a Completely Honest Sewing Room post

So, this last weekend I was all excited about the fabric I had received from Connecting Threads that I just had to sit down and make some Disappearing Hourglass blocks.  About one and a half blocks into it, John walks in the room and says, "What are you doing?"  Uhhhhhhhh.... (goes my brain) "Sewing?"  I answer, wondering where this is going.  He looks around my sewing space (about 10' x 8' room that is PACKED with stuff, mostly in piles) and says to me, "When was the last time you sat down and made a list of what you haven't finished?  If you want to feel better about your organization and time spent quilting, you may want to look into it" and then turns and walks out.  Subtle, but effective that man is.  You may be picking up that we had been having conversations about never feeling like things get finished.  But look at all the things I've done in the last couple weeks!

 

Aurifil BOM-click on photo to visit the website

I laid out a Valentine's herringbone table runner, which is now wrapped up in that towel and under my cutting table

Two more Snapshots QAL blocks done, only 4 to go!

The National Rifle Association is hosting a banquet with a theme of Guns and Roses and I plan to donate this to their auction.  The banquet is on the 13th of February, 11 days away.

My tumbler-leader/ender project is making great strides!  I even added more pieces to my darks and lights.  This will eventually be a REALLY busy and fun quilt.  My tumblers are 2.5"...

 

So here's the skinny:

 

I made a list of how many projects I have tops of, or piles of fabric for, or that are even partly quilted and just need to be finished, and I have filled the 20 lines on my sheet!  That's just the ones I can remember!!!  Holy Cow!  I truly thought I was doing better than that, I thought I was closer to 10.  You know what though?  This is a good thing, as I obviously have enough projects to keep me busy for a couple months then I can set up achievable milestones for myself.  I am going through my sheet and prioritizing the projects (such as Susie's birthday present which I had wanted done at least in her birthday month, urg, too late now) and am writing down target dates to finish them by in a little calendar my grandma gave me for Christmas.  My plan is to whittle my list down to 10 before starting a new project.  I believe it to be achievable because all my projects are at different stages in the quilting process and so if I get tired of one stage, I can switch to another WIP but still be working on this list.

 

Here's the rest of my open honesty today, behold my stuffed sewing space!

 

View from the seat at the sewing machine.

This is what is directly behind me, the Macy's bag is where I put my cut-offs of fabric.  This is my cutting table... it's hard to be efficient in this mess.

The hardest thing is that my little haven is so overwhelming when you walk in, that John doesn't often venture in to visit. I adore my husband, and want to be around him as much as possible, but he won't stick around when I'm sewing.  The cat's barely come in here too, how bad is that?  I think they are afraid of being buried.

 

I have come to the conclusion that John is very much in the right, and I need to restructure myself, and my room (obviously...) so that I can feel GREAT about sewing for others, and for myself.  I love this hobby, and am limited on space, so some things will need to change if I want to keep this up.  Thank you for letting me share these thoughts with you today, do you have any ideas that might help me along?  Or do I just need to buckle down and make things happen?  I appreciate any assistance I can get :)

 

~Brandy

 

By the way, here's what started all this in motion:

 

 

 

Linking up to Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Progress!

I am so happy to report that I will finish my 3rd UFO this week and get it sent off!  Woohoo!

 

I was so happy to get this on the machine, I actually sent a sneak peak to Ashley (the recipient).

After a year of sitting in my room with no ideas coming forth on how to quilt it, I decided done is better than nothing, so I went with a meander.  The colors remind John and I of the ocean and the beach, so we decided the squiggles of the meander are like the ripples the water leaves as it flows back into the ocean.

This is the first time I've used multiple colors in a quilt, the meander is off-white, the corner is red and the waves are blue, in case it's hard for you to see.  That wasn't even planned, and guess what, they live in Texas where people bleed in red, white, and blue, LOL!

I decided yesterday morning that this may be my favorite part of the process.  That point where you're cutting off the "extra baggage" and revealing the nice, clean look of the quilt.

 

Isn't this just lovely?

