WIP Wednesday

Unlike a lot of my fellow quilters, I got zero art time during the holidays, for various reasons, which was fine.  But now I am eager to jump back in and get some new projects going, so today I'm joing the WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced

trying to finish a couple of pieces.  The first is my quilt that is going to Quiltcon, called "Happy."

I'm so excited to be a part of the show - I cannot wait to see everything.   The piece is complete, but there are several things that need to be done before I can pack it up and send it off:

First, I need to add a hanging sleeve,

then I need to add a label.  I keep going over it, looking for imperfections or problems, but in my heart I know it is what it is, and I need to let it be.  I just want people to be glad to look at it, and notice only the way it makes them feel  (Hopefully, happy!), not errors.

Last, I want to steam it - I made it this summer and it has been folded up in a special shelf - I know it will have to be folded to mail, but I figure I will steam it and get out all the kinks, and then I have to let it go!

Next I am finishing a piece that I started just before the holidays and was obsessed with - I don't have a name for it yet; for now I'm calling it Ribbon Rainbow, but that is a little cutesy for me, so I'll probably change it.  I just added the binding and now have to cut many, many strings off of the back - a rather annoying task as I always seem to miss some, no matter how hard I try to find them all...

This piece is a bit of a departure from my normal style, I know - I almost never do repeat-type squares.  It's hundreds and hundreds of half-square triangles and 2 1/2 inch squares, but I admit, I love it!  I also can see so many different iterations of it - I'm thinking of doing a tutorial on it, so I can make another.  If anyone out there is interested in this, by all means let me know and I will do it.  I think it might make a sellable pattern, even.

I counted how many projects I started and completed last year - it came to a whopping 21!  Unless I have forgotten a couple, which is entirely possible.  So that's more than one per month, which amuses me and also shows how driven/obsessed/crazy I am.  This year promises to be no less inspiring, but I'm going to keep better track, I think.   I turned 50 on Monday, and I feel so grateful to be here and so full of ideas...every day I wake up excited to get going!  Every day getting a new chance to get "it" right - and by "it" I mean - well, everything.  Of course it is a ridiculous goal - I don't think I'm actually going to reach it - I'm just going to keep trying.