Sister's Choice Quilts

Strange Days

I suppose stranger things have happened, but this is one for the books.

I have a nephew who lives with my elderly father.  (Not Grandpa Larry, that is my husband's father).  This arrangement has worked out splendidly for all concerned.  My nephew has a nice place to live and my father has a companion and is able to continue to live in his own home.

So, last weekend, my nephew went camping.  He got up in the dark and managed to step in a hole, fall down and break his ankle in three places.  A really bad break.  He had to be hospitalized and have surgery on the ankle, which involved various pins and plates.  He is going to be laid up for quite some time.

My sister, (nephew's mother) was with him for the surgery.  Late in the evening she returned to our dad's house where she planned to spend the night, as it was closer to the hospital where her son was.  She came in the house and found Dad on the floor.  

With a broken leg.

Dad had to be taken to the hospital and was there for a couple of days.  Which is where I have been and the reason for no blog posts.  He has now been released to a rehab center where he will stay for some time.  He had so been looking forward to Thanksgiving, which was also his 90th birthday.

I am not sure what will happen when Dad is released to go home.  With the two men laid up with broken legs and neither able to do much of anything unassisted, we are probably going to have to hire a nurse or take turns staying with them.

I think I will be glad when this year is over.  I want a do-over.

 

Live and Learn

I have been enjoying working with Sweetwater's holiday collection "Holly's Tree Farm".  I got in a bit of sewing last week on two different projects.  The one I like best of the two is "Paganini", a Schnibbles pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  Paganini is a great pattern with three or four different variations, which are fun to play with.  If you look at my header, you can see another layout choice.  

What I like about the layout in the photo above is that each block calls for eight different fabrics, along with some white.  I think the fabrics are shown up nicely and since the block is wreath shaped, it goes well with the holiday theme of the fabric.  The addition of the white fabric corner squares seems to further set off the cuteness of the colored fabrics.  I need to make a few more blocks so that the finished project is a total of 16 blocks.  Perfect table topper for a square or round table.  Of course you could make this three by four blocks for a rectangular table or counter top.

This is the second project that I have used the same fabric collection.  This pattern is called Drop, a Little BItes pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  I actually think this little quilt looks like a hot mess.  I wish I had added a lattice of white or perhaps used a white fabric in the first round surrounding the center square in each block.  To me, this is just a jumble of fabrics, each one calling out to be looked at, and causing the eye a good deal of confusion.  "Look at me!"  "No, look at me!"  "No ME".  I want to run away.

I have actually made Drop previously, and wisely used a cream color background for the first round surrounding the center squares, and also separated each block with a lattice of cream.  Don't you agree that this makes for a much more cohesive looking finished result?  Those pretty French General fabrics are working nicely together and each one can have a turn to be appreciated.

You win some, you lose some.  When I finish Paganini, I am going to try Drop again, this time with a Kate Spain holiday collection and some crisp white Bella solid.  

The Year of the Ruler

2016 is going to be the year of the ruler I think.  I just ordered two new ones for projects I want to make.  The 30 degree triangle ruler, which is twice as big as I was expecting or needing it to be, and a log cabin trim ruler. Both from Creative Grids, always a reliable source.  I have in mind to make Sara a Log Cabin quilt for her new bed, and I want to make that Firecracker quilt that Fat Quarter Shop has been promoting.  

In addition, I still need to finish my Pineapple quilt with the Pineapple ruler.  I was having mixed results with that previously.  Maybe I can figure out a way to be more accurate with it.  

I think I may have another Quick Curve project in me.  Sew Kind of Wonderful is coming out with some new patterns that look awesome.  I have had mixed results with that tool as well, but when it works it is amazing.  My brain always aches when I try to figure out their instructions though.

Last, there is the Folded Corner Ruler.  I ought to be able to come up with some project that utilizes that.

So, do you have any specialty ruler recommendations?  I am up for trying just about anything.

