No need to worry about the whining anymore — I finished all the long seams last night, sewed the two halves together (the final long seam) and figured out a way to hang the thing up in my sewing room. Top is DONE DONE DONE! Now to decide if it gets a binding or no and then I can layer and start quilting. The amish inspired nine-patch is also ready for quilting.

I like having two quilts to quilt on at the same time. One often sparks new designs for the other. I have a larger plan to do the nine-patch and only a couple ideas to start with for the new quilt.

Titles are always interesting I think. Rarely, the title is there at the beginning and stays put. Sometimes the quilt gets done with no title or with only a “working title.” The nine-patch had a title in Sept as it was my guild challenge entry and had to have a quote or motto to go with it. So I chose “Order from Chaos” to reflect the orderly 9 patches in the center and the random, disorganized ones along the outer edges. I was looking at it recently and knew its real title is Summer Seen From September, 2001. I completed the top for this quilt on September 11, 2001. The other day I was thinking about this quilt and its quilting and I realized that both titles say sort of the same thing. Order from chaos takes on a different meaning though – a view of order (Summer) from Chaos (September). A little different from my original idea of looking back at the profusion of summer’s bright flowers.

I’ve been pondering a title for the new quilt which has had not even a working title. After I hung it up and could see the whole, huge thing it seemed to me that the title might be something like “reflection and echo” since there seems to be some areas that are faint echos of other areas and the whole seems to reflect around the center black horizontals. Since this quilt is a descendent of my 9/11 quilt that title might be more than appropriate as well. I’m open to suggestion.

I’ve done the math twice now and according to my calculations, I will have sewed over 400 feet of seams by the time I finish the last long seam. yeah, I know – you’ll be so glad that my whining is done about this you will think that it seems like about 400 miles of seams. Seems that way to me too.

If I push myself tonight perhaps I can finish the last 6 long seams…..

On a different note an interesting exchange with a co-worker has me still thinking.

I brought in matzo for Passover and have been sharing the box with my co-workers. This has brought about some interesting discussions about my being Jewish.

One asked me if I “practice my faith.” My immediate response which might have sounded flip to some was “I don’t need to practice my faith — faith isn’t something you practice.” He understood and we chatted a few moments longer about observance etc. But I keep thinking about this – faith is what you hold as an essential belief. You can think about it, ponder it, examine it, doubt it — but practicing….. What you do with your faith is act on it — live it in other words — use it to shape what you do. And so a simple box of matzot has made me think about my life and being Jewish and what that means.

while I’m pondering deep things, I can’t help but wonder about all the conflict between Israel and its neighbors. To me, the nation of Israel is the community bounded by faith, not one determined by geographic boundries.. Why fight so hard and use religion as a reason to kill. As the passover story tells, the trip to the land “over the river Jordan” was as much (or more) about the journey – away from slavery and captivity – as it was about the destination. I realize that Israel is not the only country to use religion as a reason for killing.

Yup – I’m making progress 1.5 inches at a time

Closer view

On a different note – a huge file of favorites posted to photographica – well worth looking at, especially if you have a high speed or steady connection.

I posted some new photos to photographica myself tonight – including some shots of Mr and Mrs. Bill.

Gentle readers, you may have noticed a slight rearranging here tonight. I wanted to add a link to ARTproject and you’ll find that link to the right. This is a gathering of art that has been ongoing since the attacks of September 11, 2001. I’m honored to say that my own quilt is listed there in Image Grid 17.

While doing that I spruced things up a bit, removing a few links, updating some others and tightening things up a bit. Wasn’t too bad a job, using GoLive 6.

After that I sewed the first three seams on the second half of the new quilt. I’m officially half done with that part of the piecing. uh huh.