me and then make it my own.

I'm plugging away at my pinwheel sampler quilt. I'm SO close to finishing it I can taste it. I have 16 {out of 40} sections of sashing left to quilt and I will be there. This quilt has been so much fun to work on. I don't know if I will ever do such a detailed quilting job again, but it is good to know I can. Since I started machine quilting, I have been watching other quilters who do beautiful work and they have inspired me. I've incorporated a lot of that in my quilt. I've used ideas from Wendy at Ivory Spring, Natalia at Piece 'n Quilt, Leah at The Free Motion Quilting Project, Karen McTavish and Lane at That Man Quilts.

More than a year ago, Lane did a quilt he called West of Paris, Texas. I was absolutely in awe of the spiraling or twisting feathers he did. I was in the planning stages for this quilt and was going to do a sort-of braid in the sashings, but when I saw Lane's feathers I knew that's what I wanted to do. This is the last bit of quilting left on my quilt. I left it for last because, while it is completely awesome, it is also scary. This is my second section. The feathers are not uniform and it looks a bit pinched.

It took me probably five or six more sections to get comfortable enough to know how to fill the space evenly and make the feathers more uniform, but I think I'm finally there.

I'm grateful to those, named and unnamed, who inspired me!

Today's post brought to you by:

Pinwheel Sampler: I'm Finished Unpicking. I Think.

Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.
–Paulo Coelho

My quilt label is once again out-of-date, but I've finally got the quilting done in all of the pinwheel blocks.

This is the first time I've shown the whole quilt top. Just to balance it out, here is the back. I LOVE the windmills along the seam.

I took these pictures on Monday and Tuesday of last week but didn't have a chance to write a post. I finally had a few minutes on Saturday and with the goal of keeping things short and sweet, I spent way to much time editing photos and putting together the above collage. I was going to post just that and call it done, but I started writing, I figured I might as well give you the full guided tour. Obviously, it's a really long tour as I'm just posting it now. And there's a bit of picture overload. Off we go, then.

Block 1A: A little bit of stippling, a few swirls and some pebbles. I wasn't sure how this block was going to turn out. Unpicking was involved so I could do the swirls in colors of thread that stand out better in the pink and brown sections. I think the pebbles done in pink look kind of lacy.

Block 1B: More swirls and pebbles and a big flower which I really like. I didn't care much for this block before it was quilted, but really like it now.

I hadn't planned to add a second row of stitching around the pebbles, but while I was working, it just seemed like that's what it needed. It kind of frames it in.

Block 2A: I was really leaning towards unpicking the swirls in the sashing, but finally decided that I'm OK with having some supercalifragilisticexpialidocious swirls and some supercraptastic swirls and used the Blue Line Eraser to remove my spacing marks. I think I'm done unpicking. Or, at least I'm not going to unpick anything in this block.

Block 2B: This block is one of the first blocks I finished when I was working on this quilt a year ago. It's been quietly avoiding the seam ripper and is one of only a handful of blocks that hasn't been unpicked even just a little. Or a lot, as the case may be.

Block 3A: I finished this block last year as well. This is one of my favorite blocks pre-quilting, but I didn't like how the doodle quilting in the background looked. My options were to unpick and use a lighter color of thread, or add more quilting. I went with the second option and ended up with a lot of thread-play in a color of thread that stands out. I'm not sure how I feel about it. And I don't really have the option to unpick anymore, so I guess it stays.

Block 3B: Again, one of my favorite blocks pre-quilting. And one of the first blocks I worked on last year. I'd just mastered meandering feathers and really wanted to do a wreath. I'd intended to do feathers on the inside and outside, but saw a feather wreath like this somewhere and decided to do criss-crossing straight lines instead. I used a walking foot for that and it was a hassle. But I LOVE how it turned out.

I did an approximation of McTavashing in the background. I probably should have brushed up on it before I did it in the quilt, because I remembered it differently than it really is. At this scale, my stitches aren't as even as they could be. Still, I really like the effect.

Block 4A: I am still undecided on whether to unpick the feathers in those pink triangles in the center. I think it would look better if the thread stood out a little more. I decided to try the straight-line quilting with my free-motion foot on this block. It was scary, but not too bad for a first attempt. And it was a lot less of a hassle than using a walking foot, which makes up for the scary factor.

Block 4B: This is another block that I like more after it is quilted than before. The quilting is fairly simple, but I think it works. I love the feather "swags" in the pink flying geese. You can't see it, but there are feathers in the brown part of the pinwheel as well. I also did the straight-line quilting on this block with the free-motion foot. Still scary, but I did improve a bit from the last block.

