getting stitchy . . .

Last week was a lovely, stitchy week!  On Sunday I remembered the sets of embroidery stencils I got while my shoulder was out of service for National Quilting Day (see that post here).  I pulled them all out and picked one that looked like fun to stitch . . .

I worked on it Sunday and finished it up on Tuesday. Todd and I drove six hours, round trip, for a work conference.  Well, he drove and I stitched!

I adore how this turned out!  I will finish it up this week and gift it later.  :)

I didn't skip Monday ... I road-tripped!  With a couple of my quilty friends up to Chattanooga for a tea and quilt shop hop.

We visited Polly Claire's (a first for all of us) and had a lovely time!

I spent more than I should have, probably, but the fabric ... it calls to me!  What I'm really glad of is that I'm not keeping up with my stash this year.  I'm considering it all slush fund for retirement. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Wednesday evening I worked in EQ, laying out the design for our mystery quilt, with my chosen fabrics plugged in.  This is what I settled on for the final design for my prints:

Thursday evening I prepped and ironed a roll of binding to get ready to stitch it on Friday morning.

This is a "keep it secret, keep it safe" project.  So this is the only picture I can share . . .

My fabulous clover clips on where I've already hand-stitched the binding down on the boat on Friday!

Saturday I spent some time restoring order (again) to my work space in the Nook, and also started working the components for the blocks that will make up the mystery quilt (which, by the way, is no longer a mystery).  

And Sunday afternoon I continued to work on that and get bits and pieces plotted out to construct the blocks.  I put the two together . . . 

It's due August 15, so I should have no problem getting it together!

Last night I also finished up a Holly Jolly Topper (it was my Friday/boat project a week ago) by stitching the elements together . . .

If that's not the image of Christmas in July, I don't know what is! I love this topper....it's the favorite of my own designs.  But stitching for Christmas now has me itching to stitch up a pumpkin or two (or twenty-three)!!!

I worked really hard to make sure I spent at *least* fifteen minutes each day working on something quilting related. Mission accomplished!  I wonder what this week will hold?!  

:)

this little piggy . . .

Went to Lyon Family Farms and had a marvelous time!  Aren't they funny?  They loved those little piggy noses.  They got even more darling on Halloween night:

Photo courtesy of my son-in-law, Jason!

What a trio!! The Ballerina, Camo Man, and Queen Elsa. This year they all knew their minds enough to know what they wanted to be. Gosh I love 'em! 

I don't know about anyone else, but for us, November definitely blustered its way into town.  Whew!  We're sitting chilly at 28 degrees this morning!  Brrrrrr! But the temps started dropping drastically on Friday, making it cold *and* wet for Trunk or Treat, so we moved the whole shebang indoors.

My poor little Halloween Town pumpkin looked great on the back of my car -- it left a little to be desired hanging on a couple of tables, propped up against the wall (you can definitely tell it was 'sprayed to fit')! LOL!

As for the ol' stash report?  Same song, second verse.  Nothing's changed for better or worse!

Yup.  Zero in, zero out. I'll take that.

On the other hand, I did have a finish!

Yay!  And come Monday, it'll be hanging in my mini-quilt stand!

And for today's slow stitching, I'll continue to plug along stitching up my little pieces . . .

It took me a while to get the outside pieces cut and templated up -- I was waiting for the acrylic template to cut them, because the design I wanted to catch needed the precision. It was worth the wait.

Linking up this morning to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts!  Y'all have a glorious Sunday and stay warm!!

:)

stash re-design; a labor of love . . .

Not so much happening on my design wall, so to speak, but that's not to say that I haven't been busy in the sewing room!

I recently came to the conclusion that I had too much stash and that it wasn't organized in such a manner that I could utilize it. In fact I had this tub--and the subsequent two boxes--filled with fabric and stored in the back bathroom. The door to said bathroom is behind my sewing/project table, so it's not convenient. In fact, it's so inconvenient that I was buying new fabric instead of checking what I already had, which resulted in me purchasing new fabric that I already had.

Something had to be done.

Tub of fabric and other cloth.

Below is a box full of leftovers from prior projects.


This box was filled with nothing but Christmas fabrics:

Yes. Something definitely needed to be done. First, I needed to get my stash organized and into storage that was accessible. So I dumped out the giant rubbermaid tub of fabric and sorted it into smaller containers.

Because we are in the RV, lidded containers are important to me. Mainly because if we have to pick up and go, I know they'll travel better with lids!

Sorting my stash into manageable containers was a solution to only part of the dilemma. And it was the easy part. I still needed somewhere accessible to store the smaller containers. This was going to take a little more work and I knew that things would get worse, long before they got better. This is always a challenge for me in our RV living!

And I was right. I emptied all the stuff I had stored on top of my rubbermaid drawer sets as well as emptying the drawers themselves. Those drawers were filled with all kinds of kits that I'd purchased somewhere along the way that one day I *will* get to.

Anyway, at one point it looked like an explosion at a fabric warehouse. Luckily Todd was on shift on the day I chose for this project. I had my space *and* his space completely covered in stuff!

I decided to use one of the empty drawers for my Christmas fabrics. One is craft supplies (hot glue gun, yarn, floss, ribbons, floral wire and tape, beads, etc.) One is nothing but quilting notions and stabilizers. One is all my patterns (quilting and sewing) and quilting templates. One is filled with projects that I might will work on/complete within the next year. And the last one got filled with fabrics that I had in significant yardage.

Then the small containers of my newly sorted fabric stash fit perfectly into the empty space on top of my drawers. (The skinny set of drawers in my two quilting drawers is filled with office supplies, note/greeting cards, and tissue paper and bows. Just in case you were curious.)

And everything had a place -- and trust me -- every place had a thing.

I like being in my sewing space so much more when it's tidy and organized! I set aside two of the small containers and used them for my current projects. That way whatever I'm working on is all together and contained. I used a third container to fill with smallish pieces of batting, for small projects like quilted postcards and table toppers.

All I had left to deal with was the huge pile of kits and that big, empty tub. Eureka!

I used those big, vacuum sealed bags, filled them with my kits, sucked the air out of them with the vacuum hose, and stowed the compressed bags in the tub. But not before making a list of every kit I had. Do you know there were things I'd completely forgotten I had?!? No more. There's a list on my computer so I know exactly what's where. Then I put the tub back into that back bathroom. Whew.

The freedom of being able to get into my fabric stash will be wonderful -- I know I'll use so much more of it since I'll be able to easily play with colors and patterns. I'm so glad I spent a day and just DID it!

Now I'm going to head over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times and see what everyone else is playing with on this Design Wall Monday!

Happy Labor (or labor-less, as the case may be) Day!

:)