Monday Meandering 7- 18 - 2016

What a great weekend I just had!  I sewed quite a bit.  I made some progress on my red, white and blue quilt.  And I went to a terrific class by Vicki Pignatelli. I don't usually try to go for a more arty feel to my work -- I like traditional piecing.  Once my moving plans were settled I decided that a weekend away and taking a class on curves would be wonderful break from the work.  That it was 2 weeks after the move-in date didn't really hit me until I tried to gather supplies for the class after the move.  I found a box of hand dyes -- some I had done and some I had purchased and I found most of my batiks.  I don't have big collections of either styles but that's what I decided to work with. I still haven't found my good fabric scissors so I made do with a small pair I use for snipping threads.  It was all fine and great fun. Vicki is a great teacher and very encouraging.    

Here's my attempt at a water lily done with Vicki's pattern.  

I was totally thrilled with my background fabric and how I was able to manipulate the dots to advantage.  I wasn't thrilled with the lily pad fabric I used in the next picture. 

I changed one of the pieces for a darker and more yellow green piece of hand dyed to have more contrast.  I don't remember changing the other lily pad but it sure looks lighter in the picture below than in the picture above. Sunday morning I left Sharon's  around 10:30, after I got all the pieces sewn down. I will be working on the border next. 

Sharon continued to work on hers. The pattern was the flame shape in the middle.  She added the two circular shapes on top left and mid-right.  

By 7:30 pm or so she had her whole piece finished.  (On the other hand, I got to celebrate Natalie's BD.  And, then had the great joy of driving home down I 95 with a ridiculous amount of traffic!) Here's Sharon's finished piece. Hopefully her finish will motivate me to finish mine this month -- especially since I have finishing this piece as my OMG this month! 

Since life is mostly back to normal it is time to come up with goals again.

July 18, 2016

Put borders on my lily piece from class

Get top of cutting table set up with rulers, trash baskets, scissors and cutters. (Where are all of my cutters???)

Continue piecing R, W & Blue quilt.

Yep, I can't find but one of my rotary cutters.  Nor can I find most of my scissors.  That's a problem that I'm not really happy with waiting to discover once my shelving arrives.  So I may be doing some more box diving this week. 

I'm linking up with Monday Makings and Main Crush Monday.  Take some time to visit blogs around the world using either (or both) of these linky parties as your starting point.  It's lots of fun to be inspired by viewing these blogs. I'm happy to be back to a more normal life although there is a lot still to do.  I plan to putter in the studio this afternoon.

Happy Quilting All! 

Monday Meandering on Tuesday

It's been nearly 3 weeks since we moved in to our new house.  The great room, dining room and Pat's office are pretty unpacked and set up sans anything on the walls.  The kitchen, not so much.  The new kitchen is definitely smaller than our old one.  We've annexed a linen closet into a pantry so we can store all of our kitchen items.  No doubt we'll make a shelf in the basement into a storage for extra can goods.  We're now waiting for a spice rack to put on the back of the pantry door because we have way too many spices! 

The big news is we've made a lot of progress in my basement studio.  Here's looking from the doorway outside into room. (I've taken must of my pictures from that door because the light plays havoc with the pictures.) 

Here's looking to the left from the same doors.  

Here's what the same space looks like now. This is the table for Ruthie.  That dresser is moving but we're not sure where at this point.  My desk for the long arm stuff is in place as is my couch. 

My cutting table is back together and ready for use.  Today I found my rotary mats, rulers and ruler holders. After looking in nearly every box (probably 50 or so...) I hadn't found a cutter.  I finally looked in one of my machine carts and there was a cutter.  I wanted to cut some squares for my red, white and blue quilt so I can start putting it together.  I also found my white fabric pile so I could use some of it along with the white piece I had in the project box.  Who knows where the other three rotary cutters are! 

I'm using my old sewing cabinet for my Bernina.  It's ready for some sewing...except plugging it in. Later, if I decide a new cabinet is needed I'll look at what's available. Considering how much stuff I have I doubt I'll look for a new cabinet.  The other side of this is my other sewing desk: an old coffee table sans legs put on two filing cabinets.  I've used that as a sewing station for a long time.  

The big box on the right is Ruthie's sewing machine. We got the sewing head out of our storage unit yesterday. We didn't trust putting it in with the majority of our household goods so we drove it up and stashed it in a rented storage unit with air conditioning!  Here it is ready to be re-set up.  We're holding off for a bit so I can get more of the room set up.  I'm not ready to start quilting quite yet although I have several tops I could do. 

Thursday I'll be going to the quilter's group that meets in our new neighborhood.  I'm ready for some time sewing rather than unpacking.  I haven't decided whether I will work on my red, white and blue project or the spring flying geese and appliqué project.  I'll make my mind up tomorrow. 

Friday I'm driving up to Maryland to visit with Sharon and take a class with Vikki Pignatelli on curves. I'm hoping to get the whole project done by the end of the month as my One Monthly Goal.  

I'm linking up with Monday Making and Main Crush Tuesday -- yep Beth is also running a day behind!  Spend some time cruising to the different blog posts. I know I plan to spend time this week cruising through the various blog posts.  It's been a long time since I've been able to do that. 

Happy Quilting All! 

Monday Meandering and OMG!

We're in the new house! With a LOT of boxes waiting to be opened and unpacked. The furniture arrived Thursday and we've been busily unpacking and putting things away.  Only problem? We've downsized and the kitchen is minuscule.  ARGH!  We've already got 2 boxes going to charity and we took lots of boxes to charity before we moved.

In the middle of the packing up, unpacking and general upheaval I finished my June goal for OMG.  Ruthie came down about 2 weeks before we moved and I made sure I had finished the quilting.  I got one side of the binding done before all the machines went into a small storage unit near where we moved to.  But I ran out of time to do the other side of the binding by machine.  So in the down time I was able to get it sewn by hand.  Yea for another finish!

And yes, that is one of my machines on the desk being used.  We had a day between moving out and moving in.  Like any good quilter I had a machine and a project box with me.  I'm working on a project that I cut out for the May retreat that really didn't get anything done on it then.  Luckily I've taken it to two sewing opportunities and have got all of the flying geese together and the center pieces put together.  I have appliqué to do still but there will be time at some point to do that and then put it all together.  

My July goal is minor.  I'm going to a class in Maryland and my goal is to get the whole top done before the end of the month.  Yeah, we'll see if I can do it  

Here's what the studio looks like now.  At some point I'll be able to show the finished space but it'll be after we get some cabinetry into it. 

I am so out of the habit of blogging it has taken me two days to write this.  On the other hand, we've emptied another 10 to 15 boxes and put the contents away. And the hardest part of that is putting the contents away!  

I'm linking up with Red Letter Quilts and Let's Be Social on Sew Fresh Quilts. Hopefully I'll be starting to blog more regularly now.  Don't hold your breath as there is a ton of stuff still to be done but I need another sewing day soon! 

Happy Quilting All!