I’m an enabler! Part Three

While I was at the farm, I popped over to visit my aunt who lives a few minutes away. I had some quilts to drop off for her. She’s an avid quilter. Matter of fact, I could blame her for my quilting problems. Years ago when I was leaving home and I’m not sure even why but she gave me an old Singer sewing machine in a cabinet. The machine worked great and it got carted to Montreal with me. Unfortunately during one move, the sewing machine fell out of the cabinet (why was it left in the cabinet to begin with? My fault!). Anyway the machine died. But I bought another Singer.

I still have the sewing machine cabinet and used it as my quilting cabinet when I started. It was great as I fixed up a shelf in that cabinet so I had a big flat surface. So I’ll just blame Aunt Irene for her part in making me a quilter. I still have the cabinet.

But I had to laugh. We are so alike, it’s unbelievable. She’s a very good sewist and has made countless  wedding/prom/bridesmaids dresses. She also did alternations - she was like my grandmother - she could sew and make anything. But she got the quilting bug a while back. She has totes (very organized - I took a picture) of her UFO pile. All labelled and on a shelf. She has multiple machines (she’s a PFAFF person) set up around the house and ready to do a specific job.

We’re working on some of the same projects and she has boxes and boxes of quilt tops that need to be quilted. It’s hilarious!  The apple didn’t fall far from the tree in this family. I wonder what my Grandma would say if she could see what happened to us!

And like myself, my aunt is cleaning. Too much fabric, too much of everything. While I’m not quite to that stage yet, I’m madly finishing up as much as I can. My goal is to get most of the big UFOs out of the way. When it’s time for me to pack up everything and call it quits, I don’t want to pass along boxes and boxes of stuff that no one wants.

I do know that there are some boxes of “junk” stuff that need to be addressed and I’ll start. I want to get the paperwork done first.

BUT while I brought out a duffle bag with quilts for her, I’ll be checking the duffle bag in on the way home. What happened? She had a HUGE piece of denim (or twill) that is irredescent red. It’s gorgeous and I have the perfect place to use it. So I’m lugging that home. It was sitting in the kitchen ready to be given away. There was also a bag of tie material. NOT ties, but the material to make ties. Now that is right up my alley these days so that is coming home with me as well. I know - how did that happen???  But I have plans for both of those items and can’t wait to get home. I know - can’t work on it right away. But I should make a plan of working on tie quilts and then whatever is left in that boxes and bags that I have - toss it!!!  I have to get to the point where I say enough is enough. But the experimenting part of me won’t let it go!

Then we got talking about Fortrel. There are boxes and boxes of Fortrel that she has and that my mom has. What do with that? This is the same as crimpoline. Then I thought - you could make a jelly roll rug out of that stuff and it would NEVER wear out. So when I went back to the farm, I went through the boxes and found some in blue. Not sure I have enough to make a rug - I might need to find some more. (Blue - which I know Irene had lots of!) Might have to make another trip over there. But that would be awesome to make a rug out of this stuff. ACK!!!!

Anyway - it was great to catch up on stuff with my aunt. It’s nice to see that she’s still very active and getting around to retreats, classes, etc. So there’s lots of time for me to keep working on my stuff.

Then we managed to visit another aunt and uncle after dinner. My Mom had birthday cake to celebrate (my brother and my) birthdays. I’m eating so much sugar - I’m going into overload.

On that note - I”m out of here.

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!