Momma Says Quilts Speak

Momma Says Quilts Speak

Monday, July 7, 2014

Easing back to homelife I hope

Wow!
Think I have been overtaken in a whirlwind or something. Something anyway that turned my life inside out.
Nothing terribly tramatic, just bouts of sickness, influx of kids, grandkids, mustdo's, camping and stuff like that. All normal, interesting, stimulating, exhausting and so on- but off a "Moma does her own slow easy thing "mode.
I wondered into the quilt room this morning. Well, I have been in there off and on last week, but took a real gander at it this morning.

Yes, its still the mess of mess's.
But there has been a few changes. When my daughter #4  was visiting, she found a bookshelf kind of leaning drunkerdly in a neighbors barn door. It was perfect for my sewing room, so we pursued contact with the owner to no avail. And then on another morning walk, she ran into one of the contacts and he said, just take it if you want it. So she did. And she scrubbed and painted, and painted. We threw fabric just any which of way to clear a path when we had some help to get the thing moved in. Later, my husband screwed it to the wall, and Liz started folding and stacking fabric.  Of course her time here was about up so work did not progress any furthur.  I have wondered in there and folded some but, when I fold fabric, I get ideas and progress goes in a different direction.
So here is what has been happening.
I think that I only need 9 of these blocks for a baby quilt. I hope for something, old, homemade, a little off center and quirky verging on vintage but nothing quite on. Yes, that sounds like me alright. I thought about making it for Eli, a brand new nearly 10 lb baby in the church family---- but on the other hand there is a new grandchild  comming up and its mother likes, old,vintage, looking stuff. Will just see what comes together. Maybe a nice dog blanket! LOL! It doesn't matter much. Its interesting, eazy and I am having fun. I guess that is what is important.
This has been on the design wall for eons. I keep tweeking it. I had never planned on pink, but I really like what it does. The triangles were supposed to be "Indian Trails" but  I don't think I will finish that pattern. I kind of like the small 1/2 triangles interjecting, but do not want to  add them all around the triangles. This looks cleaner, lighter, less regimented. I don't know if I will use it or where it is going but this is making me happy---so far. Slow thinking here.


This is the shelves up and slowwwwly recieving fabric. This narrow bookshelves gives me new access to my cutting table from two sides, room for a trash can, and good light. It is not perfect, but it is better.

Lots of work to do--but I know that I will just piddle away at it because on a good day, you can sail away on a fabric flight of fantasy, let the scraps fall where they may.

Its in the 100 degrees now, but the airconditioner works fine. So its a lovely ??? well, pleasant for me, work place in the early morning hours, or just whenever I take a whim.
But--- hot weather means water, water, water, so I had best go change my water, tend the garden day needs, feed the poultry and be ready for lunch in town with a group of friends in two hours.
Ouch, maybe tomorrow I can go looking for a fabric store that has some old fashioned, directional  NAVY blue fabric. I guess NAVY has just not been my thing before. I can't find a decent peice in this fabric bonanza mess!
So- maybe will find somethin just right. I have heard that they have a new quilt store in the tourist town heading toward the pass. I like the sound of that! Never enough fabric, and never enough quilt stores. I try to share some cash with them to keep them in business.

Duty calls.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Talk about frustration.
After 15 years of having the same e-mail, microsoft accounts, hotmail accounts whatever has taken me on one mind blowing trip It has been nearly 2 months since I could get on my blog.
Talk about wanting to smash things!

MMMMM--

Anyway. Nothing to post tonight really. Housefull of family, graduations, camping etd. You noticed I did not get my Bonnie Hunter quilt done. Guess for now I will put it in the UFO pile I am still trying to pot my pots for the deck and put some more plants in the garden and of course it is wedding month and anniversary month for so many people.

Guess I will just see what kind of life I can actually recover-- but not tonight.
Just glad to be back and ME

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Once Again

This morning found me working on Chevrons for the celtic solstice quilt again. I did a lot of chain piecing  and whized right along. Unfortunately, I think the whizzing was telling me something. I am not happy with the haphazardness of these blocks and pieces done today. Sloppy. So if I can remake them easily I will, and if not-- well I will cut some more out.

I really think it is time to take a break from this and  do a refresher with something else. But will I just be pushing this stuff into the UFO bin? I don't want that. Maybe I can promise my self a break AFTER
I finish chevrons or set some kind of "break it up, and go back" goal plan.
Will think on that.

These nice spring days are lulling me I think. Just wanted to sleep all day today, so back and forth kitchen, sewing, genealogy office work. Can't stay put. I did drag out some 4" pots to bleach so that I can pot up tomato and pepper plants. All things needy-- but I need to get this quilting project going.

Hmmm. Guess that I will sleep on it.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

I have been in the sewing room a few mornings.

Nothing too interesting to record here,or  to look at.

