Pressing On

My sinus infection is no better, but I can't stop working. I had a co-worker once who described this as the "Protestant Sick Ethic"; that is, if you just keep working hard and ignore your illnesses, you'll be rewarded by having them go away.

At any rate, after waking up at 3 am every morning for the last 2 days, and working on these for a little while each evening, I ended up with 6 variations of the log cabin block. I had picked up a copy of Log Cabin Quilts With Attitude by Sharon Rotz, and I like the slight wonkiness of the blocks (both because the strips vary in size, and because you then trim the blocks by tilting them). So I futzed around with some fabric I already had until I came up with something that reasonably resembled a quilt. I'm adding borders now (the smaller blue border, a larger purple one after).

It's interesting: now that I look at the picture (as opposed to the actual piece) I don't like the layout of the blocks. Maybe next time I should take a digital photo of the layout and evaluate it before I sew anything together.

My 7-year old grandson, who lives with me and my DP, has been begging for his own quilt since he saw the first one I made. He wanted it EXACTLY like his "Mimi's" (my DP's "I'm-not-old-enough-to-be-a-grandmother" name; mine is "Nana"). Of course, I had no interest in trying to duplicate the same quilt, so when I was far enough along with this one I presented it to him and asked his opinion. I told him I thought it was bright and cheerful just like he is, and his face lit up. "Is it going to be mine?" he asked, and I was incredibly relieved to say, "yes! it is!" as if I had planned it that way from the beginning.

He's already asking when he can make a quilt. When I hauled out the machine weeks ago, he stared wistfully at it and said, "I wish I could learn to sew." I helped him make a little drawstring bag, and then a simple pillow, and he was thrilled. Afterward, he said "Nana, you can't imagine how much I wanted to learn to sew." Who knew? At any rate, it looks like I may have a traveling companion. He's an adventurous little guy; he's already talking about how all the trips he'll take someday to China, India, and Mexico.