conuly

Done with my sewing
I look at my new quilt pieces
Used the wrong fabric


40 minutes of sewing, undone by some 2 minutes of thread pulling. And then Jenn told me I should get a seam ripper. What, so that the thread pulling will take even less time, and I can feel even more demoralized? I saved the wrong fabric triangles, I'll use 'em in the border at the end.

Last quilt, if you're curious, was "Little Giant". This one is "Mother's Fancy".

At about 2 am today, my quilt was finally, f i n a l l y done!

No pictures yet, but I'm hoping to get some soon.

It's not perfect - you can see areas where my stitching is all crooked, or where my binding was pulled a little more in one area than another because my quilt didn't have enough fabric at the top (oops....), but it's done!!!!!

And all through the end stages of my quilt, I was valuing speed over quality. Every mistake I made, if it didn't affect the structural integrity of this quilt, I just recited my mantra: She's only three. She won't care. I just wanna get this done already. She's only three.

My quilt is almost done! My quilt was almost done!

In a week, I've quilted almost all of it - all I have left are the borders. Everybody at the quilting class/group was quite impressed, and commented that this was a lot of work to have done in a week.

I mean, my stitching kinda sucks in parts. I can see it getting better, but I still have some parts where a line is crooked beyond belief or saving, or where the stitches are just a bit too large to look pretty. However, everything is holding together, which is the important thing, and, c'mon, it's going to a three year old. She's not going to care. But still - I'm almost all done!

(And I show my near-finished quilt to some people at the SICM, and they go "It's very nice". They clearly meant that, but still - what sort of dumb-ass compliment is "very nice"? I wanna hear "brilliant, amazing, fantastic, best quilt I've ever seen, colors are great, YOU really made this? Wow!" and I get "very nice". Bah! BAH, I say! Bah humbug!)

(That's largely what I told them, too, though I was nicer. And they obliged, but made fun of me for telling them specifically that their compliments weren't up to snuff. Can't blame them, I suppose - but really! Very nice?)

It's also National Poetry Month!

So... are you aware of the existence of autism? Are you somewhat aware of my feelings on the subject? Are you aware that autistic people have been killed for being autistic?

Hm. Are you aware that an autistic teenager has become improbably famous after winning a basketball game? Not many people have read this story yet! I've certainly not heard about it!

And, lastly - are you aware that that puzzle ribbon thing is ugly? Please. Forget other types of feelings on the subject, that thing is the most unaesthetic symbol I've ever seen. Ugh.

I'd write a poem, but I've yet to buy new thread for my quilt (I lost the spool of thread I had, and am now distraught).

Store closes at 5. Oh dear. And I still have to get the smocks and egg dying stuff for tomorrow... gotta run!

It's good. We're doing a Little Giant one (middle, last row). Just one big block with a border around it, about 45 inches, I believe. "Crib size".

Only problem is that it's held just on the edge of Richmond Town, late at night. And the cars there are insane. The bus driver today not only let me off before my bus stop, but took the time to implore me to be extra careful crossing the street. I'd already figured that one out myself, thanks, but I took the advice in the spirit it was given. There aren't even any sidewalks there, and not enough streetlights. It's actually rather pleasant if you ignore the fact that you could slip and fall into the raging traffic at any second.

Today we (the beginners, not the experts who know what they're doing) traced our shapes onto cloth. This is a lot harder than I realized. I'd spent perfectly good money on a nifty device to tell me how big a quarter inch is, then realized that I can get my measures just as well by holding two fingers together. That's a bit more than half an inch, or a quarter inch around each bit of cloth.

I also spent perfectly good money on lefty scissors. Well, I can cut things instead of just bending cloth (or presumbably paper), but I've no idea how to use them! I'm so used to bending my hand all around that it seems strange *not* to. I'm tempted to slip Jenn the lefty scissors and see how well she fares. Because I'm evil that way. I suspect, though, that once I get used to the, the lefty scissors will be something I can't live without.

I think... I think I may actually get a serviceable and pretty quilt out of this. I hope so, anyway.... Pictures will come in due time.

OH! AND JENN! SCAN IN THE MOST RECENT ANAPICS!