After a blitz of the "Yuck" some nasty virus, I am back to popping into my sewing room for a little rest and relaxation before anyone gets up,and sometimes later.

All of the 24 blocks of the 54-40 or fight type are done, ironed and in a box. I am counting the blocks done toward the border of this "Bonnie Hunter" mystery quilt, and that means that I amjust past the half way mark to a finish piecing job.

I have mixed emotions. When I lay the blocks out, I like them. Bright and good movement there. When I am working on it, I am wishing that I had added more fabrics. I get bored with the sameness of this.

Yesterday, I cut out and counted and recounted all the 200 rectangles I needed to make the chevron blocks. For now I am going to hope that the 2 " squares of yellow and neutral are at least close to enough. This morning I sewed body parts, chain stitching, and then put 8 of the chevrons together. Even scrappy, they are not exciting, but look not too bad either. I have actually finished enough chevrons for two of the 25 blocks that I have yet to make. I think Bonnie calls this her Birthday block.I will reserve judgement on it. I like the little triangular corners. I do not like or at least very rarely like pinwheels.

I also had to add another print to the bit of half triangle blocks that I am making to "maybe" frame my vintage looking center fabric up on a design wall. One night, a sleepless beginning and the mind not resting, I climbed back out of bed and went and rooted around my stash until I found a soft blendy rose, and pink kind of nothing fabric and layed it out to add into my design wall quilt. Then went back to bed and slept like a top. It is funny how the mind is working when you don't even realize it. I DO realize that mine must work in super slow motion! Well, we will see where it leads me down what path with this quilt.

I came home from town the other day with another stack of 5 project boxes to sort body parts and store made blocks and things of projects that I am actively using from time to time. That gives me 10 of these boxes now. And when I get the "notion" I will kind of rearrange these piles of fabric in there to make room for a little temporary fabric storage in there. I threw out a plastic 3 drawer thing that I bought one summer about 6 years or so ago when 2 of my grandkids came for Ok to stay 3 weeks, and then on second thought hauled it into my sewing room for tempory storage for new fabric.  Or maybe I will put  UFO's in there instead and use my tall little drawer stacker for fat quarters? Hmm. I will wait for the brain to work on that one.

It is a bright and sunny day outside with drifting occasional black rain clouds, Just a nice springy time day. So think I will go play with my poultry and do chores and  make just a very little gardening motions music.

My son is building me a series of 3 compost bins and I can't wait to pile them full of stuff to decompose! Except for the fact that I will have to overcome my inherent laziness, that is!

I wonder if thats what I am doing in my sewing room? Making more compost bins?

Friday, March 14, 2014

For sure I can't count right

It seems like its been so long since I have been here.

BW came down and helped me pin little NW quilt. I started it 3.5 years ago before she was born and was determined to finish it by this her third birthday. There is only so much guilt that you can handle. I had already made a mess of receiving type blankets for her event but had created a larger crib size for later. The top has been done since before NW was born. Just sitting there.

We pinned it out. BW was such a help and she learned that it really does make your back hurt even though we had the thing duck tapped to our large table that is used for everything. Right now it is my husbands office and has to be 1/2 cleared for every meal! Its a large conference table that a cousin found years ago and KNEW it was perfect for our lifestyle. Over the years I have tried to get rid of it but everyone yells so loud we continue to use it even though most of the time there are only 3 of us rattling around in this house. We have had it now for over 20 years, and it hogs the dining room but it really is handy for  our life. I have thought about getting a breakfast size table to use for normal eating but I am not sure exactly where I would put it????


When we were done pinning we discovered some oops places on two sides of the quilt in the border edges of the backing. Enough for the time. We were so aching.

No way was I going to get it finished for her 3d birthday! But B said that was fine. They had moved her party to a week out because our varsity BB team was headed to STATE. With two granddaughters on the team--well, everything stops for state tourney!

We spent 3 days in Spokane, DH had some business to do for  a day and a half, so I either rode in the truck with him or slept in at the motel. I managed to get in two quilt stores and fabric that I surely don't need, and we tried out different places to eat and went back to a few favorites. The girls WON their first game with the team that had trounced them last year and that were currently undefeated.They  lost
their  second to the defending 5 year champs and then came back strong for the Championship round and  Won 3d place. We are SURE if the draws had been different we would have placed second-- but that is the way the ball bounces as Chuck Bolin would say.

Satisfied, I came home to a load of laundry, and a load of clean unfolded laundry, spoiled to not having to cook and ready to sew.

