Woolie gathering

I went to a gathering of my friends who like to work in wool...we call ourselves the Woollie Woolies...

Rachel's little handmade journal - mixed papers, linen, and wool

it was fun seeing them and as always I come home with my head full of ideas!

Paula's silks, cottons, and wool low-volume wallhanging

We don't always just work in wool but do try to use other fibers like linen or silks in our projects.

Rose of Sharon from my side yard...bees love it!

I unfortunately didn't have anything for show and tell.  Too much folding and moving of fabric the past few months.

A few more weeks of work (mainly in the yard) and I should be in the studio!

Gardenias in bloom make the entire yard smell wonderful!

Getting a lot done...

Things have been very busy around here...

The backyard had to have a lot of work done on it after the construction on the house...good news - we had a downpour last night but the sod and the plants all stayed in place!  Phew...

Also been working on the guild's next donation quilt...

above is our quilt for 2015...

and this is the one in-process for 2016.  Tickets for both of these will be available at our show in November.  Money raised goes to Camp Rainbow, a medically supervise camp for children with cancer.  Someone will go home from the show with the red and green applique.  (me I hope...I love this quilt and buy a few
tickets every time we sell them!)

I've also worked on a couple quilts for the VA...the guild is trying to make 84 quilts and has passed the halfway mark!  We should be doing a delivery soon...

New meds have made a bit of a space-case...slowly getting used to them but have done some dumb things...like burned a pot of chili and made a batch of chocolate chip cookies which may or may not have the vanilla in them!  duh!

Another one bites the dust...

Finished two more quilt tops for the local VA...have two more almost finished but my sewing machine died!  Duh!

Blocks made by various guild members and assembled by me

Not to worry...I have multiple backups.  I just have to wait until my husband comes home to help with the lifting!

Orphan block with 6 inch blocks

This makes me wonder if I shouldn't find a corner of the room to keep an backup machine...or a machine that I just leave the walking foot on!  I hate putting those on and off the machine but they do make sewing on binding so much easier!  It's a thought!

Daylilly from the front Garden...

Watson has finally adjusted to the room.  We had been strict about his going in the room when the workmen where here.  Seems it made an impact and for the past week or so he just could not get comfortable...I tried everything.

the view from my sewing machine...

Gave him treats...set up a bed...at the end it just took time.

He has reason to be a bit anxious today...there are workmen in the yard trying to fix drainage in our back yard and putting down pine-straw...a bit late but we had to wait until the construction was finished.

The squirrels or the moving water rearranged some of my perennials...I never planted a yellow Asiatic lilly (but I have one now!) and this daylilly above was labeled blue...hummmm.  I hope to see a blue one somewhere in the garden this summer!

Rock Soup...

Hit a landmark this week...over 550,000 views on my blog!

Ok, that aside.  When I should be organizing I have been sewing!  Needed to get it out of my system!  (The design wall is now mounted on the wall!  Used 6 command strips...seems to be holding just fine!)

This weekend I made another quilt for the local VA.  My guild is doing an amazing job creating quilts for this great cause.  At last count I believe there were over 30 finished and another 6-8 in the process of being quilted or bound.

I have this seemingly bottomless basket of 6-1/2 inch blocks.  Every time I think it is empty I find another stack or a quilter drops more in it!  Reminds me of the old fairy-tale of the old lady and her "rock soup!"

I also made three sets of binding!  Yikes.  Time to put the walking foot on my machine and get these on the quilts!  This batik quilt is also going to a vet!

Though I love making these quilts for the vets I also want to start working on some more complex/challenging quilts.  I ordered this book for some quilt-y inspiration.  I've been collecting a lot of wool but not using much.  This may be a great opportunity to cut into the wool piles!

Just a bit more fabric...

I know I wasn't supposed to buy any fabric until the new sewing room was set up...ok, I cheated!

It was a late night purchase...couldn't resist some early Halloween fabric.

Particularly when it has such interesting graphics.

And no...no plan on how I'm going to use them!  Maybe construct some liberated log cabins around them....still thinking...

I am however storing almost all my fabric in cabinets of in boxes now.

Noticed too many had developed these fade lines on the outside edge.  I need as much light in my sewing space as possible (MS makes low light work difficult) so I don't want to put in blinds or shades.  I am going to put the film on the windows that is supposed to reduce the fading but I'm not sure I 100% believe it...so the only fabric that will be out on the table or shelves will be fabric I am using at the time...small hills instead of mountains!

