Sister's Choice Quilts

Massive Sewing Room Tidy Up

My big sewing room declutter has been a success. My primary mission was to clear the surfaces of clutter and unorganized miscellaneous objects. Here is a little tour around the room, starting with the sewing table. I am very pleased to have cleared off a ton of stuff and put it where it belongs. My table is a former oak dining table that I had a handyman cut holes in to hold two sewing machines. It worked better in my former studio where I had enough room to access both sides of the table so two people could sew at a time. My current room is too small for that, so the table is pushed up against the wall.

Moving left we have my design wall, which I did not touch. I need to finish the lattices on my Moda Blockheads 3 quilt, and those blocks are staying up there until I do.

This is my ironing station, which I did tidy up as well. I tend to stash things on top of the small storage bins, so it was a bit cluttered. Placing an ironing surface on top of a small metal shelving unit was a brilliant way to get a larger ironing space and additional storage.

The dresser holds all sorts of notions, thread, rulers, interfacing, charm packs, etc, etc. Everything you need to access from time to time but don't want to look at. And, yes, the drawers are still a mess.  My cutting table is under the window and is a place where I spend a lot of time. On top are an additional light with a magnifier on it, and a couple of storage containers for frequently used items.

This cute little organizer box came from Home Goods.  I keep rulers in the back sections and rotary cutters, scissors, pens, and chalk markers in the front ones.

This handy little blue plastic holder is great for those small rulers you reach for all the time.  That was $10 well spent at Fatquarter Shop.

Under the lamp, I keep a magnetic pin dish, a small rotating mat, and a cute little tin with all my eensie weensie BlocLoc and Creative Grids rulers.

I'd never find any of those little guys if it weren't for that lidded tin.

Moving on, we have my storage closet, which has not yet been completely organized, and my bookcase. The storage closet holds plastic bins of unfinished projects, fabric bundles, and fabric on bolts. Extra sewing machines and some unfinished tops are in there as well. I've ordered some more storage bins that should come this week. If my hand cooperates I will tackle the closet. Then we have my bookcase which has books, patterns, works in progress, kits, some machine accessories, and toys. I plan to eventually have all the storage bins match.

Here we are full circle, back to the door and the sewing table. 

I am pretty satisfied with my efforts, particularly the cleared surfaces. I think the space over the sewing table could be put to better use than storing infrequently used rulers. I'd love to get my husband to install some shelving for me. 

So there you have it. My space is all tidy. I suffered an injury in the process, but I still have no regrets.

Siderailed By Fabric Related Injury

As I told you all last week, I spent my free time this weekend sorting out my sewing space. That was such a great dialog we had in the comments. It seems a disorganized sewing area is something a lot of you struggle with as well.  

My organization included hauling a lot of heavy tubs of fabric around. Somehow I managed to sprain my thumb! I must have stretched or torn a ligament. It hurt right away and has gotten progressively more painful, swollen, and bruised. We went out first thing yesterday morning and bought a thumb brace, which helps matters considerably. I am immobilizing it and taking Aleve. 

It turns out there are so many things you just cannot do without a thumb. Brushing your teeth is a real challenge, as is typing. I can't seem to manage the space bar whatsoever. Using scissors is completely impossible. I can use the rotary cutter briefly for small pieces, but cutting out a project, starching fabric, and pinning things just isn't happening. 

But look! Here is something I managed to do with my left hand. I could tear the paper off Fat Quartershop's new Square in a Square foundation units without any trouble. That is indeed a testament to how great those papers are and how easy they come off.

I did make some progress on my room organization and will share it with you tomorrow. If any of you were inspired to tackle tidying up your sewing rooms, I hope you managed to do it without injury.

Hope you all had a great Mother's Day!

Cataracts

I've been blessed with pretty good eyesight during my life.  I need readers to magnify the print when I am reading, but my distance vision has always been all right. In the past few years, I have experienced a gradual worsening of my vision.  I walk three or four days a week with a friend.  I began to notice that the individual leaves I used to be able to see up in a tree were now a blur of indistinguishable green. And when I read a page of a book, there would be a blurry area in the upper left of the page.  I could always shift the page around so my eyes could read the blurry bits, so I didn't worry too much. Then threading needles became really difficult.  I kept wanting more light for whatever task I was working on. More light always seemed to be the answer to my issues. And it helped. Up to a point.

