Friday, July 6, 2007

poll

So I need your input, peeps. I'm working on a quilt for us chez c+potion. It's been trickier than I thought because much like the wedding quilt for jenn and NIL, I have to strike the right balance between pretty for me, but not too girly for m. I may be dancing on that border with this.

My inspiration came from this Denyse Schmidt quilt:

Kinda sporty. Simple. I like the pop of the lime against the burgundy and cream.

So I shopped around for some fabric and decided on a red+mustard combo. The red print is a little japanese-y I think which I like:



The quilt looks a little simpler than I thought. Not sure if I like that. Don't know why since, duh, I was attracted to the Denyse Schmidt quilt for that reason: it is simple. Well anyways, I thought that maybe if I put in some quilting stitches in red, that would punch it up a little. Still too simple? Here's the detail:


Then as I was trying to fall asleep the other night, I had a light bulb moment and decided that I would do some sort of freestyle stitching instead of the straight lines. The freestyle stitching would be a bird/leaf/vine motif like so:


Detail of bird stitching:


I don't know. Am I overthinking it? Are the birds too darned cute? Should I just finish the damned thing and move on?

Oh and in other news, I got a new sewing machine. Last weekend. Another Kenmore for a Very reasonable price. I was feeling week and wanty and I really missed my machine. I have so many craft projects that are a no-go until I get a machine in my grubby little paws.

I gave up on my old machine that I'd shoved off to my co-worker for repairs. Since he was doing me a favor and all, I felt awkward pressuring him with status reports. I don't think he's had time. And truthfully, I'd pretty much written off ever seeing that machine running again. I'll have to ask him for it back so that I can at least re-use all the accessories. And dudes, can I just say that I am So stoked over Kenmore II? It seems that the mighty folks at Sears/Kenmore have made some improvements that I don't recall being a part of the previous model. There is a feed dog release, more stitch options (though that's not always a bonus) a SELF-THREADER?? Shazam! Time to put this puppy to work. Which is what I've been doing this week.

And that's why I need your input. Birds? Just straight stitches? Whaddaya think?

Oh, and on a personal note: I am recovering fine from my sinus surgery. Mostly fine. I am still congested but my surgeon says that this is to be expected. The worst part is that I can't sleep because I have to keep my head inclined. That's been tough. And tiring. My energy levels have been up and down (spent crafting when I'm feeling up - tee hee). But I took the week off of work to deal with it. It's just a waiting game from here on out. And a follow up appointment of course with the nice surgeon in a week and a half. In a few weeks, I may be writing a post to say goodbye to team snot-rag.

Now it's time for bed for this sicko.

2 comments:

meteowrite said...

Well, I for one like the bird pattern, but I suppose only Michael can weigh in on whether the bird detail is somehow dangerous to the levels of manliness in the house. (If so, perhaps he needs some sort of magic wand to banish the girliness. You know, a la the magic wands of 512 Second Street. Obviously, he'd need a different kind of magic wand, but perhaps there's something that would work.) Now do you hook your sewing machine (YAY!! New sewing machine!!) up to a computer somehow to make the birds? Or did the machine just come to you knowing how to make a cute bird pattern?

jean said...

How weird. I thought blogger was supposed to email me when I get a new comment. Hm.

Anyways. To answer your question about the sewing machine: Noooo. My little Kenmore II (not the official name, by the way) is as basic a model as you can get. But it does have a feature that enables me to "free-style" my stitches so instead of the traditional one direction running stitch, I can loop-de-loop, wiggle-waggle, and freehand some birdies if I so chose. I suppose if I were a smart crafter, I'd outline the pattern with a washable marker first and trace it with the sewing machine. Sigh. So many options.