Setting the record straight

I seem to have misled some of you in regards to the state of my sewing room. One comment reads that she is impressed how well organized and neat my sewing room is...yikes, I snorted my coffee and nearly chocked on my bagel! Neat and organized? I ran down the hall to check...maybe I had a visit by the sewing elves? Nope. There are still projects on the floor and opening the door of the closet would reveal several OSHA violations....So I went back to the computer and checked my blog. Uhmmm, it comes down to the wonders of technology.
You don't think I would post messy photos do you? I am doing better though.

A few years ago when I was first diagnosed with MS we had a social worker/home safety inspector come by the house. I knew we were in trouble the moment he stepped over the threshold and tripped over Macbeth. Muttering something about troublesome little dogs, he readjusted his glasses, took a pen out of his pocket protector and made copious notes on his big clipboard. Two steps into the hallway he shook his head, "get rid of the area rugs - all of them." (Why did he look at the cats while he said that?) There were lots of suggestions: Lower the bed, handrails in the bathroom, rearrange the plates in the cabinets to make them easier to reach, get a larger screen for the computer, widen the door to the bathroom, ditch the rocking chair, put all breakables above shoulder height and on stable tables, nightlights, a bit of relective tape on the lightswitches....and this was only half the house!

I was distracted when he reached my sewing room. Herding the cats to keep them from underfoot is not and easy job! (The more you dislike them the more they will torment you...they are cats...its their job. Back to the sewing room.) From the other end of the hall I saw the inspector enter my sewing room and for the first time since he arrived at the house - silence. When I got to the door I saw him standing in middle of the room, glasses in hand and clipboard clutched to his chest. Slowly he made a right face, then again, and again until he had done a 360 degree turn. He took a deep breath. "First, you need a path."

"Over there is my reproduction fabrics with my antique quilt stuff in the closet...my art materials are a bit messy since I was working on my journal quilt this week...and the bags are usually on top of the cabinet but I had a class...and," I was babbling. He put his hand over my mouth. I don't care what you say Mam", he said while he put his glasses back on the end of his nose and nudging aside a large plastic box of 2-1/2 inch strips, "you need a space to walk in here." Ah, that kind of path...here I was getting all arty and inspirational on him. In the end his path was harder to achieve.

Let's face it our sewing rooms can be danger zones. Fabric left on the carpet - you could slip and break your neck. You can do so many bad things with a hot iron - fabric can catch fire, you can burn your fingers making bias tape, and a hot iron full of water falling flat on your bare foot is just Gitmo-like. There is a reason they do not allow rotary cutters on airplanes - this tool (not toy) may be the most dangerous item we use. Add in some wonky vision and bad balance and those bags of projects, stacks of magazine and leaning bookcases stacked with boxes of fabric. Heck why don't I just do a couple shots of vodka and walk through downtown Baltimore with some money hanging out my back pocket....dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.

So I have cleaned up my act somewhat. The bags and boxes are relagated to the closet. The bookecases are attached to the wall. My ironing board is also secured to the wall and there is a "leash" on the iron so if it does drop it doesn't hit the floor. (I got the pattern/idea from a book on making items for your sewing room.) There is still a lot more I could do...less bits of fabric around and better pin control but there is a path. The old geezer would be proud.

On to more about quilting...I have started Bonnie's Tobacco Road. I wanted to make it before but the mystery took place last fall while I was in the middle of my move. There was enough mystery there to take all of my energy without doing a mystery quilt as well! But I printed it out and periodically cruised the stash looking for fabrics. Orignially I wanted it to be a very constrained/controlled scrap quilt with the fabrics in the photo on the top of this post and some black and rust plaids. (Ya, like that is going to happen.) Anyway the contrast between the half square triangles and the bricks was too much so I added in some lighter plaid and blue bricks and used some darker neutrals in the HST's. I'm liking it better now. The 4-patch blocks are all greens and neutrals...somewhere around 50 greens so it still "reads" scrappy. There is a lot of variation in the bricks which creates interest even though it is a plain block. I think I'll go the whole way and make the flying geese as well for the border. I'm beginning to feel a bit like a Bonnie groupie! Her patterns work well with my stash...though I am making some real inroads in my neutrals.