Sister's Choice Quilts

New Project

I am starting a new project, which I hope to have completed by the end of this month.  I should have started it earlier, as it is a project I am doing to launch a friend's new book, and typically, with things of this nature,there is a deadline.  Things like organizing this new studio have consumed me of late, and I am a bit tardy getting started with my quilt blocks.

These fabrics are a collection of Civil War reproductions, most of them designed by Judie Rothermel.  I believe they are from one of her Cocheco Mills groups.  For now, the project is a secret, but all will be revealed in due course.  I hope you enjoy a peek at these lovely fabrics as a little tease!

The studio is coming along amazingly well.  In fact, Handyman Bill is here right now, turning an old dining room table into a sewing station for two!  A spot for me, and a spot for a friend (or daughter, or sister or niece).  I hope to share pictures tomorrow of the magic Bill has done to the table.

Of course I will give you all a complete tour of the entire space in a few days, once most everything is completed.  I am so pleased with the ample storage, the lighting and overall ambiance of the room.  It is everything I have dreamed of in a sewing space. I have to really think of some way to show my husband how much I appreciate all he has done to facilitate this transformation.  Woodshop to sewing studio.  Incredible.

With all this organizing and decision making and soul searching, one thing has become abundantly clear.  I need to finish a LOT of UFOs.  This year should be my Year of Finishing Things.  So, aside from this project that is related to my friend's book, NO MORE NEW PROJECTS.  Also, I should be banned from buying anymore red or green fabric.  Jeesh.  I could open a shop and sell only fabric in those two colors.

Would you believe I have three large leftover cartons of miscellaneous fabric that I need to sort out?  Now that the studio is all set with my "must haves" and VIP Stash, the remaining fabric needs to be dealt with.  No complete fabric bundles, just lots of leftover fat quarters that didn't get used when other projects were made.  I have space in the garage for more bins that I can organize by the color of the fabric, but there is a limit to what I really need to keep on hand.  Maybe another stash sale is in the cards....

 

 

Making Progress

I really am making progress with organizing the quilting studio.  Look!  I got a quilt hung!  We had some decorative drapery rods from a previous house we lived in and we repurposed one of them as a quilt hanger.  The space between the tall cabinets is not terribly wide (48"), so hanging an unfolded quilt probably will not be an option, since I typically make bed sized quilts.  I rather like the look of this quilt against the pale green walls.

As you can see by the glimpse of the cardboard carton at the lower left of the photo, I still have many a mile to go before all is stowed away.

This is the little corner of the room I was working on yesterday.  I had intended this to be my reading nook.  The original idea was not to have sharp objects hanging over my head, but the peg board just didn't work on the other side of the cutting table wall.  It is probably terrible fung shui.  Guess I could put the scissors and rotary cutters elsewhere for a better vibe.

The other thing is, I wanted to paint that darn peg board to match the walls before it got hung up, but I didn't catch my husband in time.  Darn.  He promises me that he will paint it, but now that it is up, I have my doubts that will happen.  I need to take note of how I have things hung, and one fine day I will just take everything off it and paint it myself!

Today while the baby naps, maybe I will sort out those books into some sort of order.  I pretty much just stuck them on the shelves willy nilly (does anyone say that anymore?) just to get the boxes emptied out.

Have any of you had this issue with your husbands?  You think the place to hang something on the wall is SO obvious, but to them, it is anything but.   I have a wall clock that he hung randomly on the wall months ago, without asking me.  Of course it was placed all wrong.  So, I told him it had to be moved.  He was very unhappy about the wasted hole in the wall, and having to do the job twice.  I explained that I wanted the clock hung over the dresser, not in the middle, but centered over the drawers on the right.  I thought it was obvious what I was trying to describe.

Three inches over to the right is what I had in mind.  The bottom of the clock should line up with the drawer pulls on the right.  Well, he is not moving that clock for the third time, so I guess I will have to push the dresser over so the clock lines up right.  And then the electrical outlet will be exposed....

Happy first Monday in March everyone.

 

Someone Remind Me

Someone please remind me.

Never. Buy. Any. More. Civil. War. Reproduction. Fabrics. Ever. Again.

A friend recently cautioned me that whatever I do, not to think of the money I spent on all this fabric and all these kits.  Ok.  I'll try.

HOLEY MOLEY!

Yes, it is just like Christmas, just like a number of you said it would be.  I open these boxes one after another and am just shocked at the amount of fabric I own. 

I feel very fortunate to have been in a position to afford all this loveliness.  Now that I am no longer in such a position, I am warning myself that I had jolly well come up for some uses for it.  Seriously, I could go the rest of my life just sewing up quilts using Civil War Reproduction fabrics and not get to the end of it.  It is rather appalling in a way.  I am going to have to start making quilts for homeless cats or some other disenfranchised group to make up for my excess.

Oh, but just look at that fabric in the first photograph.  Remember how I was carrying on about attractive presentation in some previous posts?  See, that's what I mean.  That yummy spread of fabric, those adorable little pinked edges?  I could almost persuade myself to buy that collection again.  But no, no, someone please remind me....