Thursday, September 30, 2010

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

Do you ever have one of those nights when some stupid little thing gets on your mind and you can't sleep? Monday night I woke up at 4 am and starting "fretting" about how I would ever get the quilt and wall-hanging finished complete with the prairie points requested by the customer! I had told her I wouldn't do the points and she agreed, then last week called and asked if I would please put them on the quilts. I said I'd think about it.

So. . . in the middle of the night I was trying to figure if I had enough fabric left to make that many points, how big were the squares supposed to be 4" or 3.5", how do I get them to attach properly around the corners, etc. etc. etc.!! Finally at 5:30 I got up, came in the office, played a little spider and free-cell, read a book - all in an attempt to get the quilt off my mind. At 6:30 I went back to bed and slept until 9 am!

The problem didn't seem nearly so bad by then and I decided to tackle the project! Always please the customer, right?!? Spent many hours Tuesday and Wednesday completing the wall-hanging. First job was to measure fabric and count, and count, and count several times to make sure how many squares I needed - which I determined to be 180. Good! I had enough to make about 200. Here are some pictures.

Step 1: Cut 180 4"squares. My cutting skills improved considerably during this tedious process. Then I had to fold corner-to-corner and press each square into these triangles.

Steps 2,3,4: Cut and "square" the top - notice the batting and backing are tucked under. Then I had to cut the back piece 1.5 inches bigger than the top, and then cut the batting .5 inch bigger than the top. Got all that? Yes, very tedious and tiring and stressful! Thinking all the time that one small slip of the rotary cutter could ruin the entire quilt!

Steps 4,5,6: (no pic) Pin each triangle to the quilt edge with the back tucked under and out of the way. Sew the triangles to the top fabric. Bring the back fabric out, fold under, pin to the top, and hand-stitch in place. Again much tedious work. I had to take many breaks in all these processes - to relax my back and my mind.

VOILA!! THE FINISHED WALL-HANGING!

Now to repeat the process to complete a large queen-sized quilt!! Wish me luck! Only one slip of the rotary cutter . . .!

Now what causes your sleepless nights?

7 comments:

Ann said...

My sleepless nights are caused when Mike kicks me to let me know I'm snoring. That wakes me up and I can't go back to sleep 'cause I'm afraid of "snoring" some more. (Am not sure it's true - I've never heard it.) :-)

rk2 said...

I start coughing at night which wakes me up. Then I start thinking about all kinds of stuff for the next day or the next month. Sometimes I wonder if I should just get up but then I drift back to sleep after 45 minutes to an hour and then when the alarm goes off I can barely get out of bed!

Eric - Retta said...

My cell phone ringing with a call from work, usually 2 ~3 times a night between 11:00pm and 3:00am.

Mim said...

It blows my mind how you can get those points attached so meticulously. I'm impressed! Did you do the log cabin centers also?
Is it a particular cabin with sentimental interest?

Alice said...

The quilt is beautiful. I don't know how you do it. I would stay awake all night wondering how I would even start such a project.
You are so talented.
When I wake up and can't go back to sleep, I mostly fret that I can't sleep. Then when it's time to get up I could sleep for hours.

Ada said...

Glad to know I'm not the only one with sleep problems. Mim, the log cabin squares were made by Marilyn Stauter - our best customer. I will be anxious to show this finished one to the quilters at Sunrise Manor, I think they'll like it.

Mim said...

I suppose I will always remember the dear one hundred year old blind lady at the Fairbury AC Home. When we lived in Chenoa, some of the Gridley ladies volunteered at the home to do little extras for the residents. I remember writing letters for this lady, whose name has long escaped me. She once commented that when she can't sleep at night, she thinks pleasant thoughts and asks the Lord to help her sleep when He is ready. Of course, she didn't have a tedious project to do in the morning, but even so her words are remembered forty-five years later.