The Great Finishing - continued

Schools out for summer!...

I almost always spend 3 days a week babysitting my grandchildren in the summer. I don't mind but it curtails my sewing time and with that, not much time for blogging either.

My mood continues. Sadly it is affecting the way I am dealing with everything right now. I have felt very alone for the last year or so and up until April I rarely have spent much time in my sewing room. Of course I got sick in the middle of that year and it took me a long time to feel like sewing. So camp was a great energizer for me.

I came back from camp full of energy, and a little sad. MY daughter and her husband had parted ways just before I went to camp and I was very devastated by the whole thing.  I had hoped that they would make a go of it even though some things had happened that were almost impossible to forget. My SIL was very kind to me, and a wonderful father. We had always had a good relationship. I hope we always will even though he and my daughter are certainly not friendly.

When I am feeling my worst I always find that sewing picks up my spirits. I have always felt like that. And now is no different. Sometimes I force myself to come down to the sewing room and work on anything, and its not usually long before the hands of the clock have sped along and I am deep into whatever project I put my hand on. I bet I am not alone. There is something cathartic in putting your mind to a creative task.

Right now though, I am not really into what I am doing. I love the end result but the work is tedious. But I am determined to finish this today.

I am doing machine appliqué. Three panels are finished and I just have this one panel left to do!

Machine applique

I started this quilt a long time ago. I used the scrappy strips as "leaders and enders" for a lot of years. I was so close to having all the blocks sewn together when I came back from camp that I just decided to bite the bullet and finish it. But I got stalled by the appliqué. Its taken me this long to get back to it, but I am determined not to go to bed tonight until this quilt is totally pieced. Borders and all!!!

Lakeview from Australian Patchwork and Quilting Volume 9, Number 4 by Michelle Marvig

Now I am working on a new "leaders and enders" It will be an Irish Chain from Quiltville! I have been finishing so many piecing projects that I suspect it will be done very soon. Such a great idea to work on two quilts at once... Something old and something new! My quilting life is pretty darned exciting right now!

Leader and ender quilt. 2" squares. Irish Chain