More WIPs than I Need

Yes, I did the time-honored tradition of quilters everywhere, that when you can’t finish what you’ve got going (Summer Treat, Lollypop Trees) make the leap and add to your stash.  Here’s my latest additions, along with their plans:

Does this give you a hint?  And I in my usual decisiveness, I couldn’t decide between the . . .

. . . pink, or. . .

. . . blue.  It was that farm truck that made me do it.  I owe a couple of Polaroid blocks, and I’m thinking that barn with the quilt would be a perfect candidate for a Polaroid block.  No firm idea for this one, but I am drawn to some of the blocks in my vintage Judy Martin book.

This was purchased to go with the other ocean-themed pieces my friend Rhonda sent me last year.  I have in mind a tote bag, but can’t seem to get to it, so I thought maybe I needed another piece to go with it?  You can see the problem with this way of thinking, can’t you?  

So how could I not get these tone-on-tone Riley Blake Chevrons?  Unlike Rita of Red Pepper, who shows you some stash and then snaps her fingers and the next day the quilt is done, I won’t be showing you anything soon.  I keep having little horrid thoughts cross my mind that interfere with envisioning this in its own quilt, thoughts like the fact that the handout on rhetorical thinking is over there on the computer waiting to be written for class tomorrow.

I fell in love with this Reina and her cherubs, so I ended up getting the whole bundle from Fabricworm:

I added a couple of pieces to this, and so totally want to start slicing through it. New fabrics have a way of dislodging some stuck places, getting you going again on a project.

I was stuck on Summer Treat quilt, because I only cut out enough for a fairly small quilt.  I’m used to lap-sized quilts and there this tiny thing was, plastered to my pin wall for nearly a month, because I had determined it was too tiny and needed to be larger.  Finally I said to my Dave, “Can quilts be small?”  “Yes,” he said in all his wisdom and experience (of living with a quilter for lo, these many years).  That was all I needed to start rummaging through the stash to find the right backing.

All the colors in the quilt are here.  I may even bind it with this for a touch of whimsy on the front against all those solids.

And while this is primarily a quilting blog, and today’s post is primarily about Quilts in Progress, courtesy of guesthost Emily and Lee at Freshly Pieced, I realized that my tiny universe of quilts is nothing compared to bigger Works in Progress.

Like the elections in America, getting off to their post-Labor Day horserace to the finish line in November.  I assigned my students the task of watching either the keynote or the nominee’s speech for either party, so last week was the Republican’s turn and this week it’s the Democrat’s turn.  I have to say I am enjoying the speech-i-fying, but more importantly, I am enjoying the fact that we have elections at all.

And how about this for a work in progress?

Cue the Karen Carpenter songs.  The reception was done on a shoestring because they are both students (that’s why I was the photographer), and frankly they both look like a couple of teenagers, but their lovely smiles and obvious tenderness for each other reminded me of why weddings make us cry.  Talk about a work in progress.  Theirs has just begun.

So, like a bride tossing her bouquet, bequeathing to another this task of beginning, I wish you all the best in your Works in Progress, whether they be candidate speeches, or packing school lunches, or starting a quilt, or yes, even finishing one.

Happy Post-Labor Day.  Happy Quilting!