Well, it's official: I'm a quilter!  This spring I have been prolific in sewing, if not orderly in blogging about it.  For the record, here are the quilts I worked on in March/April of 2021, in the order that I worked on them.  I will come back and add links as I blog them:

1. The Meadow Quilt is a long-term project I've been working on, forgetting about, then revisiting for years.  I picked it up again in March 2021, when I read the book Finish by Jon Acuff and decided to finish the blooming thing!  Then I got distracted by other, fun and exciting projects, so I still haven't finished the blooming thing.  I am doing the quilting for this one on my home machine Boudica. 
2. The Organized Chaos quilt for my niece was a kit, which I made with help and instruction from my friend Rosanne.  In particular, I learned about cutting with the rotary cutter, squaring off, and strip piecing.  I sent it to a professional long-armer for quilting. 
3. Flush with accomplishment, I conceived and started drawing an original quilt idea, a Dandelion quilt.  But I didn't have confidence in my ability to translate picture into pattern, or to do the math and figure out yardage, so it remained an idea. 
4. A "Simple Illusions" quilt was next, based on this pattern by Pleasant Valley Creations. 
5. Then a rather dorky utility quilt, which I put together mostly out of boredom, and to experiment with setting blocks on point. 
6. Then I started the Dandelion quilt, using math and pattern skills I had developed while working on the Simple Illusions pattern. 
7. Concurrently with the Dandelion quilt, which is a thinky project, I also started the string piecing quilt I dubbed Pick-Up Sticks/Acid Trip.  It is not a thinky project, so it's a nice alternative when I don't have the energy for the Dandelion quilt. 
   

Some people get bitten by the quilting bug; I came down with a quilting virus, which lay dormant in my system for years, flaring up occasionally, but never overcoming my garment-sewing resistance.  I had enough quilting projects to justify a tag, but I didn't call myself a quilter. 

No more!  Just as viruses awaken when resistance is low, so my quilting virus awoke as I lost motivation to sew other things.  Since June 2020, I have been happily working at a job which requires me to wear boring clothes.  What's the fun in spending my days-off sewing a silk dress or pair of jodpurs, only to deck myself in polyester matte jersey pants and a tee shirt for my work week?  If I never get to wear the fun stuff, why sew it?  But quilts are useful always, and make great gifts...

* Karen opens door.  It creaks, and a bit of dust swirls around her feet.  Karen peeks in. *

I haven't been here in a while.  2020 has been an interesting year for everyone.  When the USA went under stay-at-home orders to try to stem the spread of Coronavirus, I spent a few months at home, sewing and relaxing and getting a much needed vacation.  I blogged a bit, then, since I had new projects to share.  But then I got a new job, and though I've been sewing, I haven't been blogging about it.  There are two reasons for that. 

My silence can be partly explained by my increasing sewing skill.  There was a time when I could make a whole blog post about a hem, but now I barely take pictures, and I find the write-up boring.  When I was a beginner, I found plenty to interest me in talking about the basics.  Now I'm more intermediate, I do the basics without thinking, and so I need to rethink how I approach my project diaries.  For instance, I've really enjoyed sewing new shirts for my brother and sister, but not blogging about them.  I've really enjoyed blogging about the Basque project because it's new territory, and I've got a lot to learn and a lot to say. 

Another reason for my silence here is that there's so much going on in my world, my mind, and my heart that I can't focus to write.  I feel like I'm swept away in deep water, and I need to keep my nose above the swells.  Later, when the waters shallow out, I can perhaps write about the parts of the experience that make sense to me.  (Or maybe, as my sister reminds me when I'm months overdue in replying to her letters, I need to just write something and let go of the need to encapsulate my whole life experience in one place!  The word "essay" means "attempt" or "trial", not "success" or "perfection", after all!)

Anyway, here I am again, to update the Victorian Basque project.  To recap: I have a cool antique bodice, circa 1880's; I copied the pattern by drafting and by draping.  Assembly being complicated, I broke it down into six steps:

1. cut out fabric pieces
2. make trim
3. make sleeves
4. sew bodice together
5. finish bodice Seam Allowances and add boning
6. attach sleeves to bodice

I blogged last time about the first three steps.  This post will detail steps four through six. 

So to recap: I have a cool antique bodice, circa 1880's; I copied the pattern by drafting and by draping.  Now I'm ready to sew! 

Since the project is complex, (I took over a hundred photos), I'll streamline the blogging of it by going topically and splitting it into a few posts.  The order of construction is as follows (with much stopping, pinning to the dressform, drinking tea, and so on):

1. cut out fabric pieces
2. make trim
3. make sleeves
4. sew bodice together
5. finish bodice Seam Allowances and add boning
6. attach sleeves to bodice

This post will be the first three steps.  The next three steps will be a later post.

It took me about two days to develop a pattern for the bodice of this basque.  I wanted it to have the style lines of the reference piece, but to fit my modern, uncorseted body.  (Corsets are cool and all, but I'm working on my posture and don't want to wear something daily that replaces back muscles.)  Today, I pattern sleeves.