What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 This week I worked on the last of the scraps from the  scrap bucket I am trying to tame. These scraps weighed  6 ounces which is almost a yard of fabric. I cut some 3 1/2 inches, then 2 1/2, 2, 1 1/2 and the rest went into a chunks bucket. It has helped to keep me from buying more of anything. Next week will be a challenge. We will have our guild meeting and there might be a free table. what will I do?

Welcome to Week 360 of Free Motion Mavericks. I feel like I've been avoiding it long enough - like a groundhog who pops out of his den and finds that snow is on the ground and Christmas and the holidays are almost here! Yikes...unlike the groundhog, there's no going back to sleep now!

 The guidelines for the Island Batik December Challenge were simple

• Project Type: Any

• Size: Minimum size 12” x12”

• Any fabric 

• Technique: English Paper Piecing

And here is my simple response. This cutesy little table runner finished at 12" by 52".

Paul, the model

I used Island Batik Neutral Yolk for background (and binding) and various Island Batik fabrics to create the hexie flowers. Neither too big nor too small, I was going to name it Goldilocks but then...Paul suggested that it was "Too Hexie for My Table" and the name stuck.

Did you notice the touch of whimsy? It ...

Slow stitching is something I enjoy doing either early morning or in the evenings in front of the tv. It is an enjoyable way to start or finish my day. I've been stitching little and not so little Christmas designs for a couple of Decembers. SLOW indeed! One of these Decembers I'll have enough to create an actual project with them. 

The large ones, which are Baltimore Album inspired, were created by Carrie Nelson for her 2020 Moda Fabrics free Holiday SAL. You can find 14 of the blocks here.

 It's two days before Thanksgiving here in the USA.  This morning I've been thinking about the controversial aspect of this "holiday" and decided to focus on the "gratefulness" aspect of it.  Gratefulness is a universal attitude that can reframe mindsets and dissipate frustration.  The challenge is to look beyond the personal aspects and adopt a wider viewpoint of gratefulness so if you will indulge me for a paragraph before I share finish #17?

I'm grateful for all the courageous people who are calling out dominate cultural views and expanding my point of view on a variety of ...

So I started to do my twenty min sew sprints on my pinwheel quilt this week.  I have a goal to finish it by next September so I can enter into the fair.   They have a category for all by hand made quilts.  Nothing like a deadline to get things done.   I've decided to do them in bunches and then visually lay out the bunches making the bigger and bigger.   If I need some transitional wheels I can make them up.

It's slow progress but at least its progress.

So What Have You Been Up To Creatively?

Rule #5 Keep walking...both physically and figuratively. I'm intrigued how the two are linked. The summer after I moved to Ontario was a very difficult one for me. I'd had difficult times before but it seemed nothing had prepared me for the new challenges I faced. Separations are never easy and it felt like new worries were being piled on top of old.  I would take my little Shuffle with my music in my ears and walk all over the small town I was living in.  I would walk fast and return to the house tired but ...

 Rule #4 Calm yourself. Stop dreaming up negative scenerios! You are safe and comfortable. Your children are safe and comfortable.  Shut down the negative thoughts! Give your mind a well deserved break from all the horrible imaginings! Anybody else identify with the middle of the night wandering thoughts that take a dark dive?? I'm determined to put a stop to it. 

Have you heard of Butter Denim?  I got out shopping last week at Winners and bought these jeans made of Butter Denim; I think the company is a number like 1822. This is me trying to model them ...

 I can't believe I made this!!

70" wide by 98" long -- dozens and dozens of hexagons handstitched to set off twenty-one dodecagons and four beautiful printed floral motifs all hand stitched together from my bountiful fabric stash!?!

I'm not sure what a whole bunch of hexies are known as, other than possibly a quilt in the making!

Since reading The Overstory, I've been more aware of trees. I still count as one of my duties here to name all the trees; I'm sure many are represented just outside my front door. Though I do not think our woods are enchanted, the sounds I hear there are kind of enchanting to me.  For instance, early one morning, I heard two barred owls hoot to each other from different parts of the woods. Then a couple of cardinals chimed in, also distances apart, to sing their tuit tuit calls. Meanwhile, chickadees were chirping continuously and a couple ...

Don't know how you folks in warmer climates do it!  I guess it's because I'm originally an east coast Canadian that the humidity really really gets to me. I find it isn't at all pleasant to walk, jog or garden in. I can't shake the idea that even breathing air like that is not good for you. 

But I'm all set up with overhead fans whirring and this in front of me.

I'm listening to Anne Tyler's Red Haired Girl By the Side of the Road.  I think I read it before ...