My Sewing Room

I have just read a few blog updates and learned that several craft bloggers are using today to post pics of their workspaces. The idea came from "The Brenda Blog," but I learned of it when reading "Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly." I look forward to getting a bit more time later today to look at the variety of spaces these creative women have made for themselves.

I devoted the summer of 2007 to making my own sewing space and took pictures to record the event. The room was my son's bedroom, but it was evident that he truly was grown and gone on his own and that saving his stuff was unnecessary. Also, we had begun that terrible habit of putting stuff we didn't exactly know what to do with in his room! To say that it had become a major junk room would be putting it very mildly!! So, with Kevin's much needed help, we cleared the room. He painted the walls and steam-vacced the carpet. I made some very pretty curtains and arranged a workspace that has served me quite well over the last year. See for yourself in these pictures I took when the room was spanking new and clean. (I hate to say that it's a bit cluttered at the moment!)





















A month or so after taking these pictures, I added a design wall, which is in use below. I bought 2 large pieces of wall insulation and used duct tape to hold them together. Then I took lengths of batting to cover it entirely, then covered the batting with white flannel. I used straight pins to secure the batting and flannel to the insulation, pulling them around behind to hide. Figuring out how to attach it to the wall was initially a challenge, but we (Kevin and I) eventually just pounded about 4 nails into the wall and pushed the insulation foam wall onto the nails. The nails were the kind with very little "head," so they pushed right through the insulation.. It's been up a year, and I've had no trouble with it. The picture of my glass-front cabinet is in the guest room, not my sewing room, but it shows where I have stored/displayed some of my creations.

Reflections on a Summer Winding Down

On Monday my summer ends and I head back to the classroom. My big dreams of getting gobs of quilting done this summer have fallen way too short, but I can't say that I am looking back on this summer as one that was disappointing or anything. We had a lot of good things happen, some very sad things, too, and mostly just your basic real-life stuff.

I have had this week to myself for the most part, as Kevin and Emma went back to school on Monday. This has sort of been my week to do stuff just for me, which basically turned into working on quilting projects that have simmered on the back burner all summer long.

My desire for several months - since January, at least - has been to make 'Broken Dishes' with Kaffe Fassett fabrics, featured in his book Kaleidoscope of Quilts. I have at last begun serious work on 'Broken Dishes.' I have admired this quilt since first seeing it featured in quilt magazines in an ad for thread. What a dream to gaze at! For many months now I have been acquiring KF fabrics, both from real stores and on-line stores. My collection has become quite the stash (a sub-stash of an overall major stash!). Besides making a trial block in June, I have done little more than study the quilt pictures in the book. This week, I have begun cutting and marking the squares for the small interior blocks. Here are a few pictures of my KF stash along with my current progress on 'Broken Dishes. Aren't his colors absolutely electrifying? The affect these fabrics have on me is incredible. For a gal who has preferred reproduction prints and traditional patterns, this sudden craze I have for Kaffe Fassett fabric is quite out of the ordinary!

Bringing It All Together

I have read over several interesting blogs in recent days, and am very pleased to learn that other women out there like to just fondle their fabrics. As my introductory blurb above suggests, I don't get a lot of my projects finished - or even started, for that matter - but I do spend tons of time sitting amongst my stash of gorgeous fabrics, touching, matching up various combinations, rediscovering purchases from weeks, months, and even years ago. These pictures represents such a minuscule percent of my stash. But I love every piece, and save every scrap.


















So, saying this, after reading those other blogs where quilters talk about their fabric stashes so lovingly, doesn't seem quite so "odd" any more. Sure, my daughters say this is dorky, but other stash owners know the feeling.

Over a year ago, I began blogging on another site, but was dissatisfied with all the ads, pop-ups, graphics, and miscellaneous garbage, so I copied off all the entries and saved them to a separate space. I really like going back to see what I was doing and thinking - and the English teacher in me won't let me trash any written work! Records! We must keep records! So to review my history, I am somehow going to connect those old blogs here. First, however, I must figure out how this is to be accomplished.

