Accomplisments, Plans, and Food for Thought

So I took my third quilt off the long arm this week. I have trimmed it and have it ready to put the binding on. I am kind of stalled out because two thirds of my wonder clips are still on the second quilt. Tatianna is still working on sewing that binding down. She thought she needed to use tiny stitches to secure the binding. When I say tiny, think a short machine stitch. Since she is a quarter of the way done she feels she needs to finish it with those tiny stitches. I think I said before she is a little OCD. I do have more wonder clips on the way, so when they get here I will start working on the binding. Arianna will be so pleased if I get it done before her anniversary.

I also did a lot of organizing in my studio this week. I have all the planned or in progress quilts and kits on the shelf, I went through old projects and organized them. I have them all on this really neat wire shelf from Lowe's. One of the things about this shelf that I really like is the fact that I can hang things on it. I took some "S" hooks and hung my cut and press pad on the end along with my larger lint rollers, on the front I used smaller "S" hooks and hung little things like box openers and little screwdrivers

   

 I placed things under my long arm neatly to have ready at hand without being in the way. Still is messy but better than before. I will have to come up with a better arrangement when my husband gets the batting bar installed. If you look in the back you can see my granddaughter's tricycle which needs to find a new home. Preferably in Idaho with her. If I can figure out how to get it out there I will send her Mother's sewing machine along as well. 

I gave away my mother's sewing machine this weekend. I don't need six machines. It was not the one I learned to sew on and in reality it wasn't really my mother's machine. She never liked it. It was one my dad bought when I couldn't get her old singer to work on the knit fabric I was sewing into a dress for my friends wedding rehearsal dinner.  They went out and bought a Kenmore that would sew the knit fabric. It was similar to one I had used in school so I liked it, but Mom never did get used to it. Mom would be happy that I gave it to some one who will use it. Anyway one machine down.


I still have a couple of boxes to go through and some filing to get done but the studio is coming together. I even cleaned off my sewing desk and have it ready to sew one. I have to post a picture of it because I don't know how long it will stay that way. My family has a habit of putting things on my desk for me to take care of. It is frustrating especially if I am wanting to sew. I tend to just move it to another place and then the piles start to grow. I need to find away to quickly take care of these things instead of piling them up elsewhere. I like having a clean work surface.

I also made the difficult decision to quit holding onto some quilts I started seven years ago. These were from a block of the month club that a very small quilt shop was doing. The shop is now defunct. I don't know if I even have all the instructions. I was doing three at a time. Two were to practice the blocks on before cutting into the very expensive $10.00 a yard fabric. The shop is now defunct. Mostly because they marked everything up so much and really gouged their customers. $25.00 a month to get a photocopy of the instructions for that month's block.  People got tired of that real quick plus they didn't pay the teachers very well. Anyway. I put the fabric in yardage and I will make hot pads out of the completed blocks. That cleared up some of the clutter.

Last week I mentioned that I had bought some quilt tops on e-bay. One was fairly good sized but ugly. The thing is the blocks were hand sewn. It looks like someone found them and just sewed them together without any thought. The fabric they used in between the rows of blocks was totally wrong for the the blocks. It was obvious the work of two different people. Tatianna and I think we may take it apart and sash the blocks with white. Plus the bocks need squared up to lay flat anyway. That means quilting it is now on hold until we do the original quilter's work justice.

The other quilt top was a disappearing nine patch. It was obviously the work of a beginner. The seller mentioned that she hoped I liked it. I do! I told her so but asked why she never finished it. She said she had taken a class and when the class was finished, the instructor gave them a list of quilters to send their quilts to. When she found out how much it would cost to have it quilted she decided to wait until she was better at making the tops. I asked her why she didn't quilt it on her sewing machine. She said the instructor told her it would be too difficult and it wouldn't really work on a regular machine. That made me sad. This was a small top only 42 inches square. It could have been done on a regular sewing machine. From talking to the woman, I think the class was sponsored by a group quilters that were drumming up quilting business. The cost was nominal and they provided their own fabric. While I can understand the idea it still makes me kind of sad.  The woman now doesn't have her first quilt because it would cost too much to finish it. When I have my own quilt shop, I will encourage women to do what they can to finish their quilts even if it is to hand quilt them. Plus I will help them if I can.

The quilt didn't have any borders. It had 1/2 inch seams instead of 1/4 inch. The blocks weren't totally straight but it was a really good job done by a first timer. I decided to add borders to make it larger. I was totally pleased with how it looked after I added the borders. The purple borders make the whole thing pop. I can't wait to quilt it now. I already have the back made and will put this on the machine this week. Not sure what design I am going to do but I have the perfect color purple thread to quilt it with. I may send the seller a picture of the finished quilt.

So that pretty much gives you and idea of this coming week's projects. Quilt the purple quilt. Bind Ariannna's quilt. Work on the studio. I may even manage sewing everyday since my husband is out of town again. What will you work on?