The big snowstorm didn't really happen ... not here anyway. We had some serious little squalls yesterday, but no real accumulation, and apparently it didn't do much of anything last night. That's okay ... it's not like I wanted a big blizzard. Like I said, if it doesn't get me out of work, then what's the point?
I did a little more work on the log cabin last night, although not much. I was feeling really 'meh' all evening, I don't really know why. Maybe it's just the end of the week blahs. I start out fresh, after my relaxing Sunday, but as the week progresses I get steadily more run down. Friday is both the best and the worst ... I have always detested grocery shopping, and for a long time wouldn't even go to the store unless I absolutely had to. I'd just eat a lot of fast food, and pick up a few things at the convenience store on the corner. At some point I decided that just wasn't going to keep working (if it ever had), so I started going to the store a bit more regularly. But since I've been shopping and cooking for my dad, I have to go every week, no excuses. After experimenting around a bit, Fridays ended up being the best (only) day to go. So while I dread the shopping trip, and getting all those groceries into the house, then sorted, put away, and repacked to take some to dad's, ... still, at least it's Friday. Mixed feelings about this day.
My boyfriend has his kids this weekend, too. He gets them every other weekend, and they're here from Friday evening through Sunday evening. It's always kind of interesting. It's taken me a long time (and sometimes I'm still not there) to adjust to two active kids being around (they're 3 and 8). I don't have kids, never wanted kids, and have usually managed to avoid them all my life. So it was quite a transition for me. On the up side, that's one of the things that motivated me to finally get my sewing / hobby area upstairs cleaned up and useable again ... it gives me a place to go, relatively quiet, out of the stream of incessant activity downstairs. That works out well for everyone, I think.
So starting tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be back to work on the quilt. I may not wait till Sunday, I may squeeze in some work on it Saturday evening. In a previous post I mentioned "wondering" if there was some kind of paper I could use to quilt the designs in the blocks, then get rid of afterwards. Duh. Not only is there some kind, there are all kinds. Kinds you tear away, kinds that dissolve in water. I've seen them mostly suggested for use in applique and embroidery, but I don't see why they couldn't be used to quilt a design on a block as well. So at least when I get to that point, there's hope for how to get it done.
The Book of Kells quilt, on the other hand, is going to involve an excessive amount of applique. I mentioned that except for the fluke of the Tolkien quilt center, I've had no luck with applique. I kept thinking that there was probably some magic trick to it all that I hadn't learned yet. I've spent the week researching as many applique methods as I could find online, and discovered one thing: there is no secret magic trick that makes it a cakewalk. I'm just going to have to stock up on some patience, and be willing to practice and work at it, if I want it to turn out nice.
Oh, larger pieces without any tiny, odd shapes don't worry me ... those I know I can do. It's tiny pieces, with little points or long thin bits that concern me. Because I suspect the Kells quilt is going to have a lot of those. And those are the ones I'm just going to have to buckle down and work harder at.
Another thing I need to seriously practice is freehand machine quilting. I've been thinking, and it looks to me like it's going to be the easiest way to quilt the blocks in Tolkien, and most of Kells. I can't keep having to turn the whole quilt all the time, I didn't get a machine with a big enough ... harp? I think it's called a harp, the circular area to the right of the needle in the sewing machine, where you have to stuff your quilt through when you're sewing on it. This one's okay (bigger than my last machine), but not nearly big enough to make that an easy task. But despite what a horrible job I did on the freehand quilting around the center motif last weekend, I do think, with practice, I can get the hang of that ... and it looks like becoming an invaluable skill.
Well, at least talking about my weekend projects cheered me up a bit. Now all I have to do is get through today.
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