A New Year and a First Finish

Happy New Year!!  Happy Happy New Year!!  I was so ready to be done with 2017.  So much happened last year, it was enough to exhaust a person.  But here we are, safely into 2018, with a newly updated house and a blank calendar.  What could be better?  I can't think of a thing.

I tried to have a final finish for 2017, but I got as far as stitching on the facing before I had to put it aside.  My son and daughter-in-law came down with the flu, so I babysat for the bulk of New Year's Eve (6am-7pm).  We are all blessed that she is such a GOOD baby.  Even when she's a bit snuffly, she has a hard time complaining.  She gave me her snuffles, so we snuffled together.  kachoo!

Such a cutie pie!  She's always smiling!

We had our son and DIL from MO out for a week.  I spent time in the Studio with both DIL's.  The one from MO, put together an apron panel.

 She finished it just before they headed out to meet up with friends.

 My local DIL received a pattern for placemats.  After "shopping" in my stash, she set right to work.  She has never quilted before, but she's got two placemats ready for binding.  She'll be quilting on her own before we know it!

Just being in the Studio was enough to get me going.  Yesterday, I finished a birthday card, that should have been finished in October.  It went into the mail today.  The binding looks terrible in the photo.  It's not quite so awful in person.

 It took three days, but the facing eventually got stitched in place.

 And, ta da!!  Today I had my first quilt finish of 2018.  It feels fantastic!!

I am very excited about 2018.  I may have already said that.  My hope is that I will replicate what I did back in 2009, setting monthly quilting goals.  I hope to finish at least one UFO each month.  Goals are good, right?  Right!!

Who knows?  I was able to finish the first one on January 2nd.  I doubt I'll be finishing a quilt every 2 days, but hey, you never know.  The next one is pressed and waiting to be basted.

With the Best of the Valley entry deadline coming up on February 14, I don't want to be left behind.  I always feel like it's up to me to set a good example.  And with that, goals are good!

Happy Quilting!!

Cleaning House

So, back in June...WAY back in June...I tried clearing out the Studio, so that I could "get organized."  What happened was that the bulk of the contents were moved into the guest room, which I renamed "The Annex."

For the past two months, I have been trying to sort/slog through the mess in The Annex, find a place for everything, and put everything in its place.  To refresh your memory, it looked like this:

Look carefully.  If you don't, you're liable to miss all kinds of things, like the stacks of bins in front of the window seat, etc., etc.  And this is just 3/4 of the room.  You cannot see the things in front of the closet, or in the closet.

Fast forward to this past week.  My youngest son is talking of having a yard sale in September.  This used to be his room, when he lived here.  The closet was still full of his belongings.  I cleared the room enough to reach the closet.  The piles that were once in this room are now different piles in the living room (for the yard sale). The Annex has reverted to The Guest Room.

 The bed is cleared off, and accessible.  Nothing is blocking the bookshelves, the bottom of which are filled with children's books.

 Even the closet is clean, though it may be filled with quilting paraphernalia.

 And, just so you know I'm not joking, here is the other side of the closet.  See?  Amazing!!

Okay, so maybe I did not show you that I have two tables stashed behind that design wall, and I did  leave the Tiara right there, front and center.

And maybe I took the last few (several) piles back to The Studio. It was going to end up in there anyway.  Here's how it looks today:

 I guess the good news is that it is once again a working Studio.  I was in there, working, all of yesterday afternoon. 

As of now, I have no work to show you, but I've been setting goals, and might actually meet one this year.  Goals are good!

12" Art

You may remember about a month ago (or was it longer?) that I emptied my studio in an effort to condense, organize, and facilitate my quilting endeavors.  I've reached an impasse, with The Annex still full of quilting materials, and the Studio regaining its status of The Dump.  groan.  sigh.  sigh again.

Anyway, one of the things that I uncovered was a stack of quilts purchased from the 2016 SAQA Online Auction.  The quilts for the 2017 auction in September can be seen here.  Usually I make a contribution, but this year?  Quilting has been at a minimum.  I'm lucky if  I can pop out a birthday card every 3 months.

I hung the latest acquisitions, and thought that you might like to see the quilts bordering my Studio ceiling.  Here they are, in no particular order:

 This first quilt is "Sequoia Mini," by Teri McHale.

Next are a quilt by Phyllis Cullen, and "Joy Cometh in the Morning, Psalm 30:5 by Margaret Blank.

This is the view of the ceiling, as you first enter the Studio.  The other quilts on the wall are by Nancy Brown, (then Phyllis Cullen, Margaret Blank), Kristin Eilers, (Teri McHale), and Sara Kelly.

 

 Pivot 90 degrees, and you see this one.  

  "Ramble" by Marion Shimoda.  I had the privilege of meeting Marion in May 2016, when I was in Sisters, Oregon, taking a class.  Her detail work and teeny piecing are exquisite.

 Next are "Cloudburst" by Gwen Goepel, and "Found on Whangaumu" by Mathea Daunheimer of New Zealand.  I bought "Found" in Houston, in 2015.

 This is what that corner looks like.  I've actually added one more quilt.  I'd run out of hanging slats, and apparently have yet to take a picture of the last one.  Hang on a minute...

This is "Green Fields #3" by Christine Hager-Braun.

 This lusciously textured raspberry one does not have a label, so I cannot tell you its title or its maker.

This is the corner, to the left of my sewing space.  The quilt on the far right is by Charlotte Rogers.  The triptych on the far left is by Sharon L. Schlotzhauer.  The four crazy quilts in the corner were purchased from the Alzheimer's fundraiser, again in Houston, probably around 2013.

Above the door are "Abstract #3" by Shoshi Rimer (of Israel), "Trail Ride" by Jennifer Hammond Landau, and "Philodendron Phantasy" by Aileyn Renli Ecob.

