Endless Pebbles

It's been a couple of posts since I've shared my progress with the chicken. I've been pebbling. Quilting pebbles over the entire background wasn't my original intention. I had lots of other ideas and plans. I tried each. I ripped or I erased each idea and each plan. I began again. I repeated the ripping and erasing. I posted here about getting into the zone and forgetting about where I was stitching.

 I posed this question to my readers, was I into pebbling full time or had I an out? Several of you commented that I could do other background fills. I tried. The quilt replied, "no, No, NO, no, No, NO!!!!!!" I gave in and listened to what the quilt has been telling me all along--"I want pebbles!!!" I've been stitching endless pebbles! I am closing in on the half way point. When I need a break, I quilt the leaves and the chicken bodies. The final quilting will be the border; but, the focus of this post is pebbles.

Making progress a few pebbles at a time

Quilting pebbles takes a long time and a lot of thread. It's taken me 10 1/2 years to be at this point in the project. So what is another month or two or three?  My goal has been to stitch a couple hours a day which is about all my body can handle and I take breaks about every 15 minutes!

I have absolutely no doubt that I will finish this project. Lately,  I've pondered why it has taken me so long.  I've considered that this project is bigger than I had thought. It is one of the last projects that I shared my progress each evening with my dad. So maybe, the time it is taking me to finish is part of my grieving process as well as my remembrance of him. There is a lot to remember about him!

Perhaps, he's been helping me as I work towards completing  his final wishes. The repetitious pebbling is his way of helping me through the process. (We already know how much my brain wonders while I'm pebbling!)

Perhaps, this project is even bigger than my dad. Maybe God provided this project and timeline to help me at this very time. God is great ALL of the time! On that note, I'll leave you with a close up of my pebbles.