Friday, February 22, 2013

Waiting for the Storm

We had a storm warning, it was not been as bad as initially forecast, so far. We had about 4" of snow last night and more is expected. The sound of the wind howling, keening, singing and sighing through the grain elevators about 1/2 block from my house is one I will forever associate with my stay in South Dakota. My home in Hawaii is in a very windy area so I am used to wind noises, (not that there is any comparison in temperatures of course) but I do like the extra, slightly eerie dimension the elevators contribute.

I can't help thinking about the homesteading pioneers in South Dakota. No tee-vee machine, interwebz or radio, living in a shack built out of sod if they were lucky or an uninsulated wooden shack if they were not. What a hard life they had and how comparatively easy we have things today. How lonely those bitter winters must have been. They were a hardy breed as were their children, the generation that is almost gone now.

The other day I read a blog post written in May of 2010 about
"... quilting blogs where we don’t just show finishes or occasionally confess about our moments of indecision, but chat openly and often about our works in progress, our inspirations, and our moments of decision."
This struck a chord with me and reading further I saw that over 850 quilt bloggers had signed up and linked to it. I was quite surprised because I do not recall ever seeing that particular button on any of the many blogs I visit. On the other hand it is quite old so maybe it was a passing fad, but it made a lot of sense.



This brings me to the batik windmill blocks I had made. I saw the project as a wall-hanging or very small lap quilt in an old magazine of Lori's and it caught my fancy as such things are wont to do. After making three of them I knew I didn't want to do another 27 for an entire quilt.

They are an odd size, about 13" because I put narrow sashing and a cornerstone in the middle. I did that because I just did not like the way the block looked with the fairly ugly and very mismatched "bought in a moment of madness bargain bundle of batiks" I decided to use. What to do? Waste not want not and all that. This is a moment of indecision if there ever was one...

I have some thoughts, mainly in the direction of a row or horizontal strippy quilt. This might (partially) solve my butterfly moments problem. What do you think? If I do go that route, what should I choose for my next row?

Y'all come back!

2 comments:

  1. It was quite the over-hyped snowstorm wasn't it? We got about 6" or so here, and very little wind. More snow is forecast for Sunday so there's a chance for a little more. Some might say this is evil, but I'm still hoping for that really big blizzard that shuts things down for a couple days...but I want the electricity to stay on so I can sew, watch movies and play on the computer. :)

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  2. Henrietta,
    I am not sure what you should do with the blocks, but I too had an impulse moment of buying some pretty ugly batiks. I kept them for 3 years before I decided to do my experiment in cutting the fabric into small enough pieces to make it seem beautiful. Funny thing is that I have been gifting my siblings with quilts for their 60th birthdays, and mine is the next one. I decided that the experiment is my gift to myself. My next sister is not happy because she was sure she would get that prize. lol

    I live in the country not far from Sioux Falls, but just about where they seem to close the interstates for bad weather. The wind is something that I love to hear except when it takes ont the high pitched whistling, and I love to see what the wind does to sculpt the snow. But my most favorite site is the Hoars Frost. That fascinates me to now end.

    Hope you come up with something clever for your blocks. I find them to be very interesting to view. Keep us posted.

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