Creativity (And Thoughts) Out of Control!

I turned around yesterday as I was heading out the door and simply laughed.

What a disaster.

But what a creative mess of happiness!

There are strings and scraps everywhere as I turn my attention to upcoming holiday seasons and summer.

Red, white and blue - in an explosion of scraps.

When I first started making my own Hearts of Hope quilt before we the sew-along started, I also turned to thinking of how fun this would be in other colorways.

Red, white and blue came immediately to mind.

And it wasn't just the colors that got me - it was along the lines of "What if I changed this?" What if I turned this into this and added that?" 

And so here I am, getting ready to add the borders to my second Hearts of Hope quilt - a bit behind the scenes, and a bit out in front.  You'll see the whole thing in the near future.

And yes, the string buckets DO overflow with possibilities.

This little favorite print.

Hello 1981!

I know it was 1981 because I made a dress out of this print when The Hubster and I were first dating.

My cornerstones are red!

I love looking at all of the fun stuff in here.

This is where I left things yesterday to come home for lunch before taking a road trip down to Charlotte.  The Hubster has a trip to Texas to spend a week with his two brothers - and I'm so glad.  They NEED to be together.

They haven't been all together, the three of them, since they were caring for their dad through his end days and his funeral following.  They need to make some happy memories together.

Zoey claims shotgun!

It became the big family road trip - dogs included - because the deerstruck truck is still at Collision Express and will be for who knows how long.  We are a one vehicle family for the time being.

The dogs came along because I didn't want to leave them home alone for about 7 hours (It's about 3 hours drive to Charlotte in GOOD traffic, and it would have me coming home through rush hour.) and I didn't want to leave them in the outside kennel for that long either as the weather wasn't great,

Mabel was asleep on the bench seat in the back of the van - but Zoey - she is all about paws up on the console watching traffic.  She is IN IT!

I swear - if she didn't have paws, she'd be driving herself.

Hello CLT!

Neither of us have flown since before Covid started.  This is the first time.

I will admit to being a bit uncomfortable with mask mandates ending for air travel just as new variants are creeping up.  And I believe that each person should determine for themselves whether they are going to mask or not.

No one should be shamed for not wearing one - or called a sheep for choosing to take care of their own health by wearing one.  To each their own.

But things are still so volatile.  The world is a tinderbox on the verge of ignition.

While driving we talked about the things that feel a bit unnerving after 2+ years of staying very rural.

Traffic felt INSANE.  We both have an aversion to being around too many stranger-people.  Dave was nervous about being on a plane packed with who knows who or what they've been doing over the past week.

This does not feel rational to either of us - this aversion to people. But it's almost a "PTSD-light" situation.

I have had small groups of quilters at the inn over the past couple of years and yet I know that folks have been vaccinated - have quarantined before coming before there was vaccination available, and since the start of this year vaccination is a must at least for this year until we get past all of this.

I have not had to face getting on a plane yet as all of my trips have been rescheduled into next year because of war (Not going to Poland in September, no thank you.) and Ireland is currently at level 4 DO NOT TRAVEL status.  Yet we are removing masks in airports and planes.

We all want to get back to "normal" life - but will it ever be normal again? I don't think so.

So I came home the longer, more scenic way to avoid the rush hour traffic going up I-77 and the mad chaos that happens around Lake Norman, and headed west to Gastonia instead.

Passing the Cox road exit I mourned the loss of Mary Jo's Cloth World.  No, the world will never be normal again.

I headed north on highway 321 passing through Lincolnton and Hickory where the sight of mountains to the north brought me back to my happy place. A stop for gas.  A grassy place to walk the dogs and let them take care of any needed business.

I continued up to Blowing Rock and on to Boone. I caught 421 heading east and followed the 221 cloverleaf turning me north again toward Jefferson.  From there highway 16 took me to the Virginia state line and home.

Where I found myself in a cleaning frenzy!

When I can't make sense of the world, I can make sense of my surroundings and all I could see to do was take the stove apart and clean the stove top grates, the silicone overlay beneath (Which makes keeping stuff from cooking on to the stove top a breeze - but it always looks messy with crumbs.) and even removed the knobs for cleaning behind them while they soaked.

The only problem with a clean stove?  I don't want to cook on it.

Above the stove sits the microwave and that got a good cleaning too. To the right of the stove is the fridge which also got a good spray down.

It was 9pm by the time I finished.  No TV was watched, no hand quilting happened.  

It was just a long driving day of thoughts and worries and trying to breathe and settle myself while the Hubster flew away from me for the first time in 2 1/2 years.

Today?  I'm keeping it low-key.  Those borders may go on.  Or they may not.

I may let a bit of spring cleaning continue and since he is gone for the week just dig in and dig out.  Sometimes those kinds of activities are best when there is no one under foot, you know?

Monday's April Showers PDF pattern release has exceeded all expectations as we are all (in this hemisphere anyway!) clamoring for spring followed by summer.

Thank you so much for your positive response!  I see photos of you digging through your stashes, posting images of fabric pulls and first blocks already.  Sew! Sew! Sew!

I love how ALL of the purples are so varied and play together so well.  Mother nature knows what she is doing!

I used my Essential Triangle Tool for the half-square triangles in April Showers.

I used the Simple Folded Corners ruler or Simple Folded Corners Mini for the stitch & flip corners on the diamond rectangle units.  

I use these rulers all of the time.  If you don't have them, invest in yourself and get them! You'll find them in the Quiltville Store.

Traditional rotary cutting and piecing methods are given to those who don't have the rulers.

Does your purple or green (And neutrals - always!) stash need a bit of enhancement?  Check out these color rolls by Cotton to Quilts!

The best variety and fantastic service!  And I'm so grateful that Cotton to Quilts is once again offering up 2 fabric rolls for this gift-away!

We'll be drawing for one winner who will receive the PDF pattern for April Showers and a facets of purple color roll, and a second winner who will receive the April Showers PDF pattern and the facets of green color roll!

Head on over to Monday's Gift-Away post and get your entry in!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Quilt found in N. Wilkesboro, NC.

Stay on the lookout for those things simply extraordinary! 

I think this is "supposed" to be a churn dash quilt - but look at how all of those corner triangles just go their own way. Crazy pants!

Love it!

Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!