A weekend work/pleasure trip...

    Not much has happened with the sewing room excavation since my last post. We have been working what would be over an hour from home under the best of circumstances, but in addition to the distance, the traffic has been horrible, making the commute even longer, so my time last week was minimal at best. (Or at least that is the story I'm tellin'!)
    We took a quick trip across the state Friday/Saturday to advise a friend on some flooring needs she has for a retail shop she is relocating into a bigger space. Had a great time Friday evening with her and her staff handing out treats to all of the Elsa's, Storm Troopers, Super Heroes and Zombies who visited the store. I love to see the little ones, and the moms and dads who dress up to make the little ones comfortable with their own costumes!
     Of course since she is only about 20 minutes from Lancaster, I was able to squeeze in a trip to The Old Country Store quilt shop in Intercourse and do a little stash feeding. I was pretty proud of myself, I set a budget, stuck to it, and only bought things I had a purpose for already. I got a Kansas Troubles fabric to use as a background for a special project I have been planning for the last few months. It's a collaboration with my cousin that we are both really excited about. Once we get started I will definitely share it here.
     The other yardage I got was some French General "Joyeux Noel". I had intended to get a traditional "true red" with snowflakes for a quilt that I hope to be able to gift to my niece at some point, but when I saw this, it changed my mind! The color is not quite right in the link, it really looks a little more faded, almost a coral red, but very pretty.
   On our way home, we decided to take the Lincoln Highway instead of the Turnpike. The tolls are outrageous, and it's just monotonous on the Turnpike. The other benefit to the Lincoln Highway is the chance to stop and poke around in "junk" shops. Right outside of Gettysburg, we found a chair that needs a little TLC, but was identical to one that a favorite aunt of DDH had when he was growing up. couldn't find a price on it, so I asked the older gentleman at the front counter, and $25 later we were rearranging the back of the Escape to accommodate a piece of DDH's past, and a new project for me.

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    I came home with every intention of tackling the chaos in the sewing room and getting it closer to done, but I brought something else home with us in addition to the fabrics and chair... a nasty head cold. So instead of cleaning I decided to work on one of the quilts that I have in progress. It is a double nine patch variation inspired by this Blue and white double nine patch I saw on Pinterest. There was no credit given for the original maker, and mine is going to have a little different layout. I have all of the 3" nine patch blocks made, in both color arrangements, and all of the 3" squares cut to assemble them into Double Nine Patch blocks.

 Because I chose a fabric that looks like Moire, and has an obvious directional print, assembling the blocks took more patience than I have tonight. To keep track of the number I had done, and keep them in the right orientation, I pinned groups of 5 with a safety pin and threaded the safety pin across the bar of a clothes hanger. Even taking extra precautions did me no good! I was able to complete the five blocks that are done in this configuration, before I had to call it a night. After three blocks got sewn together wrong twice I figured that was a big clue!

 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog. If you would like to see what others are working on, check out Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times!

Still pluggin' away...

Slowly but surely I am making progress in the excavation of the sewing room. It was a huge job, because in the Spring when we were having unexpected company, and the guest room was no where near ready to be inhabited,  DDH decided to get it ready by installing new flooring in both our room, and the guest room.  I had been using the guest room as a temporary sewing room since my floor in my actual sewing room had been installed, but never sanded, and I was waiting to move in until it was sanded and coated because I only intended to move my stash once. Well, you've heard the saying about "Best laid plans"? DDH chose to use pre-finished flooring in the bedrooms, and decided that I had to vacate the soon-to-be-guest room immediately. Everything having to do with my sewing/quilting/fabric hobbies was carted into the sewing room with the still unsanded, unfinished floor, and dumped there. Literally dumped there. It was such a gigantic job to get it under control that I chose to handle it in a very mature and grown up manner. I closed the door and ignored it! I did that for as long as I could, but I just couldn't do it anymore.  I'm trying to go through the stash and cut down on what I have been hanging on to for too long while I'm cleaning. Over the years, my tastes have changed, and I need to get this stuff off the shelves and used up. Winter is coming, (like it or not!) and that is prime sewing time. I need to get things ready to make all of the quilts I've been designing all these months. That was how I satisfied my quilting obsession when I wasn't able to actually sew. I figure between working, and other responsible things I have to do, I should be able to call the room usable in about a week. 

Where to start...

    Welcome to my first ever, I'm really gonna do it this time blog post!  If anyone out there is reading this... Welcome to my little corner of the web, where I will be sharing my thoughts, my projects, and my adventures (and mishaps!), along the way! I enjoy seeing what others in the "blogosphere" are doing, and decided it was time to take the plunge and share a little bit too. I actually hope to use this space to help keep me on track and accountable.
    I am an avid quilter,and fabric hoarder, and I design most of my own quilts. I have very recently begun dyeing my own fabrics. I have only ever done a few pieces up till now, so I am really looking forward to creating my whole quilt, from fabric to pattern. Although my main creative outlet is quilting/sewing, I can, and do almost any creative fiber related craft. I am restoring an old (circa 1930's) Union 36 rug loom, hoping that when I do, I can figure out how to use it and weave some rugs for my floors that will work well with the quilts I have made. (I have to use some of this stash I have accumulated before it takes over a third room in the house!) Within the last few years, I taught myself to knit, and really enjoy making socks, so those may pop up in my posts occasionally too. Love to cook when I get a chance, so don't be surprised if there is a food post every once in a while!
  I'm hoping that by blogging I will become just a little more focused, and productive, since if anyone reads this, they won't want to see pictures of a chaotic sewing space, or the same quilts they saw last month! At least that is the plan... I have a few ideas for projects to make my sewing area function better and stay a little better organized you may want to see. And since I won't share any pictures of my creative space until I get it organized and presentable, I need to work on getting that done so I can show you what I've been doing.