Around the World Blog Hop

A week or so ago, I was contacted by Sandra White at her blog, Hand Piecing. She is participating in a blog tour called Around The World Blog Hop and asked me to join in. Sounded kinda' fun, so I agreed. If you are here for the first time, WELCOME! It's so nice to have you visit!

I do have to set the record straight on one thing - if you have read about this blog from Sandra's blog, you might think that I am a grandmother. As of now, I am not, and to my knowledge, won't be any time soon. I am quite patient to wait on that phase of my life, but when I do become a grandmother, I hope that I will be as wonderful as my own grandmother, whom you met yesterday. ;) Happy Birthday, Grandma!!

Participating in this Blog Hop involves showing you the projects I am currently working on, and answering some questions about myself. I recommend getting comfortable, as this will be a lengthy post. Let us begin!

WHAT AM I WORKING ON?

Mostly, I am trying to complete the 12 UFOs in the challenge that my little quilting group had this calendar year. I am probably in last place, as I still have over half of them to complete. I began with such high hopes, too. I was derailed a bit in the spring with family stuff, but I got back on track once things settled down. Lately, though, I find myself derailed again by the time I'm spending on non-quilting projects and my composition classes at Ohio University - Chillicothe.

With that introduction, I will give you specifics. First, I am hand piecing the remaining few blocks for a UFO I call Six-Point Star. I began it about 13 years ago.

A second UFO is the Tumbler quilt top that I started about a year ago on a whim. I will only need 2 or 3 hours at the sewing machine to finish this quilt top which is my goal.

Tumbler is going to be a throw. Since I am inventing it as I go, I can make it whatever size I like. I have an idea that I want to create a solid inner border and then add more tumbler blocks in an outer border. We shall see.

Third on the UFO list is to quilt a Schnibbles called Sunday Best. I will do it on the machine. It is sandwiched and ready to go. I still think I can get it done by our deadline.

The fourth and fifth items on the UFO list involve finishing Christmas pillows that I hand pieced last December when I was laid up after my surgery. It would take about a half an hour to finish them, so I should just do it. How easy! And a third pillow needs to be finished and will be gifted to a friend who has the design on the barn at their farm.

One item on the UFO list will likely not make the deadline; I'm just not going to push myself to complete it. I have a Flag Day Farm panel from an old Minick and Simpson line. My goal was to use this panel in a quilt; I have an idea of what I want to do, and will definitely get it done in 2015. I'm thinking of a medallion quilt with many borders added around it - is that called Round Robin? I think it is.

Not all my current projects are part of the UFO Challenge. I am trying to finish hand quilting my Long Road Home quilt. I put it in the quilt frame over 2 years ago; it's been ignored more than I care to admit, but since early October, I have been very focused on finishing it.

Those of you who have followed me for awhile know that in January I joined in 2 quilt-alongs. What was I thinking?? Actually, I have enjoyed them, and I managed to stay caught up with them through October, which is pretty good for me. I hope to regain my momentum and have them done this month.

One QAL is sponsored by Jolly Jabber at Fat Quarter Shop. It is called Wishes, and proceeds benefit the Make A Wish Foundation. Here are my blocks to date.

The other QAL is sponsored by Judy at Patchwork Times. It is called Tell It To The Stars. It has such an involved border, but I am quite eager to see it finished. I need to cut the sashing strips and get it put together.

Let me go on the record here and now: I will not do a quilt-along next year. While these have been fun, there are far too many quilts I've planned on making to get sidetracked by the whims I find in blog-land!!

HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM 

OTHERS OF ITS GENRE?

I am not exactly sure how to respond to this question. You see, I doubt very seriously that I actually have "a genre." My work is all over the quilting spectrum - I like just about everything. Machine piecing and hand piecing; machine quilting and hand quilting; repro fabrics and bright Kaffe fabrics; two-color quilts and scrappy quilts; modern patterns and traditional patterns. With this variety of interests, it is impossible to say what "my genre" would be!

WHY DO I WRITE/CREATE?

Why? I have never stopped to ponder why. As far as I am concerned knowing why is just not relevant. I do it because I enjoy it; I love quilts and I love fabric and since no one is lined up to give me gorgeous quilts, I make them for myself. Simple as that, actually.

As for writing, I have never thought about this either. I taught high school English for 30 years, and found it to be a satisfying career. As soon as I retired, I started teaching Freshman Comp at OU-C on a part-time basis, and I enjoy that, too.

I write this blog to keep track of the projects I am working on, planning to work on, and recording the wonderful things my friends are working on. It's on-line journaling, I suppose.

Since retiring, in addition to writing this blog, I have entered into a writing relationship with the Greenfield Historical Society. We did a little paperback book a couple of years ago, and I enjoyed it so much that I jumped at the offer to do a bigger book with them. This one will be a coffee table book about our beautiful high school; we will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of its opening next September. I am learning that I enjoy writing as much as I have enjoyed teaching it all these years.

HOW DOES MY WRITING/CREATING PROCESS WORK?

As for quilts, my creative process varies quite a bit. I have been know to find a pattern, go to the quilt shop and buy the fabric and then make the quilt. Or put the pattern and fabric away in a bin for making at a later time. Sometimes much, much later.

I have also been known to do quite the opposite: find myself in a quilt shop, see some amazing fabric that screams to come home with me, and buy that fabric (and more, most likely). The fabric is always content to be petted occasionally and wait patiently for a pattern to come along.

I have lots and lots and lots of fabric waiting for a quilt pattern to come along; in fact, I will very likely have to live to be about 150 in order to use up the fabric stored upstairs. I've made great strides at limiting the fabric buying in favor of using from the stash, but it's still going to take many, many quilts to use it all.

I generally always have projects in various stages of completion, because sometimes I just don't know what my mood will want. If I am in the mood for cutting out a quilt, I generally always have one waiting in the wings. At other times, I might be in the mood for some hand-stitching. I always have something ready because that is what I do every other Friday morning with my friends in the Frankfort group. And still, there are times when I just want to do something fast and show some results for my efforts. I will have some machine project waiting for those times. I think a lot of quilters operate this way, so I'm no different.

One thing I do that sorta' drives me crazy: I like starting things. The finishing is the hard part. I guess I get bored or I want to move on or something. Anyway, that is likely the reason I have so many UFOs. And guess, what else I do? If I make a mistake, I have no patience for fixing it. So many UFOs have been put away because there was some error that aggravated me and I just wasn't interested in fixing it. Silly, huh?

As for my writing process, with this blog I try to write a blog each evening and schedule it to post early the next morning. I don't always operate this way, but when I do, I like that system. If I am going to be away, I will sometimes schedule several ahead, but it takes planning and time - two things I am often short on. And, it doesn't bother me in the least to just go a week or so with no posting whatsoever. I know I ought to be more reliable, but I do this for my purposes - not to make money, not to impress others, not to become widely read - just for me to keep track of what my friends and I do.

So there you have it - everything you probably never knew you wanted to know about me! Hah!

I have recruited one blogger to join in on this Blog Tour. I'd be ever so happy for you to click on this link to Lynn's blog, Sew'n Wild Oats. She will be posting her contribution to this Blog Tour next Monday, December 22. (I will remind you to go visit then, too.) Her blog is one I have followed for a long time, and I think you will like it, too. She has some beautiful quilts that offer no end of inspiration, and she has a pretty Golden Retriever named Mazey.

Happy Quilting, Friends!