I had purchased a varigated thread to blend into this scrap quilt and Lynn at Needle N Time had sold me the right topstitch needles for the heavier wt thread and it went pretty smooth after I had repinned the oops out of the quilt. The oops didn't take as long as I thought. When you are tired, an oops can be overwhelming but is not  as alarming as you thought and that is how it was. I took three different days to finish it and took it to my daughter up the road to bind it for me. I really HATE to bind. I am not sure why and so when I can, I trade something to her for a binding job. Its always nice to have an OWE on hand for something like that. I haven't saw the quilt yet and I have to make a label for it and sew it on before the party tomorrow night.

I have been sick with the YUCK for the last 2 and half days. Spent most of my days sleeping in the chair in front of the pellet stove. I think that I will live now though not feeling the best. I still want to buy a little toy or something for the party-- do I venture out? Or save myself? Well I think the printer used the last of the lazer roll so maybe it will be an OUT. We will see. I don't have much cash right now to have a really good time with it, and I don't want more sickness. But I am a sucker for getting out of the house and eating out. I enjoy cooking, but have been pretty much been fixing lunch and dinner for awhile because the guys have been working alot in the office.....ie.... my table.

Yesterday, I was up enough to square all the 4 patch blocks that I had made for the celtic soltice quilt. I now have 8 more of the star type blocks to finish. I don't know how many times that I have counted them and then forget and count again and the numbers always are different for me. It must be a brain malfunction that I was born with. ..... I pinned the block pieces together and need about 4 more sets of right sides of the fifty four-fourty points while I have a stack so high of the left sides. How do I do that!!
It drives me nuts. Anyway. I have 8 more blocks to finish, press and store before I work on the next set.

I was in a frenzy to finish some of the pieces for those blocks, so really, I don't know what I have, not much I know, and I am sure that I counted it all wrong anyway, since I am so good at that.

But my goal is now to just work on that steady, and switch off with either my design wall project, which is not comming together at all------ or to drag out another UFO and work on that, slowly clean  up my sewing space, look for a bookcase with sides 3' x tall to store more fabric in and to PUTTER.

I can putter fairly well. I just can't count or remember what I counted!!!

Friday, February 28, 2014

Why is it?

Sunshine, glorious sunshine outside, glistening snow all over Billygoat mountain.
I can do what ever I want today--. Not. There has to be some goals, and some determination.

So as I set firmly at the machine and sew my mind is not on my business. It is tumbling, asking questions.

Why is it such a soaring pleasure to sew some days. You feel like you have air under your wings and you can do almost anything and like it?

And some days its just kind of grime, counting the amounts finished and counting the amounts to be done.

I have been amazingly well as far as virus's etc go this winter. All about me people have been sick and dragging and I have done pretty well. But its impossible I think to get by in the winter and not have some virus, or  quite a few hit you. I mean, you have to buy groceries and so does the sickly ones and so you meet and intermingle among the cabbages and romaine and zip, you come away with a little icky bug that will get you down in the dumps soon. And it finally happened to me. When it was over, I shopped frantically. Was I searching for another bug to bring home to get me down?  And when all was said and done, the aisles wondered up and down, there wasn't much I brought home except for food supplys.

Yesterday I approached the dreaded deadline ahead, must do, get this done forever quilt. I had worked on it over the weekend and the backing was almost done. I had hunted and hunted for a special backing fabric for this very scrappy quilt that I had pieced for my granddaughter  but thinking baby quilt I hadn't purchased enough fabric. Now I had to piece on side boarders and hope they looked alright. I didn't want it patchy too, so decided to borders down the sides of  the back of the quilt.It was soon, hurry hurry get this done, and the peices ironed.
I duck taped the backing to my table top and marked the center ( just on one end, mind you. What was I not thinking?)  I cut and laid out the white warm and natural that I prefer to use. Stood back and looked at it . My son GW came in and asked is that the quilt? You want some help. And he called his wife to come and help.

Pinning is a merciless job. Its bad on young backs and old backs alike. I used to have to do it on the floor and am really thinkfull to have this 4' x 10'table to work on. But it is still hard on the back.
When everything was pinned about 3" apart, we turned it over. As always there are some boo boos.
One on either side to be unpinned and redone and even oops a little resewing.   The quilt is resting in the living room over couches and chairs. It should be warm enough in there. I hope so anyway, as I had went ahead and marked it while it was stretched out with a friXion pen.. And we rerely use the living room this time of the year, so thats ok. Our REAL LIVING room is the dining room with the pellet stove and the lazy boys in it.

My back is rested, but the memory remains and I will give that quilt and me, a few more days to relax.

Back to the Celtic Soltice blocks. Now what it different? Why are they not fun anymore? Why are they kind of just a chore?  I am getting tired of the fabrics. I cut most of the pieces and pieced quite a bit. Then had to cut more because I can't count properly. I still had enough variety I thought-- but now I am wishing that I had even more variety. "Remember that for the next scrap quilt".
I just made my self sew anyway. It wasn't fun. It wasn't uplifting.. I wasn't happy. Was it really the Celtic Soltice Quilt? Or was it the painful chore of pinning the day before. Maybe I am just lazy.

