Hitting the Quilting Wall

It's nearly 10:30 pm and I'm blogging about quilting and skating. Scary! But today, I hit something of a quilting wall.  To wit . . .

I happily completed my wine bottle theme companion (pictured here) to "The Grapes of Rhone" (see my 'gallery' on the right) and was feeling a little smug about my novice quilting ability. I started working on another Tuscan-theme piece for my husband. I am using a pattern (I'm not even close to designing a quilt myself) I've used before, but with completely different fabrics than the pattern features. 

The whole process went south on me. The focus fabric - an impressionist Tuscan landscape - is great, but I thought I had the additional fabrics in my stash. I start cutting fabric and run into problems. Not only do I not have enough complementary fabrics, I don't have enough variety either. I start rummaging again through my stash, hoping that I will find something - anything - that will let me get started on this quilt. No luck. My frustration level increases each time I pull out another fabric. Finally, dear husband says, "O.K., it's time for Karen's little quilting cabin to close for the day." I put everything away, have dinner and read until time for bed. Of course, I can't sleep, trying to figure out what to do to solve this dilemma. I decide to get up and take another look at my stash, but opt for blogging instead to work out my frustration. Probably a good decision, but after I post this, I will likely take a look at some of my quilting books in search of a different pattern to use and get myself whipped up in a total lather. Yikes! And this is supposed to be fun, isn't it?

On top of that, I purchased gorgeous fabric today for the skirt of a skating dress that I am hoping to make for ISI Worlds in July. Mind you, I don't remember the last piece of clothing I sewed, but I'm certain it was back in home economics in high school. I know from friends who have made skating dresses that they aren't easy to construct. Whatever makes me think I can do this, I will never know, but the cost of competition dresses is so high that I can really only afford one (that my better half was kind enough to buy for me) and I will be competing in two events. Certainly can't wear the same dress for both events! I'm certain that of the thousands of skaters at Worlds, that the judges would remember that I wore the same dress twice, right? Yeah, I know, pretty silly. I don't even know where to begin, except to wait for the pattern to arrive and go from there. More on this later, as the story unfolds. Should be a comedy, I suspect. 

Tomorrow I skate. I'm working on my technical program, focusing on my test on April 7. Need to pass this to compete at Worlds. Coach and skating buddies assure me I will pass. Nice to know that they are so confident. I love the program and music (from one of "The Secret Garden" CDs) so I enjoy working on it. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have some good run-throughs and can feel strong going into the test next week. I'll skate three times this week which will give me time to put some polish on the program before next week. It's one thing to "Pass" but quite another to "Pass with Pride" - my way of describing going out there and giving it everything you've got, which is what I intend to do. I still have to fight with the pain in my back which is a constant, but when I'm on the ice, I can forget about it and just feel the freedom of flight. O.K., back to get some sleep.