June Goal for "A Lovely Year of Finishes"

It's difficult to believe that it's already June and time to set another goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I'm glad there's plenty of year left to get something done, because so far I'm not doing well with goals at all this year.  I did complete my January goal and my February goal, but life interrupted.

While working on my February goal, my sewing room was torn up so new flooring could be installed.  When that was finished I decided to have the room painted.  Then for about six weeks I was faced with deep cleaning and getting things put back in order - not just the sewing room, but the entire house.  Looking back I realize that I never shared photos of my completed and improved sewing room.   So I'll do that first.

It's pretty awesome.  Yesterday, I spent some time in my sewing room for the first time in a long while.  It was so nice.  Just me and Michael Buble, and James Taylor, The Mamas and The Papas, and Jackson Browne.  Sigh........

I did a lot of cutting. 

I had fun with the fabrics, and got two baby quilts cut out.  

My goal for June is to get a baby quilt top put together for a new great-nephew. It's a pretty simple pattern.  So it should be doable.  Especially since I am going to retreat this month.

So, here we go again.  I am linking up to Fiber of All Sorts for their June Goal Setting Party (I am #18 on the list), and then I'm going to look at some of the other goals there. 

February Goal Accomplished

I wasn't sure I would be able to accomplish my goal this month with the house in such a mess and the sewing room packed up and stored in the garage.

Everything is getting more disorganized and sawdust covered every day!

But, progress is actually being made.  Only a few more days and I should be able to start cleaning and moving things back into all the bedrooms and the Sewing Room.  I doubt I will be able to convince Hubby that the Sewing Room is the top priority though, when we have been sleeping on a mattress on the Living Room floor for the last 18 nights!   This is what the Sewing Room looks like this morning --

It will be so nice when everything is back where it belongs, and I can find my sewing machine again.  (Errr, I mean, when I can start cooking in that mess of a kitchen again!)  That quilt in the background is covering a big pile of "stuff" and the bathroom (on the left) is completely full of fabric, etc. packed in plastic bags!  When I saw how much fabric I have I decided I'd better start putting out more quilts than I have been.  My stash looks like a lot less when it is stacked neatly in cabinets!

My February goal with A Lovely Year of Finishes was goal #135, and I am happy to report that I did, indeed, finish it!  I basted and hand-quilted my QRC quilt.

Still not ready to reveal the message, though.  It needs binding first.  I just hope I can get to my sewing machine before the end of March!

I am linking up with the February Finishes Party -- at Fibre of All Sorts.  Can't wait to see who else made their goal this month!

Progress on February Goals

The hardwood is all down in the Sewing Room, and needs to be stained and finished.  All four of the rooms in progress should be completed in about four or five more days.  I would call that progress.  Well, technically I guess it's not my progress, it's the carpenters' progress.  I'm still excited, though.

I have made some other progress of my own.   I basted my little QRC Wall-hanging and started hand-quilting it.  

I wanted all my seams to look this good.  This accurate.

I pinned so carefully and stitched so very slowly through the seam intersections, but sometimes I could still feel things slip just a little bit, and I ended up with a few results like this.........

I was so tired of ripping out and reworking that I finally decided to let the precision slide a little.  After all, from a galloping horse at 50 paces it will look just fine.  However, around the 23rd row (out of 25) I found myself wishing I had a machine with dual feed.  Aarrgghh!!!  What???  Isn't that what my WALKING FOOT is for?!?!?!?   Well, it's too late now..........

February Goal for "A Lovely Year of Finishes"

I accomplished my January goal with time to spare, but this month's goal is going to be a real challenge.  Not only is this a short month, but the flooring company is here today ripping up carpets and putting down hardwood in three bedrooms AND my sewing studio.  The entire process will take about three weeks which won't leave a lot of time for putting things back together or for getting any sewing done.  This is what my sewing room looks like right now.....

Tonight it will be empty and tomorrow the carpet will be ripped out.   

I did want to get something done in February, though, so I decided to finish the little wallhanging I started in December.  This is my February goal.

I'm pretty sure I can get it basted and hand-quilted this month, but I am not sure about the binding since all my sewing machines are packed away somewhere in all this stuff!

In case you can't tell that is my breakfast area.

I am linking up with Fiber of All Sorts for their ALYOF February Goal setting party.   Since I have been packing and helping Hubby move furniture for the last two evenings, I hope I have the energy to actually work on my goal!

Excuses, Excuses.........And a Finish!

Excuses, excuses.  Or should I say, Reasons, reasons.  I have been too busy to sew lately let alone blog about it!  I guess I should have just been blogging instead about my crazy life, at least then you would know why I'm not sewing.

The last sewing I did was at the June retreat I told you about.  Here are a few of the things that have kept me busy the last several months.

Two of my sisters, Barb and Dee, came to see me for a weekend.

My sister, Debbie and her girls, Natalie, Carrie and Emily, came to see me for a weekend.

Hubby and I took our grands to Seattle for a week to visit our son, Aaron, and see the sights.

We spent a week in Destin, Florida with our son, Adam and his family.  

I celebrated a birthday!  


This is what my sewing room has looked like for over a month.  It was turned into an extra guest room and it has stayed that way.  Hard to sew like that!

