I just enjoyed an awesome extra long weekend in May (this tells you how long ago I started this post), due to summer hours at work coupled with the Victoria Day Weekend. I had grandiose plans (lol, not just any old plans, but larger than life plans) that I had hoped to achieve. Now, granted, I don’t get too upset with myself when my plans go awry, or when I myself send the plans out to enjoy the sun. But, I do like to have an idea of what I would like to do on a weekend. I definitely welcome diversions, and create enough of those myself…
Part of what I do to myself, and I think many of you share this activity, is along with my grandiose plans for the weekend, are my plans for completing projects. I am a great starter. I love starting new projects. I love the excitement of choosing new fabrics, I love the anticipation and trepidation of starting a new pattern. I love that energy. Finishing…. well – that’s something that I definitely do. But, maybe not nearly enough.
I am fortunate to belong to a group of quilters, a “bee” per say, in Northern Virginia who thankfully haven’t kicked me out of their group yet. They are all dear friends, amazing inspiration, support in all ways in my life and hopefully I in theirs, and will be friends for years to come. We have done several block exchanges through the years. I finally took three of those exchanges this past Christmas, and laid them out on my parent’s living room floor (my design wall is not big enough), and got them ready to set together. I have had at least one of those since 2007. Crazy – right? And, when I brought all of the blocks out, and played with them, and looked at each of the fabrics, and recalled who had made which block – it brought all of those wonderful memories back when our bee group would be assembling them at our bee gatherings, at retreats, or showing each other the luscious fabrics before gathering the courage to slice into those fabrics, to share with each other.
What prompted me to actually dig into my archives and actually try to get some projects closer to completion? Not really sure. Was it the rearrangement of my stash this past fall, and trying to organize my studio?
All I can say for sure is that resurrecting a project that has been “simmering” for this long is actually quite a journey for me. It helps me recall the journey that the blocks have made (and now, the thousands of miles those blocks have travelled as well). It makes me smile and sigh when I see the wonderful collection of fabrics and of my friends work that I now treasure as a part of these wonderful quilts.
Great Scott Quilting 