Well, DUH........

I forgot to take and post pics of the WHOLE room!

So here it is with a few add ons in place. No new window yet, but wait, it's coming soon!

I had forgotten to say that along with the Billy units we did get the extensions, so that adds another shelf all around!  Definitely needed that. They are all full!!

This is looking straight in!  I have plenty of room to walk around the back and that is where I iron from. All my irons are stored on a shelf behind the table.

So there you have it. The complete room!

....Sew till next time............

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO...........

.........here is my new "quilt studio"!  It has been a long process getting it all put together, but I absolutely love it!!  I've even had a little time to sew!

Follow me thru these doors. Watch your step!  Remember to step down!

As you come in, you will see my HQ Sixteen. Next, my mom's last machine she used (a Kenmore in the cabinet) and if you look real hard, you can see my 2 featherweights!  I use "Peachy", the black one, all the time, but I haven't used the "celery" one yet. Got her on eBay right before we moved. 

Then you see the start of my wall of fabrics!  I am so in love with this!  I started with 15” and 30” wide Billy bookcases from IKEA and added the Billy CD cabinets to store my fat quarters. 

Here is the closeup!  Just sew you know ---- I bought 1,000 comic boards and I used all but 45!!!  I love the look and am so glad I took the time to do this.  My fabric was already folded the right way, I just had to fold them onto the boards. 

The top shelves are "seasonal" fabric. I have a big section of batiks, and smaller sections of oriental, solids, hand dyes and Aunt Grace. All the other fabrics are just color coded.  

The bottom shelf on the "CD" cabinet holds my phone books that I use for paper piecing.  Thanks, Bonnie Hunter!

This section has changed a bit since I took the pic.  I added 2 more drawer bins on the bottom shelf ( and have them full already) and I have 6 pattern boxes on the top shelves. 

Have to have a laptop!  I am not putting a TV in the room. I found that I wasn't watching it before, so why take up the room. I listen to Pandora a lot and always have a book downloaded to listen to .  I am hoping these windows will be history by the end of October. Gonna order a new window this week!!

And now you have come full circle around the room. Did you notice that I don't have a closet?  Hence all the open shelving. 

Here is the cutting and ironing center in the middle of the room.  Things have changed a little here too.  I now have black drawer units up to the cutting table. No empty spaces!!  And yes, that is a Singer 301 hiding under the table!

In case you are wondering, the room measures 11'x11'!!!  I think I did pretty good making use of EVERY square inch!!

I hope you enjoyed the tour.  Come back anytime!!!

I'll be posting at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2014/09/patterns.html (sorry Blogger won't let me add the link). 

..............Sew till next time..........

We Moved, But........

I still don't have my "studio" set up yet!  Actually most of the stuff that is in the room, will not STAY in the room!  Boxes got dumped in there when the guys were just trying to empty the truck as fast as possible since it was past midnight!!  Glad I wasn't here, I was back in New Orleans cleaning up the "old" house for the new owners. 

My studio will be in what was the "formal" living room. It is a step down from the rest of the house, so I had the contractor build me a little step so I wouldn't fall into the room!!  It was also opened to the foyer, so he closed it in and I found these great doors at Home Depot (I think!)

They are the doors on the left. The other door is the front door. I also had these great Fleur de lis knobs that I found ages ago at Hobby Lobby that work great.  The odd lighting that you see from the doors comes from the gold window glass (so 70's) that is in the room. Needless to say, those WILL be replaced ASAP with one big window instead of 3 narrow ones. Anyhoo, I love the new doors!

Can't believe I am actually posting this, but I wanted a record of "before and after"!!  The machines are staying where they are now and the rest of the walls will be Billy bookcases from IKEA.  I had to really work at the placement of machines to make sure I could get as many bookcases as I could fit in the room because there is no closet :-((. 

This is the other side of the room with the window that will soon be replaced!  This desk and sewing cabinet will stay there. At the time I took this pic there were no lights in the room!!!  I guess in the '70’s, a formal living room was only meant to have lamps, not overhead lighting!!!  BUT, as of last Saturday, I have 4 "pot" lights!!!  Will see if I need more later. 

So that's all for now.....

WE'RE FINALLY MOVING!!

 

Just wanted to update you on why I have not posted in awhile!  We are finally in the process of moving!  I have had my sewing room packed up for over a month now and have been having severe "sewing" withdrawals!!!  I did manage to cut up a "fabric kit" for a couple of quilts so I could do a little sewing in between all the packing.  But I got as far as I could on those, so now it's time to get this show on the road and actually MOVE!!!  That will finally be happening on the 19th!  YEAH!!
We are having updates done on the "new to us" house--tile floors installed, new carpet, painting and updating the kitchen.  Hopefully all will be done in a week!  We can't wait to get there and see all the changes!
So I will now say Goodbye to Louisiana and Hello Texas!

Remember This Quilt?

I finished this quilt in Feb. 2014 and posted about it here.





Here's the update! The raffle for this quilt raised $475.00 to go towards the Outdoor School. . That money paid for 5 sixth graders to attend! I was very pleased to do my part. It MAY become a yearly project for me ( as long as DD teaches there!). Oh, and one of her teacher friends won the quilt!
I am linking to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River. So stop by Connie's site to see what else is going on today.

4th Selvedge Quilt

Well, I have come to the conclusion that I will never use all of the selvedges that I have saved for the last 15+ years!!  BUT, I'm gonna try!  LOL!  When I bring quilting fabric home (or it arrives UPS!) I wash it, dry it, strip the selvedges, iron it and store it by color family. That process has worked for me for a long time!

