{Post 1,741} PA Visit & Strings Started

 

Our youngest daughter had a new baby girl 12/31/2000, and we went up (7 hour drive) to see her and the rest of her family for a few days (5, in fact). We had a marvelous time, but I had allergy problems while I was there. I had a sore throat, cough, fever, etc...all allergy symptoms. I am just feeling better today. 

In my recent sewing room clean-up, I found a stack of blocks (except for 5) that would make a good-sized quilt. I made the other 5 blocks. Yesterday I laid them out and picked them up to “web the top” a la Bonnie Hunter’s teaching. I love doing that because one ends up with one stack of blocks, sashing, and cornerstones that does not get turned around while assembling. Here is a picture of the blocks that have yet to be added and the second picture is what I have finished so far. I L-O-V-E the sashing color. Aqua/teal is my new color, and I’m trying to incorporate it into my home here and there. This quilt will be for us to keep.

Yesterday I also finished, labeled, washed & dried this beauty for a customer. It is 72” x 90”.

Last, but not least, is a pic of me and my new granddaughter. Babies are such a great way to start new people.

{Post 1,740} There Appears To Have Been A Struggle

 

I have spent bits and bobbles of time lately organizing my fabric. I saw a few ideas and morphed them into something that would work for me. I measured my shelves and then bought the biggest stackable plastic boxes with lids that would fit while stacked up, but not be too heavy when full (that’s asking a lot of a lowly plastic box, but I found some that worked). I found that the fancier the handles and lids, the more expensive the box. I went with something simple that was flat that would be easy to pick up, but not with all the bells and whistles. 

I measured the interior of the box in height and width and made a simple template out of corrugated cardboard. I folded all my fabric FQ and larger to fit around the template. I made a small pile of pieces too small to fold more than once. It seemed insurmountable because I have a lot of fabric tucked here near there in my sewing room. I gave up the expectation of perfection and just started. I am nearly finished (well, I AM finished with everything I’ve found so far, but I have drawer stacks under my long arm to go through). 

Before starting the boxing project, I had all different sizes and styles of boxes and piles of fabric in every nook and cranny of my room. Here is a before and after shot of just a little of the area. The bonus of touching each piece of fabric is that I separated out that which I know I don’t want any more, whether color, style, etc. This first picture is where I pulled out 3 bankers boxes (from behind the curtain, which I’m leaving off in the future).

This next area is the nemesis of my sewing room. Just a little space between my homemade ironing station and quilt frame. I keep my batting rolls here as well as anything else that is homeless.

Here is part of the after (I still need to get rid of all the empty cardboard and plastic boxes...they are legion). This first pic is what was behind the green curtain. The box with “neutrals” is my first completed box in this new system of organizing. 

I first thought I’d keep the boxes here because they can be stacked two high with plenty of clearance. But now I’ve decided to put the least used of them on the bookshelf along the wall between the ironing station and quilt frame. Next I want to organize what’s in the 2 three-drawer plastic stacks...that is now squares, triangles, labels, extra binding, and small specialty rulers. On the bottom is a few jelly rolls and the bankers box has mailing supplies. 

For those insanely curious (like me), here is a description of my box contents. Everyone has different stashes. I mainly have Thimbleberries (I have 100 partial bolts because I formerly sold it from my home...still do if anyone is interested), holiday prints (patriotic, fall, and Christmas), non-Thimbleberries in rainbow colors, and novelty prints (I make baby and I Spy quilts enough to keep some large pieces on hand for backings and piecing). I also make pumpkin quilts—runners, pillows, wall hangings, quilts of all sizes). 

Generic means not Thimbleberries. I love Thimbleberries, but they don’t plan nicely with other fabric lines!

*Thimbleberries:  red, gold, brown, green, and blue

*Thimbleberries:  purple, pink, black, seasonal, and neutrals

*Holiday: fall, patriotic, and Christmas

*Pumpkin: mostly orange, a little green and neutral, Disney princess yardage, sock monkey yardage

*Generic blacks, reds, and neutrals

*Generic red, yellow, brown, green, blue, purple

I have emptied so many eclectic boxes and piles of fabric. What I love about doing this is that since it’s stacked up, one can see EVERY fabric in there just be removing the lid. Here are pictures of how I filled the box (by placing it on its end and piling it) and how it looks when it is in its proper orientation and the lid is off.

