Finishing Funk

I seem to be in this funk for the past two weeks, since finishing Plumeria and Daisies.

Have you ever finished a project in such a frantic state, looking forward to its finish for a very long time? And then having a lonely feeling of being let down afterwards when you do finally finish it? It almost seems a bit of a grieving process. And maybe it has been, since Plumeria and Daisies is a hospice quilt. I meant it to be a comfort object to help my family remember Vai and grieve. There are no negative feelings, for me, associated with it...only hope and love and good wishes. I just wish that I'd finished it sooner, so that Vai could have enjoyed it longer before she passed.

Plumeria and Daisies occupied most of my thoughts and quite a bit of my life for the past five months. I guess I've felt kind of physically and emotionally exhausted.

Vai's funeral was last Thursday, a week ago today. I wasn't able to go, because hubby was on shift and I had to juggle the kiddies' schedules myself. I was told that the family displayed the quilt right next to Vai's casket during the viewing and service. Also, that many people commented about the quilt and that is was the perfect setting for her memorial. I'm so overjoyed and humbled, that my work, love, and creativity all worked together so well that other people could see Vai and her beautiful spirit represented so well in the quilt.

Maybe the finishing funk is partially due to not being able to attend the funeral, and have a bit more closure that way.

I have tried to push on, because I have other projects in a stack to finish.

Here's the little Lone Star...just need to whip-stitch the rest of the hanging sleeve onto the back, and whip-stitch my little name label to it. 

I read the "basic quilt making" info in one of  Quiltmaker Magazines, and learned something new: you can attach a hanging sleeve along with the binding. Line up raw edges together, center the sleeve on the back of the quilt, and baste into place. Then apply the binding. After the binding is all applied, whip-stitch the other three sides to the back of the quilt. Cool !  Now my hanging sleeves will be straight and have less puckers.

And here is me prepping the binding for the turn and securing, on the HST star quilt. Finally! I like to sew the binding to the front of the quilt, then press the binding out away from the quilt. It looks a bit more crisp, and the binding more easily turns to the back of the quilt, and the binding seems to be more snug to the quilt when it's pressed out--towards the binding. More pictures later!

I've bought and cut background fabrics for ModaLove projects.

And I've started another Plumeria appliqué.