So, today I will get the binding assembled and hopefully put on this evening after work.  I just have to avoid eye contact with John and keep off the comfy couch.

I had a moment to lay out my Snapshots blocks and pick out the colors I'd like to use for the next block.  Ice cream, yay!

My goal on this is to have it (and the camera block) done before the next block is released.  So I still have a couple weeks.

And I had another deviation (darnit!) but I need it, I really need it!  I am making a pillow using directions from Gerri Robison's pattern from her book A Cut Above.  I am very excited because I'll be learning how to make a piping!

 

This weekend is our guild's retreat, and I'm going just for Saturday.  One of my fellow guild members, Megan, had invited me to ride along with her, and after I discovered bonus money in my purse I agreed to go.  I had wanted to attend, just didn't think we had the extra money for it, but it turned out I did!  Plus John encouraged me to go  It's an hour and a half drive, so Megan and I figure we'll leave ~7:30am and then come home whenever we feel like it (probably won't leave later than 8pm).  I think it will be fun, Megan is about my age and is happy to escape from packing, if only for a day.  They are moving in a couple weeks, yuck!  So I'm also happy I get to spend some quality time with her :)

 

 

I decided that I will take the Big Fish Little Fish wall hanging, the football pillow sham, and the pillow up above as my projects.  I hope to complete the Big Fish Little Fish, hahaha!  I have heard sometimes there's more visiting than actual sewing, so I'm keeping my options open.  But who knows, maybe I'll actually get all three done!

 

UFO Challenge List:

1. Bright start baby quilt FINISHED 6-5-15

2. Ashley's quilt- SO CLOSE (needs binding)

3. Attack Cat FINISHED 6-9-15

4. Football Pillow Sham-taking to retreat

5. Fabric Basket

6. Big Fish Little Fish-taking to retreat

 

I hope you all stay cool, it's going to be 100 degrees at our house today!

 ~Brandy

 

Linking up to:

Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social

 

 

Two UFOs down!

Woo!  Let me tell you, it's not easy for me to not start new projects.  But I've been trying really hard to focus on these UFOs, and so far I'm doing pretty good!  I got the Attack Cat and the bright star baby blanket finished, and will be passing it on this evening to Cathy.

 

I made the above nice and big so you can see how my quilting made some great snuggly crinkles :)  I am so please with how comfortable this quilt turned out after I washed it.  I will definitely use more flannel in the future!

Neat label I made, it's a hexagon while the quilt is an octagon, let's see how long it takes baby's family to realize it!

 

Finished at 36"x40" with the 2" green border added to it.

This is pretty much the first time I've worked with a panel, as far as I know, and I decided to do basic outlining.  Not as easy or quick as one might think!

 So, I get the Attack Cat finished in ~5 hours right, and take it to guild Tuesday night to turn in.  Remember, it was a challenge put out to the members to take the panel and practice our quilting/piecing for borders/whatever then bring it back this month and we'd vote on who's was best liked.  Well, I was the only one who grabbed one, and since I actually finished it they gave me all the rest as well as the original prize of the 3 fat quarters!  I'm excited because they said I can keep one of the panels for myself, which I plan to do and create a larger lap quilt with it.  And my favorite color is blue, so it was a perfect prize for me, plus now I get to create 3 more donation quilts to practice FMQ on again.

 

I did deviate a little in starting a new project, HOWEVER, it was because John and I travelled a total of 16 hours this last weekend for a vendor event for his job, and then we were sitting at said event for 12 hours.  So I made a soccer ball:

 

And here is an idea of the Diesel Dyno Days at Adrenaline Performance this last weekend:

Our booth, my husband designs diesel exhaust systems for Diamond Eye Performance and they allow him out for a couple shows a year, our other show was at BD Diesel in Abbotsford, BC (Canada) about 3 weeks ago.

 

Cam and Terra are the owners of Adrenaline, and they are the most wonderful people.  This was our third year of attending, and I have decided they deserve a quilt.  Turns out their colors are red, black, and grey, how awesome is that!  I've seen some amazing quilts with that color scheme.  Pretty excited.