When I started folding the Thimbleberries, I didn’t realize I had so many small pieces that were box-worthy. I had a box filled, then came across a dish pan full. I use dish pans to keep fabric and projects in because they are $1 at Dollar Tree and can hold a LOT. It was so easy to just set the box on its side and remove the sections of each color to add a random piece or two. I ended up dividing it into two boxes that are nearly full. 

Whew—that was so much work, but it looks fantastic. I still have to go through the drawers under my quilt frame. They are mostly UFOs (some nearly-completed tops), shirts, and oddball fabrics (netting, felt, denim scraps). It will all get done in time.

Isaac, my only child-at-home is 21. He is recovering from Covid. He is in his last two days of quarantine. Thankfully my husband and I did not get it. Isaac was joking, but he said he could hear my up in the kitchen (which is right above his room) cooking and baking during the holiday season (we never had ANYONE over—it was kinda sad, but we didn’t dwell on it...it was necessary). He lost his senses of smell and taste very early. He said “I was laying there thinking that I was missing cookie and goody season. I couldn’t taste or smell. I wondered if life was worth living.” Again, he was kidding, but he was miserable. Even though he didn’t have an appetite, I kept him filled with healthy food and water to aid his recovery. He dutifully ate, but it wasn’t enjoyable. Made me think many times what a gift our senses are, and I will try to appreciate them more.

That’s it for this very long post. I am home schooling a 6-year-old grandson, and that takes a LOT of my time, but I hope to at least clear out the empty boxes in here today, with his help. He is staying overnight a few days because his little brother has a fever. Just found that out this AM. 

We are also doing a big project in my sewing room that is causing some disruption. We are putting a stacking washer and dryer in my clothes closet (my husband and I each have a good-sized closet of our own). My sewing room was formerly the master bedroom. When we started sleeping in one of the smaller bedrooms after 7/8 of our children moved out, we left our clothes in the closets back here because we both use the master bathroom instead of the hall one. We are working towards renting out a large portion of our finished basement after Isaac gets married in April and moves out. Phase one is getting a washer/dryer up here (ours is currently downstairs). So I had to clean out my whole closet. I donated a huge amount of clothes and shoes. It is good to downsize and clean out, but it is wreaking havoc on my sewing room in the meantime. My style in here is “there appears to have been a struggle”.

One of my main reasons for my blog is to use it as a personal journal. Thanks for reading along. Another reason is to share what works for me as far as sewing. Hope you found this helpful. Leave me a comment!

{Post 1,739} Lots of Piecin’ Goin’ On

 

I have given away two large quilts in the past few weeks as well as selling one. Lots of progress here. I have a couple reasons why I think this is happening. I bought a rolling cart of drawers. Not only has it helped me stay organized but I can take the whole drawer of precut pieces to my sewing machine, thus getting more done faster. Here are a few pictures. I am working in earnest on the first (Plaid Lightning) and the one with the 4-pointed star design.

This first one is finished except for a border of 6” tall by various width pieces.

This one is finished, quilted, and in the hands of its new and very happy owner.

This is my current squeeze. I have 61/80 blocks finished. I had a lot of small scraps, so the last few blocks have pieced “stripes” in them. Do you see all 3 of them? Some added fun and less waste.

Here is the picture from the book. Virginia Bound by Bonnie Hunter. I love the border. I have done the other two I made with an orange/blue/green color way. I love orange in a quilt, but I think I’ll use something else. 

{Post 1,738} Christmas Decor 2020

 

The little I did seems to have taken f-o-r-e-v-e-r. I worked on the living room off and on all day, and this is all I decorated.

Just to give you a chuckle, I spent over an hour on this garland on the mantle/shelf (I call it that because that is where our mantle was before we removed the fireplace. I still call it mantle out of habit. Please forgive me. I had bought the nativity scene this year and really wanted to make it “shine”. I set it on the mantle then put the garland on. The garland is quite hefty (I love the way it looks). But then I didn’t have room on the mantle for anything but the thin nativity. My husband came up and asked me why I didn’t put anything else up there. I said there was no room. He gave me an odd look and then reminded me that last year I put the garland UNDER the shelf. I asked, “I can DO that??” He just gave me a blank stare. Here is the comparison for your humor of the day...

Just gonna leave that here. I have a few other things to pull our, but that it about it for us this year. I remember back when all 8 of my kids were at home and the constant activity. I miss having my 8 elves to help shop, bake, clean, decorate, move stuff around, bake more, eat lots of cookies...<sigh> those were the days, my friend.

{Post 1,737} Restoring Antique Quilt

 

I recently met a woman who asked me to do three very different sewing skills for her. 

1. Restore a shredding antique quilt.

2. Combine two store-bought comforters into one large one (the edges are worn away and shredded).

3. Machine quilt a top she made from her parents’ clothing.

I have put about 10 hours into restoring the antique top. She agreed to pay me by the hour, so I am keeping track. Time goes a lot faster than I think it does. I LOVE doing this kind of meticulous work, so it flies! It took about 3 hours for me to take all the hand-stitching out. There was a quilt center, then a 4” wide muslin border, then a pieced border, then two more single-fabric borders. Hardly any part of anything except the center was salvageable. I even had to replace many ripped up pieces from the center. I used a similar fabric for them. With fabric that old, it is difficult to find the colors let alone similar prints. Here are some pictures of what I replaced with the last two pictures being what it looks like now. I am putting one wide border on after the checkerboard one. It is called “slub”. It looks like linen, but with some threads thicker. It is mind green like the original outermost border.

Those are all what it was before. Here is where I am now. I need to add the pieced border to two sides then the mint green single-fabric border after that. I looked at two stores for something to replace the light floral right outside of the pieced border (see the picture directly above), but I could not find a single contender. So I am putting a 5” wide mint green border. That is the color of the original outside border, but you can see that that was a total loss.

{Post 1,735} Gifted Quilt

 

Back in September I took 18 intact shirts with me to south GA. I started this quilt then gifted it about a month ago.

It has been well-loved and appreciated.

At that same time I started some rail fence blocks with the little bits that are from the inside of the collars and cuffs. Shortly thereafter I framed squares with 1-1/2” strips of lighter shirts and used the rail fence blocks as alternates. I gifted that to a family I am close to from my church. Here are a few pics of that.

I talk to my friend (the mom) often. She told me yesterday that they all snuggle with it daily. I loved hearing that. Little guy (in third picture) thinks it is all his, LOL!!

I am nearly finished with the third quilt mainly from those same shirts, with LOTS of neutral shirts thrown in. I was showing the two different layouts on Facebook. One of my high school friends (graduated 40 years ago....how is that possible?) asked if she could buy it. I am half-finished with the quilting. Going to cut binding strips after I finish here so that I can put that on right away. 

She opted for the top setting. This will finish at 70” square. No borders. My first low-volume quilt.

While I’ve been piecing all of these, I am sewing my 2-1/2” square scraps into these. I call them 2 + 4 = 6 blocks. Again using you a lot of neutrals for a place for the eye to rest. I am calling this Plaid Lightning, LOL!! I left some space around the labels in the yoke when I cut them out, so I incorporated a few of those into the quilt. It gives one something to read while snuggling!

I would love to hear a little something from each of you. I didn’t think the isolation of quarantining would get to me because I love being alone, but it is lonely. We aren’t staying away from EVERYONE, but almost!

{Post 1,734} Sew Much Better

If you are cleaning up an atrocious space, I highly recommend taking before pictures. Yes—they are embarrassing. One might think, “How could I let it get like this...AGAIN??” Or “I could never show this to anyone.” But honestly, this result was so satisfying. And I’m not just talking about the being able to walk between the ironing station and quilt frame without twisting an ankle or causing Mt. Never-rest to tumble. I ironed a large quilt without moving stacks of stuff. Then I cut out binding with all but a 10” strip of my cutting table cleared off. I was a young whippersnapper last time either of those happened. Ah—just breathing in the free space!!

Here are the before and after:

There is always so much more to do in here, but I cut, pieced, ironed, applied and sewed down binding on a quilt for a friend that I can give her tonight because there was so much room to get it done quickly and peacefully. Please tell me I’m not alone in this. My sewing room reminds me of a toxic spill. I go in, determined to make it livable, armed with my trusty super sponge. I dunk my sponge in the spill, turn to wring it out in the sink, and it is immediately filled up with other gunk. Yes—that’s my sewing room plan....dunk and gunk. Actually, I just made that up, and it made me laugh. So I will be honest and just say it looks pretty amazing right now. Tomorrow might be another story!

Still looking for a taker for a big box of florals. My sister and I used to make watercolor quilts. I sold all my squares and used up all my florals. Then she blessed me with a big bag of her stuff. If someone wants them and will pay postage, I’ll gladly give them to you. Otherwise, I’ll be moving them to another room until the floral bug strikes (I think it is actually extinct around here).  

Have a great day. I’m just enjoying the view.