I now have 15 of the 54-40 or fight blocks done. Nine more, I promise my self and you can switch gears and take a break on something else. But not for long. I do not want this to be another UFO.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Home again

We got home Tuesday night. What can I say. Love, Love, Love my home state. The air is different.
Before I went to bed, I walked all around the house and touched home, The office, the quilt room, the laundry, all my work spaces-even the kitchen. It was wonderful.

Wednesday morning I got out of bed and went straight to the quilt room and made three celtic solstice 54-40 blocks.

This morning I made 3 more.
Then I looked over the  design board and at what was auditioning.
This was just not going anywhere at all. I started to the laundry to pick up the new fabrics that I had picked up in Newport to see if they would work better, and as I walked by a ironed and folded stack of stuff to "put away" I spotted these peices and just hung them up to try.
I am liking this better. Not so in your face with a modern color combo.

The lighting in my quilt room is awful. Even though it is sunny outside this morning the room is full of shadows. I have two lights out in the room. Very slowly I am changing out my light bulbs for daylight, LED light bulbs. Hope that is the answer. It is certainly tough on my pocket book. But I am hoping for an invested improvement. Hate the florescent light type light bulbs. Whatever they are- they look like florescent even if they are not. Light is extremely important if you have bad eyes.
And that is it for sewing today. I am still not unpacked or laundry all done and we are leaving early today to travel to the district basketball games. It is going to be a long one. But I know a quilt store in Ephrata that just might make the trip worth enduring, and there is a fantastic Mexican Restraunt with devine flavor that I can already taste the blend of flavors!

Friday, February 14, 2014

We came to the coast yesterday, but it was a late start because the guys job was not done. We will have to go back and finish it Monday. But I was already to go when DH was and hoping to stop at the quilt shop in Florence.

Bad news. The lady at Joy of Quilting, sold her stuff and retired.
I finally found "the only other quilt shop left in Florence". They had bought some of the stuff from Joy of Quilting and had a stash of their own. I found a "maybe" green for my vintage fabric, a few support fabrics if I use it, and a yucky intriguing old looking fabric that I can hardly wait to add as a back.
This morning I took it all out and looked at it, moved it around abit and again. Hope something jives when I get home.
Can't get too excitied, yet--
I had went back to Piece by Piece to get templates. My mistake. I talked to the class teacher of this Sump Punk or whatever it was that is calling my name. She said, she made her templates out of cardboard. There was a place in Eugene that would make them for me, really reasonably, cheaper than I could order them. She had finally ordered hers from Australia and guess that is what I am going to have to do. You need a pay pal which I have never sat up. Don't know how hard it is. And the Bank is wanting to close all accounts and start over with cards and stuff to avoid credit card rips.

Hmm. Maybe I'll be home soon? Tuesday? Weds? Oh me----

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Here in Oregon

Well, its raining. Surprise!

The wall work is progressing with the help of a tarp, but I am hearing mutterings about being behind schedule, and old muscles not enduring the work push as well as they might.
The grandkids, kids, food and hospitality is great. We will probably gain a few pounds as we do each time we come and stay. I so admire my daughters boundless energy and wish that I still had a larger portion of the same.

Yesterday, while Em was taking AL to the rock climbing class, she dropped me off at a quilt shop near Rei. This is a great quilt shop ( aren't the majority of quilt shops great?) because it has a different variety of stuff than I am used to looking at and I have suddenly decided that I need a key fabric for that vintage print, something that I just haven't seen yet.

Well, the weather ruined those plans. The shop was still closed since the last storm, awaiting power restoration. So out of sympathy, Em ran me by "Piece by Piece" quilt store near the University. 15 min mom! We had the whole gang due over for dinner that night.

Now it is really difficult to walk through a favorite eye candy, fabric store, with both eyes squinted trying not to see anything that was not in the shades of color that I am seeking. Oh, me. And I didn't find the shades of colors I wanted. Probably because they are slightly older colors than what are being used right now. So I grabbed a couple of new patterns and ran back to the car. I had fell in love with the shops "Steam Punk" quilt that they are doing a class on, so had to have that pattern and there was a nifty cut one from Sew Kind of Wonderful that caught my eye and would expand my use of the template that I have already bought.

Now, friends, I am begging to go back to the shop and buy a template that I barely glanced at yesterday, to use with Steam Punk.This is a Jen Kingwell design that makes me WANT to tackle my scrap mess and cut it up into some great body parts!

Tomorrow we head to the beach. It is on a rain cycle there and that is fine. Water belongs on a beach and if it gets alittle stormy, that would be great too. We are looking forward to the "Driftin" with live music, great food and relaxing. And I will probably wrangle a stop at a quilt shop that sees me every time I see that section of coast at Florence. Think I will leave my wallet in the car though and just take a designated handfull of cash inside while I do a quick browse. Its a small shop, but I always, always find stuff there.


