Moose, please….I just want to sew

Since Moose has come into our lives last summer, I really haven’t done a lot of sewing.  I’ve been reno/working on the sewing room.  Now that it’s done, is it proper to call it a Studio now?  I’ve heard other quilters call their areas “Studios” and often wondered…. “what’s the difference?”  Per Webster’s Dictionary – not much.  Studio sounds a bit hipster whereas Sewing Room sounds very traditional.  I suppose it doesn’t make a difference as long as my son and his cat keep all their “stuff” out of my area. 

 

Which leads me to the topic of the day.  Moose. This big ol’ monster is part Maine Coon and is about as needy as an adult male with a cold!  Not generalizing, just comparing to the men in my life.  If I’m parked on the couch watching TV, I can’t beg this feline to lay next to me. I mean who doesn’t want to stick their feet under a huge warm fur ball.  But let me pick up my English paper piecing and he’s right across my lap, kneading his paws into the cellulite for ultimate comfort.  And, as you can see in the pic, I can forget laying blocks out on the floor.  I’m trying to pick a sashing fabric, but after trying a couple of fabrics I gave up.  I try to be stern, but he looks at me with those big doe eyes, turns the motor on and I give in.  I’m such a sucker!

 

The blocks I’m trying to sash is our Quilt Guilds 2016 block of the month, Ladies in the White House – each block signifies one of the previous First Ladies for 9 months. The original pattern is a 12” block, but I wanted a table topper, so I reduced to 8” blocks.

The big guy on his favorite Christmas gift.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiffed up and ready to sew!

I’ve hammered my last nail, I’ve put the Dewalt back on the charger and I’m returning the borrowed chop-saw.  This DIY’er is done with home renovations for a while.  My cheapo fabric storage units have a new face and are ready for my stash. 

I’m still debating what kind of finished top I want to put on the 3-drawer dresser unit/book shelves – but I can jam those cabinets full of stuff in the meantime.  Not sure if I want to have an ironing type surface, cutting surface or a decorative surface.  I would love to put a variety of old yards across the top, but I’ll never find enough of those.

 

 

So until some grand idea comes to me, I’ll leave as is.  Whatever I decide, it’s a great space to hold up the weight of whatever I’m sewing on my machine. 

 

 

Quilt Books on these 2 shelves

 

 

Open area for extra cutting mats and large rulers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Stitchworms!

I am a card carrying member of The Stitchworms!

I’m so fortunate to be acquainted with several very clever Quilty women.  Within the Quilt Guild I belong to, we have several “small groups”.  These are guild members who also meet once a month on a set evening different from the guild meeting.  Each small group specializes in something different.  Like a Round Robin group, Hand stitching group, Embroidery group, etc.  I belong to the English Paper Piecing group.   Our group is about 10 ladies strong, so for sewing room and lighting – we chose to meet at the library (conference room) each month (so nice….no one has to run home from work and pick up their house for company!).  After the first couple of meetings, we decided we needed a group name….something original.  No Nightime Needler’s, no Stitch-n-bitch…..something new and catchy!  By the very next meeting Susan (not to be confused with Boutique Sue) came up with The Stitchworms.  It makes total sense!  Get it?  Like Bookworm? Since meet in the Library?  Ok, we’re geeks too, but what a spiffy name! 

 

 

Now we needed a logo…..notice we’re spending a lot of time thinking about and doing things other than sewing…..  but we needed a platform, right?  So, I start digging for clipart.  Since I work up the newsletter articles for the Boutique, I went back to clipart I’d saved.  Now why I saved a worm in an apple, I’ll never know.  But he fit perfectly in a button/needle clipart I’d been wanting to use.  Great balls of fire, we have us a cutesy logo!

 

Hold on to your hats….my Boutique buddy Sue (not Susan) took it one step further and made ALL the ladies in the group a pin cushion (with said logo) for Christmas.  Scrappy pin-cushions no less, with coloring and embroidery. This woman never ceases to amaze me.  I absolutely love them!

Whoop-whoop, these things are so dang cute!  

      

 

 

To goal, or not to goal?

Today’s million dollar question…..   Seems like every mid-December people start talking about their “new year’s resolution” or what their “goals” are for the upcoming year.  But how many are attainable?  I try, I really do, but each year I struggle to hit the target.  Maybe I set my goals to high?  Maybe other projects get in the way?  Whatever it is, most years I’m just happy to have completed something on the list!

I suppose something is better than nothing, so I’m working on my 2017 list.  There’s one thing I know for sure….Learning how to say “no” will be top dog on the list!  Its existence is barely represented in my vocabulary – that has to change!  Once I throw a few of those “no’s” around, I think I should have more time to work on my projects.

