necessary evils

how much longer?!?

the required block for SS3 BOM at TQS is finished...groan
and i keep asking myself how much longer till this BOM is over???
i like the blocks
i hate the fabric that i chose
i like getting a free black fat quarter every month
i'm not crazy about working with templates
it is good to meet other people with like interests
it is not good to hear quilters pick pick pick other quilters' choices and techniques

some saturday morning i'm gonna bring the portable DVD player and make More Than a Gardener and Peggy Perfect watch Bambi ... anywho ... tomorrow is the first meeting for the next Saturday Sampler - it is paper-pieced blocks from Sylvia's Bridal Sampler ... i had to decide whether or not i wanted to commit to another saturday morning each month for a year ... i had to chose between red/white or blue/white ... and i will have to decide whether or not to buy extra fabric for the goofs i will (inevitably) make - actually, that's a given - mistakes will be made and i'll have no one else to blame and extra fabric will come home with me ... i had the book spiraled it took my Kinko guy 4 minutes and 17 seconds which is a new record and i told him there would be a little sumpin' extra on his paycheck - ha ha ha!!! so it will lay flat for copying ... the paper-pieced BOM is so popular with TQS customers that they've opened up an additional meeting ... Sheri has promised that it is easy and fun and that she will walk the walk and talk the talk

Mrs. Rabbit: Thumper!
Thumper: Yes, Mama?
Mrs. Rabbit: What did your father tell you this morning?
Thumper: If you can't say somethin' nice ... don't say nothin' at all.

the black cauldron...

i'd like the eye of newt stew and a side of fried bat wings, please

is stitched ... woo hoo!!! i used glow in the dark thread for the little circles around the open sign - but when i tried to get a picture of them glowing in the dark ... well ... the camera laughed at me ... sigh ... the leaves in the window boxes are DMC #4130 ... i think i might add a few leaves to each of the blocks - i like how they look ... we saw this version of Hocuspocusville at the Quilt Affair...oops! don't want you to get a crick in your neck...
that's better ... now say ooooh! aaaaah!

...this is the third completed HPV (not the virus) that i have seen and the jury inside my head is still out on whether or not i like it better with brights or with more color or with buttons ...... well ... not really on that last one - the button version has been my least favorite ... but my opinion may have be tainted by the quilter ... our conversation went something like this...

i used blah blah blah single strand
uhm ... i'm using two strands of DMC #3371
DMC?!!? floss?!!?? sneer
uhm ... yes
i finished the quilt in three months
well, that's great! good for you!
how long have you been working on it?
uhm ... since february
february??!! and you haven't finished the embroidery??!!
uhm mum mum ... no
really!??!!?

grrrr ... yes ... really ... i'm embroidering - plain old embroidery with a plain old hoop and a plain old sharp needle and plain old embroidery floss - something i haven't done since i was a teenager when rocks were soft and mist was in the air ... and i am enjoying every minute of it ... i'm not running a race and i don't have a timetable ... i'm not stitching Hocuspocusville to impress anybody - i'm stitching it cuz i like it ... and it doesn't much matter to me if it takes six months (not likely) or six years ...... okay ... rant's over ... i feel much better

ahem ... more about the wedding quilt

wedding wishes on dragonfly's wing ...... Auntia was working across the sewing table from me and, bless her heart, did all of the pressing for the dragonfly blocks. i would probably still be standing there with the Rowenta gurgling and phwooshing if she hadn't come to the rescue. Auntia is much better at pressing than i am ... i tend to not press as i go, and then i whine about bunchy seams and warped blocks. between the two of us, all of the blocks were sewn, pressed, and trimmed in time for the wedding.

we did have to make another trip over to Tomorrows Heirlooms for a bit of dark green faerie frost ... the copper and blue were so bright that the purple looked like mud next to them; the green provided a bit of balance.

a table was set up at the wedding reception with the blocks and pigma pens so that guests could sign the wings. there was a photo mat for signatures, too, and many people opted out of signing the quilt blocks ... all in all, we ended up with 30 signed blocks. well ... actually, there were 31 ... one block had to be disassembled ...

one of the guests wrote, "Remember to kick her when she's down." on one of the wings ... and the fool actually had the cajones to sign his name! then some other fool wrote "Butt Hole" on the same wing ... the block couldn't be tossed out because another guest had written a nice sentiment on the other wing ...... it took just a few minutes to take two blocks apart and reattach the wings to make one acceptable block ...... but, seriously, who does something like that?

anywho, i was struggling with how to arrange 30 blocks into a wall hanging. a rectangle just wouldn't do for the intended wall space. what i really wanted was 36 signed blocks so i could make a square of 6 by 6. after sorting through the blocks again and again, i realized that Earth Science and his family hadn't signed any ... needless to say, i took over four blocks and hovered while he and LAB (his children's mother) wrote their messages, and Corbadoo drew squiggly lines on his block. LAB signed Peanut Butter Cup's block for her ...... and then there were 34. still needed two ... hmmmm ... what to do, what to do? sort, sort, sort ... aha! Little Nonnie (my mother) hadn't signed a block and neither had Traveling Man ... so, a short drive to Near South Broomfield and a longer drive to Near Lyons ...... and then there were 36. woo hoo!
with blocks in hand (9 of each color), i cleared a space in the living room







and started to arrange and rearrange the blocks ...








every arrangement looked like a diving bomber squadron of mosquitoes.
what happened to the lovely flitting dragonflies?!? maybe ... this way:




much better ...

but look at all of those crazy points to match!



much, much later, after a few choice words and lots and lots of reverse sewing, Auntia helped me sandwich the flimsy, basting with pins. i stitched in the ditch around the wings and bodies with a greenish brown thread (Earth Science thinks the quilting looks phallic ... sheesh). after that, we took out the pins and loaded it onto the Inspira frame. i freemotion quilted dragonflies with metallic copper thread on the top and brown thread in the bobbin, then more dragonflies in the borders. i am still learning freemotion quilting, so it isn't the best ... but i am getting better with each quilt. there is a hanging sleeve stitched into the binding. wedding wishes on dragonfly's wing is now displayed on Mrs. Moth's wall.

the rest of the story will have to wait for another day ... in case anyone is wondering what happened to the 63 leftover blocks.