Moving On

I just love going to quilting retreats. I get so much done and have a lot of fun. When I go to a retreat I like to make a little something for the other participants. It adds to the fun for me.

In March I made these needle books that really were more work than I should have done, but I loved how they came out. All the ladies loved them.

The inside pages consist of a whole page of felt and one of linen. I added a aida cloth square to hold needles and then a fancy trim and buttons for holding some pins. They were really not too hard to make, I just would do it differently next time.  I made 28 of these little gifts, but did not need but half that many in the long run.

Have you ever had an issue of having your creativity crushed by the room being too clean and neat? While it sounds like an excuse, clean, neat craft and sewing rooms really stifle me. I noticed them way back when I finally had a whole room to devote to scrapbooking.

Scrapbooking was a messy proposition for me. It always took stacks of papers, embellishments and more to create one page in my albums. Of course I did not use everything that was out, but I did need to get it all out to make decisions and to get inspired. On the rare occasion that I cleaned and put every little thing away, it would take days to get me back into my beloved room.

It is the same now with my sewing room. If all the fabric is put away, pins in their pincushions, thread in the thread boxes and so on, then I am not interested in sewing. Something about such a clean room is intimidating. I can wonder around in the room looking at this and that, but find it hard to settle.

So, to clean or not to clean? Of course right now there is no question. I have a big mess that is slowly getting put away – more about that later. But, what about when this mess is taken care of? I have about one more complete day to get it all done.

One way I do get around this and still get things put away, it to always have a project out and in mid task. That makes it easier to slide right back into the groove.

But there are times when it is necessary to get things all tidy. Like when company is coming. Or perhaps when the grandson is expected for a visit. At five years old, messy rooms are an invitation for disaster and MiMi’s house is supposed to be a fun place, not a disaster place.

So then what do you do?

Oh and here is just a portion of the problem.

Got your sunglasses ready? The new quilt I will be teaching in Waco is plenty bright.

It takes one jelly roll plus 14 more strips for the borders. The classes will be May 6 and June 3. These are the days I teach the Sew and Quilt club there in the Waco Sew and Quilt store.

The quilt top may also be made in different colorway – with a minimum of five colors.

I really loved making this quilt top. It is the second one I made using this layout. This one just took six hours for me to make.

Supply List

Guess I am having just too much fun to plop myself down in front of the computer and write a new post.

I have really enjoyed my quilting activities lately. The quilt club that I do each month is a real joy. I get excited when I find new ideas to take back to the ladies.

My latest idea I took to the ladies was this pincushion. As you can see, it was made with scruffy pads stacked on top of each other. You have to use a fusible type tape to make it work. You wrap it like a gift and for each fold, you insert wonder under or steam a seam and give it a little hit with the iron. It comes out so cute! And it helps to keep your pins and needles clean as well!

Here is the latest quilt project I have worked on. It was done for a paper piecing quilt class I am teaching. My inspiration was the cross stitching samplers we used to make that would have a quote and lots of home stuff pics around the border. I was limited in that it had to appeal to students who had never paper pieced before and thus could not have a lot of little tiny pieces. In the future, I might just make one for me that is not limited in any way and I could put little pieces in there and more difficult pieces in there.

(no it is not a kitty or a burp baby!)

So I decided to treat myself this spring with a new sewing machine. It took a lot of gumption to work up to it and THEN I had to tell hubby. It was a really round about way that this discussion took place and really not something I should post in public. (And NO it not rated XXXX. It is just a wife should not disclose strategies on talking to hubbies about spending money.)

The sewing machine I was looking at was not quite the top of the line, but I was willing to settle for this one. But somehow, someway, I ended up with the top of the line anyway. It is a Bernina 830. Can anybody relate? It took a week to work up to the top of the line in my thinking but it goes something like this: 1)this is probably the last sewing machine I will ever get, at least for a while, 2) I really want to be able to use that huge, large, giant hoop, 3) I really, really, really don’t want to regret NOT getting the top of the line when I was able to. Three reasons are enough, right?

So here it is, Big Martha as she is named:

 

You can see I have already started using her. And I have found several issues.

She DOES NOT RIP OUT SEAM? Like really, as much as I paid for her she should be able to undo my mistakes!

She DOES NOT READ MY MIND!For some reason I thought she should be able to read my mind and know that I did not want her to try and sew through that safety pin there. But alas, she did anyway, or at least she tried.

She will sew crooked seams if I let her, she will not secure the ends of the seams unless I tell her to, and she makes a funny raspberry sound at me every time I start her up in the morning.

BUT she does some awesome things! I push a button and she will cut my threads. No more searching under the quilt I am working on to cut the bobbin thread! She will thread her own needle! A little arm comes down and brings the thread around and pokes it through the needle. It is so cool I could sit and watch it do that again and again. Even hubby thinks that is something cool. I can also wind a bobbin without having to un-thread the whole machine. The bobbin winding apparatus is separate from the needle threading part. She has a long harp (the length between the needle and the arm of the machine where you have to pack the quilt into.) I was able to work on this 93 inch square quilt without having to struggle with getting a section  of the quilt to the needle. I could go on and on but you can get my drift. I am loving me this machine.

Even Clio likes her. She inspected her all over when she got the chance and finds her quilt acceptable.

No, I am not referring to myself, thought indeed I am a work in progress as are all of us.  LOL

I have been working on a crazy quilt since last December. It is a hand project that had a couple of false starts, but then go going real well. It is mostly embroidery work and ribbon work. Last night I finished up a doily area. This area has several large ribbon flowers and leaves and a doily background. I will be adding a page to my blog with pics of the whole thing and progress reports.