BTW...I finally watched the final of Wolfhall!  Loved it.  Even took out my Tudor Tailor mug and made some English tea for the occasion!

Design wall in use!

The design wall isn't fixed to the wall yet but it is already in use!

Each year the guild I belong to makes a quilt to raise money for Camp Rainbow, a camp run by a local hospital for children with cancer.  This year were are making this Judy Niemeyer pattern, Rain Drops.

During the past couple months guild members made the "New York Beauty" arcs.  Now comes the time to select the backgrounds and sew all those curves!

Once the final arc is in (only one left to be turned in!) we will have a sew-in and put these together!  It needs to be finished before out quilt show in November...

This is so far outside my comfort zone!  Really making me focus...

Design Wall

There are only two more "big" projects in my sewing room.

First the design wall and then the peg board.  We made a lot of progress on the design wall this week!

I perused lots of U-tube tutorials on constructing a design wall.  Got a lot of ideas.  Then came reality.

First, the insulation product used in the tutorial I wanted to use was not available in our area.  Went back and saw the tutorial was 4 years old.  OK, so I'll just use a large one.  Opps...we may be the only couple in Georgia without a pickup truck nor SUV...the board did not fit in a Mazda...not even close.

So the nice man at Lowes (a home improvement store) cut the board into three pieces for me...

But when I came home I couldn't quite decide how to put them on the wall...the leaned there for a day or so....then i decided to cut one of the pieces and two and the plan came together again!

I have been looking at coverings - flannel, batting, wool, or felt - for the past couple weeks.  The main selection requirement was color and cost.  I ended up using a wide felt the color of a supermarket paperbag.

So then it came time to put all this together.  I sort of followed the original tutorial...taped the boards together using duct tape (although the fancy tape...only because it was on sale!)

Then both taped and flat tacked the felt onto the board.

It works!

This star block stayed up on its own for 12 hours....though if need be I can pin to the insulation board...

Now if I can just find the Lowes bag with the Command Strips I will put this up on the wall and call it done!!!  The Cost?  The board was about $13...the felt was $12 (had a half off coupon!), the tape was $1.59 and the pins were on hand.  The command strips are another $10.  So for less than $40 I have a 64 by 72 sturdy design wall!

Want to sew...

Today I do not want to fold fabric, iron fabric, or organize fabric...I just want to sew!

A box of orphan 9-patches....

I am tired and between workshops, meetings, and the setting up the new sewing space I have way overdone it.  Today is a day of "rest!"...well maybe not rest...maybe just sit down and sew!

I plan to make the binding for my pink spider (my Miss Muffet quilt!) and get the first part sewn on by machine so I have some handwork while watching the final episode of Wolf Hall!  The second photo shows the fabrics I'm auditioning for the binding...I may use a bit of each...it will be a thin binding...

I have to be careful sewing however...this is why I don't work on mitered borders when I am tired!

I can do mitered borders...

well, maybe not today....

This small disaster happened last week...of course it was the last of that fabric so now all the borders come off!

Maybe I should drink a few more cups of coffee before I head into the sewing room....

Pizza Box Ladies Workshops and Lecture

This past week I attended a workshop and a trunkshow with Cindy from Pizza Box Ladies out of North Carolina.

This was the project from the workshop.  Fun, no?!  She is a great instructor.  Very organized.  The kit included all the fabric and the ruler needed to make two blocks.  Generally I'm not a kit person but it did make things go much smoother and allowed the entire group to focus on techniques instead of fabrics.  Most if not all of the quilters in the room finished both blocks...that in itself is remarkable!

On Saturday Cindy presented a trunk show of quilts made from a variety of specialty templates.

There were several takeaways...(my observations...)

First, each template can make several designs...don't put the template you bought in a drawer after only one quilt!

Second, she had some interesting techniques on bringing the blocks to the border.

And third, time to break out all those border stripe fabrics that I keep buying but don't use.  She had lots of inspirational examples. She brought lots and lots of quilts...four suitcases full..and many were tops so you know there were a lot. Also they have a wide variety of styles...batiks, country, traditional...so there was something for everyone.   If you are looking for a workshop or guild presentation I would recommend them!

oh yes...and there was shopping...guild members did a lot of shopping!