Catching Up

It has been ages since I've posted a blog, but that does not mean that I have been totally ignoring it. I have learned in the past several months that the world of blogs is absolutely immense, and there are blogs for any topic under the sun. So, I have been reading a few (which easily turns into reading a lot!), updating and adding features to my blog, educating myself on various aspects of the crafters/quilters blogging business.

My current interests seem to be focused on further collecting of Kaffe Fassett fabrics (a box of the gorgeous stuff actually came in in the mail today!), making drawstring back packs, finishing off the baby quilts for the twins (one is in the frame, finally - a quilt, not a twin!), and working on my doodling skills for the day down the road when I am working on a Rhapsody quilt. The art of doodling must be perfected, and the non-artist in me needs lots of practicing. Erin has given me lots of tips, and she even recommended an artist whose work is noted for his excessive embellishments. ( Of course, at present, I do not recall his name.)

The summer is winding down, and in just a week and a half I will find myself back in school. Kevin actually started today. Emma will go on Monday. There is a lot going on between now and my first day. Adam will be leaving for the Navy on the 18th, and we will have a send-off here on Saturday with a brunch. Big changes.

Pictures of the Curvy Blocks

In an earlier post, I described working outside my comfort zone and referenced a totally uncharacteristic quilt I'd been working on. It involved curves and bright, vibrant, vivid colors of batik fabrics.

These have not been anywhere near my signature looks for as long as I have been quilting. I am a confirmed traditionalist - old fashioned designs, orderly layouts, and reproduction looks.

To see the quilt blocks for this project, nobody would guess that they came from my hands!

Remembering a Fun Quilt Get-Away

Back in September 2007, just 2 weeks or so after school started, I took 2 days off along with Sharon, and we joined Kay and Sherrie for a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, to participate in a Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar. Featured along with Ricky was Alex Anderson and Libby Lehman. Oh, my gosh, what an absolutely wonderful time we had!

The type of quilting Ricky Tims is known for is so far removed from any type of quilt I would have ever - ever - made, so I was just a bit unsure of how much I would end up getting out of this seminar, but after all was said and done, I think I learned so much. I think I am more apt to give some of these techniques a try, and I am a lot more willing to risk outlandish colors than I ever used to be. Everyone of us seemed to gravitate to something different. I really liked the process of designing the components of rhapsody-type quilts. I have made several. Sharon has spoken repeatedly of her interest in Convergence Quilts. I fully expect her to attempt one at some point. Sherrie and Kay...well, I couldn't say for certain what they were particularly drawn to, but I know they had parts of the program that they really liked better than others. I will have to ask, and then update this blog with their thoughts.

Rewards of Hand Piecing

I love my sewing room - Adam's old bedroom. I've arranged it to suit me, and I have all my quilting stuff organized and easily accessible. I can only think of one drawback and that is that when I am working in the sewing room, the rest of the family is downstairs doing stuff that I want to be in on!

So after about a hundred episodes of NCIS which we dvr'd, I decided I had absolutely wasted too much time! I enjoy hand piecing and hand quilting, so why wasn't I working on something?

Then I remembered a UFO begun 2 or 3, maybe 4, years ago. It is a 2-color quilt of a very pretty deep red and an off-white. There are just 2 blocks--the star and the stepping stone. The reason I'd quit working on it was that I'd run out of one of the neutrals, and then when I found the neutral, I'd forgotten the measurements.

Well, I dove into the bin where it was stored, figured out the dimensions, cut what I needed and set off to my favorite easy chair to piece, watch NCIS with DH, thus enjoyng 2 of my favorite things - quilting and family.

Above is a picture of the blocks that are pieced. It is 7 blocks by 5 blocks at present. I am not using a particular pattern, so I am unsure just how many more I will make. This covers just the end of my queen size bed, so to have a complete top, I am just halfway there. I have considered, however, piecing these togehter to use in a medallion surrounded by borders of pretty quilting. I could add some applique too, perhaps. I will let it tell me what to do. (Quilts do speak, you know.)