Keeping it real with small progress on a few quilts

I recently realized that I have been, for the past little while, posting about primarily finished quilts.  So, as the title of this post indicates, I want to keep this real.  I want you to first keep in mind that not all of the quilts I share here on my blog are my own.  I have very creative and productive customers who allow me to share their work with you.

Yesturday, I shared the process of one of my quilts that I just started and I made some good progress on it.  Today I worked on it some more.  Did I finish the top like I had hoped to....no.  Am I beating myself up able it....no.  I take making a quilt in strides.  I have many on the go and I work on many of them simultaneously.  That's how I work.  So, sometimes I may have a lot of finishes to show you and other times I won't, because as any quilter knows, it takes a lot of time to make a quilt.  

Part of the reason some quilts take more time to make, even if they are simple in design, is due to what life throws at you and I don't mean all bad.  I just mean in general.  We have lives to live.  Work to do, houses to upkeep, children to raise, parents to care for, and the list goes on.  I am as die hard as the next person, when it comes to quilting.  It is my passion and my life, but I do also have another life I live and that is with my family at home, my family at work and my friends.

Though I have many other pictures of finished quilts to share with you, on this post I am going to keep it real.  I am going to show you my progress on a couple of quilts I am currently working on.  

Besides the quilt blocks that I shared yesturday, I am also working on my leader/ender that starts with four patches that I am calling Scrappy Deliciousness, a kaleidoscope quilt, the quilt parts that I worked on during the weekend and the top I recently finished using half square triangles.

This first picture is the block I will be making with my leader/ender four patches.  This is going to be an everything but the kitchen sink type of quilt.  The only parts that will be controlled are the cream parts that form a square when all the blocks are together, plus the dark beige, burgundy and black rows that surround the coloured four patches.  This will be a long term project, as I am currently only sewing these in between rows, of whatever I am currently sewing on as my main work.  Last week it was getting all the kaleidoscope parts together, the half square triangle top, and now it is the Grandstand quilt, plus this is not my only leader/ender project I am working on.

If you look closely at the above picture, on the bottom left hand side is my low volume chevron block that I recently made and beside it, on the right hand side, is what I am also using as a leader/ender that I am making with all the parts that I worked on during the weekend.

Below is the starting of me assembling the vertical rows of the kaleidoscope quilt.  This one I started back in March/2020, when I temporarily moved to my mom's place while we had the house up for sale and while renovating our new home.  The first two rows are sewn together and to each other.  The third row is only sewn together, but not attached to the first full column.  This quilt has taken a back seat to the half square triangle top and now the Grandstand top.

In the above picture you will also see to the left, my Rhododendron Trails quilt that is half way to completion and to the right on the table is one of the borders to my wool wall hanging.  This is what I mean by keeping it real.  Aside from the recent starts, all of these other quilts have been on the go for a while now.  I may bore you if I showed you just how slow each of the steps takes to do, day in and day out.  Can you imagine if I showed you four or five, four patches in every post.....that wouldn't be exciting.

This next picture is what I did on the weekend.  What you see there is several hours worth of work.  It doesn't look like much, but between the sewing the pairs together, than ironing them all open, it took time.  Today, before I started sewing my current main work, I sub cut a small pile into 2" squares for the next step of sewing them together into columns.  These are the parts that will make up the quilt from Bonnie Hunter called Bitcoin.  My pieces were shown in the first picture above, on the bottom right hand corner.  So far, I only have about five columns completed and need a lot more, but I am hoping this little pile will make some headway on that.  My quilt is being downsized, from what Bonnie made.

I hope this post provides you with some motivation, to not get discouraged when the going is slow.  Just keep persevering, one seam at a time, and it will get done.  In the meantime, enjoy the process.  Admire the colours you chose, fondle the fabric, watch a movie while you sew.....whatever, just take your time and enjoy the process.

Take care everyone and don't forget to take time for yourself.