Clean Sheet Day!
It was finally clean sheet day at my house (not quite the annual event this statement leads you to believe about changing sheets on the beds, but for some strange reason I can’t get anyone in my family to agree to change the sheets on a DAILY basis, so the weekly occurrence is still cause for celebration), and the anticipation of sliding between fresh, crisp clean sheets had me practically giddy! Ok – so I lead a simple life with small pleasures, but hey – take what you can get!
So….it got me to thinking about that similar giddy feeling I get when starting a new quilt project. Just like the fresh, crisp clean sheets, the thought of a new project – smooth fabric, waiting for the slice of the rotary blade, new fabric pairings made permanent under the smooth hum of the machine’s presser foot, the gentle hiss of steam from the iron as quarter inch seams are pressed flat, and the sight of a new creation taking shape and growing on the design wall – well, it’s enough to make any grown woman swoon.
Maybe that’s why I’m such a pattern junkie – anxiously searching the racks and stacks at shows, looking for that intriguing pattern that is going to take me to new frontiers. And maybe that is why I can’t resist (hey, who can) the lure of new shipments of fabrics. Getting to know the personalities of strange prints – how small can I cut this one before all sense of pattern or color is lost? If I cut it just so, will those florals become fans or feathers, that check look like the mesh of a screen? Much more interesting than that familiar fabric that has been staring at me from my stash (and some projects) for months (heck, who am I kidding – years!). And what about new rulers? Ah – a fresh perspective on cutting – promising, just like the shampoo ads, to make my life easier, my quilts more interesting, my piecing more accurate. So who’s to blame a gal for succumbing to the lure of the new – the fresh – the crisp?
Just like clean sheet day, it is a pleasure well anticipated. And yet….if every day were clean sheet day, then some of the thrill would be lost. Right? Right. So (with a tiny sigh of regret) it’s back to the stack of UFO’s, which grows every time I fall prey to “new quilt day”, to reacquaint myself with old friends – trusty patterns and fabrics that once were strangers, alluring in their newness – and finish a project to wrap up in so I can thumb through that new quilt book I just bought!
Tammy Silvers
Outside the Line Designs www.otldesigns.comTags: Tammy Silvers
About the Author: Tammy Silvers
I have been quilting since my dear sister-in-law drug me kicking and screaming into a quilt shop to take a class with her 18 years ago. Even though my first quilt was gag-a-rific, I caught the quilting bug and have been quilting away ever since. My best friend and business partner, Julia LaBauve (Outside the Lines Designs) and her "what if we....?" questions continue to spark many a design fire in me.
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