The aftermath of a quilt (or what to do with yourself after the project is finished)

Well, Road to California is finally done and other than showing it off to my friends here in Pennsylvania, there is nothing more to do but pack it up and take it with us down the road to California this weekend. As is my usual practice, the closer I got to the end of the quilt, the more fanatic I got about finishing it. As my dear husband said to my California daughter (the recipient of the quilt) when asked what we were doing this (past) weekend, "Well, your mother is working on the quilt, working on the quilt, and oh yeah, working on the quilt." In my own defense, I did clean the house this weekend as well.

After every quilt project (but especially after the BIG ones), there is a period of hiatus, almost of letdown, as I re-adjust to normal living. Not only is time now freed up for other things (like laundry), my mind is freed as well. While I love (almost) every minute that I spend working on a quilt, there is a feeling of relief and freedom when a project is over. No longer do I have to rush home from work, do the necessary household things (like feed the cats) and get right to the quilting. I can take time to read the paper, watch a movie, or now that the weather is nicer, sit on my porch and watch the world go by.

Of course, I am already thinking about the next quilt. This was such a huge project that I think it is time to do a few smaller ones before I attack the next wedding quilt which will be for my third "daughter," our neighbor while the girls were growing up, Artemis. The next quilt will be a baby quilt for my new great nephew Robert Dean Mitchum III, now about 4 months old and fondly (and shortly) called Dean. The pattern is cross stitched alphabet letters (which daughter Becky is busily working on) with a center block we are tentatively calling ROCK STAR MONKEY after the pattern of the nursery. The center block is still in the jello phase (not quite gelled yet) so during this downtime, I will be thinking about that.

After Rock Star Monkey, I will be doing a reprise of the sunflowers in a baby quilt for my new grand niece, Emily Elizabeth Allmendinger-Goertz. I have some gorgeous Legacy Collection sunflower fabric on blue that looks like Van Gogh. I have asked what the nursery looks like but I am getting no response. They must be too busy with the new baby so I will just go with what suits me. Her grandmother, my sister-in-law, Cheryl, wants pink but that is just too precious and predictable for me.

We leave for California on Thursday, gone for 4 days to celebrate grandson, Wyatt's first birthday. Then it is home to do the taxes (oh dread!) and finish up the semester for professor husband. Things will be busy for me at the museum I am sure. We have an artist market scheduled for April 21 that will be fun and interesting. We are not traveling again until late June, middle July, middle August and middle September so plenty of time to get those baby quilts done!

I will post more pictures, including the surprise part after Jamie and Jeff receive it this coming weekend!