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.

UFO vs. Scrap vs. trash

The sewing studio reorganization continues but first some fun stuff....

I've posted before that I am working on Sprigs and Stars, a pieced and appliqued quilt designed by Kim McLean.  Yesterday I got together with my two friends who are also working on one - on these long projects it helps to have other quilters keep you on track.  The block on the left in the photo above is my block.  The one on the right it Paula's.   Amazing how different they are no?!  She is using red wool for the background on all her applique and doing lots of decorative stitches including some beads.  Me...I'm using a bit of everything in my stash on a wide variety of off white and shirting backgrounds.

I have cleared a path in the sewing studio and have done all the measurements to make sure the new layout works.  I even posted a list on the door with the order things have to happen in...nice to see I haven't lost any of the old project management skills.

I continue to find UFO's...amazing.  I am however getting better about letting go of fabric I have had for over 6 years and still have no plan to use.  What I'm finding interesting is I have less problems letting go of yardage (like the two yards of the Japanese women that I had to have back in the mid-90's but then never used....) but the sandwich bags of scraps, the shoeboxes of scraps, the shopping bags of scraps...well, those I'm having a harder time letting go of!  I'm having my own little episode of hoarders here....

My colors but not my style of fabric anymore....

Some of the bags have notes on them...not enough organization to warrant calling them a UFO but that post-it note raises the baggy from trash to scraps.  Like the one with lots of purple, pinks, reds, and green scraps that has a note "Black berries."  How can it be trash when they were obviously gathered together with a purpose...right?  Don't remember doing it...don't remember what the purpose or design was but I'm pretty sure it included berries and was done while I lived in England.  That is good enough for me...next time I see a pattern for blackberries I am soooo ready!  Of course what are the chances at that moment I will be able to put my hands on the baggy...not so good.  But I am working on it!

Big bag and basket of scraps....

I do have some scraps going out to new homes.  Tonya asked for some cowgirl fabrics.  (I did a cowgirl quilt 4-5 years ago.)  As luck would have it I found those baggie!  She also asked for some Crown Royal bags.  (Don't get the wrong impression!  I once asked for one at the local VFW because I had seen another quilter use it as a bag for her featherweight foot.  Ever since then they save them for me...just imagine how many they had behind the bar waiting for me when I got back after 3 years in England!)  Well, you know the TV commercial "if it fits it ships."  Picture me standing in the middle of the post office stuffing the box with scraps!  (Be very careful when opening T!  I just have this picture of you cutting the tape and it popping open like confetti....)

BTW...here is a photo of the full moon last weekend over my house.  It was amazing!  Wish I had taken a few minutes to read my camera manual beforehand!  The animals (owls and frogs which are usually really noisy) were very quiet that night...just a little eerie.  The next lunar even is around the 20th of this month.  It will be a lunar eclipse.  Definitively will read the manual this time!

FW update...

Last weekend I sat with some quilting friends and watched a DVD by David McClallum on how to care for my feather-weight sewing machine. It was really good. One of the parts I was particularly interested in was how to get rid of the FW case smell...So for the past couple of days I have followed his directions. They do work but I learned a few things along the way.....
First, putting together the light to go inside is really easy - toughest part was stripping the wires for which I had to dig through my beading supplies. Parts cost less than $8 at the home improvement center (I had a 150 watt bulb on hand as well as some scrap wood.) All good....

Second, the inside of your FW case looks much worse in bright sunlight then in the semi-cave-like depths of the sewing closet. How embarrassing is this! In the past I have done all the FW case tips like spritzing with Lysol, putting soap inside, putting it out in sunlight - all sort of work. McCallum says the smell is primarily cause because the glue used was horse glue which leads to bacteria and mold (all that organic stuff....) Since so many folks have emailed or commented on their issues with the smell then maybe it isn't solely FW abuse on my part...phew.

Third, well I almost got this step right. A 150 watt bulb generates a lot of heat. I put the case on the tiles in front of my fireplace (which also happens to be near the kitchen fire-extinguisher.) Thankfully it was by the back door as well because when that case heated up boy did it stink! I mean really STINK....I turned out the overhead fan, the kitchen fan and sprayed lots of de-stinking stuff. (Even Macbeth turned up his nose and hid in the bathroom!) I ended up stopping at 4 hours, waiting until the case cooled a bit them moving the whole operation outside! In all my case "cooked" for about 10 hours (McCallum says it can be done in 8...but I still had some grey "stuff" in one corner so let it go on longer.) BTW, the lid is closed and one latch snapped for the 8 hours - I just opened it up for the photo...
Fourth, Did I mention how hot a 150 watt bulb gets? Be very careful taking the bulb out of the case. In hindsight I should have worn my oven gloves...enough said. Also, when a mixture of 50% Clorox is sprayed onto a warm surface it is noxious (hope that is the right word...) anyway you need to spray from a distance and not with your head right over the box...no, I did not do that but very well could have!
Bottom line though...it seems to have worked! There is no visible mold or spots on the inside of the case. I'm letting it air-out a bit before I do the sniff test but it seems a lot better.

And to get rid of the smell it has generated in the house I baked a pecan pie....that does a great job of making the house smell better!