Quilting for Sanity

Living with a 95-year-old who is having short-term memory loops can be a blessing and a challenge. Dad is still pretty independent and manages well for the most part. However, spending every afternoon watching back-to-back-to-back episodes of Bonanza is enough to drive me crazy! Dad doesn't follow the stories real well with his brief snoozes every few minutes, so he's always asking what's going on. Oh, and my favorite is when the show goes to commercial and he tells me those boys sure drive nice cars! Are those made by Nash? Well, Dad, that's a commercial. The Cartright boys don't drive cars--they ride horses. And, no, I'm pretty sure Nash doesn't make cars anymore. Ahhhhh... Life.....

So, I spend most of my time in the sewing room to pass my afternoons. I have so many UFO's at this point, I really need to start sorting them out and finishing them for Christmas gifts so I can justify starting more projects! Last week I found a really cute Eleanor Burns pattern for pumpkin placemats that I'm going to turn into mini-wall hangings. I made six pretty quickly and got them all layered and stitched together in two afternoons. Now to do some fun but simple quilting on them, applique the rest of the faces, and wrap them up. Whew!

With two shop hops coming up this month, I feel compelled to start working through some of my stash. So, I found last year's bundle of Halloween fat quarters and made a great stack & slash Halloween quilt for a gift. The top is done (another fast project) and I'll have my buddies at quilting class help pin it on Tuesday, and then to do some quick and easy quilting on it too.

I have my grandson's batik dinosaur quilt all pinned, but haven't started quilting it yet. I bought some fun variegated threads to use on it and will begin that project maybe this weekend. My granddaughter's quilt is designed in EQ7, but not yet started. Geez... so many projects!

I've decided to give a shot at making something fun and creating for the Hoffman 2012 Challenge and received my package of eleven half-yard cuts of the challenge fabrics in the mail this week. Now to get my brain working on something striking and different to submit. Luckily that's not due until next summer, so I have time to design in EQ7 and/or on paper before I dive in with the rotary cutter.

Back to Dad... He loves watching my projects come to fruition. He also knows I'm making gifts from both of us to give at Christmas. He checks out the projects while I'm working and as I make progress I always take them into the family room to show him how they're coming together. Being a creative guy himself in his former active life, he appreciates the effort I put into things. Dad built our home himself and continued to work with wood as a hobby, making my children's cradle and many toys for the grandchildren, while Mom sewed countless Raggedy Anne dolls and Teddy bears, and tailored her own suits. By designing many of my own projects on the old graph paper from Dad's desk and working with fabrics to turn those designs into quilted projects, in my mind, I'm combining the best of both of their hobbies into one of my own.

Stay tuned for more snippets from  the sewing room...
Liz