Let's Try That Again...

I had my DH (the photographer) reshoot "Summer Love," my latest journal page. He even did a detail shot of my sun:

After I made my last post I still had flannel scraps out so I started playing around to see if I could create yet another preemie quilt. I found a couple of four patch blocks I must have made some time ago and added a few more. There was enough of the tiny heart print flannel to make alternate squares, and enough of the odd shade of green to do both borders and backing. Unfortunately, I burned the inside of my forearm on the edge of the iron (reaching across to straighten the fabric if I remember correctly) before I got the borders sewn on. It has taken me until today to get back to the project and finish it up.

It feels good to get some of these old fabrics and blocks used up. I have several more tops and collections of blocks to turn into quilts someday but I'm finding that I'm not that interested in making new, or more, traditional pieced blocks. (I don't do applique, except under duress.) All I want to do these days is piece improvisationally. The nice thing about working with the orphan blocks is that I already have a starting point. That seems to be the hardest part for me: getting started. I need a theme or a challenge fabric or something to get the juices flowing. And I don't seem to be that adept at coming up with ideas on my own. At least, not consciously. When I work intuitively, improvisationally, my sub-conscious seems to have no trouble at all! I was astonished at how Summer Love (see above) developed.

I also marvel at the people who are able to make something just because they want to. I've always needed a reason to make something: a bed to cover, a child to comfort, a gift to give, etc. This business of making something because the making of it gives me pleasure is a foreign concept. One of the reasons I undertook the journal quilt project was to help me overcome that stumbling block. Progress is being made, as evidenced by the Halloween doll quilt I started a couple of weeks ago. (And one of these days I'll actually get it quilted!) Having said that, I now need to get started on the next journal quilt...!