Progress...really!

The new studio is so close to being finished...but not yet!

Today they are putting shelves in along this wall...it will take a couple days.  Today measure, cut, install and prime.  Tomorrow paint.

I'm thinking Saturday will be the start of move-in!  This may involve cake...

Anyway, while this is going on I did get two quilts back from the longarmer...

First is this lapsize autumn leaves quilt.  I think the pattern was in McCall's.  It was a few years ago...

I like how it came out.  Judy, who did the quilting, used a pattern called forest floor.

Next is my pink spiderwebs.

Love how it came out.  Need to figure out what color fabric to bind it with!  This has been a challenging quilt for colors...

I used a very challenging but fun back!  Surfin' Kitties!

As I've been consolidating boxes I've found Watson toys everywhere...he likes to hide them under fabric!  He isn't real happy with my putting them all in one basket...

Not quilting but planning...

Things are slowly getting better...

but I still haven't felt up to sewing or (more dangerous) working at the cutting table.

So I've spent some more time trying to decide how to sort my fabric stash when I move back into the sewing room.  (my husband needed to get this bookcase out of his parking space so the move in has sort of started!)

repro blues in the dresser drawer...

I think I will continue to keep the reproduction fabrics in the spare bedroom.  Holiday and shirt fabrics will stay in their own boxes.  The Kaffe fabrics will be kept in the cabinet.  Wool will be in a separate cabinet along will the hand embroidery threads.

one of several medium boxes with blue fabrics...

Other fabrics will be sorted by color in large or medium containers.

I will have my own "pre-cuts" to include 6-1/2 inch, 3-1/2, 2-1/2  and 2 inch squares.  Strips will be in 3-1/2, 3, 2-1/2, 2, and 1-1/2 inch.  That is 7 medium size boxes.

This will reduce my storage space...or at least consolidate some of it.  The biggest challenge will continue to be the project boxes.

I've cut these in almost half during the last 12 months but there are still too many!  I don't want to put them too far away (like the to shelf of the closet) because of the old "out of sight out of mind" saying.

Worse are these baggies containing bits of fabric that I'm not even sure why I thought were important enough to bag up!  Most of these are getting reincorporated into the stash...

Then there are these project bags...such a mess!  I have one friend who hangs them neatly in a closet.  Doesn't work in my smaller closet so I'm going to move these into project boxes...

So much work to do still!  Need to go get a cup of tea and think about it...

An MS delay....

I was feeling bad for myself.  I didn't go this year's AQS show in Paducah because I was sure the addition would still be having work done on it...well, it isn't finished but just learned they will not be working on it again until Tuesday!

Then I woke up last night in pain...I mean fork in the eyeball sort of pain.  My MS/optic neuritis has kicked in.  So, it is just as well I'm not in Kentucky which is 9 hours away from home!

Me in Paducah a couple years ago with the Super Quilter...

The Opt. Neur. screws with my depth perception (crowds could be tough!) and makes my color perception a bit "off" (not a good time to view quilts!)

Some postcard quilts from friends..

This may be the toughest thing about MS...very unpredictable.  I knew I was trying to do a lot last week but was trying to pace myself.  Maybe I didn't do as good a job of that as I thought or maybe it is a reaction to the poison ivy on my arms?  Who knows...

So today is a stay in a dimly lit room and stay very still while taking lots of meds and drinking herbal tea...with luck this will be a short one!

Hope to have more on quilting and quilts in a day or so....

more shirt projects...

I don't really work in a series...I work in similar materials until I clean up my work area!

So I am still using shirts that I've collected over the past couple of years and only now have cut up and started using for quilts and other projects.  (I can thank Bonnie Hunter and Tonya R. for this part of my stash!)

The latest project is making some covers for sewing machines.  The first I made using a stiff interfacing...it was going to take up way too much space since it couldn't be folded and put away when the machine was in use.  The second one I made is too soft...doesn't stand on it's own.

This last one is "just right!"  It stands on it's own but can be stuffed into a drawer!  I used the pre-quilted fabric as the lining and than fitted a pieced cover over it.  There are pockets on the side just in case a pocket is needed (and it let me use this fun fabric!)

 This featherweight size one went to my friend Tari for her birthday this week...the two "rejects" will cover my machines until I can make new ones!

Outside the irises are in full bloom!

These photos came from my friend Paula's garden yesterday.

Two more Quilts

The guild I belong to has committed to making 80 quilts for the local VA hospital.  They have a floor where the patients are long term.  Sadly many of them do not have family to visit and the space is rather institutional.  The chaplain there contacted us in hopes that the quilts could make the space more "homey."

(Pattern is Twist and Turn by Bonnie Hunter)

Now our guild has about 125 members so even though 80 is a lot of quilts it should be something we can accomplish.

This week I was able to finish two more tops.  These will go to a long-arm quilter in our guild and then it may end up with yet another member to put the binding on!  If everyone pitches in we can do this!

The first coat of paint went on today in the studio.  It looks good.  Phew!  Much brighter than before.

 Most of the furniture is white so it will still be bright...and there are lots of lights!

Not the typical "feed sack"

I've posted before about how much I love finding unusual backing on my quilts.  The most frequent is a sack that originally held feed, sugar, flour or salt.

They actually can be helpful when trying to figure out where a quilt may have been made.  Often you need to be able to read backwards to figure it out!

Like this quilt that has a sack from a flour made in the western part of the U.S.A.

Sometimes it doesn't help at all...like the quilt that has Domino Sugar sacks for a backing.  (This I didn't even notice until I washed the quilt!)

Domino Sugar was sold everywhere in the U.S. when this was made...fortunately I know who the maker is and where she lived!  It is a S.C. quilt.

Imagine how excited I was to get a phone call from a fellow quilter telling me she has a box of old fabric bags that was looking for a home.  Since she knows I love old textiles she called me first!

What a grab-bag!  When most folks hear "feedsack" they think of the pretty bags sold in the 30's-40's here in the U.S.  The bags were used to make everything from clothing to toys to curtains!

The bags I got were a bit different.

They were all muslin and had advertising printed on them.

Some were simple

Others were very detailed!

This Holly one is my favorite...not sure what I will do with them but they do make great study pieces of a time when quilters couldn't or wouldn't go to a fabric store and buy large pieces of fabric to back their quilts.

Watson "Get Day!"

One year ago today we welcomed Watson in to our lives!

He came to us from Stinkykiss Rescue group in North Augusta, S.C.  He was only bout 14 weeks old.

He was tiny and a bit underweight but came around quickly.

He has been a handful...smart but all terrier so has been difficult to train.  Just starting to come around.

He gets along well with our cats...particularly Dobby!

So here it to year one and many more with my quilting puppy!