What's next for our herione, the Philistine?

Finishing my prelim exams has been such a tremendous weight off my mind, but I am now finding myself floundering a bit, asking myself, 'What next? What do I do with myself now that it isn't an absolute necessity for me to study for my exams 10 hours a day?' I'm finding it amazingly difficult to transition into the next big project: the dissertation. I'm finding it especially difficult to transition into the dissertation with the onset of spring. It just doesn't seem right to delve into this next huge undertaking at the *end* of the school year. Not... quite... yet...


Now that I've gained a bit of freedom and breathing room from my studies, I've finally taken the opportunity to expand my crafty horizons. I have been dreaming about quilting for a long, long while now. Mostly after having seen this beauty. (Ah, Maritza, my crafty muse). But it has always seemed like one of those big transitions, from knitting to quilting. I've still only recently become okay at knitting, and I haven't even knit any big lace thing yet (though, that, too, is on the horizon...)--quilting has just always seemed a bit too complicated to get involved with. I mean, you need a whole different set of tools, which I don't have. You need fabric, which I know nothing about and don't have. You need to have a clue about how to sew, which I don't have. And you need time and patience, which I haven't had much of... until recently.


But once I get something into my head, there's no stopping me, really. I have certainly discovered the lure of fabric. All it took was spending a little time on the internets surfing around the fabric stores and I was hit with massive amounts of quilty inspiration. Let's just say that finding fabric I liked was about as hard as finding sock yarn I like. Amy Butler polka dots and wall flowers, Alexander Henry birds and paper cranes... the list goes on. My fear of not being inspired by fabrics like I am yarn was utterly unfounded. It didn't take me long at all to discover *exactly* which prints and designers I like most. And once I started thinking about quilting combinations, there was no stopping me.


And so dreaming up ideas for quilts has replaced knitting single socks lately. And dream up quilts I have. What has transpired in this week away from knitting is that I have planned out no less than four quilts that I want to make. F O U R. The fabric combinations above and below are the beginnings of two of them. Above is the Birds and Gnomes Quilt-to-Be and below is the Colorful Chocolate Quilt-to-Be. I am very excited about both.


This one will have more fabrics added in, but I am trying to take this fabric acquisition thing slowly. Trying, anyway. But these two quilts are all planned out and I am ready to start. Now I just need that sewing machine and all those fun quilting tools. Oh, and some books to tell me how to do it. These all seem like minor details to me, though, because, for once, I have a little bit of time for myself and a lot of inspiration, so this quilting thing might finally happen.

Stay tuned... this blog might just become the Knitting and Quilting Philistine.

Also, the single socks will recommence on April 1, with the Project Spectrum color change to E A R T H.