I went to the eye doctor yesterday and she confirmed I had cataracts in both eyes, worse in the left eye.  The good news is, it is fixable. No rush.  I think I'll wait a few months until the COVID issue is more clear, then schedule my procedure.  I have never met a person who has had cataract surgery who has regretted it, so I am pretty excited for good results.

My husband is having some health issues as well, of a more personal nature.  I don't think he would like me to discuss them specifically, so I will respect his wishes.  Let me just say, a general wish of good luck would be welcome on this end right now. Getting old sure is the pits. 

On a lighter note, Eva was having homeschooling with her dad Monday and Tuesday of this week while her grandpa and I were away seeing doctors.  She is such a creature of habit.  She kept texting me, "Nana, can I have my morning break now?  It's 10:30."  "Nana, can I have lunch now?  It's noon".  Good heavens. I will be home soon and we will be back in my kitchen doing homeschool and the Earth will keep spinning on its axis.  

Hope you are all well.  A random quilty thought popped into my mind: have you heard of Joanna Figueroa's (Fig Tree Quilts) new Winter Solstice quilt along? It looks very interesting.  Eight-inch blocks with a dark background.  I do miss the nice big PRINT HERE button for printing the patterns, but you can copy and paste and work around it.

Hope your week is going great. Not long until Christmas.  I just want to get back home and stay put until mid-February.

Something New

As you know, if you regularly read this blog, I have been itching to start a new project.  Now that I have nearly finished a long running string quilt project, I am ready to move on.  I have something all cut out and ready to dive into, but as often happens, I got sidetracked.

It came to my attention that Fatquartershop.com is sponsoring a charity quilt along they call Threadology.  The sew along will ultimately benefit the Make A Wish Foundation.  Full details can be found on the Jolly Jabber (FQS blog).  I am posing a photo of the finished sampler quilt here:

Fatquartershop will post free patterns and also block making tutorial videos each time a new pattern comes out, which is supposed to be every two weeks.  In addition to the setting above, alternate settings will be shared when certain fund raising goals are met.  You are encouraged to donate $5 to Make A Wish for each free pattern you use.  Details here.  Moda Fabrics will match any donations to this worthy cause.

The first block pattern is for the Ohio Star block, with a dark background and light star.  This is such a great block for showing off fabrics you love. 

You make one 12 inch block and four 6 inch blocks each time a pattern is released.  The first fundraising goal of $3500 has already been met, and therefore, an alternate block arrangement was shared.  This was for a table runner, which I really liked.  I had some pretty Fig Tree red prints in my stash and decided spur of the moment to go ahead and make the five blocks, plus the flying geese/square in a square end strips.  I was not able to finish the runner because I didn't have enough of the tone on tone red for the sashing and border for the runner.

Thanks to the trusty Internet however, I was able to order more of the red and with luck, should be able to finish up the runner in the next week or so.  I hate to have to stop when I was on such a roll, but that's life.

Be sure and check out the links to the Threadology quilt along, as people are sharing photos of their blocks and fabric choices, which is always fun and inspiring.  On Instagram, use #threadologyquiltalong.

Spring Doings

Just in time for Easter!  My little State Fair table topper got bound and placed on my dining table.  I love the spring color palette, and will be enjoying this one for many months to come.

My dining table did not see any Easter action this year.  We gathered at my dad's house, 18 of us, to have our traditional Easter Brunch.  Mimosas, salmon puffs, an amazing fruit salad, bacon, sausages, quiche, a mushroom breakfast casserole and my contribution Blueberry French Toast, which the family now calls "Blueberry Crack".  It is so good you can't stop eating it.  It was a feast, but especially nice for those of us who could, to gather together.

Thanks to everyone who commented on yesterday's post.  I am still in a quandary as to how to proceed with this Windmills quilt, but got a ton of suggestions that are very intriguing.  I will keep you posted!  

I have a busy week planned, with volunteering in Eva's classroom, getting my hair colored, meeting up with a friend for coffee--but some sewing will happen I promise.  I will leave you with this photo of Eva on our vacation last week.  We were at a posh shopping mall on El Paseo in Palm Desert, and Denny had just suggested that Jamba Juice might be good.