Friday, February 7, 2014

Packing AGAIN

I am such a grouch.
DH is going to Oregon again. This time to add the rock to my daughters backyard wall. Our son GW is going to with wife and their daughter. We will visit, they will build walls for three days and then my daughter EL and her family are taking us all to the coast for two days on the beach at a house they have access to. A Vacation. I should be esstatic. Instead of course I am the groundhog grump that wants to stay home in my den and do my own thing. OH Well--

So I threw a load of wash into the machine and headed to the quilt room. There is some stuff going on out there.
 I have been working on all the body parts for my Celtic Solstice 54-40 or fight blocks. I worked a set, counted them and only had a little less than half. Made a second batch and what? They wee two sizes! Luck would have it that the 2nd batch were the right size and the first batch just needed cut down. Whew! There has been a whole lot of trimming and squaring going on. for sure. Then the body parts made, those blocks were ready to sew..
I have had the center medallion square cut out for sometime for
my Vintage type dream quilt and hanging on the wall. Have hung some fabric up to audition also.
But nothing is really happening with it. I decided to change the boarder around it and now--nothing is happening. Nothing seems right. I may just take it down and put it away for awhile. We will see what happens when I get back from this trip.

And do you notice that shiny acrylic insert around my machinge? Oh pure heaven! I had tried to order it before from Dream World but  I wasn't sure that I understood how to give the Horn cabinet opening demensions. They kept reminding me that if I made a mistake that I would eat it. Then they had a sale and I called to place my order. The girl told me that my machine was a custome order, the sale would not apply and it would be $106 plus tax and shipping. I really did not like her attitude, voice and snippy tone. So I thanked her and said, not today.
Late last month I remembered that if I didn't get my insert that I would not be able to finish my granddaughters OVER DUE quilt before her 3d bithday.  Hmm. I went to the computer again and this time tried Sew Easy, and it was-so EASY. There form to fill out was very self explanatory. Much clearer than the other forms I had looked at, so I got it ordered fed-ex to the house, tax and all $86. It is a dream. I had a moment of panic when it wouldn't fit, but I didn't realize that the accessory box was an attachment and would come off. Oh, I do love it. It is a dream to work with now. in spite of all the perils of Pauline that old ladies have to face.

And then I made the first 5 blocks of the Celtic Solstice Quilt. They went together very nicely.

So now, a happy camper, I put them away, cleared up the mess on the ironing board, sewing table, and a small section of floor, blessed my mess, turned off the lights and left.

Sigh!! I guess I need to start packing now-- or maybe after lunch, since I missed breadfast!


Saturday, February 1, 2014

Back among the Living

Well, I see that its been awhile since I posted.

The good old flu bug struck, nasty business. Kind of drained me. And though I have been back in the quilt room working alittle. Well, it hasn't been with much devotion.

This morning I drug out the camera to do an update of the "chaos room" and it looks like the last time
that I used the camera "somebody" left it on and the battery was dead.

"Oh Well"  I think that, "that " is a Tony Bennett song and not my favorite, but it kind of expresses it all!

The Celtic Solstice quilt needs work. So I have drug that out, and counted my blocks to date and started fine tuning them, starting with the neutral /blue star points. They surely needed a lot of fine tuning. Mercy Sakes! I was in a rush wasn't I?

When I was about in the 7th grade, my mom let me loose with her sewing machine. It was an old treadle singer that my brother had added an electric moter for her. It was also the only machine that
my mom ever had that I knew of. She showed me how to use it, taught me what grainlines were about, the importance of a consistant seam, bought me a pattern for what ever it was I wanted to make, and turned me loose. I could go to her and she was helpful, but basically, it was kind of a self taught thing as progress was made. Trial and error. When I needed clothes, I made them. No $ for shopping for readymades. In those days,(those words are the mark of an old person) it was cheaper to buy fabric and thread and make your own.

As I fine tuned my sewing, I read, studied and sewed a lot.

My mother had been busy with a needle, all my life. She crocheted, tatted, sewed and quilted. I remember a yellow to gold on cream, Lone Star quilt, and especially a green scraps drunkerds path that I especially loved and drooled over, but they were company quilts and thats the only time that they came out onto the bed.When mom was in the nursing home, I searched and searched for that quilt, but she had already passed it on to a needy grandchild or horrors! It had been used for padding to move a refrigerater or such!

Sometime when my 4th child was in the 7th or 8th grade, I made an applique, red plaid scotty on black pillow for my 5th daughter and decided that it would be better if it had some hand quilting. Shall we just say, that my hands cannot do a consistant stitch. I grew up with my mom having a quilting frame full , rolled and hanging over the top of her bed, and in the off garden season, she had a quilt in it most of the time. There were no quilting bees at our house, just mom, her frame and meditation. She always complained that she just couldn't do the perfect stitch. Well, I inherited that! In Spades!

