Quilt Projects and Musings, Early January 2012

Got a couple of things going on down at the design wall.  One is a Leader Ender and the other a Real Project but I'll be dipped if I can tell you which is which!

Bonnie Hunter last summer casually suggested bowtie leader-enders might be a good thing to be doing and although I'm not one to jump on quilting bandwagons, I pretty much agreed.  Bonnie was doing cheddar; I had gobs of pink and brown left from another project, and promptly began cutting.  My bowties are made from 2" and 1-1/4" squares and finish nice and small.  You can see that I've begun to sew the little blocks together; my quilt center will be 9 x 9 bowties.

Because crumbs didn't get out of my system with Pictures At An Exhibition, I'm making more of them; these will finish at 6" rather than 4" and each one has a person or an animal among the bits and pieces.  Talk about addictive!  I'm going to need a couple of off-to-college quilts in another year and a half, and I'm convinced that these crumb blocks will be just the thing.

Speaking of bandwagons, I've been thinking lately about people who participate in quilt-alongs and in mystery quilt projects.  I've never done either of those things and I've sorted out the reasons why:

(a) I more than enough ideas for quilts I already want to make!
(b) I don't want to be doing the same project that a bazillion other people are doing.
(c) I can't imagine going out to buy fabric for a mystery quilt -- that I wouldn't know how it was going to turn out -- talk about a possible expensive mistake -- and I don't have a huge stash of yardage.
(d) I don't want to invest time and fabric in a project without knowing what it is going to be.
(e) So far, I haven't wanted to make an exact copy of another quilt.

All of that being said, I'm fascinated by the number of quilters who do get involved in quiltalongs and mysteries and enjoy seeing the various outcomes.  I'd be interested to hear the reasons (if there are any!) that people choose to participate in these activities.

Home sick today with a head cold, I spent a couple of hours sewing, but more time reading (the current book club selection, Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler which so far I'd give about 5 stars) and sleeping.  My hunch is that I'm going to be here another day but if staying home from work in any way prevents this from morphing into bronchitis, so much the better.