I'm home alone today: Pearl is visiting the groomer. While there's something pleasant about not being followed constantly from room-to-room, I've also realized that aside from unconditional love and comic relief, dogs have another important function: they make their owners seem less crazy. In my case, I find that even though no one else is around, I'm still commenting OUT LOUD about things I'm doing: "It's time for just a little cup of coffee" I say jovially as I sashay toward the kitchen, or "I wonder what the mailman has brought us today" when I'm bored with my work and need a distraction or "That Nora Ephron is something else" after reading a profile in The New Yorker over lunch.
Talking to oneself is bad enough, but I realize I often employ some amusing little accent (well, amusing to me...and to Pearl) when I'm providing this blow-by-blow commentary on my scintillating life. It's probably marginally weird to talk to one's dog like this...but I'm guessing it's beyond marginal to talk to oneself like this. Don't tell!!
Okay, now here's what I really need help with. I made the blocks for this quilt back in early June—the last time I sewed! The pattern is Ingrid Barlow's Boxed Blessings, which I bought in Madison, Wisc. during my quilter's equivalent of being a locavore (I bought patterns by local designers). Barlow made the pattern with more solids, whereas I decided I'd be a stash-buster and use a bunch of Heather Bailey half yards I'd purchased a year or two ago. I added an orange polka dot and a wonderful stripe that incorporates all the colors perfectly. The problem in June was, the blocks all seemed to fade into one another (bottom photo). So I added striped sashing (top photos) and planned to bind it with the same stripe. I wasn't going to add a border, but now I'm not sure whether a plain fabric border might be just the thing to calm it down. Or perhaps I should take this as a lesson learned about combining multiple prints without the relief of a solid and just let it go.
Any suggestions/comments/advice? I'd love to hear from you!
3 comments:
I talk to myself when no one is around, and I say the weirdest things, too. Just random stream of consciousness, often with sudden bursts of excitement, and occasionally in a strange accent. I've done this for many years, and since having a dog I'm not sure if I feel any better about it.
Throughout the years, I've stopped myself after saying something particularly goofy and asked "What is wrong with you? Are you crazy?". Now, with a dog always close by, I just imagine her thinking that. Not sure if that makes me feel less crazy, it just makes me feel bad for the dog having to witness my weirdness.
Better her than another human, I guess. The thought of someone else witnessing my crazy-talk is horrifying.
Hey there, Linzee - I was checking out some other blogs and remembered yours... how funny to see myself from the other side of a sewing machine! And that crazy hair curl - where DID that come from? I love your new quilt, just as it is! I wouldn't change a thing. I LOVE the crazy zing of color in the stripe box borders. More might just be more stuff and a distraction. Got more fabric in London & Paris and got to see the Tour de France finish in Barcelona - then watching the running of the bulls from a very safe balcony in Pamplona. Taking it easy now - whew! Good to see your work - keep in stitchin'
I agree that a border might be too much of a good thing but perhaps a solid color for the binding? Something that's on the darker end of the quilt's color palette? Would be a nice narrow "frame" for the fabulous artwork within.
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