A little o’ this, a little o’ that…all-in-all, a pretty productive day.
I started out my personal quilting retreat day by putting the bindings on Baby Quilt #1. I decided to hand-stitch the back down rather than doing it all by machine because I’m just not good enough at those corners yet on the machine bindings. So I can’t quite call it a finish yet as I need to do the hand-sewing. However, I really enjoy doing that—it’s pretty relaxing—and I can do it while watching TV tonight so it’s very close. No pics until it’s a finish.
After that, I debated what I wanted to work on next and decided a little organizing was in order. My former home office is still my home office but absent this pandemic isolation is no longer my full-time office. I now have an office outside of the home. I’ve been wanting to clear off several shelves of former work stuff that either needs to go into my new out-of-home office, get put in storage, or just get dumped as it was related to old work and not current work. As I’m now also collecting some Accuquilt dies which have to be stored standing on end, my best bet was just to finally get down to clearing off those shelves.
The tall dies fit perfectly in the slope of the ceiling. I’ll get a rack so they can actually stand up straight. The smaller dies are on the lower shelf and yes, I’ll be putting those in a rack too.
I didn’t take a before picture, but it had gotten pretty bad. This is a pretty serious difference. It’s amazing how much stuff just keeps getting stuffed on a shelf when one wasn’t even quilting anymore. You may not be able to see it that well but I also moved my charm pack collection from the drawer where it had been to being lined up on the shelf to the right. They’re more visible and, therefore, more likely to get used.
Then…what does one do when one finds a whole stack of batting samples one had purchased at some quilt show or another, and a piece of thin foam board left over from some work project? Why, one jerry-rigs a 16” small design board to sit next to the sewing machine.
It’s not pretty and I’m not sure how long it will last, but I feel better than I would have ditching the last scrap of perfectly good foam board.
I already have a block design board that I got from a woman at guild, made much more securely with a heavier foam board, better batting, and actually stapled down. But that one is big enough for 3 or 4 blocks, depending on the size, and takes up a lot of room next to my machine if I’m only working on one block at a time.
Anyway, I feel all sorts of industrious. And that’s what matters.
(The blocks on the board are some Hmong blocks I’d picked up somewhere. No idea what I’ll do with them, but they’re exquisite and my Mom always loved Hmong applique so they remind me of her. Someday I’ll figure out a project for them.)
Once I got that done and had lunch (grilled cheese and tomato soup made by my wonderful daughter, the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich maker!), I returned to my sewing room and thought, “What sounds like fun right now?” My eyes landed on a 5” x 10” fabric collection I’d gotten from one of the Sew Sampler boxes awhile back. I had pulled it out of the drawer when I was removing charm packs and tossed it temporarily on my sewing table. I hadn’t liked the pattern that had come in that box so the fabrics had gotten stashed and forgotten. Now, looking at them as I returned to my sewing retreat day, I immediately thought, “Ooh! I can use my tumbler die!” Sure enough, perfect size to get two tumblers from each piece of fabric. So, without any plan at all, I just started slicing up tumblers.
It won’t be big enough to be much more than a lap quilt. I lost steam before I could finish piecing the rows together.
I decided to press all the seams open and I think I’m regretting the choice. A couple of my corners aren’t meeting exactly—I think it would’ve been a little easier if I’d been able to nest the seams.
And random is the hardest, isn’t it? No matter how much I’d laid everything out and tried my hardest to keep everything straight while sewing, I ended up with a number of pieces in places I know they weren’t in the layout pre-sewing.
Oh well, this was just a play project, so I’m not going to sweat it.
It’s been a long, productive day. Time to go relax on the patio.