I Don’t Draw

Let’s hit my highlights yet again:

The Earth:

I really really can not draw — I think my 5-year-old does better drawings of things and people than I do.

And I really don’t know Canadian geography.

Combine the two of those things, and you get a really oddly-shaped North America:

My husband said the left side looked like a sheep, but the rest was some other sort of blobby animal.

I think it’s good enough to get my idea across.  I’ll cut it down a bit when I cut it out of fabric, but the Earth is coming together!  The blue is already steam-a-seamed onto the quilt -YAY progress!

And as further evidence that I am DONE with dithering,

The Moon:

It is a crescent!  I changed its fabric to a bit lighter gray.  The fabric also has some shine to it — some silver metallic on parts.  I loved the other mottled gray, but it was too close in color to the rocket and I wanted them to differ some more.

The Rocket:

Finally, the rocket is striped!  And look, a cute little astronaut!

The Newest Conundrum: The Backing!

A good friend gave these 2 great rocket fabrics to the 1st taker.

Another good friend was the 1st taker, but the 1st taker so kindly gave them to me when I had this project in mind.  I’m going to give back to her the unused fabric.  But I don’t know which I want to use — the bright rockets?

or the Alexander Henry rockets?

Both work!  I think it is the job now of the 1st taker to tell me which fabric she likes best and she can have it back.  SO, 1st taker – I know you read this and you know who you are -  which fabric do you like best???

Et cetera:

I had some people over at the house this past weekend who came into my sewing room.  After being all astonished at the huge stash of fabric and wondering exactly how crazy I am, they turned to look at my quilt on the wall — it looked just like it did in the pictures from my last blog post.  The quilt seemed to me fairly self-explanatory, but apparently I was wrong.  I had to explain and point out the moon, the earth, the rocket.  And then I got big “OOOHHHHH, NOW I get it!” responses.  Huh.  It was a bit disheartening, but onward I go!

Decisions, Decisions

The background is all sewn together, and now I can’t avoid the big decisions any longer!

First, the Earth:

I have shaped it in such a way right now that I can use the fat quarter I like best for it.  It is not an even quarter of the Earth, but wider than it is tall.  I can’t decide if I’m okay with this or not.

Second, the Moon:

Ahhh, the Moon.  So many issues I’ve had with it.  My Mom thought I might like to put it in the corner just as I’ve put the Earth in the corner since the focus should be on the rocket ship, so that’s what I’ve mocked up.  I actually like it like this, but I also miss the idea of a crescent moon.

Third, the Rocket:

Just trying to choose the right fabric for it.  My Mom sent me some silvery-gray fabric as a possibility, as you see here:

And then I also have the striped rocket you see at the top of the post.

Ahhh, just not sure what to do! I think I might be leaning toward the stripes just because it has some more visual interest, but maybe I can use one of the fabrics as the body of the rocket, and the other as the fins (if I do them) and the cone.

Any opinions are welcome!  In the meantime, I’m going to continue putzing around and mocking up until I think I’ve found “it.”

And then there were nine-patches

Just a quick update — the nine-patches are sewn!

The moon right now is just a piece of paper.  I think it is too big still and I think I’ll choose a non-stark-white fabric for it.  My Mom suggests maybe I just do a quarter of a full moon in the top corner, just as I’m doing a quarter of the earth in the bottom corner.  Hmmmm…..  I’ll sew together the background to get a better idea of scale and maybe figure this out.

Back to Work

First, THANK YOU to everyone who offered their opinion on my moon dilemma!  After reading all the advice and also talking to my Mom (who helpfully said that my moon looked like a crescent roll), I am definitely ditching the pieced moon I completed.  I just don’t like it.  It is too fussy.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to applique a moon onto the background now, but I’ll of course test that out first before I do it.

At this point, the quilt hasn’t moved much further in terms of progress.  I had a little vacation and I had to do some sewing in prep for that, and I’ve been doing a tiny bit of part-time work which has been taking away my free time, and and and…

But I’m back at work on the quilt!  And none too soon since I have 3 baby boys who are all waiting for quilts right now, and this is just the 1st I need to do.

Two nights ago I cleaned my sewing room and found all the fabrics again as they had scattered everywhere in the intervening month, and then FINALLY last night I spent my time selecting and cutting all my fabric for the nine-patches.

Now I just need to get back to sewing – I can’t wait!