Its All About The Discipline

In Blogging terms where am I? I seem to have hit a maelstrom recently. It isn't that I haven't wanted to blog, indeed I often find myself at 2 am blogging in my head. In real terms, it has been hard to find the momentum to blog. We have been working hard in the garden, we have been out and about. I have been sewing too in the background, some of the time. Even so, I have a finished flimsy with apologies for the daytime UK bad light photos.

I blame my design wall. We have the design wall up. We, as in the royal we, are happy with it. Occasionally it falls down and that's when I can't be bothered. It is up with a Velcro type stuff. The Velcro which sticks to the design wall occasionally parts company. Generally though that is not the problem. The problem is discipline. I have always joked I am not disciplined enough to be a professional quilter (that and the question of talent). I leap from project to project, I "fart" about. I procrastinate. The design wall makes this all very difficult. It is hard to start a new project when the current one is haunting you on the wall. I go to lift my Liberty, and there it is, this big bed quilt taunting me, laughing at me. Well, two can play at this game. I shut the door and walk out. I was struggling with my Kaffe quilt for a while. In my head this quilt and I hadn't bonded. It hadn't even a name, except occasionally to be called the Kaffe Fokkit quilt! No reflection on Kaffe, just my state of mind.

Each time the blocks fell off the wall, they went up in a different order. I did take photos of the wip, but who was to say the new order was any better or worse than the last order? My husband takes a passing interest in my quilts. He complained every time he came in, it looked different than he remembered. Needless to say, he always liked the previous reincarnation better. This photo was when we still had the stunt tape acting for the Velcro stuff.

This quilt was keeping me awake at night. That's right. Third World problems. The Prime Minister dreams of Brexit, President Trump dreams of Mexico and his wall. I too dream of borders, but my borders were the quilting type. I hate joins in borders. Loath them with a vengeance. I didn't think I had enough fabric for a straight run of border. I had ordered 2 yds of my bigger second border, and I was sure it wasn't enough. I should have ordered 2.5 yds. Now, this had me tossing and turning. Should I join seams or order yet more fabric? Another 2.5 yds on top of all the rest? What's a girl to do?

So I did what every prevaricator does. I put the metaphorical project behind the clock on the mantelpiece. Except every time I went into the sewing room, there it was taunting me from the design wall. On a bad day, it was hanging off the design wall!

Yesterday I decided enough was enough. I want to make my Beothuk Star! I sewed the last of the rows together. Today I added the first narrow border of purple circles. It was ok. the lengths weren't long enough, I had just 1 yd of this. The border was narrow, the pattern is busy and when the strips were mitred to join them, it was ok. I can breathe without the use of a paper bag. I mitred the corners of the quilt also.

This afternoon, I had coffee with a friend who is also making the quilt. She had no problems with joined borders until I indoctrinated her! We chatted about it this way and that way, and I came home to try with the big challenge. The bigger border.

I removed the selvedge on both sides, and cut the fabric into 4 equal strips running the full length. Each should be just a smidgeon under 11" in width. Of course as any mother knows, it is impossible to keep all the children equal. Three are 11" and one is 10.5". I mitred two of the strips together, luckily  remembering it was a corner mitre, not a length mitre. As Baldrick would say, we are not at home to Mr Cockup. No spare fabric to be had. By some miracle of the fabric fairy, the length of the unmitred end finished just below the end of the quilt. On the face of it, this meant two empty squares in diagonally opposing corners. A non quilter will not have a clue what this means, but quilters know. Luckily, thanks to Fairy Fabric, the offcut triangles from the other two mitred corners just fitted in neatly. Yes, this means there are joins in my borders, but I can live with these. Who knows? It might even be a design feature.

So, this photo is a not great night time photo of my bed with a completed quilt! Only joking, I will wad and quilt it and bind it. I know the night time photo is awful, never mind showing it twice. Tomorrow I will try to get some better photos in the garden. The weather and light here is awful, grey and dull.

This is the best photo of all. An empty design wall. Now, should I start my new project or finish another. I can do both! Just because I can.

Helen x