Thursday, February 28, 2008

Progress

Last night I managed to get my St. Patrick’s Day table runner pieced, sandwiched, pinned, marked and ready to quilt. I know it is super simple, but it will dress up the table and make things look a bit more festive for March. (And with all the dreary snow around here I need a little festivity.) So tonight, after enjoying Where the Wild Things Are, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food, and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell with S, I plopped myself down in front of my Bernina to quilt. I’ve done some stippling recently, but I haven’t free motioned any marked motifs in at least three years. I was a little nervous that I would be really rusty.

I did a few practice shamrocks on some scraps and it was like riding a bike - I could still do it, but the first one was the equivalent of a bloody knee. Oh, was it ever bad! The more I did though, the better they got and after four or five I was feeling pretty happy. Some of my curves are a bit on the shallow side and my stitches aren’t all exactly the same length, but after my long hiatus from quilting I feel pretty good about it. I guess it just feels good to be back in my sewing room. I need to work on taking more time out of the day for myself and not feeling guilty about all the other things I’m not doing. (Laundry, dishes, etc.) A happy, refreshed and content mom in a less than perfect house must be better than an immaculate house with a stressed-out mom, right? I've got to admit, I’m still working on this one though…

3 comments:

Mama Urchin said...

That shamrock looks good to me! I am afraid of free motion quilting, I need to take a class.

zakkalife said...

the shamrock stitching is impressive

Marie {Make and Takes} said...

Your shamrocks look great!! That is something I want to get better at, free hand sewing! Do you mark your design and what do you use to do it?