Friday, February 3, 2012

As opposed to an Irregular Blogger, naturally

So, the real reason for all this furious posting is that I took a gander at my blog archive and noticed that I made fewer posts in 2011 than in the year I started blogging, and I started in July of that year. That's just sad. Of course, I had the excuse that I got sucked into the whole GenQ thing last year, and I am still being sucked....um, occupied...by that project and will be even more over the next few months. But before GenQ started I wanted to revitalize this site and get back to posting with some sort of regularity, and I decided with this new year that I would, no matter what else I happened to have on my plate at the same time. I will probably fail miserably, but what you have seen over the last several days is the beginnings of my attempt to be a Regular Blogger once again.

Having been able to reconfigure the look of the blog so that the posts are wider and I can use larger photographs has helped a lot with my enthusiasm for blogging again. However, I may regret that after what I have to show you today.

My older daughter, Harper, is, like a lot of kids, totally enthusiastic about EVERYTHING...for about five seconds. She will lay at my feet, begging and pleading for her own sewing machine, yet when I let her sew something, she gets tired after about three seams and has to go lie down with some Nutter Butters and an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place to recover. Then I wait three or four months and it all starts again.

Now, as I've mentioned ad nauseam, I have been a bit under the weather recently and this has meant that both girls have not had as much mommy time as they are used to. So, last week, when school was closed for two days due to Stick It To Working Parents Right After Christmas Break Teacher Training Sessions, and Harper dug out one of my graph paper pads and my colored pencils, I knew I probably was not getting out of participating in a Harper Project. This was her design:


The colors didn't scan exactly right, but that is supposed to be purple, pink and orange. Since we would end up working with triangles, Harper "elected" to have me do the actual construction while she acted in a purely supervisory capacity. So I appointed her Head Designer and Secretary of Snacks while I took over as Lead Contractor and Director of Milk Pouring (she still spills sometimes).

We decided to make it a mini quilt and calculated how big it could be if we used fat quarters. Harper chose the fats from my stash and decided on red thread for the quilting. She preferred a meander to any kind of straight line quilting, and chose a lovely teal blue for the binding.  Please note that I cannot be held responsible for any seizures or other catastrophic neurological events caused by viewing the following pictures:

"My eyes! My eyes!"


And thus endeth my spate of creativity. I have no projects currently in the works, so if my posting continues, we're going to have to talk about something other than quilting. So next week, it might either be the story of how my college boyfriend took me camping during our sophomore year and almost got us arrested or maybe a video of me demonstrating Shit Quilters Say (suggestions welcome).

12 comments:

Jen said...

Great quilt Harper! ;)

Haha...shit quilters say...

"I'm not a hoarder, I just have 100 unfinished projects and fabric for 1000 more. But that's not hoarding. It's stashing."

"it will quilt out"

"happy birthday, here's your quilt. Now give it back so I can finish it." give the completed gift 2 years later. Variations on this include: "I made you a gift, but it's not finished yet," and "I made you a quilt but kept it."

Some Quilty things I say: "look, there's a quilt!" pointing at buildings, signs, concrete, tiles. And "I can't go to tour party, it's Friday Night See In."

Jen said...

Ran out of room! Anyway, I'm looking forward to your video ;)

Tsigeyusv said...

It's great that you worked with Harper to make a mini quilt.  Hopefully she can learn to hand sew on the back side of bindings for you.  That'd be a great asset in my book!
I'm also surprised your Flippy lip quilt wasn't named "Labias Gone Wild"

Adam Yoeckel said...

Sh!t quilters say would be AMAZING.

Here's my list:
Damn it, I have to rip that out.
I wonder if it's the tension.
Ah, don't worry it'll quilt out.
Piecing curves is hard.
I love this fabric, I'll save it for that perfect quilt.
This fabric is too delicious to cut into.
I've got the gadget for that.
You use polyester fabric/batting/thread?! <--use an interrobang.
You should try using holy fabric, starch the hell out of it.
Boobs and Vampires 2: Electric Boogaloo? My favorite.

Colleen Yarnell said...

I think she has a great sense for color and design!  She must take after you!  BTW I too like to use the xlarge size pics.  I found that when I moved all my side bar stuff to the left I didnt have to worry about pic overlap.  I have a background but that does not even matter it just looks more artsy collagy.  I really enjoy your biting way with words.  

Helen B said...

Love Harper's design and your dedication and good will to bring it to fruition.

I find that when I quilt, I am practicing my swear words.  Nothing comes easy without practice.  I need to practice drinking, too.  I'm not good enough at it as yet, so I try to set some time aside to practice that, too.  However, I try not to practice drinking while quilting.  I kind of like my fingers attached to my hands without puncture wounds from needles.

I have been wondering how you are feeling now that you've had your antibiotics for a few days.

Mary Schroeder said...

Her color choices rock!  
Yes...well...I get bored after three seams too....that is why there is internet and chocolate.

Cindy said...

I like it. I too would have put squares on point rather than mucking with triangles, but what is a few extra seams? It is lovely.

Peggi said...

You can't possibly be giving Harper shit about her colors after posting that Flippy Lip quilt earlier this week!!!  She's simply following in your creative footsteps, my dear.

I dunno about Things Quilters Say - how about Things Non-Quilters Say?  I got this from a fellow quilter, who overheard it at a quilt show:

"I could never quilt a quilt.  These were all quilted by Long Arm Quilters.  My arms are way too short."

Katherine Tillstrom said...

I say those colors are a real shot in the arm!  *and* you collaborated.  My daughter is the same....

Bert in Rice, WA said...

Wow, she has a great eye for color and is not afraid of throwing in a kicker for the binding. I think I would have snuck away from triangles and put it all on point, although that does mean triangles around the edge.

You may end up doing the stunt work for Harper in the future.

Sue Laughton said...

What a great collaboration!  The designer picked awesome fabrics & the contractor did an excellent job with the constuction and meandering.  You GO girls!