The one thing I did manage to finish was the NewFo I started in May.  It was a completed top so it only needed hand-quilting and binding.  That's not work, though.  That's therapy! 

And here's the reason I managed to get this one quilt completed at all.  Little Gracee Mae-Rose, our newest great-niece.  After all, every new baby needs a quilt!

This has been a whirlwind summer.  One last thing will keep me from sewing this week - the AQS Quilt Show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I'm going with my sweet friend, Faye, where I know I will be inspired and motivated to get sewing again.  I feel pretty certain that I'll be in my sewing room when I get home from that.  

My Sewing Room

I have been promising pictures of my new sewing room for some time and I think the time has come to deliver on that promise.  (Mostly because it's clean right now and I was finally able to get some good photos!)  We moved to Huntsville a year ago and the Mother-In-Law suite was to become my new studio.  It was definitely not a top priority so it took several months just to get around to unpacking some boxes. Then I found myself rearranging,  and reorganizing.  I finally have it the way I want it!

When you go out the side door of my Living Room and look across the enclosed Courtyard, you see the Sewing Room just across the way. 

As you enter the room, you can see that my sewing machine and cutting table are in the middle of the room and my design wall is behind that.  To the right of the design wall is a little nook with a kitchenette area and a good sized closet.  

Right now I have some threads and a few other things stored in the cabinets, but have not really figured out just how to use that space.

Continuing around the room to the left of the design wall you can see the door to the bathroom and then my wall of cabinets begins.  (That little rocker you see was my mother's sewing rocker.)

We're back around to the entry wall and the windows. That's where the treadmill is.

My TV is in front of the treadmill.  Can you see the antique ironing board on the wall to the right of the TV?  That belonged to Hubby's grandmother.  Very special.

My ironing station is next and then my computer desk.
(Can you see my niece wall?  I DO Love Them to the Moon and Back!)

The little area between the bathroom door and the beginning of the cabinets is where I have my bulletin board and a pegboard for storing my rulers.

Can you believe what a great space I have for being creative?  I am so grateful for it and I love everything about it.  I just need to make sure that I spend a lot more time in it!!

True Confessions and Headed to Retreat

I talked about my sewing room in this post and showed you photos of what a wonderful space I have where I can create to my heart's content.  What I didn't tell you is how long it took to get those great photos.  Over a period of several weeks I cleaned and organized one section of the room at a time and then took pics.   I'm sure you fellow quilters figured that out, but to my non-quilty friends I have to admit that I am a fraud.   This is what it looks like most of the time........

Actually, there are times when it's even messier!

I have been cutting out projects to take to Retreat with me this week.  Hopefully, I will get some UFO's completed. 
These are blocks I made for a Batik Wallhanging two years ago.  Now I am thinking that I will just add some borders and make it into a small throw.  

The bag contains all the batiks I pulled from my stash to go with the blocks.  If you are curious to see what I come up with, you're not alone! 

I'm also taking an I-Spy quilt I started two years ago.....

.....and some fabrics I bought in Seattle last week for pillowcases.

The pillowcases will be sent to the Million Pillowcase Challenge so I got some really fun fabrics.

The last thing I am taking to work on is a Knight Quilt for one of my grandsons.  

Aren't you impressed with how organized I am?  (I am talking about having all the components for my projects all cut out and ready to go....NOT about how my sewing room looks!)

My Creative Kingdom

When we finished our basement several years ago, Hubby very readily agreed that I needed my own special place in which to create to my heart's content.  It is the most amazing sewing room/quilting studio, and I couldn't love it more.

So come on in!!

This is the door, and I have to say it really is a good place for some serious quilty therapy!  This wall-hanging was made from a kit, but I had to re-design it to fit on the door because the original pattern was too wide.  

Looking in from the doorway, my design wall is on the left and my ironing area is straight ahead.  I made a "Big Board" for myself and set it on top of two cabinets where I store batting, embellishments and ironing supplies.  Hanging above my ironing area is Hubby's grandmother's walnut ironing board sans legs.  In the window I have displayed her antique irons and darning eggs.  

The machine I use the most for regular sewing is my Bernina 1230 which is set into a Horn of America cabinet. And you can see I have lots of storage there, too, especially with added drawers and bins.  

I decorate my bulletin board with postcards, little gifts from friends and special pics.  

The walls are mostly decorated with gifts, fabric that's too pretty to cut, artwork, a framed poster, and my own wall-hangings.

On the next wall is my Bernina 440 QE which I use mostly for machine quilting.....
(Don't you love my neon green trashcan?)


And then there are bunches of storage cabinets.  (I have to confess that this room includes my scrapbooking stuff, too!)

 

Above my computer desk, is my "Niece Wall" where photos of all my darling nieces are displayed.  I recently had some of them reframed and ended up with a gap, but I have a little quilty idea in mind to fill that!

I have a very cool cutting area complete with a Bose sound system for my iPod (compliments of that dear Hubby of mine!) and a TV.  




Above that shelves house more gifts from friends.   The wall-hanging ("Nightmare on Quilty Lane") is my own design.  I made it for a Keepsake Quilting contest but it was totally rejected.  I like it though!

Coming all the way around the room you can see my bookcase.  It's just the right size to keep me from collecting too many books and magazines!So now that you know where I love to spend my time, I need to get in there and get creating done.  Do ya think??