This is what I am starting with for this project......

.... And I got them from here!  And this isn't even in my sewing room!

I am going to make another Star quilt, but this one will be totally scrappy stars. They will be 6" finished blocks sewn with telephone book pages. If you have never used these, you MUST give it a try. It tears away so easily leaving no tiny pieces to pick out. Just remember to use a short stitch length. 

Here are some of the darks I have in my stash......

I'm liking it already!

I have all of the 144 blocks done. All the rows are sewn and now to press all the seams open, then I will sew the rows together. 

By the time we move I will have lots of quilt tops to quilt when we get settled in!
I am linking to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, so stop by and see what others have on their design wall this week!
I am also linking to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River. Be sure to check out what Connie and others have been working on this past week.


Tuesday........
Just wanted to show most of the finished top! The first row of stars is hanging on the other side of the stairway banister! I will take a better pic when it's not so windy outside.


And here it is using the Waterlogue app. I love this app!

The Quilt Top is on it's Way!

I finished the top that I am donating to Kevin The Quilter's QOV Block Drive and just put it in the mail. It really does the heart good to make something for someone who is so deserving of this and more. I guess I feel this way because DH is a Vietnam Vet and we all know how their homecoming went.
Here is the finished top.
I should have taken more time to spread this out flat!





Sew, if you have time and stash why don't you participate in this block drive? You have till June 1, 2014 to get your blocks in and I know Kevin will be "over the moon"! Remember, just 5 blocks gets you a chance to win a $100 gift certificate from the Missouri Star Quilt Company





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QOV Donation and Pillowcases

I found these owls prints at JoAnn's last week and knew they would cute pillowcases for my great niece who is turning 2 this week. They are done, now I just have to get them in the mail.





I didn't need to start a new project, but that's exactly what I did, START A NEW PROJECT!!! Kevin The Quilter started a Quilts of Valor block drive earlier this month and I wanted to be part of it. He came up with a quick and easy block to use. And for every 5 blocks you send him from now till June 1st, your name will go in a drawing for a chance to win $100 gift certificate from Missouri Star Quilt Company! so I just upped my chances!!! It takes 30 -12 1/2" blocks to make one quilt, so that is what I will be donating--a complete quilt top! This is my first QOV quilt and I hope to make many more.
Here are 5 out of the six rows needed. I have all the blocks sewn together now and tomorrow I will sew the rows together and try to get it in the mail on Wednesday.




I had an oh-oh moment when I re-read what fabrics were to be used!

"Please remember to use only 100% cotton fabric and no shiny metallic fabrics so we can stay in accordance with what Quilts of Valor requests of their quilts."

BIG OH - OH!! My navy has gold specks and one of the reds has gold dots! It's not "over the top" shiny, so hopefully it will be within the guidelines. I guess I need to learn to read directions more carefully and not jump in with both feet so fast!!

I am linking to FREEMOTION BY THE RIVER for Linky Tuesday, so pop on over there and check out what others have to share this week.


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Are You Wearing Green Today?

 

Gary and I each had a grandmother that was born on St. Patrick's Day. They are both gone now, but will never be forgotten. 
Hope you all enjoy your "green" day!

First Selvedge Quilt

I'm a little late in posting this, but as the saying goes---better late than never!
I made this quilt as a total surprise for DD's 40th birthday in November 2013.


Finished blocks are 8". I drafted the color way in EQ 7. I paper pieced using old phone book pages. They are a dream to rip out. I have tried so many different papers, even ones made especially for paper piecing, and I like these the best.


Can you tell that her favorite color is purple? I cut strips 4 1/2" wide and just randomly sewed them together for the backing. Love how this one turned out!

I am linking to Freemotion by the River, so stop by and see what is being shared this week.

Sew till next time.......


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Asleep Under the Stars

This quilt is finished and has been delivered safely by UPS, so now I can finally tell you all about it!

It is my 2nd selvage quilt (still haven't posted about my first one yet!). I have been saving selvages for quite some time and if you need proof, here it is....



Yes, that is 12 drawers crammed full of selvages! When fabric comes home with me, it is washed, selvages are stripped off, fabric is ironed and folded and put here....


...well, MOST of it goes here, but I do have a couple of others places too!

Let's get back to the quilt! My daughter teaches at Mountain View M.S. in Oregon and this was made for a raffle to help with expenses so more kids could attend the "Outdoor School" in April.


I wanted color on the back, but not too much, so I made 6" scrappy stars using the same colors as the stars on the front. I love how it came out.



Here it is laid out flat.


Each star is 24"! (Remember this star for later)




I started quilting the center star block and it took me lots of time and too much twisting and turning the quilt, so the rest of it was done with a stipple/ meandering stitch. Yes, I took the easy way out!!

Here is a closeup of the back.




I did make a few goofs! One pleat about 1 1/2” long. Not too bad! It is staying in the quilt!



I had a few sections that I had to go back and do a little meandering. The thread was blending so well on the front that I couldn't tell where I missed spots until I checked the back!



Here is a close up of the stars on the back.


I have been trying to remember to add this to all my labels.....

"What I make with my hands, I give with my heart." I love that and it is so true!



This is the same blue block from above that I played around with in a new app that I found. It is called Waterlogue and is $2.99 in iTunes App Store. This can get very addicting!! So much fun.



I am linking to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River. It will be my first time linking up there. I am trying to get myself "out there" by linking up to different blogs. I would always check out what others made and comment, but I wouldn't take the time to link up. I'm hoping by doing that, it will force me to write more blogpost!!


Sew till next time.........

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