And then there were three!

The journey of Lollypops continues.  This is not the first, and is far from the last, post on my ongoing relationship with Kim McLean's Lollypop Quilt.  I will spare you all the links; if you're interested, you can click on Labels on the right side of the blog. Suffice it to say, I've chatted about this before.

I love the Tour de France!  Also not a new comment.  I also love Wimbledon!  So the last two weeks have been perfect for handwork. As I've had a few minutes, I've run up to my little quilting room and pulled out this block that I prepared months ago, and have done a little stitching. My tension on my stitches is a little wonky -- you can see some puckering in the block --but that will "quilt out" right?

This block that is prepped has fewer motifs to appliqué so it will be next.  My personality is to start with the hardest (or most unpleasant) first and get it done so the balance is easier (or less distasteful in some circumstances -- that's not the case here).  It's not distasteful in the least -- it will just take longer.

The last prepped block looks like a breeze, doesn't it?  Bigger motifs, fewer small circles, and fun colors.  And this is the actual design -- no editing from me.  While I now have three (of 16!) blocks completely appliqued and two more ready to go, I had a moment of epiphany and realized that if I put everything aside and just prepped blocks and appliqued like a madwoman, I probably could not finish this quilt by the end of the year.  Really?  YIKES.  I need to get my act in gear and be more deliberate about this wonderful quilt.  I love it.  It makes me happy.  BUT. Piecing makes me happy.  Long arm quilting makes me happy.  Giving people finished quilts makes me happy.  But not getting this done before I'm 90 doesn't make me too happy!  I need to give this some thought and decide on some priorities and commitments.

Let me say -- this little gem from Superior Threads is a lifesaver!  I would never have enough different colors to appliqué all these bright colors.  I do have four spools of silk thread and I like them a lot but sometimes the colors just work better.  What a beautiful rainbow!  I highly recommend it if you have an appliqué project in your future.

I hope you have something that you are working on that makes you happy!

Jan

Transformation

Check out all this Kaffe-goodness!  Aren't they wonderful?  

As I've had time this week, these beauties have been slowly transformed into....

These....with cute little polka dot strips that are cut at 1".  They are beginning to be transformed into....

These .... which have to be cut one at a time for quality control purposes.  And eventually they will look like....

These!  This is a makeover of the Kaffe shot cotton blocks that I started last summer and blogged about here.  Of course, that quilt top isn't done.  It's my travel project for my little Jem and I'm hoping we'll be going north later this summer together.  We'll see.  As an aside, do you see the ripped out places on these blocks?  The jelly roll has a little kink in it from cutting and I finally realized that I have to use the outside of the pinked edge if I'm going to get my 2.5" and 3.0" dimensions.  I did a lot of trial and error before I finally figured that out!  Duh!

This has been a weird time for me.  I have no idea where my quilting mojo has gone -- but I miss it.  Mom22smartchix was here last weekend and did great things for getting my desire to quilt more front of mind.  One thing I do know about me is that when I am a bit blue, cutting into Kaffe fabric is the perfect therapy.  I've started many a Kaffe quilt in January and February when the weather and sky leave much to be desired.  It's like bringing sunshine inside!  I have needed a little inner sunshine and this may be just the ticket!

It's also been a good week as Wimbledon started this week (LOVE IT!) and Le Tour de France begins tomorrow.  I will watch every single minute I can and then watch the replays later in the day.  Can't explain it -- suffice it to say there are lots of aspects of Le Tour that I love.  And it's hot here -- 108 degrees predicted today.  Air conditioning, tennis, and cycling seem like a good combination for this weekend!

I hope you are finding your own sunshine in your life!  Jan

Let le Tour begin!

I love the Tour de France.  I don't bike competitively (I barely bike for pleasure).  I don't fully understand the point system.  I can't imagine why anyone would put themselves through this type of pain.  I've never been to a competitive bike race.  And yet -- I love the Tour.

http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html

In honor of the tour, I thought I would show pictures of all my "yellow" quilts.    There aren't any.  Period.  I certainly have lots of scrap quilts with beautiful yellows or cheddars in them -- but no yellow quilts.  Or even, primarily yellow quilts.

Somewhere I heard a revered quilter say that every quilt should have just a touch of yellow in it to give it "life".  Obviously her opinion and I tend to agree that every scrappy quilt should have some yummy yellows.  I'm not sure about that statement otherwise.  I don't think a bit of yellow would have made me happy in my indigo quilt which was all "real" indigoes (what a pain!) and shirtings. 

In reality, I suspect we all have colors that we gravitate toward and others that we have to work to collect.  For me, it's yellow, pink, and orange.  I'll go for neutrals, blues, and even browns in a heartbeat but I have to "shop" for the others.  It's not a chore.  It just has to be thoughtful.  As a result, I now have more yellows than I have some other colors.  That's not the case with pinks and oranges and I still look for those when I think of it.  Do you have a color that doesn't come to you naturally?  Lime green used to fall in that category as well for me and now I'll snatch one up if I see it.  Love it!

I'll spend the next three weeks watching the Tour, wondering at the scenery and historical architecture with the incredible camera work, and relishing the colors of the peleton as they wind through the valleys and mountains.  The shots from above are like an impressionist painting to me as I see all their jerseys intermixed and I fully intend to make a quilt with my impressions of that one of these days.  It's on "the list".

Maybe this time next year -- I'll even have a predominantly yellow quilt to honor it!

Keep piecing, Jan