From Two Halves to Whole!

I’m trying to remember just when I started this top.

It had been an idea for YEARS – since I finished putting the piano key border on Idaho Square Dance from the Addicted to Scraps book and found I had leftover strip sets.

It took me THIS LONG to actually grab them and start doing something with them over the past winter.  Was it January?  Earlier?  At any rate – this top has seemingly taken for-freaking-ever to get together.

And yesterday I nearly let an upset in my emotions derail me from completing the top.

Has that ever happened to you?

Sashing yet ANOTHER row as I work toward the center.

This has been my set up – And if I could only have one electric machine in my life, it would be a singer 301.  Nothing can zoom through piecing like this thing can!

And I am ever-so-grateful that I didn’t ditch the old heavy laptop with the CD player in it – I have used and used and used this thing for watching movies – with the sound amplified through an external speaker so I can hear what is going on while I sew.

Yesterday it was “Our Planet” on Netflix (Yes, I can happily say that there is enough of a wifi signal to stream Netflix at Quiltville Inn!  As long as 12 people aren’t all trying to do it at once, it works!) and I so enjoy what music is put to each scene – it’s often the soundtrack that makes animal shows and planet pieces so much fun to watch.

If only all of us came with “soundtracks!” as we travel through life.

My yesterday’s would have been thunderous and agitated – gloom and doom.

I waited for a contractor to show up for 9 hours.  NINE HOURS.  Total no show. 

I doubled checked my texts to be sure I had the right day and time.

This is the SECOND time this guy has done a no-show with no notice.

It could seriously have ruined my whole day.  I get so flustered that I can’t concentrate on anything – and it really took some talking to myself to just let it go, and treat it as “an afternoon to myself.”  And I finally – FINALLY around 2pm (after 5 hours waiting time) laid the quilt parts and pieces back out on the floor and settled back in to getting this thing into top status.

I just don’t understand how anyone can run a business like this.  In this day and era of instant TEXT (our conversation was already in his phone, all he had to do was send a message) email or phone – is there really any good reason to leave a customer sitting like this for not the first time – but the SECOND?

If I handled my business this way, I wouldn’t HAVE a business.  But this seems to be the norm for contractors of any kind.  And I let how ticked off I was just boil inside of me until I was about to explode.

The big job of sewing the two halves together.

The answer came to me when I called up my Dad to see how he was doing.  I explained the whole situation – and he reminded me of something he has often reminded me of – “The root of all unhappiness lies in unfulfilled expectation.”  SO TRUE!

This and the fact that you can’t control anyone else’s behavior, nor are you likely to get any kind of explanation that will make you feel any better – gave me the deep breath I needed to just look at the afternoon as “MINE” and to do what I could with it.

Together!

The edges will be trimmed, and then I will stay-stitch around the outside, just shy of 1/4’’ from the edge to stabilize the edges, prevent stretching and any seams popping open while I decide what to do for borders.

Unable to get THIS quilt out of my mind -

This happened last evening at the cabin:

Oh dear, I think I’ve fallen down another rabbit hole!

The red plaid on the left is from a pair of recycled pajama pants.  The purple plaid on the right came from my recent trip to Louisiana – Tracy gifted me a stack of purple shirt parts as I once commented that purple shirts were harder to find in these parts.  Well in Louisiana – college colors are all important on game days, and purple shirts are plentiful! 

Thanks, Tracy! It’s fun to be able to use these right away!

If all goes well (As things unfold with the whole F&W Media bankruptcy thing – this is the second time in the years I’ve been writing for Quiltmaker that this has happened and outcomes are unknown.) You will be finding the directions for this little goodies in an upcoming Addicted to Scraps Column.  We’ll be able to make the blocks together – it’s a fun one.

This morning I am off early (And this is why this is posting early!) to FINALLY meet up with a group of folks from the Mouth of Wilson area.  I feel like a kid going off to a new school for the first day!  They meet the Third Thursday for coffee, breakfast and chitchat at 8am.  I can’t wait to meet everyone as one of the new kids on the block – and sink my roots down a bit deeper in this place I hope to spend the rest of my life.

I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Quiltville Quote of the Day

Vintage string Apple Core quilt found in Alabama.

All it takes is one stupid thing out of 100 good things to change your mood and throw you for a loop. I am so glad that yesterday’s no show didn’t ruin my day in the end.

Focus on the good things!

The small stupid things don't matter.