Doors of Ireland, Block One

Today I started a project that I've really wanted to do, but I've been afraid I wouldn't be able to accomplish.  As of now, I'm feeling better about the possibility of creating my vision.  I'm not much of an artist, and while I think I'm pretty imaginative, I'm not very creative.  Does that make sense?  I can imagine all sorts of things, but I find it difficult to make my intangible visions tangible.  Maybe that's a better way of saying it.

Some of you might remember when I started an online landscape quilt class and began this project.  Actually, this was my second attempt, since my first attempt was a dismal failure.  I turned that first piece into a block that I used to experiment with different markers, and chose what I thought would be an easier photograph.  This one:

I got this far with it and then put it away.  Eventually, I was so depressed about even having it on my "in progress" list, that I removed it from the list.  For now, it hangs in the closet of my sewing room.  Sometimes I think about continuing on with it, but I never progress beyond the thinking stage.  My daughter-in-law Mae asked me about it one day.  She's an excellent artist.  "She would be able to finish it," I told myself, and I felt even more bummed about my inability to make the intangible tangible.

It's not a bad representation, but I got to the place where I needed to start thinking about adding the tree and the shadow it casts on the barn, and I couldn't take it any farther.  I haven't destroyed it, and perhaps that's the most optimistic thing I can say about it.

So with that history, I suppose it makes sense that I've been apprehensive about starting this project.  This is the first door I wanted to try for the Doors of Ireland quilt  that I envision.  This one seemed pretty straightforward, and so I decided to start there.  This photograph has been sitting on my cutting table for weeks, and today I decided there was no time like the present.

This is what I came up with.

It's not bad.  I've tried not to get too bogged down in creating every single thing that I see in the image.  Of course, I still need to add details, but I'm going to do that with thread.  I want to outline and sort of draw in the details of the lanterns on either side of the door.  Mainly I'll be outlining the applique pieces, but I'll need to draw the corner line on the left side of the house.  Already, I can see that the placement of the thin window on that side is off, but I'm not going to worry about that.  It really won't matter if it isn't exactly right. (I've figured that out by looking at quilts in quilt shows.  When I look at the work of others, I'm much more forgiving than I am when I look at my own work.  Being too self-critical is a habit I'm trying to change.  This project should give me plenty of practice.)

Also, I need to add in the panels on the door and I think I'll add the wreath that is hanging there.  I'll want to add in lines for the window panes, and I'll put some shingles on the roof.  It's not a bad start, and I'm happy with it.  I'm tired of sewing for one day, however, and so I'll quit for now and work on it some more tomorrow.  I have in mind to get some hot fix nailheads which, if you haven't seen them, are kind of like pop rivets in appearance.

They'll make good doorknobs.  The door knob in the photograph is barely visible because it's black.  I think it will dress up the quilt block if I give it a gold door knob, and I can use them for the rest of the doors as well.

Maybe if I can manage to complete the 12 blocks I have planned for this Doors of Ireland quilt, I'll feel brave enough to bring out the barn again and finish it.  Thinking about that fills me with dread though, and so I don't want to get too far into the future.  Do you have projects like that?  By "that" I mean projects that are so far down your list of UFO's that they've fallen off the page.

Sometimes I get to the end of a day and I wonder where the hours have gone.  Today I finished binding the Winged Dreams quilt, made some of Mike's favorite pickles (I blogged about those here when I made them a couple of years ago), made the back for the Bow Tie Bonanza quilt, and made this Irish door.  When I came upstairs and looked at the dirty dishes sitting on the counter, I wondered what I had been doing all day.  When I list it all out like that, it sounds like plenty.  Somehow having dirty dishes on the counter (because I've been doing things I like doing a lot more), seems to cancel out everything else.  I guess I'll have at the dishes so that the rest of the things I've done today will count for more . . . at least within the confines of my own mind.

Our weather has been crummy most of the week.  We were supposed to have some work done on our deck that was replaced a couple of years ago, but that got postponed because it needs to be done in dry weather. Last night, I took this picture of our sky at dusk.

It was the strangest sky . . . yellow in color with a rainbow, even though there had only been a few sprinkles.  There wasn't a breath of wind, and the wind turbine was completely still.  There were thunderstorm advisories on the radio yesterday, and we did get a little bit of thunder and lightning.  Then we got a good soaking rain last night.  I know that many of you are praying for rain, but here in Oregon where we haven't had much of a summer, it isn't particularly welcome.  We're promised better weather for the weekend and beyond.  If I could send the rain your way, believe me, I would happily do it.