Speaking of projects, I’m trying to complete the sewing room reno.  I’ve hauled up the rest of the cheap-o cubbies/book cases and the baby set of drawers from the basement.  Now that they’re in the same room as the snazzy double stack cubbie cabinet, it was clear more updates needed to be done.  Make It Stop!  I just couldn’t help myself, over my holiday break from work, I started cutting more bead board (wainscoting) for the smaller cabinets.  Instead of having all 4 cabinets lining the walls, I decided to extend my sewing area out behind my machine with dresser and book shelf.  Fingers crossed it doesn’t look tacky! 

 

These are the cabinets I’m working with…..after this project – I AM DONE! I’m tossing the chop saw for needle and thread.  Sven (my Husqvarna Viking) and I are going to get reacquainted.

 

 

Cheers to a New Year and a new beginning to completing projects!

 

Sewing Room Shenanigans

With the Boutique behind me, I can get back to working on my newly remodeled sewing room. Wootwoot!  Seeing the newly installed sheet rock instead of knotty pine, and hard wood instead of the ratty carpet made the fabric cubes looked cheap.  I’ll admit they are cheap, but I didn’t want them to “look” cheap.  Purchasing a snazzy new fabric storage system isn’t going to happen, especially when my budget spreadsheet literally laughed at me.  So, I had to improvise.  Where do you go when you’re unsure about what to do?  Pinterest.  Yep, once again, it didn’t let me down.  Searched billy (ikea brand – although I had the Walmart brand) shelving and viola, lots of redos, remakes and renovations.

Lately, I’m not allowed to say the “P” word (Pinterest) around my sons.  They know this means some kind of project is in the works and I’ll be calling them for assistance.  But being budget minded, I have to work with what I have, right?  So, I decided to give them a break and work this one on my own. 

 

 

 

This is what I started with – 2 sets of cubbies.  Since I have limited space, I wanted to stack them.  The only purchases I made: 1 4x8 sheet of beadboard (wainscoting) and trim board.  Bolts to connect the two cubbies together.  The rest I had leftover in the garage – 2x4’s for the base, base trim and crown molding (from the remodel).   

In no way will I pretend this was easy, after building the base and attaching one cubbie, I did have to ask my younger son to assist with stacking the 2^nd cubbie on top.  Plus I screwed up the crown molding and had to cut twice.  Filled the nail holes and painted.  I love it!  I’m done and accomplished this project on my own!!

 

 

 

**Since I have an outlet behind the unit, I left the bottom 3 cubbies open.  I ran a power strip over to the left and tacked to the side of the cabinet.  Plus ran an extension cord to the top for a small lamp. I’ll either fill the bottom with fabric cubbie containers or baskets to hide the wall. 

 

 

 

 

Talkin' Turkey

 

From one who enjoys a wonderful fall “comfort food” meal, Thanksgiving rates right at the top.  Is it all about the food?  No, I’ve got a great family and a handful of close friends I would never want to be without, but I hope I let them know how special they are to me all year long.  So, to have one day when all my favorite comfort foods are set upon one table is flippin’ awesome!   My mom doesn’t cook, never liked to cook, so my sister-n-law and I divvy up the menu and each bring half of dinner.  I think my mom lives under the principle “if you want a traditional style meal, you’ll need to bring it”.  So we do. 



Is it wrong to bring a pie to a family gathering with a piece missing?  Now before you judge, I was able to purchase a pecan pie cheaper than it was to make.  But once I got home with my favorite nut pie, it occurred to me, what if it’s not as good as my ho’made pie?  What if it’s not up to par to take as a dessert offering?  Was I about to start the comfort food eating early?  Um, yes.  I couldn’t stand it, I dug in.  It wasn’t a total disappointment, the filling is good, but the crust lacked.  So once I arrive tomorrow, I’ll let everyone know I “took one for the team” and to stay away from the top edge of the crust. 

 

 

Since we’re on the subject of “birds”…..this little guy didn’t sell at the Quilt Boutique.  All of his other coop buddies “flew” off the boutique tables.  Not my colors, so this little chicky will go to my granddaughter Amber, she’s enrolled in several sewing classes this year. 

 

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!!

 

 

 

 

Boutique Baby is put to Bed!

Elvis has left the building….the Quilt Show is over and the Boutique has closed its’ doors on another successful year.  At least I think it was successful…..we took home about a third of the items we brought in.  Not gonna lie, Sue and I were a bit nervous.  You never know if you have enough items to display.  Will the attendees be interested in these types of hand-made quilty goodies?  Priced too high or too low?  In the end, we did a fine job displaying, and hopefully the donations sold covered most of the expenses of the quilt show. 

