I've been sewing like a little bit of a mad woman this winter and I have a bit of a backlog of finished quilts to share on the blog. If you follow me on Instagram, you have most likely seen snippets of all of these quilts in various stages - in progress, in top form, quilted, finished, bound, etc. For some reason (um, WINTER), I have not been motivated to get it together long enough to pull out the DSLR and really give these quilts their due. Now that Spring has finally sprung, I am trying to use the nice weather and longer sunlight hours to get them properly photographed and documented here. And, by them, I mean just this one. I have two more that are washed and ready for some time in front of the lens. For now, though, I give you the Super-sized Ohio Star. Yellow glow provided by the late-in-the-day, setting sun. ;)

In January, I watched the first of the Creativebug Block of the Month videos which features Heather Jones and the Ohio Star block. I had never made an Ohio Star quilt so I decided to give it a go. Thirty 12" blocks later, that quilt was finished (and is still waiting to be photographed. Ahem). Around that time, my guild did an exercise about enlarging blocks to different sizes, and since I was really into the Ohio Star, I chose it as my candidate for super-sizing.

I could go into the math for this, but really all you need to know is that the Ohio Star is a nine-patch block made of 5 squares and 4 quarter triangle squares. To make it bigger, I knew I needed a number divisible by 3. I limited myself to fabrics from my stash and, based on yardage I had on hand, settled on a nine block quilt (a nine-patch of nine-patches!) with finished block sizes of 21". Each square in the nine-patch block finishes at 7" (7 1/2'' unfinished), giving a final measurement of 63" square. It's a good throw size, perfect for a cat nap or picnic for two. I like the quilts I make to be usable and I find that anything smaller than around 60" square just isn't as useful as I'd like.

The background fabric is Essex Linen in Ivory and I love, love, love how it feels in a quilt. LOVE IT. The prints are one colorway of Anna Maria Horner's Fibs and Fables line which I paired with bright, cheery solids in hot pink, chartreuse and aqua. I used Labyrinth in aqua for the backing and bound it by machine with Helios in incense. I quilted it with rows of loops in off-white thread and 100% cotton batting on the long arm at Quilted Joy. Between the linen and the cotton batting, it came out of the wash with the best crinkle. Cozy!

This one came together FAST! I know I say that often, but, in this case, big blocks make for less piecing over a greater square footage. I mention this as a reminder to myself. Not everything has to be difficult or tedious to be satisfying to make and to look at. The large squares pack a good punch and have me itching to super-size all the things.

Today on the AccuQuilt blog, you can find the final two borders of my medallion quilt. It was a fun one to put together and I am particularly happy that I was able to source all of the fabrics in my stash. I used the navy background with the confetti dots as the color palette inspiration. I don't think this is a palette that I would have intentionally chosen, but I love how cheerful it is and that it was not my usual m.o.

I chose to echo the straight lines by quilting about 1/4" on each side of them. The backing was pieced with more of the navy print and little bit of a purple and white check. I machine bound the quilt by stitching the binding to the back, flipping it to the front and sewing it in place with a small zig zag stitch. Very fast and it looks great. The quilt finishes at 57" square and will most likely be donated to our school/church.

You can read more about the exact cutting dies I used over at AccuQuilt. The enterprising among you can probably figure our how to do it without the dies as well. It's just math. ;)

As many people do, I chose a guiding word for 2016. I have done this in the past with varying degrees of success and really was unsure if I wanted to go down that path again this year. Then I figured, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I set about choosing a word. Or, maybe more precisely, a word chose me. It popped in my head and would not get out. It reappeared again and again. Every time I thought about a guiding word for the year ahead, this was the word that came to mind. It was not the word I wanted, but it was a persistent little bugger. I stopped fighting it and embraced that word. That word? WORK.

I tried and tried to come up with something different. Really, I did. Work has a negative connotation for so many people. It can sound like soul-sucking drudgery and the exact opposite of fun and relaxation. There are certainly many examples of that kind of work - cleaning toilets and doing taxes come to my mind. BUT! There is a positive side to work, especially fulfilling, creative work. And that is the work that I am talking about.

It's no secret that I like to make things. Obviously. This blog is a testament to my making. I sew. I knit. I cook. I bake. I crochet. I paint. I garden. I even sometimes write. I make, plain and simple. And I love making. I do. My day is better for it. My heart is happier when my hands are busy and my mind is working and I am creating.

Yet, I have never approached my making with an attitude of work, where the making itself becomes more job-like with specific studio hours or long-term goals. Rather, my making has always been born from my heart. If I want to make it, I generally do. If I don't, I don't. I can go weeks without picking up a pair of scissors and cutting into fabric. My sewing machine has sat idle for long periods of time. There is a benefit of making in this way. It is almost always satisfying and filled with excitement. Each project is fresh and new and full of possibilities. It is free of time constraints and deadlines. If it becomes boring or no longer fun, I can choose to let it sit, or maybe even to let it go. And all of this is fine and good. It is creative and it is making and it fulfills me.

Until, it doesn't.

I find it very easy to let life and living get in the way of making. I'm talking about the every day demands on time and energy that we all face. Most of these things are good things - family! friends! cooking! exercising! traveling! - and I certainly don't want to come off as not appreciating the wonderful life that I am blessed with. I enjoy spending time with my loved ones and taking care of them and the things (groceries, pets, gardens, even paying the bills) that need attending to. But, I also really enjoy making. It fills my soul and gives me a happy heart. I have just come to the realization that when faced to choose between the two, I am more apt to wait until everything else and everyone else is taken care of before I tend to myself and my creativity. As a result, I suffer and everyone around me suffers. Happy wife, happy life? No one is happy unless Mom is happy? Yeah, that.

Why make the distinction? "Work" and "make" are both words that imply action, but they are different. Making is about creating something. Work is creating something, too, but, for me, it means showing up and putting in the time even when I may not feel like it. It's about taking my creativity and prioritizing it just as I would any paying job. It's about exerting effort and holding myself accountable to allow time to make. It's about taking the inspiration and running with it and going through the motions when inspiration doesn't show up.  It's about practicing, maybe failing, picking up the pieces and coming out on the other side. It's about being available to myself so that when the light bulb goes off and inspiration calls, I am in the practice of working. If I can do that, then when inspiration asserts itself, I can respond to it and make, make, make. If I am lucky, at the end, I will have made something beautiful and I will be creatively fulfilled. I really can't ask more than that.

I have more thoughts on this, but I think I will save them for another post. I leave you with this needle turned applique pillow that I made over the course of the weekend. The pattern is from Carolyn Friedlander's new class, Hand-Stitched Applique Quilts, on Creativebug and all of the fabrics are Cotton and Steel. Cut out on Friday night, I basted it and started the applique on Saturday. I finished up the hand sewing just as the Oscars started Sunday night. Monday I sandwiched and quilted the front, cut the back pieces and inserted a zipper before assembling and hand binding the whole thing. Tuesday it went in the mail to someone I have never met, but needed an angel in a pillow swap on Instagram. I loved sewing this! It really didn't feel like work even though that is exactly what it was.