So, not satisfied with my quilted pillow, I felt the need to make a bed quilt, for that 4th child. I had been looking at quilts in the lady's magazines and it didn't look too hard. So off I went to the local "everything" store in our country town that carried a fabric department. I had decided to make an Ohio Star pattern and was sort of prepared, mentally anyway. I bough some pink, blue and off white. I don't remember the  fabric very well, and the quilt is long gone, I think. I later mended it for her so many times. It was her quilt that she took on the bus on cold winter nights with the basket ball team, the one she took to young kids do's and sleepovers. It got a lot of wear and tear and she loved it. She was in her twenties at a house party when she realized that her quilt was really pretty full of holes and just plain wore out. And thats when she decide to Make HER a replacement. But that is a story in itself.

I remember terms that I used alot. Wing it. Fudge facter. Just do it. So as you can imagine, I never had lessons except from books, never had an instructor. Oh the home ec teacher tried, but she was so demanding of excellence, slow,and boring. It would take a week to get you new pair of shorts cut out and another week to get a zipper in. That was BORING and not my style at all.

So now what I am that I am turning 68, I am trying to fine tuns some skills and it is not boring, but it is not exciting either. It is feels good  to learn new ways, short cuts, and how to use the tools that I have been collecting. So lately ,thats where you find me a few hours a day. taking out, resewing or tossing, and fine tuning. I am pleased (though yawning).

To keep my Celtic Solice neutral/blue blocks company, I have decided to finish the four patch blocks, a snap for sure, and then I can put them together and lay the stars aside and start on the other block. But, I have been unpicking and resewing and recounting and hmm. It is taking some time.

About this mystery quilt, Bonnie Hunters Celtic Solstice Mystery. I had never done a quilt before that I did not know where it was suposed to be going. I say supposed to , because if you are a quilter, you know that when you create a quilt, at some point it takes over and tells you what it wants and needs. Looking at some of the blocks others have done, I worry that my scrappy quilt will not come together and meld properly. I  have saw a few that look lovely but with control and some that have the eye jumping all over----at once. And I wonder, really wonder how I will like this thing once its done?

And on another note-- There was this frenzy to do some work, get so much cranked out, Christmas, Fuenrals, concerts, basketball games and shopping all thrown together mad dash and then a trip to California. When the REVEAL came. It was kind of--oh! Ok. Is that It? The pattern is essentially a Tennesse Waltz quilt that I have had on my board for about 4 years now-- to do. I bought the pattern for it and the material in a lovely little quilt shop in Duvall Wa. when  I went over there and stayed to attend  the Tulip Festival. I sought the right and unusual fabrics and had  it all planned with browns with a purple tint, yellows and some really odd prints of deep purple violets, acid greens and more yellow to gold ranges. They spoke to me.

So, do  I even want to do this quilt again? Will I be happy with this in scrappy? And will I want to use those odd prints in anything else when I see them so clearly in this quilt?  I guess that time will tell.

Oh Well---


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Did I lose my head too?

I have been trudging away, trying to kick the chaos out of my quilt room.

This morning I wanted to take a picture of my progress. Some would not call it much progress but- awww, I know that its progress. There is more air to breathe in there and I can get around the place with out holding the piles up as I pick my way around the room. However, I have already noticed that
I will have to move some things back the way they were-- the cord for my iron is just not long enough
for freedom where it was, so the roming board is already moved back in front ot the fabric closet and by the heater again.

I have had, still have, remnants of a flu, so struggled hard with the decisions of getting out yesterday.
Was I still contagious? Was I in good enough shape to not have side effect problems with a  60 mile trip going, and 60 miles comming. When I had my grccery shopping done and the side trip to Craft Warehouse and JoAnns done, would I still have the energy to put the stuff away, and make dinner?

Decisions, Decisions--.
Just as we drove into the  outer suburbs of the "City", my husband told me that by the way, we were going refridgerater shopping. Not for me, but for the Church kitchen. Life just piles things on you, have you noticed? Well, three stops later, he had decided that there was one "maybe" and that he needed to gather some more info for comparisons and look on line.

