…vintage modern remix remix…

I find it endlessly amusing, that despite my ridiculous number of works-in-progress, many of which are languishing unfinished after multiple years as I bounce between projects, when a project really tickles my mojo, I am in head first and will work on nothing else until it is done.

My latest quilt is a bit like that. After finishing my last quilt, I was at a bit of a loose end wondering what should be next. I still had a pile of random scraps left over from my 2012 Vintage Modern block of the month quilt (which, ironically, itself lays unfinished…), even after coverting it to queen-sized and making a second, single sized quilt from the kit contents. Out of the blue, it hit me. What would a quilt be like if I got a heap of different Kona solids in grey, and from there cut blocks to add improv triangles to one corner. I ran it past the board, and both Co-Presidents Of Project Enabling agreed it was definitely a thing I should do. i had a bit of a poe around, and ordered 8 different shades from Eclectic Mumma, with the plan being that I would pick four of a similar colour temperature and stash the rest.

The parcel sat on my desk until four weeks ago, when our prompt as part of our 365 Quirky Journal challenge was “time travel”. I thought maybe I might pull up a random blog post from 2012 and remix an old project, but then the brain actually switched on…2012..remix…old project…new project… hang on, I have fabric and a plan! And just like that a new quilt was underway.

There have been a few hiccups along the way. Our real estate agent wanted to shoot a promotional film of the town house, so the quilt that was living on the music room floor had to be packed up. Of course, it came straight back out once they left. Then it had to be packed up again for an open house.

Then, very conveniently, the mister had a weekend away (sadly for him, not for fun but for a conference. His loss, my gain…), so the second the open house was finished, not only did the quilt come back out, but I had no compunction taking over the dining table to set it up on to work away on it while the kids played minecraft – I have the bizarre desire for my spotless-ready-for-inspection house to stay that way for more than 30 minutes when we get home afterwards, so that’s the compromise. They think they are getting a treat, and I get to enjoy the house for an hour or so more. Win/win. By the time Sunday night rolled around, the top was together.

Over the last week, we’ve been on school holidays, so in between reading and chilling and sneaking in a bit of work and playing with the kids, I’ve powered through and gotten the back pieced, using a mini charm pack that came with the original BOM, and the left over grey solids cut into 8.5″ squares. I ended up three stinkin’ squares short, so had a panicked sift through the pieces of print I had and managed to find three large enough to cut squares from, which in the end made for a lovely feature.

Our plans for a long weekend at the farm were cut short when the gentleman of the house contracted Man Flu, so this morning when he requested a Coles run in search of chicken soup ingredients, I might have accidentally fallen into the fabric shop. Next minute I have batting, some lovely aqua homespun that matches almost perfect and a roll of grey thread, which set me up for a productive day. The two middle kids wanted to do some baking, so while I hung with them, helping them as needed, I got the quilt basted, and while I watched the oven timer, got hooked into the quilting. And so, here we are, 3pm, and I have managed to baste, quilt and attach the binding. In a few hours. Who even am I to be this productive?

The theory was to get it all set up ready to stitch the binding down at quilt camp, but now I am looking at it and tempted to get hooked in straight away. It is, however, a long weekend, and with long weekends come challenges. There is a book I need to read, and a rainbow blanket I need to work on. My 365 journal needs some catch up, as does my morning stitches. But golly gosh it would be nice to have this quilt finished…patience is a virtue, however, and it will be nice to have some handwork to do at camp as we sit and chat.