 

 In all the craziness, I was able to “finish” a quilt for the Show.  Now mind you, I started this quilt in 2013 – I’d applique a handful of Dresdens, then toss aside (hide in the closet) for a while.  Pull it out of the closet, applique a few more Dresdens and toss it back in, well out of sight.  There comes a time when enough is enough and I sucked it up, and finished it. 

 

 

My finished Edyta Sitar basket framed wall hanging.  Did they have to put it right next to Sue's (quilt buddy, co-director of the Boutique) kick-butt zillion paper pieced star?  Can a girl get a break?

 

By the way – Sue received 3^rd place in the small quilt category for this lovely!! 

 

Boutique on the Brain

 

A touch of bling pincushion

I need an intervention - our quilt show Boutique has taken over my life.  Now, it could be a life sucker because this is my first year in the guild with such responsibility.  After all, I shot my big mouth off about updating and bringing the Quilt Show boutique area into the new millennium.  So, I’ll own this chaos – I bit off more than I can chew.  Thankfully, I have a co-director I can blame who is a tremendous help!  Spreadsheet Sue is the queen of organization.  I’m sure I don’t say it enough, but I appreciate Sue more than she’ll ever know.  I hope the blend of my wackiness and her business sense will produce a fantastic Boutique.

 

 

Since I still have a full time day gig, it limits my sewing to evenings and weekends.  Let’s face it, most evenings changing into my loungewear before melting into the couch is a challenge.  So, I’ve kept my boutique donations small.  I’ve mastered the “square” pin cushion, so I’m sticking with it.  Plus I need to keep my projects small, if I can’t get it finished in one sewing “sitting” I seem to drag it out for days.   

 

 

A pin cushion isn’t complete until it has a Starlight Sparkler pin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boutique & Beyond

 

 

I think I pulled a muscle patting myself on the back for this one!  I’m giddy over this Snuggle Bunny I put together for the Quilt Guild Boutique.  I’ve seen little blanky snuggles with heads attached or the corners tied in a knot to resemble a cat, dog or whatever little animals’ paws…..but I like the flat snugglers.   I’m working on Kuddle Kitty as well and will have pics to show next week.  Finished size is about 17 x 17.

 

 

A soft striped flannel was used on the front with a printed cotton on the back.  Once I have a few more for the boutique, I need to work on snugglers for my 10 month old twin grandies. 

No good deed goes unpunished?

One of the leaders in our quilt guild - Donna, loves to make kitty blankets for one of the area Cat rescue shelters.  Donna is so sweet, she thinks every kitty should have their very own cuddle blanket – so she schedules a sew day for the guild to whip up some cuddlers for these orphans.   Since my granddaughter Amber volunteers to clean litter boxes (yuk!) and love on the kitties at a local pet shop, I asked if she wanted to join the Kitty Blanket sew day.  She’s all over it!  Wouldn’t it be nice to get this much enthusiasm over yard work?  Hmm, I digress.  The golden ticket for Amber was after the sew day, we get to drop the blankets off at the rescue shelter and she could snuggle with the kitties.  Now I’m not totally daft, I laid the ground work before we left the house…….If I said it once, I said it numerous times - You cannot have another cat, your dad will have a meltdown, you cannot have a cat at my house, I am allergic. We are donating blankets, you can have snuggle time, but we are leaving without a cat. 

So, I think everyone reading this knows where I’m going…….about 15 minutes into the visit, Amber notices a mixed adult male Maine Coone cat and immediately starts hyper ventilating. 

Amber:  OH GRANDMA – this is the very cat Sam (my 26 yr old man-child) has been looking for! 

Me: Wha-what? 

Before I can finish what I’m saying, she’s firing off texts and sending pics to Sam.  Not a minute later my phone is blowing up, Sam (beyond excited) wants details about the cat.  oooh.   Before I knew what hit me, I was stopping at the store for cat food and allergy pills.

 

Big Sam and his Big Cat named Moose

 

 

Moose is a handsome feline

 

 

 

The troublemaker - Amber whipping up a kitty blanket

57 Kitty Blankets donated

 

The Boutique Dish

I’d like to say I have more going on in my life than our Quilt Guild Show/Boutique…..but I don’t.  This being the first year of “being in charge” I am quite nervous about its success.  Normally, I’m a pretty passive person, but a few times I’ve spoken my mind at a couple of board meeting/encounters …..And now I feel like I need to “put up or shut up”!!  This is how bad it is, I’m checking out other quilt guild shows to see what kind of sale areas they have.  Noting what they’re selling, how its set-up, what seems to be popular, etc.  So there it is, I’ve lowered myself to quilt stalking! I wish I would have paid more attention to our Boutique in the past.  Well, I kind of did, it looked like a throw-back from the seventies (a board meeting conversation I should’ve kept to myself), it's a look I couldn’t get past to notice anything else.  Co-Director Sue and I have tons of ideas, now will the set-up be as gorgeous as the mental pics in our head?  Fingers crossed, one can only hope.