Then I went to craft warehouse. This time of year they usually have sales on stuff they dangled in front of us Christmas shoppers and so I was looking for acid free photo boxes to sort and store my scraps in.
They did, and several different colors, so I bought green, deep violet, black on white, white on black, red, dark bright blue, pastel blue, and a blue and white stripe. Total $19 rounded off. These boxes are not large but I figure that they are a start, and with neat pressed fabric you can get a lot in there. I already have a green tiny print one that is going to be my "bit" box for applique etc. The stipe will do for sized strips and as I find more striped boxed I can devide and conquer finding my strips. But I will be able to know from the color of the box what to expect inside.
Then I went to JoAnns. There was not a price anywhere on their photo boxes and most colors I had. But I picked up a nasty pale pink roses one for shades lighter than red and a delightful red-orange print that I couldn't resist. Total price was $9 and something. Humm. I did better at craft warehouse didn't I?
I know that I have at least two suppot braces  somewhere and a 4-5 foot long white shelf plank and the plan is to put a low shelf behind the cutting table for those scrap boxes.

Groceries and home and ugh! Husbands like to eat. Energy is gone so we did tacos because we love them, they are fast and easy and little clean up too.

Then the house went to bed and I sat up working on a DNA puzzle, my FF Finder Tests ,and a letter from a match. When I was so tired, the brain wouldn't work, I went to bed. And now I have a problem. Where are my glasses? They are not in any of the acceptable places that I put them. So-- I am rambling around this morning blind as a bat! And the long and short of it is, I can't find my camera, since I can't find my glasses-- you got it!

So busy work in the quilt room this early am. Its the 21st of January, so I ironed 21 pieces of my washed stash, and put it away, plus a stray pillowcase that was mixed up in there. Now I feel virtuous, blind, but virtuos.

The trouble with ironing and sorting stash is there are so many old ideas that pop into your head again, or fresh ideas, as you fold and fondle your fabric. This morning it was a lush vintage look piece by Laudrey Basket for Moda, called Aloha. My daughter and I were on a shop hop this fall, when I spotted the last of a bolt on a back clearance wall in a shop on the Cascade Highway.. I had saw a quilt in "Material Obsession 2" quilt book by. Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke that just kind of has hung around in the back of my mind and this "Aloha"  fabric was perfect. Well, not perfect, it had a somewhat limited color range and mostly colors that I avoid, but what better way to stretch my space than working with it? It had the FEEL  that I wanted.
So, I had no pattern, didn't quite remember the quilt and so had no idea how much fabric to buy. I am the type, that figures that if a yard is probably close to enough, I had better buy a little more. So I bought 2 yards.

As I ironed the delectable stuff this am, I wondered where the rest of the oddball, ugly colors were that  I have picked up to go with it on that shop hop. But they are washed and will turn up in one of these overflowing laundry baskets and then the fun can start.
But why wait? I found my book and cut the center square of fabric out and put it on a design wall, to dream about as I piddle around in there.

Oops, its daylight now. I better eat.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Yesterday was a buzz saw day

Yesterday I was still on that road trip high, only now it was in reverse.
Suitcases were emptied and put away. Top priority wash was done and since much of the stuff
is hang dried, this morning was put away time. I can almost see my dining room table again. There are two huge piles of laundry to sort and do yet.But I am shifting into think mode, slow down, how do I handle what needs to be done.
I thought that I would involve my self in Judy's, at Patchwork Times, scrappy quilt, but I am not interested in making small stuff just to get rid of fabric. and the more I thought about it I knew that I was going to have to parcel the Celtic Soltice Quilt out to portions to finish each day. And really, I have to get my quilt room into a state that I can enjoy it, instead of the push, push mad dash that I have been doing to complete stuff. What I want is steady and sure progress without stress and hyperventilating.
So what are my goals now and how to go about them.
The quilt room is a horrific mess. I can work fine in chaos, but not for a long measure of time and the bottom line is I don't want to live like this.
So--
Rule 1. Wash my new fabric along with the laundry loads and put it away as I do the folding.
Rule 2. Think about what I want to change in the Quilt room to improve it.
           a. lets get the bits and pieces off the floor.
           b. lets think about scraps and how they need to be organized and how often do I do an update on this to keep things moving along well and be on top of it.
           c. Lets look at the quilt room and figure out how to utilize the space and store my scraps and still move around and not create bunches of dust bunny spaces.
Rule 3 Make a list of $ things that need done and insert them into the budget.
           a. get a plexiglass form for my new sized sewing machine. Budget for it.
           b. Get the Long Arm timing fixed. Budget for it.
           c. what and how do I want to store my scraps.What do I use for there storage? Do I need to buy anthing.

So, went to my computer and typed in Organizing quilting scraps and started reading. There are lots of quilters out there with good ideas. They all work different, think fabric differrent. A lot of things sound good, but some I have tried before, and some are not me. I am not the same person, with the same methods that I was and I need to think about that and adjust it.
1. I love working with 5" charms. So I need a box of my collections. Now they are just here and there. That idea of using photo boxes is a good one. Acid free is good. They are small enough so that hopefully I won't get carried away, They do not have dips and ridges to collect dust and can just be wiped off and if stacked. There is no where for dust to collect.
2. The 2.5" strips are very handy, just too contolled and bland. I like to mix all kinds of fabrics across time, form and color, so one box will do.Maybe one for uncuts or for 20" size by 2.5 and a box for 2.5" scraps any smaller size peices.
3. I have small stackers for leaders and enders, small squares of 1.5 ". Perhaps I need more of these plastic boxes that stack for triangles and such. Think about this one. We will call all these triangles, bricks and squares, Body Parts. And I need a place to put the body parts. By the cutting table.

