"I Go To Pieces"

Patsy Cline's interpretation was a lot different than mine. She was singing about lost love while my idea is that of being a cut-up. Those of you who are hobbyists and deal with projects that contain a gazillion pieces will know what I mean. You have to go where the pieces are to build anything.

I dabble in a lot of things and currently it just happens to be quilting. I never go for the easy stuff just dive right in when I see a design I like. My very first quilt was a double wedding ring pattern. Not the easiest to start out with, but it came out pretty decent and was a gift to someone close. Or... I'll take the basic idea of a standard design, make some major changes and call it my own creation. Like the cat quilt I made some years ago. I created  twelve or fifteen counted cross-stitch cats on aida cloth, trimmed it with paw prints to set off each block and ended up with an unusual twin size quilt. After moving a few times in the last few years, I lost track of that quilt. You know how that goes. Every time you move, you lose something.

Since Murphy has seemed to become a permanent fixture around here, enough has happened to set me way back in getting things done. (Not just the quilt.) I've tried many times to give Murphy the boot, but he never could take a hint. Who knows, maybe I'll find a way where we can compromise. Hahaha.

There is nothing small about this latest project. 594 blocks make up the quilt top (or will when it's fully assembled.) Three pieces to each block and you have 1,782 pieces, not counting the odd ones I'll need to add around the edge to keep it straight. I've got my own version of the tumbling blocks design and it's gonna be a meteor storm. One print in four different colors, with deeper shades to compliment it. I had changed my mind about the block arrangement and discovered I had insufficient solid color blocks for the background and couldn't find any more fabric to match. Silly me. I wasn't sure what to do about the problem then that little cartoon lightbulb began to glow with a brilliant idea. Using the fabric I got for the back of the quilt, I'll have more than enough to cut for the background of the pieced top. I found a lovely print in a pale color that will look great for the backing. In fact, it just might make the quilt reversible. That would be an added bonus. If I really get cracking, (I'm hand stitching the whole thing since I don't have the space anywhere to spread it out to work on it) this project, originally intended to be a wedding gift may just make it for the couple's fifth anniversary later this year.

Now that I think about it, this was probably how I got to be a "patchwork" writer. I rarely do anything in any logical order. Create enough sections so eventually they can be put together properly to tell a story. I've got enough of those segments sitting around, to make several somethings of them. I just need sufficient time to get it all done...like a couple hundred years.  Then I wonder why/how I go to pieces? 

Now you know.