Call Me Crazy with Lori Holt
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Welcome to day 4 of the Call Me Crazy Sew It – Show It Challenge hosted by the lovely Joan from MooseStashQuilting!
Today is my day to share some craziness with you… and the project I am sharing really is driving me crazy!!!
At the beginning of the year I treated myself to a birthday present… this gorgeous kit from Lori Holt:
I absolutely adore it…. and I thought, what a beautiful project to start the year with!
Well, my year went a little bit off track after I got the kit in the mail…. I did at least unpack the kit… and look at the instructions… and gazed in awe at the instructions to cut all the pieces out for the quilt in one go…. (this was in March…so a few months after my end of January birthday)…
I thought it looked like a whole lot of work and so I decided to put off the decision of whether to cut first, or to cut as I made each block, until another day….
I didn’t pick up this project again until last month when I went on my little trip to Judy’s….
I had just finished my first time of cutting out an entire quilt… for the Bee Vintage Sew Along that I erroneously thought I could actually keep up with, haha! It took me a full 6 hours to cut Bee Vintage out….. including the interfacing to go along with the applique shapes.
I thought six hours was a long time.. but decided it would be handy later on when I didn’t have to do it for each block. So… I thought I might as well do the same with my lovely birthday quilt ~ Calico Garden~….
6 hours later I was going a little crazy…….
Bee Vintage has 4 1/2 pages of cutting instructions.
Calico Garden has 9….
It took me 6 hours to cut out all 4 1/2 pages of Bee Vintage.
It took me 6 hours to cut one and a half pages of Calico Garden!!!
I think I told the Fairy I was going insane…. and promptly packed up the rest of the kit back in the box. My shoulders were killing me and my head was spinning.
One thing I know, this is going to be some quilt!!!!
Those one and a half pages of cutting has got me a bunch of labeled zippy bags with bits of fabric and interfacing:
But now I am at the stage where I still have 7 1/2 pages of cutting instructions… which, at the rate I did the first page and a half, is going to take me…….. a heck of a long time!!!!
I need some advice – do I hang in there and spend hours and hours and hours cutting? Or do I just start on the blocks and cut as I go….
You know what the craziest part of all of this is?
Lori has another Sewalong starting in September called “Home Town“…. and call me crazy, but I really, really want to join in…. in fact I already bought the Sew Simple Shapes….. !!!!!
But never fear, I still intend on finishing my Birthday quilt… and I know one thing – if I ever do get it finished, it’d better become a family heirloom handed down through the generations… or if no one appreciates it, they’d better bury me with it! I do hope in the end all this crazy is worth it!
Thank you Joan for hosting this fun blog hop, and thank you all for visiting!
Please go and see the other crazy projects my blog friends are sharing today:
Oh Joy, I can soooooo relate to this. I am deep into the Call Me Crazy pattern from Sentimental Stitches. Just a block a week for 54 weeks. Well, it takes at least two hours of deep concentration to make just one 6-1/2″ block! I knew better. I am so mad at myself but I will get it finished this year, I hope. Can you possibly pick out a few blocks in which you already have the fabric cut for and make those? Surely you have cut enough fabric for that. It might help to see some actual blocks made. Good look with that and thanks for the tip on Lori’s patterns. I know that wouldn’t be for me. LOL
Wow, all that cutting would drive me crazy too! If I were you, I would make a few blocks that you already have cut (or finish the cutting for a few blocks and make them up). That way you have made some progress. I have never done a Lori Holt quilt, but I tend to cut out one block at a time unless several are the same pattern. Thanks for sharing! Hope I get to see the finished product. 🙂
Ok, I know I shouldn’t laugh, but I about shot coffee out my nose when I read the part that it better become a family heirloom passed down for years to come. I so feel your pain girlfriend. I have cut out entire quilts before only to find that when I got to my retreat, I didn’t have all the pieces and of course I didn’t bring extra fabric with me. Why do that? Oh and I would love to say, I have never got caught up in buying more even though I haven’t done the ones I have already. LOL!! It’s all part of our “Crazy” love of quilting.
Holy, moly! The kit came packaged so lovely. I’ve often thought that Lori’s quilts are just the cutest but I can now see how your head was spinning and you were a bit crazy! Soldier on, though. I’m sure it’ll be gorgeous when you have it finished.
I think all that cutting would drive me crazy too! Good luck!
Wow! That is a big project. Here’s hoping you can get it done.
I’m not sure if I’m impressed with your perseverance in spending that much time cutting, or if I question your sanity. 😂 Being on the ADHD side of things, I veer toward needing a change of activity fairly frequently, so I’d vote for cutting as you go. I can’t wait to see your finished project.
Oh yes, I have done patterns like this as well. One took me several hours labeling the fabrics. There were 50 plus of them and only descriptions and yardage counts for them. The pattern had a diagram with numbers so I had to match the fabric with the diagram. In the end all worked out, but it was somewhat like a 1,000 piece puzzle. Like you I had all in baggies with the info on them.
Does look like you got into a very tedious project. I’m sure the ending result will be worth it.
Oh, my, you brave woman! I NEVER cut out a whole quilt at once. I can’t stand it. I have to do it one or a few blocks at a time. What if I cut it all out and then don’t like it? What if I spend all that time, and then want to make it smaller? What if I lose interest and give all that work to someone else? I’ve done ALL those things in the early years! Scrappy gives permission NOT to cut a whole quilt out, and why wouldn’t I grab that idea and run with it? LOL
I expect whatever you decide, you will finish it, but … slow down before you fall off a cliff of UFOs. LOL The quilt is going to be beautiful, however you do it, I’m sure. En-JOY them all.
Cutting sure drives me crazy! I have not personally done a quilt kit, so I really have no say on the best method. I cannot image cutting everything up before sewing. Great work so far and good luck!
That’s a lot of cutting…. I wouild cut all the pieces if possible if I know the colours…. but otherwise if I am choosing I cut as I go along so I can see where I wan’t particular colours…
Hugz
I have never cut a whole quilt out at once . A block at a time works better for me.
What a beautiful birthday present to yourself!!!! Can’t wait to see it grow!
Oh my – good luck!! It’s going to be a beautiful quilt but way out of my league.
I do love this quilt Joy and hope you persevere with it even though it drives you crazy!! To be kind to yourself I think you should sew up a block before you do any more cutting – you will see how beautiful it is and then you will be inspired to cut more. I’m sure Someone in your family will love the quilt…!
Wow, what a project!!! It’s going to be spectacular! I would think cutting it all out ahead of time would save confusion later, and make the sewing go smoother. But maybe do it in a few increments every day, until it’s done. Just my two cents!
Good luck with it all. I’m still having trouble commenting & also seeing your blog on old laptop. On PC at the moment so, hope this comment will appear. Will ring very late this afternoon hopefully. Take care & hugs.
Oh yes, lots of craziness!
Take it slow and do one step at a time … eventually it’ll get done! And enjoy it for YOU!!!
Happy Quilting!
I have a couple of quilts like that I have never started because I’m terrified of all the cutting…… Well done you…….’star’