Mixed Emotions

OK so the object of making and posting to Etsy is to sell my handmade projects, right? So - it sold and I am sad to see it go. Does that make any sense? Not only that, Big T said "Oh, I really liked that one." (He said he was waiting for it to go on sale so he could buy it at a discount.) - What's wrong with this picture?

The Dude is with us for Spring Break this week. Yesterday it was "Clash of the Titans" - I don't think they have figured out what they are doing today yet. I told Big T to take him and let him look at the car lot all he wants - he is really into cars right now (14). These Papa / Dude bonding days are really great for both of them. It's in the high 80's - low 90's this week - too bad the pool isn't open yet. He's a real water creature - loves it.

I am working on a new applique wall hanging today for the Spring Design Fling Challenge, so last night was "paper doll night" - tracing and cutting. I'm beginning to think this is good therapy. I used to play paper dolls as a kid and loved it. I would get so frustrated when they made the dolls in different poses and the outfits didn't fit. I think I had several shoe boxes full of paper dolls. (I missed the Barbie era though - I could never quite go for the "cutsy perfection" of the Barbies. Besides paper dolls were much easier to dress.)

I finished machine quilting "Morning Mist" yesterday. It is ready for squaring and binding today or tomorrow. It's fairly large (44" x 54") so it will take a little time to do the binding - good quality "on the porch work" (except for the pollen). I found a coordinating green w/ blue dragonflies for the backing and binding. Absolutely perfect. Sometimes it's worth waiting to find that 'just right' piece rather than 'making do'.

Check out Christine's neat journal giveaway. She has a really cool blog that's worth visiting.


Hugs to all of you. I'm off to see what trouble I can get into today - with the two males in the house it won't take much.



Marie

Life's Lessons Continue

Learning lessons the hard way does not mean I did it wrong - right? I think I would rather say "well I won't do it that way ever, ever again". And learning valuable lessons is a good thing - right? If that's true, I must be really, really good right now. There's just one itsy, bitsy problem - I learned what I did wrong, but I didn't learn a better way to do it.

I sewed all my strips together just like Barbara at bslartquilts.blogspot.com said and then I cut them all apart in various widths to reassemble and sew back together. (Ok so far!) When I sewed the seams to reassemble all my newly cut strips, all my original seams were coming apart. (Not ok at this point!) After reinforcing (resewing) all those little horizontal seams (mutter, mutter, mutter) I was able to sew the new seams reassembling in an entirely new look. (Not ok at this point either!) That is when I realized that I should have used the 'sew as you go' method and sew my long, varied-width strips onto a muslin backing to support and reinforcement. It is very difficult to sew long strips together without that extra support.

Now, I realize the rest of you have already figured this out and are sitting there shaking your heads at me. The only thing I have to say is - "I won't do it that way again." Meanwhile, you can all feel free to comment and tell me everything I did that was wrong. (Oh by the way, I do like the way it turned out - just not the process of getting there.) Today will be sandwiching, quilting and binding. (Ambitious aren't I.) I'm hoping to be able to post it to Hummingbird Treasures tomorrow.

Hugs to all of you who are sharing my life's adventures (and the lessons learned - but do they always have to be learned the hard way?) You are a very special part of my life.

Marie