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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Recalibrating

The Living Water Quilt has been mailed!!  Through the years I've nagged others (gently, of course!) to label their quilts, so I couldn't allow this one to leave without doing the same.  When so much has transpired during the making of a quilt, the labeling task becomes even more challenging.  I'm wordy by nature and tend to complicate my endeavors.  Which means that labeling required much mental energy to say what needed to be said without writing a book.

I'm relieved to have the quilt done and shipped.  When the fundraiser concluded, I went from being exhilarated, to numb, to lost.  I tend to forget about that last stage.  Lostness (I think I'm making up a word...sorry about that) at the completion of a big project or reaching of a goal is a common occurrence for me.  I guess it's not something one can really plan for....You just have to walk (or wander) through the cloud of lostness when it arrives.

I think I have emerged from this particular cloud.  It's interesting to note how God timed all of this.  The fundraiser went from January to March which is a relatively slow time on our little farm.  And here we are at April and our piece of the world has come alive with green and growth and the many wonders (and much work!) of Spring.


Project 40
More strips have arrived along with one completed lap blanket!  (Thanks Kathy and Carol E.)


This lovely lap blanket was sent by Kathy!


Close-up so you can see this great stitch pattern

Completed lap blanket from donated strips. 
Thanks again, Strippers!


Farmy Stuff

Pastures are greening up!  The cows and sheep are enjoying the grass.  I notice that NONE of them are pining for the dry hay of winter.

Can I do the same?  Move forward into this season without looking back and longing for the past?

Lord, please help me to be content with this day, this season, this weather, this work, this life.

This is the day that the Lord has made,
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

                          Psalm 118:24


Quilty Stuff

My latest creation:  A quilt top with bunny ears,
an arm, and a glove sticking out the top!



Pieced backing for the Amish Bullseye.
Held by my multi-tasking son!


Clipped to the table for pin basting. 
I gave up basting on the floor with one of my pregnancies. 
(It's not pretty when a preggo quilter can't
get up off the floor!)



Quilting the outer round of each block to get the pins out.

The Amish bullseye quilt is pin basted.  I'm quilting some basic lines attempting to get the majority of the pins out before this quilt gets put aside for the summer.  I prefer thread basting over pins, but am trying to eliminate the need for both of them.  I'll go back and quilt lots more after the pins are gone.

Quilting from back. 


May your day be blessed,
pam


8 comments:

  1. Well, those were two major projects.. one rather quick (the water) and one that was long-term and had emotional attachments... so lostness is normal, after they end. Glad you have the aliveness of spring to rejuvenate you. working on a couple more strips. I'm just not a beautiful knitter. Hope you can use my "just average" Plain Jane strips.

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  2. Lostness would be a perfectly good word like 7 degrees of lostness. I feel it too right after finishing something big and before knowing what to do next. The bigger the project, the higher degree of lostness. Empty nest syndrome is 7 or maybe 10.
    Well done on getting that label on and shipping the Quilt, I imagine it must have been both sad and good at the same time.

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  3. Love that Amish Bullseye quilt Pam. It's good to know that I'm not the only person who gets that 'empty/lost/bereft feeling when I finish a large or a challenging project. Maybe it's because we put so much of ourselves into the project...don't know why I get that almost grieving feeling. When I used to finish big uni assignments I had a feeling of euphoria and relief, so I wonder what is different. :-)

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  4. I always thread basted my quilts, but I pin basted the quilt I'm currently quilting and I think I'll be doing that in the future. It seems to go faster during the basting process ... and I'm always anxious to get to quilting ... I confess that I sometimes am tempted to just skip the pasting and get straight to the quilting! ;-) I always use a table (or two pushed together) to baste ... in the past I'd have to go to our church to use a couple of their folding tables, but we found a good deal on lightweight folding tables so we bought two so I can set them up and baste at home.

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  5. Pam - your Amish Bull's Eye Quilt is beautiful. I know what you mean about the whole lostness feeling - I think we all get it and then have to push ourselves into motivation mode again and when I cannot do it myself - God comes in and gives me a big ole push! When my girls were teenagers and they were going through a rough time - I always told them to enjoy the moment because there is something we must learn from it.

    Pam, you did an awesome thing with God's help and we are proud to be your friends!

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  6. I am so overwhelmed with Joy that your Mission was a success! I am so happy that I was able to be a part of it! (although, I have yet to hear from you what the postage total was... tisk, tisk.)
    I am also loving the Bull's eye quilt! It is great!
    Have a glorious day, Pam!
    You are blessed!

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  7. Gorgeous quilt! I love your bold color choices, so like the Amish. Have fun quilting it!

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