 

We stopped ~20 minutes outside of Baker City, OR at this abandoned factory to take photos of the show truck, just for the heck of it.  It was amazing, but also 95 degrees so we look forward to returning at a later date for more exploration.

 

 

UFO Challenge List:

1. Bright start baby quilt FINISHED 6-5-15

2. Ashley's quilt

3. Attack Cat FINISHED 6-9-15

4. Football Pillow

5. Fabric Basket

6. Big Fish Little Fish

 

Loving the progress, yay me!  I hope some of you are also encouraging yourselves to have that sense of completion.  I am definitely struggling with not starting something new, but find if I jump a little from one UFO to another (as long as it's on my list) I get enough variation in routine to satisfy most of the cravings.  Now if I could just stay away from cookie dough I'd be great!

 

Oh!  And I completed my Snapshots apron quilt block two days after they released the pattern, I just spaced putting it up a couple posts ago:

I have more to say on the theme of aprons, but really need to get to eating some lunch now, so I'll tell you about it later.  I'll tease you with a number though: 8. 

 

Have a wonderful day!

~Brandy

Belle says it's too hot, I'm going to take your sewing chair, hope you don't mind...



UFO Busting with Pat Sloan

I'm taking on the challenge Pat put out this weekend, and have pulled together actual UFOs in my sewing room.  I've made lists all year, but most of them include piles of fabric waiting to become quilts, and those technically aren't unfinished, as they haven't been started yet.  Right?  Hee hee :)

 

So here's my goal for the summer:

 

 

1. This is the baby blanket I've been working on for 2 months now.  If I'd wanted to give it to them I could have a month ago, but I wanted it quilted because my hope is for it to be well loved and dragged around.  So number one on the list, baby Scarlet was born last Monday and is ready for her blankie!

2. This is a marriage quilt (they will celebrate their 1 year anniversary this month, congratulation Ashley, I love you!)

 

3. This is a guild challenge, there are four of these panels and I was the only one who picked one up.  So if I finish it and take it back to guild next Tuesday I will win the prestige of finishing it on time LOL!  Possibly there is a prize too, but we're making them as baby blankets for donation, which is pretty satisfying in itself. 

 

4. I started this pillow design the night before the Super Bowl, and mainly hope to have it done by football season this fall.

 

5. This fabric basket needs unsewn on the corners, quilted more densly, sewn back together and have the buttons put on.

 

6. Big Fish Little Fish wall hanging, just keep swimming!

I started working on this last night, made it through 5 of the star points before we had a lightning storm come thru and I stopped to watch it instead of sewing.  Plus the power flickered and I feared for my sewing machine.

 

Good job gloves, you hold that in there for me 'til I get home tonight.

 

The cats watching the storm with me last night.

 

So there we are, 6 items on the list.  And the hope that I won't decide to start another!  Except one thing, I get to test a pattern for Heather at Quilts Actually!  Very exciting, this is my first time testing a pattern, and I just love this one.  I'll share when I have permission to :)

 

Have a wonderful week everyone!

 

~Brandy







May Progress Report

 

 

I have completed a few projects this month, been really trying to give a few minutes every day to some sort of sewing or craft related item. 

 

 

One new project I took on was a birthday present I made for my co-workers son, this is a medieval-themed belt pouch.

 

A new project I just had to develop for the Perfect Picnic that John and I are going on very soon, yay!  This is the reversible liner for my basket.

 
 

A finished UFO!  For some reason it took me nearly two years to finish those x's across the bottom of this potholder... don't ask.  :P  I will tell you John learned not to cut through potatoes on a hotpad though.

 

And a sneak peak!  I finished my Perfect Picnic quilt and had to test it out with my mom, and also tried to get Konnie to sit on it with us, but she refused.  I assume she was trying to be polite and not get fur on it.  Or she was just a silly goose.  My quilt is very comfy by the way, and I look forward to sharing it with John this weekend!

My day for the Perfect Picnic Blog Hop is June 4th, be sure to come visit and see what games we play and what munchies we consider important for a nice, relaxing date.