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| January, July, February, October, April, May Cows |
This week my husband and I got optimistic and started Spring Cleaning our spare bedroom. This room, aka, Tessa's second bedroom has ended up storing all the odds and ends we're not quite sure what to do with. (are we the only ones with rooms like this?) Of course, it got worse when Tessa moved out since her odds and ends are now in there too. Included in this menagerie of stuff, are my UFOs. A while back I did actually weed this group down to pieces I wanted to finish but still, there is a nice pile of them....since...ya know...I'm the squirrel of quilters. Like who wants to finish anything when there are so many great pieces to start?
Included in the pile was my husband's favorite project, the Calendar Cows. I started this project wayyyyyy back in 2009, when my then 11-year-old was obsessed with cows. The idea behind the project is that each block would have a monthly themed cow all designed by me. At the time, it was the first time I had tried to design anything figuratively that complex by myself. Each block felt like a little triumph. Somewhere along the way, I lost steam at "August". (You can read the story behind it on that post!) It was all designed but not sewn. And there it sat. For 14 years. (Yeah, I have no idea where the time goes, truly!)
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| August |
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| tiny zigzags |
zig-zag down to where I want it.
Jump ahead 14 years, and I now can use little dots of glue baste and a proper size zig zag compliments of my Janome Horizon. Also, a new addition is the Deco Bob for thread which makes the stitches basically disappear. I did get some time to sew today and it's already looking great. It's taking a while to get back into the hang of slowing down and stitching perfectly along the edge but I find that relaxing for sure!
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| The Thread disappears |
Of course, I got to record all of this in my journal. It's nice to have a record for this project as well as any other future rough edge applique pieces. Plus I want to do a palette study on this piece. When I started, I was just kinda winging it, and now I know that having a set palette will make the whole piece stronger!
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| my art sketchbook, ya gotta start some place! |
It's weird to be this excited over a 15-year-old project but there ya go... the life of a quilter!
So What Have You Been Up to Creatively?
7 comments:
your cows are really fun- I am glad you are revisiting with them
What a fun creative project. I'm eager to see the finished cows!
I love that you're enjoying this well-marinated work in progress again after such a long hiatus! Yes, those kids grow up fast, don't they? One of these days I'll weed out the Bob the Builder and Sesame Street fabrics out of my stash, since my 20 and 23 year old sons are not really into that anymore. ;-). What weight is your Deco Bob thread? Oh, and YES I was surprised to discover in a recent workshop that although satin stitch machine applique stresses me out and makes me miserable, I actually did find it relaxing and enjoyable when I switched to machine applique with either a blanket stitch or a small zigzag. Sometimes you gotta just keep trying different things until you find your groove. Looking forward to seeing more cows in your future!
You have proven one advantage of letting a UFO sit for a while - more techniques and skills to draw from. What a fun project.
Hi Nina Marie, I love that project and it sounds like it's finally time to do it. A few years of experience can really come in handy :-) Thanks for the linking party.
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