Stressed By The Mess!

August 24, 201716 Comments

My sewing room is a mess and I must admit I am stressed!

I have piles of unrelated fabrics that have to be sorted! Right now the burlap is crammed on a shelf with the minky, the fleece and the flannel. Dearest hubby doesn’t call me “the stuffer” for no reason!

I have bins full of unrelated colors and who knows what else lies beneath this mound?!

Threads are thrown together in a haphazard fashion!

I have too many pinks and the drawer is overflowing! I tried to cram them back in the drawer but they won’t fit!

My bobbin bin is a mix of miscellaneous “things”!

I have some time this weekend to sew, but I think I’ll be cleaning and organizing instead.

If I can get organized, I just know I can be more productive and definitely less stressed!

What is your favorite tip for keeping your quilting space organized?

Travels Pillow: Opinions Needed!

July 13, 201719 Comments

While shopping at Red Rooster Quilts in Dublin, Ohio, I found this USA map panel. It’s the perfect size for a large pillow that will probably finish around 20 x 20 inches square. These colors work perfectly with our family room color scheme, game on!

I decided to start in the New England states and work my way from east to west, keeping with the history of our nation. I’m outlining every state with a straight stitch…Rhode Island is really tiny!

Since I visited Alaska last year, I am very much in love with this state! I can’t wait to get started on outlining AK! By the time I get there, it will mean I’m almost finished with outline quilting. Wish me luck with outlining all those little Hawaiian Islands!

Back to Opinions Needed:

What is the best way to mark each state I have visited in my travels? Should I add a bead? A sparkle? What would you do?

12 Year Project — Complete!

May 18, 20175 Comments

Yes it’s true! This quilting project took only 12 years from start to finish. I started this quilt 12 years ago as a beginning quilter. I no longer have this pattern on hand but I remember how much fun I had picking out all these bright batiks.

I was just learning accurate machine piecing and I was obviously having trouble with points! It was probably a combination of inaccurate cutting AND using a machine that did not have a 1/4 inch foot. Yikes!

The block below is better but I am my own worst critic! After I got this back from my quilter, I realized just how many points were actually square and I wasn’t crazy about the variegated thread on navy fabric. Something that seemed so right had turned out so wrong! I decided this quilt just needed to go somewhere and hide, so it did!

One of my favorite quilt bloggers is Tierneycreates and on March 6, 2017, she posted a piece titled “Quilt Studio Archaeology and Purge, Part III”. I started thinking about my own quilt studio archaeology and dug this quilt out from under a pile of “stuff”.

I only needed to add a binding and this 12 year project would be complete! While I was tacking down the binding, my son and daughter-in-law commented on how much they liked this quilt, hmmmmm, it’s now theirs for posterity!

circular ABSTRACTIONS

April 13, 201710 Comments

Continuing on my topic of “What I did with my quilt guild last Saturday”, the day would not have been complete without a stop in the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio located just down the street from Lunn Fabrics.

The Arts Center presented the circular ABSTRACTIONS Bull’s Eye Quilts curated by Nancy Crow. We were asked to not take pictures, but AQS has a link here that shows you some of the work in this exhibit. These 51 quilts were a study in color, pattern, texture and design. I could have spent hours looking at these glorious works of art!

Speaking of color, I couldn’t resist taking a photo of an Eastern Redbud tree this morning while walking my dogs. You can see these buds are just about to pop open and soon (probably tomorrow!) fuchsia blooms will populate the landscape of central Ohio. Happy quilting!