On the Quilting Front . . .

A few weeks ago, I asked how you decide what quilting project you'll tackle next on your list of "want to dos," and many of you said you're motivated most by deadlines. I've tried to get away from that kind of pressure--after all, this is a hobby that we enjoy doing, not something we should feel we HAVE to do to meet some deadline. We ought to take at least as much joy in the process as we do in the finished project, right? At least that's my philosophy. And that's one of the reasons that this year's resolution is to make only quilts I really, really want to make.

Well, having said that, I am still pressured in some ways to get quilts finished. One case in point is my Thimbleberries Club. Each month when we meet, we "earn" a raffle ticket for each of several categories and those tickets are put into a drawing at the end of the night for door prizes. For instance, we get a ticket for showing up; we get a ticket if we bring a Thimbleberries show and tell; we get a ticket if we bring a non-Thimbleberries show and tell. You get the idea, right? For each "category," we get one ticket, and we can get a maximum of five tickets, I think. But besides that, we can also get a special ticket that goes into a drawing for a BIG prize at the end of the year. We can only earn one of those tickets each month, and in order to earn one, we have to complete--quilting, binding, and label--a quilt that's at least a certain size and is made using predominently Thimbleberries fabrics and/or made from a Thimbleberries pattern.

So why do I pressure myself to try to earn those raffle tickets? It's a mystery to me! Competitive nature, I suppose. So this past weekend, I've been feverishly quilting a large--king size--quilt. Yesterday I must have spent a total of at least 12 hours quilting. By the time I finally stopped, my feet and ankles were swollen (despite getting up and moving around every hour at least) and my neck and shoulders FELT like Quasimodo's neck and shoulders LOOK. Tonight I'll be back at it, and I hope to get the quilting finished and move onto the binding. My club meeting is Wednesday night. Crazy, huh? Here's a little peek at what I'm doing:

My online Thimbleberries group swapped these simple blocks a couple years ago, and I was part of a small group that swapped blocks made from "vintage" Thimbleberries fabrics. I wasn't too interested in making the quilt we were swapping the blocks for--it was too simple, and I always like to make things hard--obviously, right?! So one day it hit me--I'd make those blocks into hollyhocks! Silly me--I didn't realize how large those hollyhocks would be, made out of 6" blocks! So, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, I had a king size hollyhock quilt top.

At last month's Thimbleberries Club, I learned that sometime in August or September, they'll have a "class" and everyone will swap these very same blocks--but I think they're a little smaller; charm size, if I recall correctly. And I thought it would be a nice idea if I could bring my hollyhock quilt for July show and tell so I could show the other gals a different setting idea. And then, of course, I put off getting started. ARGH! So now I'm under pressure, just like everyone else who's motivated by deadlines. And just to make it harder for myself, here I sit, chatting with you instead of quilting!

Time for me to get off the computer and go quilt!