 

 

While creating my Sparkling pins and pincushions for the Boutique, I noticed on Pinterest - a few snazzy pins with metal beaded bees on them.  Quilting Bee!  To say I searched high and low for these little bees is an understatement.  As with anything else, I went to Amazon – you have to admit, if it’s not on Amazon, it’s not out there.  They still didn’t have exactly the bee bead I was looking for.  But…during my search I ran across the hexie/bee combo.  Since there seems to be a hexie craze going on right now, these little darlings could not be more perfect! 

 

 

Now, am I the only one loving these?  Or will the shoppers at the Boutique buzz with excitement too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lead by example….right?

It was so easy sitting on the sidelines, what possessed me to take on such a task as Co-Chairing the Quilt Show Boutique?  While trying to coax Guild members into sewing items for the Boutique, I too, am trying to crank out a few items. 

Thinking misery loves company there would be fellowship working on the boutique projects, Co-Boutiquer Sue and I scheduled a sew day to rally the troops.  It was time to “think” Boutique – represent our Guild with the finest hand crafted items in the quad-state area!  Yes, yes, yes!!  Well….five women showed up, plus Sue and I…. 7 out of over 100 guild members.  Humf.  Insert disappointed emoji face here! 

Ok, so the guild is moving in baby steps….it’s still early, we have until late September, right?   While I try to suppress my panic attack, I’ll share the items I’ve made for the Boutique.    

 

 

Nice heavy pin cushions – filled with walnut shells.

 

 

 

 

No shame in my game – I want to brag about these dazzling pins adorning the pin cushions.  As with some of you, Pinterest is my “go too” for ideas.  They didn’t let me down with these little sparklers!  All it took was some fancy pins and raiding my granddaughters' glass beads….. Viola!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Without a doubt, my favorite pin cushions. 

Who wouldn’t love one of these Freaky Fowl?!?! 

 

 

What can I say? I'm a sucker....

Like I don’t have enough to do.  At the moment, I have too many projects in my home/garden and let’s not talk about all the quilting projects I’m in different stages of….. but does that stop me from volunteering at quilt guild?  No ma’am.  You’re looking at the new Co-Director of the Starlight Quilt Guild Boutique.  The guild is all-a-buzz about the upcoming quilt show in October.  Within the quilt show they host a “Boutique” which sells handmade items by the members of the guild.  A way of recouping (kinda sorta!) the expenses of hosting the quilt show.  I wrangled my quilt buddy Sue to help lead in this Boutique Madness.  After all, I wasn’t going to sink alone in this venture!  So with my partner in crime, we’re organizing the best (fingers crossed) darn Boutique they’ve ever seen!  While I seem really motivated and about as positive as I can be, we’ll see how I feel mid-September!

The Splendid Sampler Dish: 

Instead of making a “Quilt Shop” with the House block – I placed Uncle Sam in the window.  It seemed fitting using Civil War Repros.

Progress in the Splendid Sampler, or maybe lack of?  I’m really enjoying this quilt-a-long.  For a moment I really stressed over a few of the blocks.  Let’s just say – I wasn’t loving the non-traditional blocks.  After a couple of days moaning and groaning I decided this concoction of miscellaneous blocks are mine.  So I changed out a few, I mean the quilt police aren’t going to show up and point out the difference…. so let's throw caution to the wind, after all it’s my Splendid Sampler!  

I did a “change-up” for Block 14 – Flying High (below).  Not really my style, so I made a slightly different version of a Flying Geese (above).  

Gorgeous? Remarkable? No...it's Splendid!

I couldn’t stay away…..I got antsy just thinking about another online quilt along.  The Splendid Sampler, hosted by Pat Sloan & Jane Davidson.  It’s not just Pat and Jane – they’ve put together 83 fellow designers who will create and share 100 blocks over the next 52 weeks.  That’s 2 – 6 ½ inch blocks a week.  So far, over 18,380 members have joined the Splendid Sampler Quilt Along!  How could I not jump on this world wide bandwagon!?

Block 1 – Pat Sloan, designer

Block 1 started with piecing & applique

Block 2 – Jane Davidson, designer

Block 2 - piecing & embroidery (not sure if I want to add the embroidered butterfly antennas)

My funny for the day…..my grandson is one of the funniest little people I know.  My daughter sent me this pic of a shopping trip with the family….he’s pointing at this dad.