and a new quilt is born...

WHAT?  Yes, you all know how busy I am right now, the deadlines I'm supposed to be missing -- I mean meeting, and everything else in my crazy wonderful life.

My main deadline was the World Quilt Show Florida IV (Mancuso).  My second deadline was the PSLCQ Guild UFO Challenge.  For these deadlines I was going to use the same quilt -- True Colors.  World Quilt Show entries were due by 9/24 and the UFO Challenge is due 10/3 -- seemed totally possible in a crazy sort of way.  Well... it was Wednesday or Thursday when I realized that four days was NOT enough time to quilt True Colors.  So what do you think I did?... seriously... wait for it... I designed a small wholecloth to whip-up over the weekend.  Am I  *bleeping* nuts... YES!  I am *bleeping* insanely nuts, well beyond that of the normal nuts person!  But not really.  A small wholecloth is one design, one fabric, one color thread, and some background fills.  Totally possible over a weekend, remember I said small wholecloth and I'd be using each and every possible hour of that weekend.  The amount of quilting planned for True Colors will probably span out over a two-week period (if not more).  So, True Colors will just debut at a later show -- and, I have failed at my UFO Challenge -- no worries, I can live with both.

So here goes the weekend in photos:

 

Now... the name -- Sidewalk Chalk
Cute huh?  How the heck did this quilt get named that?  Let me start with I did not name this quilt -- and it's a good thing!  Lets go back to me quilting... grey fabric, chambrey to be exact.  I LOVE GREY... it is a problem!  Anyway, you have to realize that while I'm quilting my face is maybe 10-12 inches from the fabric the entire time.  This grey is the color of concrete.  I'm using they most beautiful pastel variegated thread.  All I can see is concrete.  When I spritz the quilt with water to remove markings all I can see is wet concrete!  So... with concrete on my mind I'm thinking of names... hmmmm... concrete?  Pretty thread?... concrete?  You can see this is going no where.  So, texting begins with one of the besties...

Me:  concrete?
Bestie:  you can't call it concrete - that's ugly
Me:  and... it looks like concrete, with candy
Bestie:  no, that just does not sound right
Me:  well, it freaking looks like concrete, cement, call it what you may
Bestie:  sidewalk... and the thread looks like chalk on the sidewalk

and a new quilt was born, thank you Lisa!

Wrong-doings turned RIGHT!

...not really wrong-doings, more like should have been doing something else.

I am behind on customer quilts -- what else is new.  But, the weekends are mine, or at least they should be!  Most of the time I only take one day for myself, but this weekend I took both days - can you believe it!

You've all heard about my latest deadlines... quilt shows, guild challenges, etc.  Well, this weekend I should have been working on True Colors.  Not, nope, didn't happen... I know, I know!  True Colors has two deadlines - I know, something can't have two deadlines... the first one would be THE deadline.  BUT, in this case it really does have two.  The first one being the World Quilt Show Southern States Competition in West Palm Beach.  The entry deadline for that show is 9/24/2012.  Possible... if I quilt like a mad woman, do nothing else, and fall yet further behind on customer work.  The second one being the PSL Crazy Quilters UFO Challenge (read a bit about it here).  That is not due until 10/3/2012.  See - the same quilt can have two deadlines... if I miss the first one it will be bad, but still okay.  I'm babbling...  back to the topic of this post!

Saturday morning I woke up super early, after less than 4 hours sleep (that is my norm lately).  It was a dreary miserable rainy morning so I decided to piece the background of my MCQG challenge.  That would be good and would solve the boring rainy morning.  Well, that is how it started!


[NOTE:  IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE MY MCQG CHALLENGE STOP READING NOW]
and... that was your warning!  

And, if you missed the first post, click here!


To catch you all up on my weekend, here's some show and tell -- and being that I'm babbling it'll probably be lots of tell:

Let me say again, I am not a very scrappy person.  I love big blank fabrics so that my quilting pops.  So, this will be a very good attempt at controlled scrappiness!

And there's the fabrics!  Well, some of the fabrics.  Notice, not very many prints.  I am becoming a "fabric snob"  -- no, its not a bad thing, it's just my thing.

And, messiness is starting.. maybe this is why I haven't been piecing that much lately?

Almost done with the darks, dirt, ground, bottom, whatever you want to call it.  Let me share one of my biggest peeves... pressing.  I press seams OPEN.  ALL of them, OPEN!  You don't have to, it's just something I do, I prefer it, but I won't force it on you... well, unless I'm quilting for you, then I'll fill your ear with it.  Oh, and you see that one strange fabric that is so much different than the rest?  Hint:  it's a kinda' calico-ish brown -- that's not mine, that was the swap fabric.

And the lights -- notice the difference in row sizes... trying to keep it interesting -- it's scraps you know?  And look at the darks, see that tiny little braided strip?  Cool huh?  it is from the same fabric as the very far left side (a basket weave), just cut differently.  So far that's my favorite one!

And now, to sew the darks to the lights.  Looking pretty good.  That's pretty much how I saw it in my head.

Now, some of you know how much I love brown.  It is one of my very favorite colors.  Well, I also have a favorite fabric line -- RJR Handsprays.  Eons ago, while still working at the quilt shop, I bought 5 yards of the brown Handspray -- I think it was called chocolate.  Anyway... this is the very last piece of that five yards.  WHAT you say... no worries, after I bought that 5 yards, I bought another 3 yards!  I'm good with the brown!

BUT, since it was the very last piece (hence the word SCRAP), I had to piece two little sections for my tree applique.  Pretty cool huh!

And here's the tree all cut out ready for edge turning:

And here is the tree on the background fabrics.  Looking just like my doodle!  LOVE when things work out the way you planned!  So here is the first peek at Bend

So, now all that's left are the leaves that need to be made and attached to the tree.  There are 33 in the doodle -- not sure how many will actually make it to the quilt.  And to add the text of the quote.  Then all of the applique will need to be stitched down and then quilted.  But I'm thinking I made some great progress this weekend!  Oh, and this will finished to about 40" wide, right now it's about 46".