Missed Punchline: A Finished Quilt

I almost called this quilt 'Blank Spaces' but realized that Taylor Swift has a song or album or something by that name. And I like T. Swizz and all, but I just couldn't do it. I mulled over the name of this quilt for a while, knowing what I wanted to convey but not quite able to find the right combination of words to do so. And after all that, I left the name off the label. In fact, only you guys will know the name because I won't tell anybody in my family its title.

I decided to name this quilt 'Missed Punchline', not so much for the quilt but for the recipient. I touched lightly on the motivation behind this quilt here, but looking back, I was frustratingly vague and for that I apologize. I wasn't ready to lay my cards on the table then, but now I am.

This quilt is for my grandmother. We've never had the best relationship and for a long time, that really bothered me. As I grew up and became an 'adult', I came to terms with it and for the most part, I didn't let it bother me. Though it started slowly, my grandmother has been in a decline for about a year or so. Nobody in my family has told me specifically, but my grandmother has dementia or Alzheimer's (or are they the same thing? I need to educate myself on this more). And even though she has hurt me countless times in the past, my heart hurts for her in the most awful way. I can't imagine the frustration, confusion, and fear of slowly losing myself and not knowing while everybody around me seems to know exactly what is going on. That is where the name of this quilt came from. Sometimes when I'm with my grandmother, she will look around at everything, completely clueless but too afraid to say that she doesn't understand. It's like she's missed the punchline of a joke but just laughs along because everybody else is.

The quilt began out of necessity but I hated it early on. Every time I looked at it, it just made me mad. There were times I would just scowl at the blocks or the top, fuming at it for no reason. But as I worked my way through, it was sort of like I was letting go of all that stuff that was making me angry. The quilting especially was a favorite of mine. I'm not one for straight line quilting, but no other quilting was acceptable in my mind. And despite one wonky corner, this is the best quilt binding I've had I think. The label was like the cherry on top. I sat in the floor and stitched it on by hand, savoring every little stitch. By the time I was finished, this quilt made me smile in the most comforting way.

It's funny, this is my favorite picture of the whole shoot!

Though it isn't my style at all, I like this quilt. I like the snuggly flannel backing, the scrappy binding, and the fact that I remembered to put a label on it. I hope my grandmother likes it. I made it kind of small because she's a little lady and isn't the strongest, so I wanted her to be able to carry it around the nursing home if she gets cold (which she always is). I'm hoping to overcome my fear and go visit her this week with my mom. I want to give this quilt to her sooner rather than later, and I want to be the one to give it to her. She forgets me sometimes, but when she does remember me, I want it to be good things.

I feel so serious after typing all that, yikes! I promise I am smiling, especially after pestering everybody in the house with my latest finish. I made Mr. LBC and Elvis wear it like a cape, and LBC got a little snuggle with it before I hung it on my quilt ladder for safe keeping. I'm not sure what to do next, I have a few options to choose from. We'll just have to wait and see! Happy Sunday y'all!

I'm Back!!

Howdy y'all! So the sewing machine is back from the doctor today! YAY! I've been piddling with some hand sewing during my absence, but nothing worth sharing yet. Things have been exciting around here though despite a lack of quilty progress! If you've hung around this blog for a little while, you've probably gathered that our house is Mr. LBC and myself, along with LBC himself. A couple days after the sewing machine headed to the doctor, we had a new face join our family!

Hello world! My name's Elvis!

I work at a vet clinic and this fella came in as a recently adopted dog. He was nice to everybody, but he and I kicked it off right away. He spent about a week with the clinic before heading to his new home and, honestly, I was sad to see him go. But so is the life of a Vet Assistant! Imagine my surprise when I went into work a couple days later and he was there again! I thought something was wrong with him, but it turned out that the family's other dog didn't warm up to him like they wanted and they weren't willing to work on it more. So he was brought back to the clinic and put up for adoption again.

Sunning by the back door is the perfect time for a photo shoot!

Everybody assumed I would snatch him right up, but I didn't. My husband has been out of work so I was worried about being able to afford a dog, especially one of his size (50 pounds!). So I prayed about it. I just asked for a sign that he was meant to come home with us. And every financial obstacle that cropped up was taken care of somehow. So I took a leap of faith and brought him home.

LBC's face when he heard he was getting a new brother...and that his new brother was a dog!

It's been a major adjustment having Elvis with us, but Mr. LBC and I love him to death. LBC is still warming up to him, but at least he's not hissing and smacking the bejesus out of him anymore! Lol. I've been chasing him around like a toddler, trying to keep him from eating stray socks and couch cushions when we look away for a minute. In fact, I just grabbed a cotton swab out of his mouth right after I wrote that! Lol. 

