Saturday, April 18, 2015

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Purple

I love sewing.  I love the methodical and repetitious nature of running piece after piece through the machine, then adding on and repeating.   I do not love mending.  I am, in fact, a little ashamed of my distaste for mending, as I generally love to repair, reuse, and attempt to do with less.  Mending is like learning an entirely new routine, as no piece of mending exactly matches the next. Due to my deliberate neglect, the mending pile rose shockingly, and it was time to tackle it again.  Twelve items of clothing later, I'm free!

My 16-patches are all neatly sewn together.  Twenty small blocks later, I'm still happy with these wee bits.

The rainbow Carrie Nation quilt is completely quilted.  Whew!  We chose a pale pink thread as the idea of changing threads every row made me twitchy.  This is gong to be a fabulous quilt and, at 20.5 yards out, my stash is finally decreasing a bit.


Hangovers from last month, I now have 50 of my 80 yellow and blue Carrie Nation blocks complete.  In the ideal world, I'd finish these in the next 15 days and send the quilt to my sister for my niece's birthday but... this is not the ideal world.  I have a project that must be done ASAP!

I have various projects on the go and next month, seriously need to rein in my enthusiasm.  I have a customer quilt to finish, a two year old who lives to be outside, and the garden.  (On a side note, how big does your growing space have to get before it stops being a garden and becomes a farm.  We have over an acre in production, so are we beyond "crazy garden folk" yet?  Farmer sounds nicer.)

Be sure to fill up your inspiration tank on purple goodness this weekend!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.




11 comments:

Scrappy quilter said...

Your garden sounds perfect to me. Nothing like fresh veggies.

Jennifer said...

looks great! I, too, love the repetition of sewing the tiny blocks over and over. it's very soothing and relaxing!
as for the garden: I'm with ya on that one! we've crossed the line into "farmer" with about 7+ in production, with 24 CSA members, a produce stand and farmer's market... sometimes if you're a "tiny farm" the line is a bit more muddled. sometimes the line between large garden, and small farm is hard to distinguish. we are an "official" farm, but still not your typical stereotype of a farm. do you grow most/all of your own food? what about the meat?

Julierose said...

I like feeding those squares for my postage stamp blocks through again and again, too. It's kind of a soothing repetitive meditation--like my knitting is. I need to prepare my front bed for my herb garden--my darling DH is digging it out for me...hugs, Julierose

Cathy said...

Love sewing, hate mending. Have over an acre plus orchards. Eating asparagus from garden tonight. Tapped all the maples trees a few weeks ago and boiled down for a gallon of syrup. I guess I love sewing as much as gardening. Your projects are all looking good.

Nell's Quilts said...

The rhythm of the sewing machine needle going up and down and the fabric sliding through is so repetitive and soothing. Nice straight lines of stitching not like mending where heaven knows what seams or knees or patches or zippers need attention. Great purple blocks and the Carrie Nation blocks are lovely.

Angie said...

Love the 16 patches! It sounds like y'all are farmers - the payoff will be worth the work!

scraphappy said...

Sewing sounds like it will be taking a back seat to farm work for a while, but that is how the seasons work. Hope you still find a few minutes between chores, but if not, fabric is patient.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a small farm to me! Enjoy and may you have a bountiful harvest this fall. The fabric is patient... it will be there when you have time for it... but that repetitive sound of sewing is oh so relaxing.. (not mending though!).

Deb A said...

I was the last comment - sorry.

Deb@asimplelifequilts said...

I do not enjoy mending or hemming or that matter either. Those projects sit for a long time in my closet! Your blocks are beautiful... love that size.

Quiltdivajulie said...

An acre is definitely more than a garden!

And I don't like mending, either.

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