Sunday, July 08, 2012

Deadlines -- don' like them

'This is NOT the quilt I'm working on for the Bayberry Guild's show coming up the first week of August. This one is about the same size but was sensibly made well in advance of the Empire (NYC) Guild's show five years ago.  It was paper pieced and has something over 2,000 pieces.  I'm quite fond of it.

The one I'm working on now - which I can't post because I've loaned my camera to my daughter for a week and she's in Haiti - as of today seems to be greatly inferior to any quilt I've ever made. That's simply because the deadline looms and I know I'm going to have it done but I hate feeling pressured in what is a hobby--a chosen, relaxing passtime. When I choose a challenging design I want to make it at my own pace, pausing now and them for something simper, or for other enjoyable activities.

As of today I have the pieced borders on, two of them are quilted -- the whole quilt is heavily quilted, by machine --- which is not a super-duper smart wonder working machine but a simply one that does an adequate the job.  So the end is in sight but it's been "in sight" for three weeks and the labor intensive job I've set myself just gets longer and longer.  And so I'm working up a major hatred for the pattern and for my ambition, for quilt shows and for hot, humid days when I have a lap full of layers of fabric with batting in between.

But I do take time out for my early morning walks on the beach and I take breaks.  This being Sunday, I've read the NYTimes, except the book review, but I've made a good stab at the crossword puzzle.  And I took a little time in the heat of the afternoon to start a light book: Whatever You Do Don't Run, True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guild, by Peter Allison.  Since I did a safari that was largely in Botswana and the Okavango  Delta where Allison was, I am enjoying it -- in fact, I'm enjoying parts of it so much I had a good ten minutes of laugh-out-loud reading and have decided it will be passed on to my daughters to enjoy also.  That greatly eased my hunched shoulders and stiff neck.  I'm ready to see if I can finish the quilt tomorrow ... somehow I think I'll get it neeeaaarrrly done but probably still have the label and hanging sleeve to finish.

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