Upstairs Tour

  It took all weekend, but I did get my sewing room and upstairs guest room all organized!  My daughter moved into her own place, so I gained a guest room and more closet space for my fabric.  I haven't had a chance to miss Sara and Eva too much, because for one thing they are only a mile or so away, so I see them all the time, and second I have been too busy organizing.  So how about a little tour of my upstairs?

When you climb the stairs, the first thing you see is a little desk nook and a couple of linen cabinets.  Excuse the light, it was late afternoon and the sun was coming in the windows so brightly.  I haven't figured out how to use the desk area yet.  The upstairs bathroom is just to the right of the linen closets.

There is a nice loft area up there also, and I have two random chairs there, along with a quilt rack.  You can glimpse a peek into my sewing room.

Come on in.  Feel free to enlarge the photos to see more detail.

  You see my cutting table straight ahead, a dresser full of rulers, charm packs, layer cakes and fat quarters.  The closet is to the left of the cutting table.

Here is a peek in one side of the closet, and a look at my vastly cleared out bookcase.  I packed up three boxes of books and threw one away.  Organized my magazines, and threw out anything prior to 2009.

Close up of the left side of the closet.  Labeled project boxes on top, fat quarter bundles on next two shelves and bins with kits and some layer cakes on the bottom.

Close up of the right side of the closet, with my longer fabric lengths wound around comic book cardboards.  Smartest thing I have ever done.

On the right of the window is the dresser and my ironing board and two design walls.  You can see I didn't lie about being a multi-tasker.  Those are three projects I am working on.

Continuing around the room, here is my sewing table, and peg board for all my rulers.  The biggest improvement in here is that I got almost everything off the floor.  I had baskets and bins and various items piled up in every corner, and now that is all cleared out.  Much better feng shui I am sure.

Now let's go next door. 

This is the newly unoccupied guest room.  I did use a few drawers in the big dresser for sewing supplies, but left most of them empty for guests.  And look, now I have a room I can decorate in blues.

Now for the closet organization!

This is the left side of the closet.  I have my quilts that need quilting hanging.  I did leave a little room on the lower closet pole for my guests to use.

The right hand side of the closet.  This is what took most of my time.  I went through my stash out in the garage and reorganized just the very best stuff into smaller bins that I can keep near me when I need them.  It was such a drag having to go downstairs, out to the garage, rummage around in the stash bins, then schlep back upstairs again.  Now everything I need is right close by.

I did discover some forgotten things and have in mind some projects that will use them.  My prize find was a project box containing dark greens and burgundies that I had in mind for a Christmas quilt some years back.  Still love the fabric, but have a better idea on how to use them.

 I highly recommend reorganizing every year or so.  Even if you don't gain another closet like I did, you can sort through what you have, clear out what you don't need, and make much better use of your space.  Handling all the project boxes, fat quarter bundles, kits, and patterns also gave me a better sense of what my sewing priorities might be in the new year.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Organized

Sad as I am not to have Sara and Eva in my house all the time, there is one advantage to them moving out. I get more closet space for my fabric and sewing supplies.  Sara's bedroom (which will now be a guest room) is right next door to my sewing room.  That makes it super convenient for me to spill over into the closet in that room.  The photo above is one side of the newly cleared out guest room closet.

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed as to how to proceed with this organizational project.  My idea is to organize my fabric better, into color coordinated or designer specific bins.  I bought all the bins you see above at my local Ace Hardware store, and have ordered seven more.  I may end up with even more than that, depending on how this whole endeavor pans out.

My brain is a-buzz with ideas on how I can organize things more efficiently.  The closet in my sewing room right now has turned into a gigantic jumble of who-knows-what anymore.  My thoughts are still in the very early planning stages, but whatever I end up with, it has got to be an improvement over this:

I will end up with essentially, two closets.  In the guest room, I will have to leave some room for the hanging clothes of whatever guests I may have stay, but at least one half or more of the space is mine, all mine.  The closet in the sewing room proper I think will contain projects, kits and new fabric bundles and precuts.  The closet in the adjacent guest room can house bins of organized color coordinated or specific designer fabric, patterns and some sewing tools and supplies.

