Episode 160: The Onto the Next Thing Episode

Welcome to this archive episode of the Off-Kilter Quilt Podcast (Where a Straight Line’s a State of Mind). My name is Frances, and I’m your hostess.

Download this episode (right click and save)


inthegarden1 Above: The In the Garden quilt–a BOM quilt I started several years ago. Two more blocks to go! Ideas about sashing? Btw, the blocks are not arranged in any particular way yet, so don’t worry if you think it looks sort of awful the way the blocks are now.

Below: The first draft of the quilt I’m making for my friend Sarah (who I think is mad at me, but maybe the quilt will make everything okay):

sarahstop1 I thought the quilt looked kind of boring, so I made two very cool strips of half-square triangles alternated with gray squares, one for the top, one for the bottom, each one about three inches in, if that makes sense. You’ll see when I show you the finished quilt.

Books I’ve read or am reading:

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. Maybe not her best, but still pretty good. As my friend Barbara says, check it out from the library, don’t buy it.

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy. I highly recommend this (I checked it out, but you won’t feel ripped off if you buy it).

The Essential Ellen Willis. This is a collection of essays by the rock critic Ellen Willis, who died in 2011. Some of the essays are about music, others are about feminism, art, culture, etc. Very smart and enjoyable.

Need help piecing batting together? I liked this:

http://www.rebelcraftmedia.com/2015/02/how-to-piece-batting/

See you soon!

15 Replies to “Episode 160: The Onto the Next Thing Episode”

  1. here’s one of the problems with commenting–i feel like we’re having a conversation when i’m listening to your podcast, but i only want to comment on one thing but it feels rude to just jump in the middle of our conversation–obviously this is all in my head–so anyways–just jumping in–binding: i hope you get to practice the method where you put the ends at right angles to each other (what’s that called? it’s not mitering–but that’s the method to miter–hmmmm) –after doing it a few times–it’s so easy and effective–you don’t get that little bump (by butting straight ends together) –i’m a really lazy quilter and i don’t do hard things because it’s better–but i do this because it’s both easy and better. i wish i could show you in person! 🙂

  2. This is going to be a long comment, and I haven’t even listened to you yet. But I have to tell someone: I got tricked into reading a zombie novel. This is what audible said about ‘The Girl With All the Gifts’:

    Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her “our little genius”. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh. Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

    Does that scream zombie novel to you? I was 1/3 of the way into the story before I figured it out. UGH! But it got 4.3 stars, so I’m going to finish it.

  3. Your friend’s quilt is great. An orange and blue complimentary color scheme that doesn’t scream Denver Broncos at me is nice. When you said HST strips on top and bottom, my mind went to a muddy shade of yellow as your color choice. What color(s) are you using?

  4. How could anyone stay mad at you?

    I bet your friend is super stressed from being the perfect mom, having the perfect kids, keeping the perfect house, and trying to look like all that perfection comes naturally. It must be exhausting!

  5. Hi again. I Sympathize with your friend problem. I (for what it’s worth)Think it’s a matter of maturity and self confidence. Being older, you’re wiser and have learned what matters to you and accept yourself. She still thinks that we should all agree.

    I hate to sound negative but if you give her a quilt, will it put pressure on her to reciprocate? (Work against her self esteem?). Only you know. Tami

  6. I have to say that I am with you on the Spring thing. Who died and made spring start on March 20? My aunt’s birthday is March 21 and she is a gardener, so whenever I would call her for her birthday, we would talk gardening. Now, it just isn’t right. It was also easy to remember the two events.

    Re: your quilt series. Don’t compromise if the terms are not right for you. Writing is your profession. You are not doing it for fun. Stick to your guns. Another publisher will want to publish a book that has good characters and plot and isn’t sappy. Even your current publisher might like it.

    I understand the frustration with your friend. Whenever I have a conflict with someone, I tell myself that it could be that his/her mother/spouse/dog just died and they were having a really bad day. I think you should call her up and talk to her about the activity. You can say “I was shocked at your email and wanted to make sure we are on the same page. This activity doesn’t work for Will and it has nothing to do with the choices you are making for your family. Will needs some time to do X at home. I hope little Johnny (her child) will do the activity and things might change for Will later” Don’t let this hang between you.
    More later.

  7. Back to my usual commenting before listening. Your friend (?) quilt is just gorgeous and I can imagine borders of HST in the same colors looking great. It should be really fun to quilt. I think white sashing would set your blocks off. Maybe with a colored cornerstone block. I think Laura must be right about the friend.

  8. Friends are fun, right ??!! I never cease to be amazed at what people will put in E-Mail. You are right to not judge your insides by someone else’s outsides, pudding mold and all.

    Ghettoside sounds very interesting; I just got on the list for it at the library. Back in the 1980s, I clerked for two years at the Public Defender’s Office in the Death Penalty Division in our state; it was eye-opening about what happens in our cities.

    Love, Torie

  9. Love the Sarah Quilt! So modern, Did you make up the pattern? I can’t wait to see it all finished, I bet you will do some awesome quilting in it. (No pressure)

  10. I’m sorry to hear about the friend issue. I love that you defend you and your family’s need to just chill. I am someone who needs that. I don’t want to be on the go constantly. I love to be at home, relaxing, putzing, and sewing. I don’t need to go anywhere or do anything to be perfectly content. I hope that this friend can respect your needs in the future. The quilt that you are making for her is very nice, I hope she recognizes the work that you put into it for her.

  11. I don’t know if you’ve made a decision about the sashing, but what about black or a deep navy or green to go with the garden theme. If you have scraps of the colors left, you could either use them for corner stones, or make the sashing a 3 strip sashing with the dark sandwiching a scrappy strip of the colored fabrics. There usually isn’t that much fabric left over from BOMs, so I don’t know if that is doable.

  12. Hi Frances! It is so good to finally get back to my quilty podcasts after a hiatus from my sewing machine. Thanks so much for sharing all the ups and downs. Hope you get things worked out with this friend. Also don’t take things personally just try to accept that maybe she is going through something right now that has absolutely nothing to do with you. And if she isn’t able to come back to you and realize what a good person you are and mother and just accept that you have different opinions then she doesn’t really deserve to have you as a friend. I think it is great that you are trying to make her a quilt and I hope it works out to bring you two closer. It is very frustrating when relationships don’t go to the level you want them. But friendships have ups and downs and long meaningful friendships also have phases. Sometimes you may be in the same ‘place’ in a time of your life, age difference or not and others it will be you need distance. But just don’t give up, giver her space. I am sure you have heard all this before or above! And hey just go talk to her. If not to confront her then to say hi, I am still here and I still like you and want to be your friend. However literally or figuratively you want to take me.

    All the best Frances, I just discovered your other podcast. My sis who teaches creative writing to kids I am sure will love it. I will try to listen to it.
    Cool!

    Jodie

Leave a Reply to Jaye Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.