Portland Love Quilt - An Update

There's not much to update in this department. Work and packing has sucked out all of my creativity and left me with little time to even think about doing projects ever again. This past weekend I started packing away some of my supplies, so at this point, there's no thread around for me to sew anyway. I was surprised to look back and see that I actually did make some progress on the Portland Love quilt since I posted last. I don't remember exactly when I added those extra blocks, but the Portland Love Quilt is definitely taking shape. However, I still have a long way to go before it's anywhere near a usable size.

Not to worry though, I have other projects to keep my hands busy throughout August while my sewing machine is in storage. A year or two ago, I embarked on a joint project with my Mom to create a Cathedral Windows quilt. While visiting my parents one weekend, we went out and got all of the fabric, cut it into little squares, and had a planning session on how to make the 280 (or so) squares necessary for a Queen-sized cover. We both agreed to make a "sample" square that weekend to see if our individual hand sewing skills would be "compatible." And by "compatible" we meant "good enough" for our own individual high standards (I'm definitely my mother's daughter). Luckily we each passed and I went home excited to pump out squares in my spare time. Ha.

Anyway, this is my one and only square completed to date. My mom has totally blown me out of the water and has completed nearly has enough blocks for an entire quilt. I am looking forward to that August furlough, when I will have hours at a time to complete at least 3-8 more. It's going to be gorgeous when it's all finished. And I certainly can't demand joint-custody of the quilt if I don't put in a little more effort!

Portland Love Quilt

Did I ever mention that we live in a tiny studio apartment? Despite my moaning, most days the apartment is pretty darn charming. You know, days when everything is in it's proper place and J's soccer socks are freshly washed. Who am I kidding? That never happens. I occasionally contribute to the chaos when I get a wild hair and decide to start a new project. Last week I realized that it has been well over 2 years since I worked on a quilt for myself. While J was out at his weekend soccer game, I decided to do something about it.

Step 1: Think about how to execute the plan for around 3 seconds.
Step 2: Jump in head first and pile all possible supplies on our poor little kitchen table.
Step 3: Welcome back wild hair. Goodbye Ikea BJÖRKUDDEN, we'll see you in a few months.

When I finished my first quilt back in September 2005, I joked that it's honorary name was the "J-E Love Quilt." We needed a lot of love between the two of us to drown out all the cursing. Operating a 20-year-old sewing machine for the first time was challenging. So was sandwiching (what seemed like) billions of yards of fabric together without any lumps and bumps. Luckily our relationship survived the first quilt, and Jesse still decided to marry me. And since then, I have gotten a much better sewing machine and have completed two more quilts for other people. Through trial and error (lots of error) I figured out new tricks and took mental notes on what works best.

This weekend I pulled out my fabric stash, washed a few new colors, and started cutting. Last year, I really enjoyed making a patchwork style baby quilt for our friends Bret & Stephanie, so I'm going try it again. Only this time it will be sized for an adult. I'm so excited because a majority of the fabric so far has been scraps and leftovers from other projects. A scrap of Ava's quilt here, a dash of Lauren's quilt there, and a few bits from the J-E Love Quilt thrown in as well.

I guess I could call this one the "J-E Love Quilt 2.0," but this time around it's going to be about a different kind of love. Portland Love. I'm hoping it will serve as a good distraction in the limbo time between here and out there. Anything to occupy my mind while we're sending out resumes and waiting. Oh there's so much waiting!

And maybe, just maybe, by the time it needs a binding, I'll be stitching from the Pacific Northwest.