One thing that is working very well for me is folding my larger cuts of fabric on cardboard cards.  The other half of the sewing room closet is organized this way, and I am very happy with it.

This effort is not going to happen over night, so stay tuned and see how it evolves!

Juggling Projects

Yesterday on the Moda Cutting Table blog, Carrie Nelson posted about having a slew of  projects going on at once.  She put the question out there to her readers, if they were a one project at a time person or if they juggled multiple projects at once.

I am definitely in the "more the merrier" camp.  Right now, I have bright and summery Viola taking up space on my large design wall, but have started two seasonal table toppers in Christmas fabrics.  Don't you just love working on a project that is in keeping with whatever holiday or time of the year it is?  I will get back to Viola in due time, but right now I am in a mood to get ready for the holidays.

I had a layer cake of Holly's Tree Farm, which is just the cutest collection ever.  I carefully cut it up so I could get  more than one project out of it.  The smaller blocks are Drop, a Little Bites pattern.  The larger blocks are Paganini, a Schnibbles pattern.  Both are by Carrie Nelson, of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company fame.  Layer cakes are such a great pre-cut.  You can make an entire quilt from one, but better yet, you can cut them up and make a couple of smaller projects.  One to keep and one to share!

As I have mentioned, Sara and Eva recently moved into a little house of their own.  And they need everything.  I am doing my bit to get them set up with table toppers and quilts to suit every season.  How lucky am I to have a sewing mission that will occupy me for the next couple of years?  I love to sew for myself, but honestly, there is a limit to how many quilts I can use and/or store in my own home.

With this Holly's Tree Farm layer cake, I have the best of both worlds:  enough fabric for a small table topper/candle mat for myself and a larger table topper for Sara's kitchen table.

 

I Am Starting To Think About Christmas...

I am starting to think about Christmas, and it makes me happy.

Of course I have just returned from The Happiest Place on Earth (Disneyland), and have to admit, my general mood is pretty euphoric.  We had a marvelous time, and have decided from now on, if we plan a trip there, to be sure and have our main days be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Sunday the crowds were ridiculous, and Monday wasn't much better due to a local school holiday.   Tuesday was ok, and Wednesday was perfect.  

Eva was an ideal traveling companion, and enjoyed herself thoroughly.  While we were away, Sara made good progress getting her kitchen set up in her new house, and took care of starting up cable, gas, water, etc.  Her neighbors seem very nice and with luck, she will get settled in completely in the next week or so.

When I got home, the first thing I did was run up to the sewing room where Viola is staring down at me balefully from the design wall.  She is feeling very neglected.  But I am so distracted by everything else around me, I have a feeling she is going to languish for a bit longer.

I have begun to think about Christmas already, and wanted to do something for Sara for her new kitchen.  A (Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.) Little Bites table topper seemed like just the thing.  I had purchased a layer cake of Holly's Tree Farm a few months ago, and I believe I can get two or three small table toppers out of it.

Aren't those colors just the prettiest?  This collection is so fresh and perfect for the holidays, without being too traditional.  The Little Bites pattern I am using is called Drop.  I will make 25 blocks (3 inches unfinished) and sew them together in a straight setting.  With an inner and outer border, the quilt should finish at around 18 inches.   Just right for the center of her round kitchen table.

Having a Bit of a Diversion

Hi there, hope all is well.  My family is taking a bit of a vacation at the moment.  We had to postpone our planned trip to Disneyland back in September due to the fires, but rescheduled it for this week.  We are having a grand time.  Yesterday Eva met a great number of princesses, and fulfilled a life long dream.

I will be back soon and with any luck, back in front of the sewing machine.