Not All About Me!

I'm going to start this post with a story....

 Recently six of us were having dinner at the home of some close friends. We had all started the evening with some pre-dinner Prosecco and by the time dinner was served the others had all moved on to regular red or white wine, whereas I still finishing off my Prosecco. (I know, not like me to be taking my time!) As we sat at the table our host was topping everyone else’s glasses up and asked me would I like some more Prosecco. Now, I was really looking forward to changing to a glass of white wine and probably should have said “No Thank you, but I’d love a glass of that Sauvignon Blanc please”. Instead, having noticed that he had emptied the previous bottle of Prosecco I said “Oh no, don’t open another bottle just for me”, to which our host replied “It’s not all about you, you know Gina, other people might want some.” And that was me put in my place!

To be fair, I don’t think he meant anything by it and was (I hope) just jesting, and I probably wouldn’t have even mentioned it except it leads me neatly to the point of this post.  And that is not all my sixty by sixty challenges are all about me having exciting new experiences or going to new places etc. but they also include doing things for other people. The whole idea of setting myself this challenge was not so much a "Bucket List" but was more about seizing the moment so that instead of  all those times I would say “I’d like to do that one day” or “I’ll get around to that soon” I would actually do things. Because the older I get the more I realise that there is no time like the present and there is no point putting things off because let’s face it… life is short and none of us know what is in store for our future.

Something I’ve often thought I would like to do is make a patchwork quilt. Now I have tried… I've got the books and I have started at least two which are still languishing in my workroom somewhere but somehow I never seem to get around to finishing them. I get bored stitching all those pieces of fabric together, then I lose concentration and the pieces end up wonky or not aligned properly and my corners never match, I get frustrated and the project gets abandoned. I've completed some table mats and even some cushions but never a big quilt... actually not entirely true as I did this huge memory quilt but it didn't involve any accurate piecing so I don't feel it counts!

Of course the sensible thing would be to finish off those half finished quilts but I thought I might have more success if I started from scratch and made a quilt for someone else so when I heard about Project Linus a charity that provide quilts and blankets for sick, disabled and disadvantaged children, I knew this would give me the incentive to make and finish a quilt.

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I used some fabrics I bought in a charity sale at our Embroiderers’ Guild branch plus some bits and pieces I already had. I dug out my rotary cutter and walking foot... (see, I've got all the gear!)

And hey presto...three weeks later I have a quilt! There are wonky bits and corners that don’t match (below) … but there are also some corners that are really good (above)! And although I’m not terribly sure I liked the colours  (they've grown on me) and wished I’d been a bit more adventurous with the design I’m quite pleased with the way it’s turned out

It's soft and warm...

And pretty!

And I've ticked off another sixty by sixty challenge to make a quilt for Project Linus

And even though I did get a bit bored stitching all those squares together I think I'd like to make another one and be a bit more adventerous with the design and colours... so with that in mind I bought some fabrics when I was at the Knitting and Stitching show yesterday only to find my colour palette is pretty much the same as the last one! Oh well... perhaps I should just aim to get all the corners matching next time.

But at the end of the day it’s not all about me and I’m hoping that there is a little person somewhere who will come to love their very own quilt… because it was certainly made with lots of love. And what's more,  I enjoyed myself in the process.