Unexpected Treasures

I have been cleaning out closets for the last few days. Closets upstairs, stuffed with my mom's stuff, mostly sewing, but some more personal stuff. When she passed away (about 2.5 years ago), I hauled 3 or 4 truckloads of stuff to my house. I have gone through most of it, but some of it I just packed into closets in totes and bags. The time has come, the hole in my heart is strong enough (I think) to go through some of the more personal stuff.

 This is just part of what I am going through, but the stuff I cull out will be so much better donated to people who will actually use some of it.

 

I did find these cute little ceramic quilts, that now hang in my sewing room. I little reminder of mom.

But the biggest find was this unexpected treasure, a quilt top. I'm pretty sure that my grandmother (my mom's mom), made this back in the 1940's or 1950's. It's about 71"x80" and almost modern in design, everything old is new again. I'm really looking forward to quilting this quilt, three generations of quilters. Pretty cool!

So even through this has been a tough few days, going through my mom's stuff has had its rewards. I hope that both mom and grandma are smiling.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

I Love and Miss You, Mom!

In many ways it's hard to believe that my mom has been gone two years today. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her. Over the last two years, there have been any number of times that I've wanted to pick up the phone and tell her about my last quilting project or other event in my life. She always was and will always be my greatest champion. She IS my quilting inspiration!

My mom with just a few of her quilts!

In loving memory of Lois A. Wiley -  7/7/1930 - 9/27/2010

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Organized Heaven in 2011???

Every year I try to have a motto, as opposed to goals. This year was "Organized Heaven in Twenty Eleven". Now you have to realize that I am not organized by nature. As a matter of fact, I'm quite a messy person, but I love to work/live in a neat space. Over the past year, I have been working to figure out how to best organize the HUGE fabric stash that I inherited from my mom in September 2010. I started by putting a lot of the "smaller" pieces in several dressers. That didn't work well.

The room the dressers are in has poor lighting.

Still left to organize

Solution; "Mini Bolts" stored in a double Martha Stewart bookshelf. This represents over 175 pieces of fabric ranging in size from a fat quarter to multiple yards. Still have lots to wrap.

To make the mini bolts I got 3 packs of comic book boards.  Comic book boards are 6 3/4" X 10 1/2", acid free cardboard, in packs of 100. Each pack is about $10.00. Such a deal.

I still have a lot of organizing ahead of me. But my motto for 2012 is " All's Well in Twenty Twelve".

Happy New Year!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Try New Things (TNT) Thursday: Problem Solving

TNT Thursday is a great way to take a risk (to succeed brilliantly or fail spectacularly) and/or to solve problems. I'm fairly new to (seriously addictive) quilting and machine embroidery, since I inherited my machines and stash a little over a year ago. Many times I hear or dream up something I think would be cool in a quilt, only to find out the devil is in the details. Yesterday's post, I showed were I was trying to embroider "Once Upon a Time" only to have serious puckers and tucks in the block. It is a very "dense" design and I had enlarged it to go in the biggest hoop I have (7" x14").

First attempt at machine embroidering this large "dense" design

Added a basting line in Embird (embroidery software)

Added an additional layer of stabilizer

Note to self: set the basting line farther from design or it will be stitched over. (Not the end of the world, but it would be easier to remove when done)

Still a bit wavy, but no puckers or tucks.

I will probably cut the block down and add borders. It will help with the waviness and soften the design.

Preparation is the key to successful machine embroidery, and probably a lot of other tasks. But the big takeaway here is if you don't try new things, take a risk, you can never succeed brilliantly!

I'm linking up with the wonderful Melissa at Happy Quilting for Try New Things (TNT) Thursday.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

My Design Wall! What Do You Think???

I've been a bit under the weather the last few days. Nothing dreadful, just enough to knockout any extra energy after work. But this morning I woke up with a design idea and I had to put it into action.

I have 7 of the pieced blocks, orphans from my mother's stash (I don't think she pieced them, probably from a swap or bee). I recently purchased the 1001 Peeps, then realized that I think this will look pretty good with these blocks. Add in the dark purple and white to keep it from getting too busy. There are two little girls that I would like to make quilts for their birthdays in February. What do you think?

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

An Unexpected Find

I inherited my mother's SABLE! No, not a fur, Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy. It is amazing what I find sometimes as I dig through bins of fabric and old projects.

Machine embroidered snowmen and gingerbread-men!

Only ONE angel (notice the "L" on the bag)

I love the one and only angel...my mother's name was Lois! I think she's happy!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Cherrywood Color Sheets

A few weeks ago I ordered a set of Cherrywood Fabric color sheets. They offer a line of hand dyed suede look fabrics that are just scrumptious.  I really want something special to pair with some Ohio Star blocks that I inherited from my mom. I also really like solids, but since the blocks are batiks, I think hand dyed solids will blend better.

I'm seriously considering the Kiwi Berry eight step bundle.

Kiwi Berry eight step bundle

Maybe add some eggplant to go with the really dark purple in the block. I was thinking about adding some simple embroidery to the center of some of the blocks that would pull in the green.

I'm not sure why I'm even thinking about this with so many Christmas projects to do. But I guess it doesn't hurt to do a little dreaming sometimes.

Well, just Color Me Quilty!

Pat