Easily Distracted

 Sometimes I am super focused and get a lot done, and other times I'm easily distracted. I hate summer with a passion, so it tends to be my distracted time of year.

Distraction is why my design wall looks like this. The space baby quilt has the center sewn together, but I still haven't added the borders. I started laying out another baby quilt, but I need to move all of that over to actually have enough space to lay it out properly. The big hexagons are for the rally quilt. 

I've got everything cut out for the rally quilt, and I even have the blocks with smaller triangles sewn up. It just needs space on the design wall. 

I got the center of this big quilt sewn together, and I've chosen a border fabric. Once I get the border fabric cut this one goes in the quilt closet to wait its turn in the quilting queue. This quilt started out as Bonnie Hunter's Rhododendron Trail mystery quilt, but actually became two different quilts. The second quilt from the parts and pieces of that mystery isn't a top yet. The last mystery quilt I tried also turned into two different quilts.

I think the last mystery quilt I did completely by the directions was Allietare, and I made two of those! Even the murder mystery quilts I made changes to. 

I suppose some people might think not making the quilt per the directions is a failure, but I never look at mystery quilts that way. I never take any quilt pattern as Gospel, mystery quilt or not. In the end, it's my quilt, so if I want to add sashing, or eliminate sashing, change the borders, change the setting, that's my decision because it's my quilt. My rule for mystery quilts is that they come from stash, so I don't have a ton of money invested in them. When I'm not dropping a bunch of money on a project, I feel more free to ad lib the end result. The quilt above had solids from stash for background and sashing, and everything else is men's shirts. The border I chose is also from stash. 

I've already been thinking about this year's Bonnie mystery and whether or not I'll participate. I absolutely do not need another project, but that doesn't mean I won't join in. If I've made progress on the Christmas sewing front, I may just join in as a fun thing for myself. Last year I was feeling a bit behind, and I opted to not do the mystery. I was fine with that. Other years I've been drowning in deadlines, and did it anyway. I usually decide by whatever will be better for my mental health at the time. If my deadline projects are overwhelming me, doing a mystery quilt and using my deadline stuff as leader/enders can absolutely be the way to go. It may sound strange, but for me, the more I sew, the MORE I SEW. If I'm really busy on a project, I tend to get several other projects done too, just by using each project as a leader/ender for another. If I'm procrastinating and avoiding the sewing room, I don't get anything done. The blocks in the quilt above have been sewn for years, but assembling that baby quilt made me assemble this quilt too. Progress begets more progress. I've got time to decide, and we'll just see what I get done in the meantime.