Block 5A: This block is another of my favorites, both before and after quilting. I've repeated a few quilting motifs throughout the quilt, but tried to do different things in each block to make them all unique. I really like to do fans or half-flowers in the triangles. I did feathers in the brown section {which you cannot see} that stretch from the corner to corner across the length of each section. They kind of look like kite tails.

I love those little loopy swirls.

Block 5B: I did half-flowers in the smaller center triangles and then did different leaves in the big pink triangles and the brown sections. I really like how the leaves came out. They are kind of rough, but that is how they are supposed to be, instead of trying to be pretty and round and smooth and not quite succeeding.

I used the leaves that we did in the 2012 Free-Motion Challenge in January as filler for the background. The leaves in the background and half-flowers in the center pinwheel are round and smooth and make a nice contrast with the the rougher leaves in the pink and brown areas.

Block 6A: I really like how this block turned out. The dark fabrics are really difficult to photograph so that you can see the quilting. I guess you'll have to trust me when I tell you there are feathers there. Getting the curlicues to come out smoothly in a larger space than I've quilted them in before was a bit challenging, and I possibly didn't do the best job ever on that part. I'm hoping the awesome pink fabric will make up for that. The swirl filler in the background is quite possibly my favorite bit of quilting in this whole quilt, but I can't be 100% sure. I love how it came out, though.

Block 6B: These two Dutchman's Puzzle blocks were the hardest blocks to figure out quilting for. I think it was because I wanted the pinwheel in the center and the large windmill to stand out and the extra flying geese blocks in the corners were kind of in the way. The quilting in this one is pretty simple, but I like the effect.

Again, I used my free-motion foot to do the straight-line quilting. I'm still working on this and not all of my straight-line quilting is this even, but this little section is pretty darn awesome and I had to show it off.

Block 7A: I should quit using the word "favorite" because it implies exclusivity. I'm not sure what other word to use in it's place though and this is another of blocks that is a favorite, both before and after quilting. It was one of the first blocks I finished last year. I used a walking foot for the straight lines and I love how it came out. I had the curlicues stitched in a light pink that blended in, but ended up unpicking and using the darker pink, which I like much better.

Block 7B: This quilt is called In the Pink: A Study in Pinwheels. Even though I have doubles of all the blocks, I wanted to quilt something different in each one. I wanted to stretch myself a bit and I wanted the quilting to accent the piecing. It is fun to compare the different quilting in each of the sets of twin blocks. The difference the quilting makes in the perception of the block is especially evident in this set of twins. In the block below, the quilting emphasizes the three frames around the center pinwheel and you see both the pink and white pinwheels together as a block. The quilting in the block above makes the pink pinwheel stand out and emphasizes only the brown frame.

Block 8A: The loopy half-flower and swirl filler in the background is something different in this block than the others, but I've repeated half-feathers, feather "swags" and flowers.

Block 8B: Again, nothing really new here; arcs, fans, half-feathers. Something about the straight line quilting in the background that frames out the on-point squares makes me think "80's." Is that just me, or does anyone else get that vibe?

I just have the quilting in the sashings left. I'm doing feathers. The finish line is in sight. Sort of.

Today's post brought to you by:

Zig-Zag Flag and Other Patriotic Quilt Blocks

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
–Francis Scott Key, The Star Spangled Banner

Last Wednesday {July 4^th} was kind of a big deal around these parts. There are parades and flags and fireworks and red, white and blue everywhere. I had the day off work {it's a national holiday, after all} so I decided that I wouldn't be any farther behind on my quilting to-do list if I took a break from what I am currently working on to do a little something fast and fun, but still on the to-do list. You see, I was distracted inspired by a super cute door hanger by Karen at The Recipe Bunny, who'd linked up to my July Finishes page. I thought her zig-zag flag block would fit perfectly in my Patriotic Sampler quilt. I had picked a couple of blocks that I just wasn't feeling the love on, which is probably why it has sat in its box all sad and lonely for . . . a really long time. I pulled it out, thinking I could throw together a scrappy 12" block with 108 HST's in an afternoon.

I tend to over estimate my powers of fabric persuasion. It took me the afternoon just to cut the fabrics. I got the HST's and the blue section {which may or may not have appliqué stars added to it later} put together before fireworks. I had a busy work week last week, so I fit in a bit of sewing time when ever I could and finished the rest of the block over the next few days {instead of hours}.

When I open my box of red, white and blue fabrics, I always wonder why this quilt isn't finished. I've been working on it since before LadyBug was born. I love the fabrics and colors and theme so much. So while I had it out, I put together a couple more blocks. I did a banner flag, which finishes at 5" x 12" {odd size, I know}, and I love it! Getting a good photo of it is another story.

I also put together a Patriot's Star and I think this is my absolute favorite block of the whole quilt. I reduced the pattern to 5" and omitted the black stained-glass effect outline. I just love how it turned out.

