Wet Weekend

We are well north of Houston - 4 hours' drive, which in Texas is an easier way of measuring distance. No flooding here, just rain. Nothing dreadful. A good day to hang out in the studio and make things - which is exactly what we did.

I made headbands. I wear them almost daily - it seems to help with my anxiety to have a tight wrap around my head. I was wearing knit hats, but they are kinda warm in the summer here! So I switched to elasticized headbands (It also makes people ask fewer questions about am I cold in summer)!



Llama fabric! Poor beat up styro-head.
At least she gets a nice headband.
 

This weekend (mostly on Sunday), I made headbands. Eight of them. And pulled fabric for another three. They are addictive, I can tell you that!!

They are so easy! If I am not careful, I will soon have one for every day of the month! (of course, I made two Halloween fabric ones, so those will have to wait to be worn - at least to work. On weekends, I will wear the heck of them!

This started because I found some headbands that I like and bought them, and then did the thing that everyone who crafts HATES to hear. I thought "I can do that!" I didn't say it out loud, though. In fact, I waited for a while to even say it in the safety of my home.

But it got said, and I started looking around for a tutorial. I found a couple, didn't like any of them, and decided I would do it my way - this is why I am the Indiana Jones of crafters. I tend to make it up as I go. 😺

I wound up with something I like. Some are pleated, some are a bit more scrunchy, and they are all made with fabric from the stash. The backs are shorter than the ones I bought, which makes them tighter - for me, always a good thing.

I am considering an online quilters' guild - half guild, half social group. No limits on the type of quilter, no limits on age. I don't know, though. It would be nice to have other people who don't judge based on age, gender, style, etc. (yes, I have had bad experiences with guilds, why do you ask??). I think I would call it the Indiana Jones Quilt Guild (IJQG for short). We could have a patchwork fedora for a logo and a braided whip of more fabric. Hmm....

S

And yet more ideas!

Welcome to the Deco series... currently numbering two. A third is in the works.... Here we have Deco Sunrise and Deco Eclipse. Deco Noon and Deco Sunset are in planning stages... just a matter of finding the correct fabric.

Neither is giant - or even big. They are maybe 20 x 10. I think I like Sunrise better, but we shall see when they are all done.


On other fronts, it's been a productive month so far. We've made 20 Christmas stockings, with the aim of selling them at work. If they don't, we'll donate them somewhere.

I'm working on several stories, and trying to get Black Widow's quilt done. After I've worked my way through the Avengers, where do I go? Star Wars? Star Trek? I don't know, and it's probably still too early to think about (hah!) since I've only finished two and am working on a third. (Oh, and I am only doing the MCU canon characters - oooh, I need to do a Phil Coulson quilt and a Nick Fury quilt! If I were doing comic-verses, I'd be making quilts FOREVER. Something like 100+ characters have been Avengers). Oh, and now my brain wants to make a Squirrel Girl quilt. I... might... just have to? Maybe?

Other than that, I have several more ideas, two related to the eclipse, wriggle their way into my head. If I could just win the lottery, I'd have more time for making quilts! (and buying fabric for them!)

I am beginning to see a connection between my writing and my quilting. Both are done because they are stories that need to be told, because they run rampant inside my head until I get them on paper/in a computer file or get plans made. Each one is a learning experience in precision and using exactly the word or the stitch I need.

So I may just plan out a quilt for one of my stories. Just to see what it would be. To see how iconic the characters are, to see if I can boil a character down into a quilt (ewww).

S

More ideas and More ideas!

Whilst I was working on random things in the studio, my brain decided to go play somewhere else. It did NOT want to co-operate, and instead of working on the quilt I wanted to work on, I made two Christmas stockings, planned 4 others, and figured out the Incredible Hulk quilt design.

Don't get me wrong - I like the creativity of my brain. But really... it would be so much easier to accomplish things if my brain didn't wander off under its own steam and do whatever!

At any rate, ideas are a good thing. But the problem is - how do you keep the energy up for those ideas? You can keep them organized and orderly, but what about the energy to actually later go back and work on the quilts? (or stories, for writers)

I have scrapbook paper boxes that stack that I use for project ideas and the fabrics to go with. But there are always boxes getting filled - far more than are getting emptied! How do I force myself to sit down and finish what I have before starting something new? I haven't figured out that little quandary.

While walking from my desk to the printer at work, I came up with yet another quilt idea - in the series of "Disaster Quilts" I am in the process of making. #1 - Isaac's Storm, after the Galveston hurricane of 1900; #2 - Boston Molasses Flood (look it up; it's weird and awful!); and now #3 - The Tunguska Event. (also look this one up if you've not heard of it!) I've planned it out in detail, color flow, layout, the whole thing. When am I going to have time to make this one?? I am already hand-quilting 2 quilts, have two others hooped, and five others waiting to be worked on!

This is not to say that I am succumbing to despair. That would be silly. But I wonder when (if ever) I will have time to finish all the things floating through my head. Ultimately, which would be worse - running out of ideas, or running out of time? My vote is running out of ideas would be far far worse.

Oh, and links: Tunguska  https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30jun_tunguska/

Boston Molasses Flood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood