Opening a can of worms..............

 

I have several shelf units in the basement and I had this grand idea of moving 2 of them upstairs to my bedroom which is has a lot of empty space along one wall.  Then I would place all of my favorite fabrics up there and not have to go to the basement when "shopping" for my next project.........but the shelf units are so heavy and most everyone I know has a bad back......so I now have areas that I moved the fabric out of in the basement (to empty the shelves) and because of that I need to capture the dust bunnies where the shelf units were before I move them back.  Luckily they are on wheels.

Plan B is to empty the bookcase in my main floor studio and put some of the fabrics there and I ordered a smaller wire shelf unit for the bedroom.  This also includes getting rid of tons of magazines, Studios magazines from 2009-14 and Quilting Arts 2002-9 plus a few more current issues.  I hate to just throw them in the recycling bin but I need to make space for my quilting books.  An interesting side note: I met the person who started Quilting Arts at a workshop in Ohio in 2002 and she was telling everyone about her new magazine and I subscribed to it for several years. 

So the question for me is what will be in my month end post in 10 days?  I am pretty sure I'll have the pastel half rectangle quilt top sewn together, maybe I can get 2 baby quilts quilted to keep up my 2 a month finishes.  A lot of time will be spent cleaning, rearranging, etc.  While doing that I might put together some quarter yard and half yard coordinated bundles of fabric for my next pop-up shop.

I have another golden hour photo.  This Columbine in the back garden is  burgundy but the sun was hitting it just right to put a golden glow on the stems and blooms.  They look like coral blooms.

I checked on the Allium that is in the corner of my lot and it is in full bloom now.  I have to thank whoever planted it there, even if it was a rascally squirrel.  Speaking of squirrels, the little plant that I thought might be a volunteer tomato plant is gone.  "Something" dug a hole in that exact spot in a 4' square raised bed.

While in the basement I happened upon the box with the blocks and pieces for this star quilt.  I had 30 blocks already sewn about 2 1/2 years ago and now I have made 8 more.  Click here to go back and see the other blocks.  There is a link in that post to go to the blog that has the inspiration quilt.  I have all of the triangles in solid already cut so I just had to cut the print parts for these blocks (and will for all of the rest of the blocks).

I did it!.............

 

Wow, I really did it!  I actually put most of the things away where they belonged too.  One group of fabrics went in a basket because I couldn't decide where to put them so there wasn't a lot of indecision.

One of the things I found under some other things was a pile of mottled batiks to press and cut for the 16 patch I started last September.  I got 7 of the pairs of fabrics sewn into stratas ready to slice and make 14  more blocks.  The pile of blocks at the right is the 18 I made last year.  I need 63 blocks so I have a little more cutting and sewing to do.

Ditch quilting finished...........

I finished the ditch quilting on my floral colorwash yesterday afternoon.  On the back is one of those prints that I never found a use for and it is perfect for this little quilt.  The quilting shows on the back but on the front it is mostly not seen.

On my design wall by the sewing machine is the older project waiting for all of the new pieces to be pressed.  I remember where I got stalled on the project many years ago.  I couldn't decide whether to make it an all diagonal pattern or change the direction into a barn raising or zig zag pattern.  

Next I have started cutting pieces for Bear Paw blocks.  I cut 5" strips for myself when I made the fall fabric packs for my pop-up shop plus I had a lot of leftovers from the half hexagon quilt shown here.  Some blocks will be all scrappy and some will have matched pieces.  There will be blues and greens mixed in as I work on it....which will be sporadic and when I feel like working on it.

The block at the bottom (click on photo for a larger view) is my test block for the spiderweb Accuquilt GO die.  I just used batik scraps for my trial block.  It might end up in the orphan block box....or I might make more blocks with scraps for a table runner.  

Table 3 cleaned off...............

Next up for clean off was my die cutter table.  Here is is folded up so I could wipe off the table top.

Now it is ready for action again.  All that is left to do in this area is vacuuming the floor.

I plan to cut up the chunks of Kaffe collective fabrics into my 2", 3", and 4" quarter square and half square triangles and squares and put them in the appropriate boxes.  I might not make it to the bottom of the box but maybe I'll set a time limit instead of 1 1/2 hours.

I don't buy fat quarter packs very often but occasionally there is one that I like.  I am pretty irritated that they pressed creases into the fat quarters.  It's hard enough to get the soft creases out from piles on my shelves.  I don't pre-wash my regular quilting cotton prints so it is going to take a long time at the ironing board to get these ready to cut.  Spritzing with water will start them to relax, 25 fat quarters.

 

Some success...................

Cutting table 1 was my main project and it is finally cleaned off.  There are so many decisions of where to put the "stuff" that accumulated there.  This table is a little taller than my other ones so I sometimes baste wallhangings on it.

I have already put it to good use cutting the backing for the 16 patch baby quilt.

Cutting table 2 is almost clear.  There are still a few piles to the right on the remaining 26" of table.  I need to cut some battings first and get that roll off the table and then I can cut a border and a backing that have been waiting for table space.

One of things on the table was a bag of batik crooked cobblestones left over after I made my series of 11 wallhangings about 9 years ago

The last time I had the blocks out to play with I sorted like sizes together.  Since most of them are rectangular they really fall into more than one size range.  I don't see any note of a final count but I think there are about 170 blocks.  

Cleaning off the table tops............

This is the cutting table in my main floor studio yesterday morning.  I had raised the leaf and put a second cutting mat on it for a project last week.

After a very lazy relaxing day yesterday this is my progress.  There is at least one more 2 hour session to finish up.  I can even fold the leaf down now and use the original cutting mat.

My Christmas dinner was delivered by my son, prime rib and roasted veggies.  Yum!!

I sent some scones home with him.

Jack Frost visited on Christmas morning.  It was 9 degrees when I got up.  I think it made it up to 21 yesterday.

One pale pink bloom is fully opened, the other almost open.  This is the second blooming for this plant.  It has bloomed as many as 5 times one winter and at least 3 times most winters.  Last year was the exception when it only bloomed once.

My Friday............

My first thought yesterday was to clean my main floor studio.  You can see to the left many layers of "stuff" piled on what should be a cutting table.  Almost everything in this room is on wheels and I need to move everything out and vacuum really well.  Then I realized I can't vacuum while I have the blocks on the design wall or they would go flying everywhere so onto plan B.

Plan B was to play with stash.  I have been going through my Marcia Derse stash and had pulled this combination of soft colors.  I think they would make a great baby quilt.

Awhile ago I bought a Kaffe Collective 10" stack.  I want to make some churn dash blocks so I chose some pairs.  Now I have to decide if they will be 2 color or 3 color blocks.  I may make samples both ways and see what I like best.

I have several pencil boxes of extra pieces that I cut when I made my batik pineapple log cabin and I had some leftover blocks.  I just had to put them up on the wall and see how many more blocks it would take to make a throw quilt.

And that was my day of fun.............and then I went out and pulled more weeds and I can actually see the rock edging on my back flower beds now.  

More jewel tone blocks.............

18 new blocks add to the stack of jewel tone 16 patch blocks.  There are 10 more to sew later today.

I know you think I sew on a pristine clean sewing cabinet.  Here is the real truth, a notebook with my lists of quilts awaiting quilting, blocks finished the last 2 days, a tub of yellow, black and white batiks for more crazy pieced blocks, 2 Kaffe books for research, a couple new masks and a pile of pieces for more of them, a few yards of elastic.  I can only dream of a totally clean surface.  It doesn't happen very often.

What gets me through this new normal that we are in?  Chocolate of course.

The pansies are doing well after all of the rain and now cooler weather.  It will be getting hot over the weekend so I will snug them up against the house so they will be in the shade earlier.  My porch faces east.

Moving the table.........

I decided to turn the drafting/cutting table sideways in the space so I can walk all the way around it. As you can see there is a drain in the floor there. With people coming to my studio to use my design walls I have to have something sitting over the drain because the floor slopes down all around it in about a 24" diameter. 

This is what is currently on top of the table.  I cut a quilt kit for a friend in the summer and while the fabric was out and pressed I cut off a strip of each to cut half hexagons.  There are 4 of each of 20 fabrics there and my scraps from die cutting and some more beiges to add to the mix.

I can open out the large scraps and press the fold mark out and get one more half hexagon from each fabric for a total of 100.  I need 208 half hexagons to make a quilt 58" x 79" which is close to the 60" x 80" that I'm usually working toward.

I have this pile of large scraps and quarter yards in the same general colors so I'll press them and do some more cutting today.

A little sewing............

I got 3 more postage stamp blocks sewn in one direction but didn't feel like turning on the iron.  My plan is to make one block every other day or a total of 4 one week and 3 the next week so these will fill the quota for this week when I get them finished.

When I measured my drafting table I did an internet search and found out there was a mat that was just one inch shorter in both directions so basically it covers the whole top of the table.

It is similar to a mat that I have had for about 25 years and I hope it holds up as well as that one did.

A bright idea.............

My son and daughter in law came over and helped me take down 2 tables in the basement and move things around.  This drafting table ended up where the 2 tables had been and it is right under a really bright light bulb.  Now it is perfect as a cutting table and as a basting table for my wallhangings.  It is probably the most well lit cutting table of the 3 in my basement.  I can fit 2 of the largest Olfa mats on it.  Below is a photo from 2013 that shows the other 2 cutting tables.

Happy Mother's Day...................

Finally I spent a little time at the sewing machine.  This is strata ready to be pressed and sliced to make 16 patches.  I didn't get any of the other fabrics cut that I showed yesterday.

My son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter came over yesterday and gave me the best Mother's Day present - their time.  My son changed light bulbs and hung the new mini blinds in my studio.  The old folded shades were 32 years old and the strings had broken in 2 of them in the last 6 months.

The old folded shades were light gray but the new blinds are white and make the room so much brighter.  These are the cordless blinds that you just push up or pull down with your hands.  It feels like a new room now.

My daughter-in-law and granddaughter worked on cleaning and organizing the garage.  It would have taken me a week or 2 to do all that they did.  I dug up some plants for my granddaughter and while out there I admired this new hosta that my sister-in-law shared with me last year.

Today is the last day of my mini-pop-up shop.  It closes at midnight EST today.  Thank you to all who have purchased items from me!

Finish #2 for 2018..........

This colorwash is 33" square and is one of my favorites.  I finished the hand stitching on the binding last night.

This time I chose a batik binding fabric that was easy to push a needle through.  My first choice was a tough one so I put it back on the shelf and kept looking.

The backing fabric on this colorwash is a little bright but I doubt the wall it leans against will complain.  It is a pretty mottled batik.

The dust on my felted pincushion has really been bothering me so I started transferring the pins to a pincushion that my friend Mary from TX gifted to me when she was in the area and stopped to see me.  That was 5 years ago, how time flies.

After I got the pins transferred I took a lint roller to the felted pincushion and now it looks nice and clean, ready to use again.  There were a couple dozen needles on it that I discarded since they aren't types that I use any more.

One more reminder....the next pop-up shop opens tomorrow at noon, the early access for the subscribers.  It will open at noon Friday for everyone else.  If you haven't signed up yet and want to, here is the link to the sign up form.