Noah's ark and mom's charity quilt

I am in the process of going over my quilt patterns/pantographs.  I usually have a small sample made up of all the options.  I have fallen behind in doing this, as there has been a lot going on around here.  During my week vacation, I caught up on my customer quilting and have the gardens all planted and cleaned up, so now I thought I would catch up on some of the other areas that have been neglected. 

Primarily that would be the paper work for the business, samples as well and personal paperwork along with housework and renovations.  Renovations took a slight detour (almost stopped), to get caught up on other things.  Housework I am maintaining a minimal amount of required necessities and I am doing a bit of everything else along the way.  So, I am behind in a lot of areas, but I am still plugging away.

Of top priority, I have five quilts for customers that I need to get trimmed, which will happen during the next couple of days and send out the invoices.  I still have a Sunday brunch and dinner to plan for, for the family reunion (we leave for it in four days), this thanksgiving long weekend.  

At this point....many would start to panic.....but instead, I take it in strides.  Everything WILL get done, and in due time.  I can do this, as I have been doing for a long time.  It's just a matter of planning and prioritizing.  A call to my mom, certainly helped, when it came to understanding what I can do ahead of time, for the brunch and dinner (I know how to cook and do a fair job of it, but it is not my forte).  The more I can do now, the easier it will be when the time come to serve the meals.  LOL....I just keep chiming to myself....I can do this....I know I can...I know I can.....lol (can you hear Thomas the tank engine story)....lol...it's not all that bad.  Things just seem to fall into place.  It will get done without any interruptions.  Everyone will get fed with ample leftovers.  

So instead of dwelling on what needs to be done and worrying about it all, I chose to let be what will be... try it, you may realize that you can get a lot more done and it would be less stressful for you and everyone else around you.  Mind over matter....it is a choice to be happy or not.  You make the choice.

Let me take you back in time to Dec 27/2019:  Just after Christmas, between Christmas and New Years, I usually take the week off as vacations to spend with my family and now as my children are older to get caught up on things or visit family.

I quilted this quilt for my mom.  This was a panel from a Noah's arc series, which displayed different animals.  Mom really only had to add some borders to finish it off.

I decided to do a simple wave pattern on the whole quilt.  Though to my surprised, what I planned did not quite turn out.  Instead it was a pleasant surprise.  What I thought I was going to do was in miniature, so I learned that the pattern I made for a large quilt would not quilt out the same on a smaller quilt.  That is when I learned that scale does not always change.  In the end it turned out great and I took this next picture to refer back to, as I thought this scale was great for the situation at hand.

Mom made this second quilt out of her scraps she had precut.  It is a simple alternating blocks layout with the medium blue as the background fabric.

I had a chance to practice my free motion quilting skills.  For the first border I did a simple swirl, swirl up and down, all along the border.  I tried to keep it consistent and learned to turn the corners. For the large border I did a simple stippling.

For the centre of the quilt, I tried this corner to corner design, that when completed, kind of looks like lightening.  It is a simple generic design, suitable for male of female.  I am still learning this one and trying to keep it consistent.  I think I still have a ways to go....lol....but I eventually will get there.

 

Mom liked it and as it is her quilt that she is giving away, that is important thing.

In case I forget or don't get a chance to post again this week, I am hoping that everyone has a chance to savour the long weekend with family and friends.  Take the time for you and enjoy yourself.