Wow --- so much happening -- each weekend brings its own exciting events! Let's see -- we had a hands-on free motion quilting class, a machine embroidery show and tell session, and a lesson on one of Jen Kingwell's quilts. I hope to share the homework with you this week. But not this morning -- I'm off to spin class in a bit. Not that I want to leave the house -- it's freezing outside!
I love Zoom because some of the people were vacationing in Florida, one person was in the car traveling south, and the rest of us were in our homes all over the US and Canada. It couldn't have been done in person.
I'm in the process of finishing off the homework for two of the sessions -- I'll do that later today. I took the afternoon "off," so to speak, and got to the long arm.
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| Customer quilt - DONE |
It's a big quilt, but it looks huge with the camera angle I took the picture. I'll try to get it trimmed today and then work on the next one. Gosh -- although that took a long time to quilt, it was NOTHING like those custom ones I did in January, as those almost killed me!
I did manage to get a bit of sewing done, but it's hard to run the long arm and sew simultaneously. I did some puttering, and I also got some of the half-square triangles that I unearthed the other day pressed and trimmed.
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| Trimmed half-square triangles |
There are two different sizes, 1½" and 2½", which will work together. As I'm working, I'm becoming smarter. Instead of maximizing the size, I could trim from each of these -- I know that 1" finished and 2" finished will work together. DUH!!! I have to go back and trim some of those hourglasses units down to make them work together. But that's OK -- life is just one big learning curve!
I still have a HUGE stack of half-square triangles to process, but a bit every day will soon have them under control.
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| Half-square triangles yet to trim |
And that is something I can do while I'm quilting a quilt. The pressing and trimming is a long, tedious job, so I press five, then trim five. Press another five and trim the units. That makes the job a little more interesting.
When tidying up stuff from the closet the other day, I found this book. Oh -- I love Art to Heart patterns.
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| Pattern book |
And all the teal squares were cut to make that cardholder on the cover. Nope -- not going to happen. I put the teal squares with the teal fabric, the book went on the bookshelf, and I was done with that project!
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| Teal squares cut for the project |
Usually, if the project is started, then I aim to finish it, but this one was just some squares, so those would be easy enough to use for something else. Only one fabric was cut and nothing was pieced. Parameters have to be set and we are trying to clean up, and if that means abandoning a project or two -- I'm OK with that.
However, there was this little bag of scraps. No pattern, but this is niggling at the back of my mind. This was for something -- I think I know what (a mini-quilt). But I haven't found the blocks yet -- maybe because they are so tiny! But once I find those blocks, I can see if this was for that project. If so, then I keep it and put them together. If not, then this will go into the scrap bins.
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| A bag of scraps |
And I also found this. A listing for our previous house. Look at the date!! 2003
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| Our previous house |
It looks totally different now. The new owners (I think there have been at least two or possibly three owners since we moved) have ripped up all the front and removed all the trees. I loved that house, but once the three schools and a church got built, it became a bustling area!
OH -- I didn't take pictures but I meant to. After the classes were over yesterday, the first thing I did was clean up Studio B. I put everything from the classes away that needed to be put away -- samples, project boxes, supplies, and tools. The threads around the embroidery machine were all put away as were those tools and other supplies. Same thing with the sewing table and the ironing board and one or two small things came off the cutting table. Sewing machine, sergers, and whatever got put back into "their" spots, and it looked positively inviting to sew something.
The best part is that the tidy-up took probably a half hour and everything was spic and span! Imagine when the last areas will be tidied. As I was quilting yesterday, I realized there is room for ONE last project box under the long arm, so as I'm sorting and cleaning, I can fill that second box that I brought from upstairs, and I have a home for it.
And then it'll be time to find quick ways to get through all these projects. I love my "new" space -- it's so much fun to sew in. I thought I was a chaotic sewist, and I would still classify myself as one, but it's so nice to know where things are and use my space to the fullest. Once I'm done with a project, let the chaos go away, and I can start all over again!
I have this project to create for our Mixed Media group. It's due next week, and as I've been walking, I've been sorting out the logistics in my head. Not only sorting but evaluating and refining, and tweaking the design. I think I've got it all sorted out, all the materials are gathered and all that remains is to get to work.
Here's the thing about creative stuff (I mean -- working totally out of your head). You have to give the idea time to percolate. You have to think, "how will I make this? what supplies could I use?, what will that look like?" and the next thing I know, the original idea has evolved into something totally unique The only thing is that one must give the brain time to make that happen You cannot do these things overnight! Perhaps the execution can be done overnight, but the design process? That takes time.
I hope to get started on that later today as well. There is a bit of a learning curve that needs to happen (of course!), but it wouldn't be exciting if there wasn't something to learn. Once that initial learning is done, the rest should be easy. So say I!!!
On that note, I'm out of here Off to spin class.
Have a super day!!!
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