
Did you know that making quilts involves hard, physical labor? Well, it does! I spent most of Friday evening and all-day Saturday working on a quilt, and my bod is sore!
Friday night I had to do boat loads of cutting strips. Cut, cut, cut, cut... my shoulders and hands were so sore. I thought they would hurt on Saturday, but I guess my good night's sleep helped them recover.
Saturday (today) I sewed blocks together.. sew, sew, sew, sew... which, if I'm not careful, can turn into a frozen state of bending and staring at my machine, which hurts my back. I have abandoned my previous ironing spot because the outlet seems to be on the fritz, so it was up and down the stairs (to use the built-in ironing board and reliable outlet) all.day.long. I think I did enough stair aerobics today to burn off a couple of those Thanksgiving pies I ate.
These strips and pieces were started seven (yes, that says 7) years ago. I'm good at this: I get excited about a pattern or some fabrics, and I start in with great intentions. Then I get bored and set it aside. I think this may be my oldest UFO, but I can't promise. I'll probably unearth some older ones eventually.
Anyway, I apparently didn't know how to plan seven years ago, because I had enough strips to make 15 king-size quilts! That is just a slight exaggeration. Of course, I only had that many in three of the sizes I needed. That's why I had to cut so many more strips on Friday.
So, there I was (finally) with umpteen blocks put together, sore shoulders, hands, neck, and back from all the work I'd done. Then I hauled them into the living room to play with them on the floor. Oops, first I had to vacuum and move furniture around. More ouchies. Then I got to bend and crawl and scooch all around the living room, laying out the blocks, moving and rearranging. So that was straining my back and my knees. Also, I had to shut the doors to keep the cat out of the re-arranging game (he does it with great gusto), so then I got hot.
I was going to make a queen-size quilt, even though I wasn't sure what to do with one that large in these colors (brown). Finally I decided to make a twin-size quilt which I can use in our extra bedroom... and the leftovers will go into a donation quilt for an unknown child somewhere on earth. (More crawling around and rearranging on the floor.) I need to make only four more little blocks to have enough for the two projects. I'll get right on that...maybe tomorrow. The mess of strips and leftovers is still all over the dining room table.
The picture above is the blocks as they will be sewn together into the twin-size quilt. First I need to rest up my poor, aching body. Tomorrow I'll start all over again on the project I
should have been working on this weekend.. the one with a looming deadline. Wish me luck and stamina to get all this work done! (Do you feel sorry for me yet?)