Since I never know what direction I am going to take off next, I am not sure that a lot of planned body parts are a good thing, so I need a place for scraps. Less than 6" cuts of fabric should be thrown into the scraps, over 6" into the fat quarter area. But to sort my less than  6" or weird shapes,hey can just be tossed into a container and sorted by purples, reds, pastels, neutrals light, neutrals dark, greens and blues oranges and yellows. I do work by color to color. Do I want a pink bin? Pink is not usually my thing. Think about that. We are talking 9 or 10 bins. Lets find the space first and then decide.

I have my goal set for the Bonnie Hunter Celtic Solstice and some mind turning stuff going on. Thats good enough for today.


Saturday, January 11, 2014

Still on the road

My husband does not understand me_

Here we are, traveling, eating out, spending time with Loved Ones, at the beach, down long untraveled roads and I am restless. Pathetic isn't it. But here is why.

First of all, my relax time with genealogy after everybody else went to bed, was messed up because of computer trouble. I had bought a new laptop to use for travel time and research and the company had put
their own web page on it that the  computer kept going back to. Scandle, Scutt, and yuck. So after that
first trip with it, I took it to  Aaron, my go to for computer man, and had him clean it up. He suggested that I bring it home and do an update that he hadn't had time to do for me in my "rush state". Thats part of my all time problem, I either live in a state of inertia, or a state of rush. Well, I did that and never opened it up again until we were in California.
It won't open. The password is wrong. I have only used this password for umpteen years for all of my computers. I just don't like to spend braintime on things like keys, passwords and tidying up.
So for the whole trip, if I wanted to unwind with genie I had to use my husbands laptop.
It really helped but I am seething still. Microsoft said that I could write them my problem and they would address it in 24 hrs. 32 Hours later, they got back to me. No Do. Not enough information.
Here is this specially purchased computer sitting still because I cannot even get into it! What an angry, frustrated ulcer this mess is.

Now I resign myself to eating, chatting, smiling and having fun. How long can you do that?
Patience is not my middle name!

so----on our 6th day of this trip I spied a quilt shop in the beach town we were staying in. On the 7th day I wrangled a "few minutes" to stop there. "nonquilters waiting in the car " my friends! So I did a flyby check, pulling a few fat quarter colors that I needed for the staht but being selective. And then I heard the girl say to another customer" Our sale room is to the right and around the corner. So eventually I headed that way.

It was assorted fabric, but good grades of Moda and Michael Miller types,stacks of it. I rummaaged and sorted and stacked. It was on sale for 3 dollars a yard, so of course I am looking for things for quilt backs. This is not stuff to die for, but still lots of interesting things, two color things or bold stripes mixed with white, Aunty  Back porch types and crazy directionals, and all of it could be used so well for quilt backs. Even so, I gasped to myself when I paid the bill and mind soaring headed to the car with my two bags of fabric, my back bending alittle from the weight..
Did I mention that we were traveling, 3 adults and two energetic grandsons in a small Volvo?

We lingered another day and then packed up to head home. We had decided not to backtrack, so parted with our loved ones there and headed inland to find a fast highway north. But DH, who really is a dear, offered to find me a quilt shop on the way out. Always semi prepared for shopping I pulled out my list of addresses and we stopped at the Quilt Cupboard in Atascadero.

It looked simple and innocent enough but when I stepped down the first aisle, I was lost in a sea of color, form, direction and desire. Ohh MY GOODNESS! Just a little country girl presented with so many selections of color! Civil War and Kaffee Kassett, and everything inbetween. I went crazy, Way Crazy!
When I paid the bill, I had to juggle two credit cards and empty my wallet.

Now I am living with a goodly supply of guilt and embarrassment. How could I have succumbed to all the heady lure. Naturally, I needed to stockup on some really interesting neutrals, some power backed color candy, a roll of Kaffee Kassett, a pack of civil war and a few mingling prints that were soo delicious, and
I had just utterly lost every bit of control that I had ever gained.

Now I have to limp home,counting my pesos and dreaming of washing, drying, sorting and admiring my new color box and to live with, the guilt!!! I remember the state of the quilt room, the tons of fabric that I have but oh it is so sweet, the urge to cut into this new candy. And let me tell you, it was not easy to find space for two more shopping bagsin that little car that is virtually nearly sitting on the ground!. Oh but the heart sings, the mind hums and when oh when, will this vacation end???