what does it mean??

 It's close to 4 in the morning.  Much too early to be awake!

Two things woke me. 

One was a full bladder.  This is not really anything new. My late Chewie pup was 15 or 16 years old and needed to go out at least once a night to go potty.  Since I got up with him, I went for myself as well. I assure you, I used the inside facilities. But you understand, years of routine is sometimes difficult to break. However, I am finding going back to sleep is really much easier.

The second thing is that I woke from a dream. I am a firm believer that dreams hold meanings/messages for me.  I am not a great dream interpreter. I often call my brother who has more knowledge on these things and he helps me sort it out. Or I do a "dream meanings" internet search 😄. I know, it doesn't sound very reliable, but it's surprising how often the meanings actually fit!

This morning my dream provided me with three words that repeated over and over as I became conscious... The fact that the rest of the dream faded but the words continued to repeat in my head has me asking "what does it mean?!?"

By this time, it became very clear that I was not going to get back to sleep. I might as well get out of bed and continue working on the store sample I'm presently stitching up.

The pattern is #179 Leaves by Corey Yoder. I am using prints from Corey Yoder's new "Cozy Up" fabric collection. Aww, these prints are truly COZY!

In the pattern the background and the leaf veins are the same color. I chose to make the leaf veins a different color than the background. But first I had to try it out and make sure it was going to work for me...

I started a scrappy Leaves quilt 😄 before starting the store sample.

Once I was satisfied that my plan would work. I got started with the real deal

I love making one block at at time. I like seeing a finished block rather than making the sub-units to all the blocks first. However, I was determined to follow the instructions (minus the little color option.)

 Cutting all the pieces out was the first step.

Here are all the background pieces... 

... ready for probably my least favorite part of piecing - marking the diagonal.

I did it though. I marked every single one of them before moving onto the next step.

  

One of the first two units is half square triangles (HST).
I was still following steps. And proud of myself for sticking with it!

Trimming HSTs is just this side of marking diagonals, in my opinion.

However, the best part of this method of marking and trimming is that it is a great way to make perfect HSTs. So "least favorite" means I still love the method just not as much as piecing the finished block.

This is where I diverted a little bit...

The growing pile of those tiny triangle corners that are trimmed off in the next unit got me!

 

yep, I started piecing those itty bitty pieces together!

I have no idea what will become of these micro blocks.

I just wanted to see if they could grow into something. And they did!!

now, back to the steps...

The last sub unit waiting to be pressed...

and trimmed...

and matched with the other units (that still need a little trimming too)

All in all, I've made good progress. Almost half of the leaves are made.

Do you care to know what the 3 repeating words were?

"a non-stop starter"

perhaps I was calling myself a non-stop starter?

That even when I am focused on one project, I can't resist trying (starting) something on the side 😋.

The thing is. I have been giving this some thought lately. At this point in my quilting journey, my end goal is not having a finished quilt. Meaning a quilt bound and labeled and ready to send off to someone, where I may or may not see it again.

If I have a goal, it's to experience the beauty of my creations. It's the pleasure I get from a new-to-me technique. It's daring to put two colors together that I normally wouldn't and being pleasantly surprised that the contrast is a perfect pairing. It's the continuous learning.

My end goal is loving who i am as an artist. 

Loving who I am and what I create

however far it's created, eventually it will become something, either by my hand or some new hand. I'm not worried about that.

Sure! I'll claim to be a Non-Stop Starter! (for now anyway)

Wishing you joy and happiness in whatever you do. I'm going to publish this update without proofing it, please forgive typos and what...  and I am headed back to bed 😉.