 

Sewing on the Featherweight

Hope you all had a great weekend!  We launched our Christmas shopping and got a fair amount accomplished.  No waiting until the last minute this year.  

I started a new project on the Featherweight, and I have really been enjoying getting reacquainted with that little machine.  There are a few tips that I am discovering along the way that are giving my piecing much better results.

As you see in the photo above, I am holding onto the top and bobbin threads as I begin to sew.  I also will put the needle in the down position for that first stitch, and I am not getting any scrambled threads or having the needle become unthreaded as I start my stitching.  A reader mentioned a week or so ago that she learned that tip in Home Ec class ages ago, and I agree, it is a golden nugget of advice.  Hold those threads just when you start stitching.

I am making some little log cabin blocks (more on that tomorrow), and my first block came out a bit oversized.  I have a tip that I got from Kim Diehl, which is making all the difference.  Do you see in the photo above that my last pin is horizontal?  The is preventing the strip from flaring out or fishtailing.  It is holding the little strip exactly where it needs to be.  Pinning.  I love to pin.

A second thing I have been experimenting with is the seam allowance.  I was just going by the quarter inch foot on the Featherweight, and my strips were always just a skosh too short, which meant fudging with that bottom layer.  I didn't like that.  I tried making my seam allowance just a hair (and I do mean a hair) wider than the presser foot.  My goodness, once I did that consistently, each strip fit perfectly.  So check your seam allowance if your piecing isn't coming out perfectly accurate.  A tiny adjustment could make all the difference.

Here is a close up of the stitching I am getting on the Featherweight.  I think it is pretty darn good.  No skipped stitches ever since I put in a Singer brand needle.

See you tomorrow!

Eating Cleaner

I have had a fairly stressful couple of months, and unfortunately have turned to food to ease my nerves.  Bad idea.  I have put on a few pounds and am not too happy with myself.  For some reason I got the notion that ice cream should play a part in my daily food consumption, which has not done me much good.  Since I would like to feel better and fit into my clothes properly I am considering doing the Whole 30 program.  

Have you heard of it?  It is hugely popular right now, and there are several books on the topic available on Amazon, as well as other books on the subject of Clean Eating.  The basic concept of clean eating is that you eat the freshest, in season foods available--the way they come in nature.  Drink lots of water, choose organic when you can, and most important:  avoid processed and refined foods.  Pretty much if it comes in a package or crinkly bag, you shouldn't eat it.

Whole 30 is a slightly more drastic version of the Clean Eating concept.  You only do it for 30 days, and after that time, hopefully you will have gotten the habit of eating better and can ease up a bit.  For starters the things that are not allowed for the 30 days are Sugar, Alcohol, Dairy, Grains, Legumes.  Eliminating these foods from your diet for 30 days can have huge health benefits (so say the proponents).  I have read some testimonials, and those who can stick with it are raving about how much better they look and feel.

I am considering trying it starting August 1.  For now, I have been easing into the concept.  I swear if I gave up chardonnay and ice cream alone I could probably lose 15 pounds in two weeks.  At any rate, I know I should eat better--less carbs, more protein and fresh fruit and veggies.  This will be sort of a health "reset" for me.  

I'll keep you posted on how I am doing.  So far, I have some recipes that have been super.  I made Ground Chicken Stir fry and served it in lettuce wraps for dinner one night and I think it was better than P F Changs!  

Source for Chicken Lettuce Wraps recipe:  Go to http://www.onelovelylife.com/chicken-lettuce-wraps/

Why Oh Why

Why oh why have I left things so late?  What was I thinking?  It is November and my son in law is asking me what holiday items I am going to sell in his shop during November and December.  Can I bring a few things in for next weekend?

Good question.  Oh dear oh dear oh dear.  Why didn't I get on board with Carol of Carol's Crafty Creations this summer and crank out clever Christmasy things well in advance of when they would be needed?

Ok, so now I have to scramble.  I need to make at least six to eight sets of mug rugs, six to eight zippy bags, and at least six table runners.  Like by next week.