I put my sewing machine through a few paces to finish quilting the quilt I was working on prior to the doctor's appointment and guys, the First Born is purring like a kitten! It's like a brand new machine and I'm in love all over again! :)

Glad to be back, I missed sewing and getting to talk with you guys! Happy Tuesday y'all! :)

A Cat With a Keyboard?

Hey guys, LBC here! I noticed Mom hadn't updated in a while, so I figured I would help her out! She's been working hard, but still getting a little sewing time in here and there, I promise! She keeps laying out little hexagons in the floor; I assumed she wanted me to lay on them and toss them around, but she didn't seem too pleased with my help! She's been quilting some on her Primitive/Americana quilt too. I've been guarding it while it's on the table, can't have anything happening while she's away! She told me she hopes to share a little finish tomorrow, so come back tomorrow evening and check it out!

Little Black Cat :)

Progress Check!

Happy Sunday y'all! I've been buzzing along slowly with my work this week and just didn't have the time to document and blog it until now. I've got 3 different things to share, all in different states of progress.

The more I look at it, the more it grows on me.

The smoothest basting I've ever had, I couldn't believe it! Hahaha

I Spy Supernova dots!

First up is the baby quilt! Since you last saw it, I've got the top pieced and basted! It's not at the sewing table, ready to be quilted. I had leftover backing from my Supernova that seemed to fit the bill and I had juuuuuuust enough for this little quilt. If that doesn't say destiny, I don't know what does! Lol. I'm thinking some FMQ-ing on it, though I haven't decided 100% yet.

Next up is the primitive/Americana quilt I talked about previously. I also finished piecing it this week. I have to see if I have enough scraps to make a back or if I'll have to buy some backing for it. I'm not sure what kind of quilting to do on it, so suggestions are appreciated!

And lastly is something in the very beginning stages. Val over at Purple Boots and Pigtails is doing an awesome project. She is challenging the quilting community to help piece blocks for EVERY color of Kona fabric. That's right, EVERY SINGLE ONE! She wants to make all the blocks into a quilt and asked for everybody's help in accomplishing this goal (if you're interested in joining, just let Val know!). Check out some of the blocks she has made already here and here! I hadn't planned on participating at first; I've never took part in any sort of project like this before and, honestly, I wasn't sure how much it would cost to ship something all the way to Canada! Lol. But after a little talking, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and at least make a couple of blocks. I originally decided on Canary and Flame, but at the last moment, I saw Bluegrass was a color. Being a born and bred Bluegrass citizen (GO KENTUCKY!), I could NOT pass up the opportunity to let the Bluegrass State have a place to shine in this Canadian quilt. :)
                                          

So there you have it! Not a ton of progress, but enough to make me happy. :) If I get to feeling better, I'm hoping to get cracking on those Kona blocks this evening! Take care y'all!

Circumstances

The last thing I need to be doing is starting a new quilt, but certain circumstances are a cause for exceptions, right? My City Blocks top is sitting on my design wall still, barely any progress being made since my last post. And yet, I didn't want to sit at my machine and work on it. Instead, I had the urge to just sit in the floor with my rotary cutter and mat, cutting out simple squares. So that's exactly what I did.

I've rewritten this post I don't know how many times, trying to figure how I want to say what I want. I try to not get too personal or ramble too much because this is a quilt blog and, let's face it, you're here to see the quilting. But life happens. You blink and it's been nearly a week since your last post and you've done next to nothing. All the craziness and curveballs of life just keep piling up until you're not quite sure which was is up and you feel guilty for not covering all your bases, both in real life and in blog land. It took me until this morning to realize something though. It's okay.

These fabrics are not my cup of tea at all. When they were donated to me, I actually cringed a little where I'm so engrossed with happy, bright, modern fabrics right now. But I know somebody who matches these fabrics perfectly. Our relationship has been rocky but circumstances have called for a truce (at least on my side). Changes in their health have scared me and confused me for more than a year...enough to drive me to actually want to sit in the floor and cut fabric (second only to basting on my least favorite sewing steps right now.) And with all of this fear and confusion, I did the only thing I really know to do: I started planning a quilt. I'm hoping to pick up some neutrals this week and get started on it soon. 

I tried to keep this as short as possible, so thank you for bearing with me. I'm planning on working on City Blocks for at least a little while today, so hopefully there will be some fun progress to share soon. Have a wonderful Tuesday y'all, thanks for stoppin' by.