White Orchid Melody

Further to my New Year’s Resolutions, I have some that are about finishing what I’ve started.  I guess that could be a good umbrella goal “finish what you start.”  Seems simple enough, but life and boredom often interfere with good intentions.  I have a couple of craft projects that have been going on for over a year, several years in fact.  It is time to get them done!  Brian laughed at me when he saw that I was giving myself a whole year to complete them, but when it has been 3 years already, another year doesn’t seem so long!

I have a sweater that I started knitting out of this beautiful baby alpaca yarn.  It is so soft and cuddly.  I figured if I was going to take the time to hand knit a sweater, it should be really nice.  And it will be.  If I ever get it done!

The second project on my list is a quilt.  

Great-Grandmother Sparks Tulip Quilt

My tulip pieces

A completed tulip square 

This is a more significant project.  I have an old quilt that was made by my great grandmother, whom I never knew.  Even though I didn’t know her, the quilt is one of my most prized possessions.  It is one of the things I’d grab if my house caught on fire.  In honor of her handiwork, I decided to make a replica.  Well, not an exact replica, but a quilt out of the same pattern.  I traced off the shapes and made pattern pieces.  The original quilt is pretty small, might fit a twin size bed, good for just cozying up.  My version will fit a queen size bed.  So, that was a bunch of pieces to cut out.  The pattern is a tulip shape, where four tulips make a square.  All the squares are different colored tulips, so it is very bright and fun.  I have all of my tulips sewn, but I need to cut out some more of the surrounding pieces.  Then I’ll have to sew up the pieces into squares.  Once all the squares are complete, I need to decide how I want them arranged and then piece the squares.  Then the big fun begins, backing, batting, and the actual quilting.  The original is hand quilted and I’m planning to do the same.  We’ll see if that happens in a year!  Very few people hand quilt any more.  We received several “homemade” quilts for our baby and only one was cut and pieced, and none were hand quilted.  But part of what is so special about my great grandma’s quilt is the imperfect stitching.  So, that is one characteristic I’d like to preserve in my interpretation.

I really should have a plan and timeline for completing these projects.  But those sorts of constraints tend to work against my creative urges.  (hence why its taken years to get only partially through these projects)  But maybe I’ll have some quarterly deadlines for progress anyway, just so it isn’t thanksgiving and I’m trying to complete a quilt and a sweater in a month!