You may remember awhile back (2008!) I was experimenting with shabby chic blended quilt fabrics.  I ended up making twice the number of blocks I needed because I decided to go with only the neutral blocks for my quilt.  Love that quilt.

So, anyway, since I only used the neutral blocks,  I had all the colorful blocks left over and decided to use them to make elegant holiday table runners to sell in the shop.  You see one I finished at the top of this post.  I think it works because I have a ton of the black floral fabric to use as a border and backing for the runners.  Things all tie in well I hope.

I need to piece the blocks together (three per runner), add the borders and backings and quilt them.  Six of them.  By next weekend.

You saw my progress with the red and white mug rugs.  Those are still in the works.  Five sets of four to make, and he says that isn't enough. 

Oh, and what about the zippy bags, you ask? 

I found this great assortment of Rhubarb and Ginger fabrics in my stash.  I think they will make pretty, and seasonally appropriate zippy bags.  With any luck, people will find them pretty enough to want to give them as gifts this holiday season.  I have the zippers on order, but as you can plainly see, I have yet to do one single thing other than select fabrics.

This week I will be burning the midnight oil for certain.  Do check in with me and see what I have been able to accomplish.  Ready, start, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Halloween 1904 Half Square Triangle Fiasco Revisited

Hi there friends.  Thanks for all the sympathy and encouragement over my Halloween 1904 Half Square Triangle Fiasco.  Do you think this means the quilt is haunted?  Possessed?  

You offered some great suggestions on how to solve my problem or at least salvage the wrong sized triangle units.  Thanks so much for that!  I have decided to make the correct sized half square triangles with the fabric I have left.  It wasn't enough, so more has been ordered and should arrive this week.  I will get caught up to Thelma, but I won't lie, this has been a set back.

The 384 wrong sized half square triangles will go into another project.  I have in my mind, a cute and complementary black and orange table topper or dresser runner.  Perhaps even a lap sized quilt.  Won't that be cute, the two coordinating quilts displayed in the same room?  It will all work out.  When life gives you lemons....etc  It will also be a reminder of my humanity.

But you know something?  When it came to making all those half square triangles all over again, I just could not face fiddling around with those Star Singles papers.  I am a fan of them, but they are labor intensive.  Lots of steps before you actually get the units.  So I just grabbed my Easy Angle ruler and started cutting out 3 inch strips, ironing them together and cutting.  I have about a third of them ready to sew, and will make the rest of them as soon as my new fabric arrives.  Have you tried the Easy Angle ruler?  It is a fast way to crank out a lot of hsts.  And you only have one corner "dog ear" to trim!

If you don't know the Easy Angle, here are some photos from an older post.

First cut your strips the size of your unfinished triangle size.  For the project in the photos, I was making 2.5 inch half square triangles.  Layer the two strips right sides together and press.

Position the ruler and cut on the diagonal edge.

Flip the ruler around, line the edge up and cut again, this time on the vertical edge.  Can you see how fast this method is?  Your triangle units are ready to stitch.  You just have to be careful not to disturb them too much until you get them sewn.

Thanks again for all your comments and emails.  It was a rough weekend and that show of encouragement really helped.

 

Oh Help

I just had to cut out a background square and make a center circle to be appliqued to one of my Dresden Plate blocks.  Sure, I know, I have only made three out of the twelve "plates" so far, but I love to have a finished Inspiration Block to cheer me on while I complete the others.  I got the blades and the circle prepped and pinned to my background before something unfortunate came to my attention.

This is what I need help with---My background fabric is a lovely pale cream that was part of a Fig Tree collection.  Actually, it was in several Fig Tree collections.  It is the perfect cream, verging on the palest of yellows.  Well, I don't have enough for my block backgrounds, lattices and border for this Dresden Plate quilt.  That's ok, I can substitute something else.  No harm, no foul, I haven't actually cut out more than just the one background square and nothing is sewn down yet.

Hopefully, there is a Fig Tree Fanatic out there who can advise me.  Is there a Moda Bella Solid that is a dupe for the Fig Tree creamy yellow?  There actually is a solid in the Moda Bella line called Fig Tree Cream.  Do you think that is what I have there?  I can still order it and the whole thing will just be too good to be true.