I've got 13 of the 15 blocks finished now. I'm pretty sure what the last two 12" blocks will be, and then after that I've got to paper piece 27 - 1" five-point stars for the sashing. I'm not really looking forward to that.

This quilt is on my list of quilts to finish this year, so hopefully I'll get back to it soon. In the meantime, I'm off to work on another distraction important project.

In the Pink: Revisited or, Will Someone Please Take Away My Seam Ripper!

I want to be all that I am capable of becoming. –Katherine Mansfield

When last I posted about my pinwheel sampler quilt, I had three {of sixteen} blocks quilted. It's been almost a year since I folded it up and put it away, but two weeks ago I got it out and started working on it in hopes of entering it in the last of the quilt shows for this season. The entry deadline is this Saturday. I'm not going to make it. I'm spending too much time unpicking.

I started with the label. It said I'd finished the quilt in July of 2011. I've changed the date {with the back already quilted on} using a really-close-but-not-quite-the-same thread and actually have hopes of finishing this quilt before the label becomes outdated again.

Out of the three blocks I finished last summer, there was one that I left alone. You can see it here. I fiddled around with the other two. On this one, I didn't like what I'd done in the background so I added more to it. Lane always says that if the quilting looks bad, just keep adding more until you like it. I'm not sure if I've made it better or a real mess. For now, I'm pretending it is great because unpicking that will be nigh unto impossible. I might as well cut the block off the quilt and sew a new one in its place.

After that, I got cozy with the seam ripper on the last of the previously finished blocks. Two hours to unpick the curlicues in the pink pinwheel; 15 minutes to quilt the same design in a different color of thread . {Sidebar: the quilting in this block totally reminds me of the jacket that Princess Leia wore on the Hoth ice planet in The Empire Strikes Back.}

Then I started in on some of the partially quilted blocks. I had the swirls done on this block. I finished it up, and then promptly ripped out the quilting in the pink & brown pinwheels because I used matching thread and I wanted the quilting to show. I've left the marks for the swirls because I still haven't decided if I'm going to rip those out and do them over in the same color of thread they're done in now. I like the color of thread, but some of the swirls are supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and some of them are just supercraptastic. {Sidebar: I got some Blue Line Eraser to remove the blue ink because it's been on there for over a year. Love it!}

This is the block I'm working on right now. After I finish the pebbles in the last section of the pinwheel, I'm probably going to rip out the quilting in the pink portion of the pinwheel and put it back in using the darker pink thread. {Sidebar: I'm using AURIfil Makò 50-weight thread in #2311 Eggshell, #2314 Medium Beige, #2360 Warm Brown, #2437 Medium Pink and #2440 Azalea.} I may also rip out the quilting in the brown flying geese and do something else entirely. I'll have to see once I've got the pink re-stitched and the background filler in.

I really like how the leaves came out in this block. I tweaked the contrast so you could see the quilting, which makes this a really horrible picture. I'm on the fence about ripping this out too. I think I'll probably leave it . . .

Here's another bit of quilting that blends in with the fabric too much but that will probably not get ripped out. I'm not sure exactly what the deciding factor is on ripping and re-quilting in a thread that shows better. Sometimes I can just see in my head that it needs to be one way or the other. And sometimes the density of the quilting just tells me that there's no point even trying to rip it out. Too bad I don't always know before I quilt.

This was one of the times where the quilting told me not to even try. On a whim, I used pink thread to quilt the pebbles in the light portion of the pinwheel. After I finished the first one {bottom right} I hated it, but I knew there was nothing to do but move forward. There was no way I was getting all those tiny stitches out. After I finished the pebbles, I ripped out the swirls quilted in dark brown thread in the brown pinwheel and re-quilted them in light brown. I liked the block a whole lot better. Then I went and stuffed it up with uneven stippling in the outer background.

On a positive note, I actually like how this block finished, with the thread all matching. I think it works like this. Mostly.

And I absolutely love how the little 3" pinwheel corner stones turned out. They are all different colors, but are all quilted alike. {Sidebar: I don't think I've ever shown the entire quilt top. The most you've ever seen is a quarter section of it together and my quilting doodles. I guess I'm waiting for a big reveal, because at this point I'm not sure if it is going to come out as fantastically as I envision it. You'll have to trust me [and I'll have to trust myself] that it is going to be awesome when it's done.}

Out of everything I've worked on in the last two weeks, I think this block is my absolute favorite. The only thing done on this was the stitching-in-the-ditch so there was no need to rip anything out . I'd planned to only do flower petals in the pink part of the center pinwheel, but after I finished them I knew it would look really good to do them in the white part too. It just makes me happy to look at it.

{Sidebar: this post has a lot of sidebars.}

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