Next come "Red Coleus" by Susan Brubaker Knapp, and "Spring Ginkgoes" by Franki Kohler.  I know both artists, and they are as lovely as their quilts.  (I've also met Aileyn Ecob.  She, too, is a delight.)

 Finally, I have "token (ART) quilt" by Deborah J. Bein, and "Croc" by Paula Benjaminson.

 This is what that wall looks like.  The bulletin board is crammed with as many postcards from my quilting friends as it can hold.

whew!  That's quite the tour, and quite the collection.  And I don't have room for any more, unless I seep into another room.  I prefer to have the quilts on display, as I find them to be quite inspiring.  They represent artists worldwide, using a myriad of techniques.  Each quilt spoke to me, and several are made by nationally recognized quilt artists.  I am thrilled to have them hang in my Studio.

And, just in case you think I've done nothing but sit back and admire other people's work, I have done a tad of quilting of my own.  I've pinned, 

I've made templates, 

and I've even made a (belated) birthday card for my daughter.

I keep setting goals, but family calls, and the goals get delayed, postponed, and then delayed once more.  Later this week, I'm off to help my sister deal with more stuff with my dad, so quilting remains stalled in the goal-setting stage.  No actually quilting will likely occur.  oh well.  Good thing Goals are good!!  :D

oh my

To get myself sewing again, I decided that order was desperately needed.  In pursuit of organization, I talked my housekeeper into helping me empty the studio on Monday.  Here is the before:

 I told you it was a mess.  I'd actually been working on it before I remembered to pull out my camera.  Several bulletin boards and another design wall had already been removed.

 Here is the "after."  That's Brea, my housekeeper, cleaning everything to make it shine.  She is a treasure.

Where did all of that stuff go?  Well...remember the guest bedroom that seems to magically transform itself into The Annex?  Here is the before:

 In the "after" picture, you can't even see half of the stuff, since I couldn't really get into the room for pictures!  oh my.

We worked on this for three hours on Monday.  Well, Brea worked for three hours.  Five minutes into it, I picked up an oversized bin and tweaked my back.  And I had just been thinking the contents should be split into two bins, rather than one.  oh well.

Brea came back on Tuesday, and the first thing I had her do was empty the closet.  What was in the closet?  Well...

 I know. You are probably appalled.  I know that I am.  But look!  Brea is WonderWoman!  She cleared out the closet floor!

 oh dear.  That means that I need to sort through the things she cleared out.  This job is more extensive than I realized.

 But this part was easy.  Packing materials. I'd already broken down all the boxes, but bubble wrap?  And newsprint?  How many packages to I think I will be shipping in the next 5 years?  I condensed the collection considerably.

There hasn't been any sewing going on, but there has been progress.  And I've been to the chiropractor, so I think the progress will speed up.

Apparently I have Spring Fever, even though it is summer.  I've taken a couple of chairs in for reupholstering, and another pair to have sandblasted and powder-coated.  It's time to clean up around here, and believe me.  I'm taking the task very seriously.  for now.

Stay tuned.  Maybe one of these days I'll be quilting!!  Goals are good.  :D

Ta Da

I finished another baby quilt this morning.

 My color inspiration came from the butterfly fabric on the back.  I bought it at the quilt show, and set it aside for a baby born last week.  The quilt is much PINKER than I expected.  But it's done, so I'm happy.

 Does anyone else piece batting scraps together?  When I do, I can get 4 baby quilts from one queen-sized batt.

 I don't do this for show quilts or wall quilts, just baby quilts that are going to be washed and used again and again and again.

I've set this week aside for a personal quilt retreat.  Goals are good, though I didn't do much on my big list today.  Instead, I spent hours sewing together squares of denim.  My son asked me to do this months ago, and after sewing 4 or 5 seams, I lost interest. I decided that I really do need the floor space, so the denim is now in one piece and headed back to his house in the morning.

Tomorrow, I've got one more guilt project to work on before I can focus on the quilts I wanted to work on this week.  I may not be working on them yet, but I'm getting ready.

 With a sort of cleaned off quilting surface, and a definitely cleaned off ironing board, I'm ready to hit it again in the morning.

Goals are good!

Odds and Ends

There hasn't been much sewing going on in the studio, but I've been thinking about it.  I thought about it when I saw a nifty table at an estate sale yesterday.  I went away with sand dollars, but went back today for the table.

 I think it's made of walnut, though I'm not certain. 

 Once I'd cleaned it, I put it right to work.  I've topped it with an ironing surface, and oh, look!  There are the white-on-white prints that I bought from Calico Mermaid on retreat.  They are all washed and pressed and ready to add to my stash.

So, ummm,yeah.  The place is a MESS.  I tried to fit it all into one frame, and came up with this:

 The pile of strips on the floor has been transformed into a few string blocks on the wall.

I even went so far as to sew one group together.  yay!  It only measures about 32", so I think I will add borders.

 I made a birthday card for my baby.  He's an engineer, whose current job consists of lots of measuring.  Some of the fabrics include numbers and measuring tape and gears.  Oh, and coffee!  :)

The seasons are changing.  There are three things that really make this obvious.  First is the gingko tree, that is finally beginning to turn.

 Second, the buzzards are back.  The trees at the end of our block are filled with dozens of these red-headed creatures.  I believe this is the fourth year they've come to visit.  They creep me out quite thoroughly.

 And last but not least, the butterflies are on vacation.  Every winter we get butterfly visitors to our swimming pool.  Maybe this is normal?  But if you asked me what normal was, I would never identify winter butterflies or visiting buzzards as a candidate!

And I guess that's all I've got for you this evening.  There is more on tap.  Let's hope I actually get enough done to have something to show you soon!