Plan for Sunday Instead
Lately, I've been feeling the need to be more organized. More than that, to actually plan and prepare for the future. I'm not talking about retirement accounts or making sure we have food in the house. What I've really been thinking about is how short life is and how many quilts I want to make before I die. How's that for getting my priorities straight?
I have an old quilt that my great grandma made. It's all torn and ratty but I love having it and keeping what's left of it safe. I love looking at the fabrics she used.
When I'm old, I'd like to have piles and piles of my own quilts. I want to look at the fabrics and remember this time in my life. And when I die, I want the quilts to go to people who will enjoy them, who will love looking at all the different fabrics, who will respect them and keep them safe.
I've been thinking about all the quilts I really, really want to make, the stacks of fabrics I've saved to use in a special quilt...someday. But what am I waiting for? I don't understand why I've spent most of my time NOT making my someday quilts, NOT using my someday fabrics.
It's easy to mix up priorities. Making decisions and following your dreams can be overwhelming...so overwhelming that we'd rather not start, we'd rather play it safe.
It reminds me of how my best friends Mike and Karrie started dating. After a very long time spent secretly (and then not so secretly) crushing on each other, Mike was cautious, he wanted to wait. He told Karrie that maybe they could go on a date someday. Karrie, pretending to misunderstand said "Sunday?" Karrie couldn't, wouldn't wait for someday. Their Sunday did come and a year later they were married.
I think of them when I put something off for someday. It's a wonderful lesson, one I've taken to heart many times. I know that someday doesn't always come. I try to plan for Sunday instead.
(This is why I'm terrified of tying quilts, by the way. The more quilting, the better!)
And so I've been thinking about quilts. If I want to have heirloom quilts someday, I need to start making them today. But what ARE my "Sunday" quilts? I'd never really thought about it before. It took me a while to decide...and the list may change...but for now, here are my top ten "Sunday" quilts:
Dresden plate
Lone Star
Trip Around the World
Cathedral Window Quilt (I just want to own one someday...I know I will never have the patience to make one.)
Arkansas Crossroads
Postage Stamp Quilt
Triangles
Tiny Triangles
Double Wedding Ring
Grandmother's Flower Garden
And, of course, my "Sunday" fabrics:
Mendocino
Neptune
The Birds and the Bees
Parisville
Far Far Away 2
Dream On
Flea Market Fancy
Castle Peeps
My three bins of selvedges
I've already started cutting up Neptune to make a Trip Around the World quilt and I've ordered the Fons and Porter Hexagon Ruler so I can get started on cutting hexagons.
So, how about you? What are your Sunday quilts? Your Sunday fabrics? Maybe a non-quilting Sunday project/goal/dream? If you need any encouragement, you've come to the right place! I'm definitely going to need your encouragement. Let's help each other plan for Sunday today!
I have an old quilt that my great grandma made. It's all torn and ratty but I love having it and keeping what's left of it safe. I love looking at the fabrics she used.
When I'm old, I'd like to have piles and piles of my own quilts. I want to look at the fabrics and remember this time in my life. And when I die, I want the quilts to go to people who will enjoy them, who will love looking at all the different fabrics, who will respect them and keep them safe.
I've been thinking about all the quilts I really, really want to make, the stacks of fabrics I've saved to use in a special quilt...someday. But what am I waiting for? I don't understand why I've spent most of my time NOT making my someday quilts, NOT using my someday fabrics.
It's easy to mix up priorities. Making decisions and following your dreams can be overwhelming...so overwhelming that we'd rather not start, we'd rather play it safe.
It reminds me of how my best friends Mike and Karrie started dating. After a very long time spent secretly (and then not so secretly) crushing on each other, Mike was cautious, he wanted to wait. He told Karrie that maybe they could go on a date someday. Karrie, pretending to misunderstand said "Sunday?" Karrie couldn't, wouldn't wait for someday. Their Sunday did come and a year later they were married.
I think of them when I put something off for someday. It's a wonderful lesson, one I've taken to heart many times. I know that someday doesn't always come. I try to plan for Sunday instead.
And so I've been thinking about quilts. If I want to have heirloom quilts someday, I need to start making them today. But what ARE my "Sunday" quilts? I'd never really thought about it before. It took me a while to decide...and the list may change...but for now, here are my top ten "Sunday" quilts:
Dresden plate
Lone Star
Trip Around the World
Cathedral Window Quilt (I just want to own one someday...I know I will never have the patience to make one.)
Arkansas Crossroads
Postage Stamp Quilt
Triangles
Tiny Triangles
Double Wedding Ring
Grandmother's Flower Garden
And, of course, my "Sunday" fabrics:
Mendocino
Neptune
The Birds and the Bees
Parisville
Far Far Away 2
Dream On
Flea Market Fancy
Castle Peeps
My three bins of selvedges
I've already started cutting up Neptune to make a Trip Around the World quilt and I've ordered the Fons and Porter Hexagon Ruler so I can get started on cutting hexagons.
So, how about you? What are your Sunday quilts? Your Sunday fabrics? Maybe a non-quilting Sunday project/goal/dream? If you need any encouragement, you've come to the right place! I'm definitely going to need your encouragement. Let's help each other plan for Sunday today!
I love this post! The pics, the story, all of it! Seeing this makes me want to tie a quilt "someday", maybe...I just love the way the yarn balls up and make it too like there are little pom-poms all over it!
ReplyDeleteI've been saving my one and only jelly roll of Acadia fabric. I love it, well I "loved" it when I bought is 3 or so years ago and my tastes are already changing! So I need to USE it and do it fast. With it I'm going to make a postage stamp quilt. And I'll keep it and maybe someday it will be an heirloom quilt. And...I'm working on a Cathedral windows quilt (but haven't touched it for months!). I won't give it to you only because it's made with lots of purples and you hate purple. If you loved purple I would have given it to you! But you don't, so forget it!
I agree though, we hang on to fabrics way to long trying to figure out "the most perfect quilt" for the fabric. And really, when a quilt is all done, aren't they all pretty fantastic anyway!? So I know I just need to get sewing because one thing I want more than anything is to have a spot filled with folded up quilts, a giant stack of them!
That first little paragraph is suppose to say "...look like little pom-poms..."
DeleteThe good and the bad: if I told you the story of the past two years of my life, you would run, not walk, to your most treasured fabrics and cut them first. Ever since my husband's accident I make a point with every quilt to ask myself, what is the MOST treasured fabric I have that works for the color scheme ... and cut it first.
ReplyDeleteHaving done a DWR and a grandmother's flower garden, I can say that both are doable. For the DWR, if you can bear to invest in (or borrow someone's) Marti Michell templates, they make doing a DWR easy.
Hexagons aren't bad at all if you do them as English paper piecing -- which I was terrified to try and discovered really is as soothing and relaxing as I had been told.
My insane-o quilt is the sevenfold-symmetry quilt I've been tackling on and off since the accident. (See http://domesticat.net/quilts/seven-brides-seven-brothers for the pattern) It's temporarily on hold because I have four co-workers with new babies and I've been on the road extensively this year. Hard to get much done when you're gone for 3-6 weeks at a time...
Moral of the story ... cut the amazing fabrics. You will smile every time you see them in the quilts you make, and the people you love enough to make a quilt for are worth your best fabrics and your best work.
Came from Courtney's blog. I'm not really a crafter, but I think this lesson can apply to lots of things in life, and I loved reading your post! Thanks so much for sharing! I'm going to think about some of my "Sunday" activities now. :)
ReplyDelete