Endings and Beginnings

My latest "big project" is almost complete. This would be a queen-sized bed quilt for my youngest boy. I dropped off the pieced quilt top and back to my long-arm quilter friend, Stitchlilly, a while ago and was so excited to find out it was ready. When I picked it up, I was blown away. Oh my! What she does is an art I tell you! If I may wax poetic for a moment...it's like I formed my creation, and she breathed life into it. Stunning. But, this a just a tease. I'm not going to show you the finished quilt today.

Here's a peek! I've been stitching and stitching.

Nope, I'm still hand-sewing the bound edges. Miles and miles of binding. Easy work, but there's a lot of it. I actually rather like this stage of the quilt process. You are at the end of the line with the project, yet, you are forced to slow down. Almost savor your way to the finish line. I'm excited for this long-haul project to be complete, but a little sad that it's over. Bittersweet.

I get to do something girly!

I'm drowning my sorrows in fat quarters. I have finished a new design and am diving into it this weekend. This time for my daughter. Gone is the boyish palette of earth tones. Her preferences lean heavily into pink, red, orange, and gray. It's going to be gorgeous. I sure hope she thinks so too!

–Cassandra

Beginnings and Endings

 A little slice of my world this week....

: My latest quilt is done and off to my friend Gael to quilt for me. Ahhh, what did folks do before the long arm? I'm so excited to see it quilted!

: Quilt design iterations done. Time to start thinking about the next one.

: Home made bread and cream of mushroom soup (old old vegetarian cookbook). Heaven.

: Little projects to catch up on. More monster patches are in order.

: Re-knitting the eaten sweater. It feels so good to have yarn in my hands in the fall.

: I've been dreaming about a Schoolhouse Tunic for me. Anna Maria Horner LouLouthi voile on sale made it happen sooner rather than later. Can't wait to dig in!

–Cassandra

Work

All I have been doing is hand embroidery. My knitting has been set aside for weeks now because of the final push I am doing to get my quilt finished. I have about half a block to embroider before the entire quit top is done. Who's idea was it to add hand-embroidered blocks to this project? I forget.

If you look carefully, you can see my poor Coraline
sweater waiting it's turn in the background.

Wow, it is going to be trippy when this thing is finally quilted and bound. This project has been a big part of my life for a while.  And now I am left with a whole bunch of questions. Things like, what do I do with all this scrap fabric? How can I store it in an organized way? (Any hints on that would be appreciated.)

My pattern is a mess of notes and scribbles.

Every time I finish a big project I'm always a little bit wistful. Mustering the stamina to keep marching on with a long-haul project keeps me in this "make-make-make" mindset, and when it's over, I'm suddenly left a little empty. Even with the next project(s) on my mind.

The quilt top patiently waiting to be quilted.

Speaking of next projects...there is that big boy quilt for my littlest one to design, a mitten pattern idea that's been rolling around in my head, and some other projects Alex and I have been trying to compile into a book for a while now. Gotta be like a shark...always moving forward!

–Cassandra