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??

Kaitlyn's Quilt

Gavin was pleased with the quilting I did on his project.  In the tradition of naming quilts I asked what we should name it.  I thought we would toss around some ideas, think about it a little, and then decide on something, but he quickly named it "The Kaitlyn Quilt."  Alright then.  Simple is good. 

I was privileged to be a part of the presentation last weekend when Gavin gave Kaitlyn her belated birthday present.   She was a little shy, but I could tell she liked it.

Cute, huh?

Teaching an 8 Year Old to Sew -- Part 2

It has come to my attention (Thanks, Faye!) that I haven't been blogging about quilting lately.  After looking back over the last, well - ummmm, quite a few posts, I can see that life has definitely gotten in the way of my quilting.  Yes, it has a way of doing that.   And so I have decided that I MUST create or I shall die!  Well, that may be a little dramatic, but I definitely do need some quilty therapy!   It will be a few days before I can create something worthy of public display, so I decided to show you the very last thing I did before the holidays struck. 

You may remember that I started teaching my grandson to sew back in October.  If not, here is a link to that post:   http://sewthisismyblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/teaching-8-year-old-to-sew.html 

Gavin has had a birthday since then so now the post should be Teaching a 9 Year Old to Sew,  but that is beside the point.  When Gavin found out that his best friend, Kaitlyn, had had a birthday he was disappointed that he hadn't received advance notice of such a momentous occasion.  He wanted to give her something special.  And, I ask you, what is more special than a quilt?  Since I was coming for a weekend visit (that day!) he asked me to bring my sewing machine and some fabric so he could make her a quilt.  Of course, I jumped right to it!  Because I only had a few hours to prepare something, I cut thirty 9 1/2" squares of brights and novelty prints so he could just sew blocks together.

He had fun laying out the squares. He played with them until he was pleased with the arrangement, and then we hit the sewing room.  AKA the dining room table.













He did a really good job keeping the stitching straight.  I had him do 3/8" seams this time instead of 1/4" and that made it a lot easier for him.  He got a lot of blocks put together and had several rows ready before he lost interest.  He agreed that I could take it home with me and finish it up. 

And so I did!  I emailed photos of several pink fabrics so he could choose a border.  Then I added a dark green inner border before I quilted it.  I did a simple stipple in the center and some meandering with flowers in the border.  It finished at 54 x 63.  (I talked him out of making one big enough for her bed!  LOL)






Then I found the cutest pink floral print for the backing.  It's from the Nicey Jane line by Heather Bailey.

I liked this fabric so much that I emptied the bolt just in case I want some for the next pink quilt I make!

Sometimes Life is like a Circus!

I have done it again - let more than a month go by without blogging.  Yes......I am a bad blogger.  And I'm not even going to make any promises about doing better in the future.  Because, you guessed it, Sometimes Life is like a Circus!                    

I could list all the things that have kept me so very busy, but I'm sure I'm no busier than all of you.  Besides in my blogging world there will be "No Whining Allowed!"  LOL

Just after the last time I typed a blog entry, Dear Husband and I spent several days in AL, and while we were there took Gavin and Aidan to the circus.   I had not been to the circus in well over 20 years, and WOW!  this was nothing like that experience.  Barnum's Funundrum presented by Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey was quite the experience!                                                                                                                                                                                                    
Both boys were excited to be going on an outing with Gramma and Grampa.  I had been to Gavin's school two days earlier to have lunch with him, and it seemed that a lot of his classmates (at least the children at our table!) had already been to the Circus that week.
So Gavin was excited about it.

As far as Aidan is concerned, I'm not sure he even knew what a Circus was!

We quickly fell under the spell of the exuberant RingMaster and were charmed by the likes of Tiger-Tamers, Motorcyclists, and Acrobats.  

The animal acts were entertaining..................

...............the clowns were funny, and the colors, lights and excitement of the rousing closing number were exhilarating.

Afterwards we took the boys to one of their favorite eateries for a late dinner and talked over the evening.  We shared our favorite parts of the Circus.   We laughed over the antics of the performers.   We ate dessert!  

And, in case you are wondering what my favorite part of the evening was?  It was building memories with our grandsons.

It was a Featherweight Kind of Day

Even though I already had three perfectly good sewing machines, each in excellent condition and kept in good working order, I had been thinking that maybe I "needed" a Singer Featherweight.  I knew that many quilters sew on nothing else.  I had been told that absolutely nothing sews a more perfect stitch than a Featherweight. I realized that there is an entire sub-culture of Featherweight enthusiasts within the quilting world.  I had even seen that knowing look pass between quilters at retreats as they glanced with approval at one another's beautiful little pieces of sewing history.  I would never become one of those quilters.  

Then again.......... I thought I might just keep an eye out for one.  After all, I have friends whose husbands have found them at garage sales for $50.  I've even heard of gals who have been so lucky as to find one along the side of the road piled up in someone's cast offs.  I could handle a deal like that!   So, I put the word out to my quilty friends, and in no time at all I became the proud owner of my very own, brand new, really old Singer 221 Featherweight.  I took it out of its cute little carrying case and looked at it after I got it home in September of 2007.  Then, because I like to be shown how to do things when I am learning something new (and because I am a real scaredy-cat!) there it sat.  Ignored.  Neglected.  Forgotten.

My friend Darlene came over to my house yesterday and brought one of her many Featherweights with her.  She had a very informative book with her which helped me learn how to thread my machine, fill the bobbin, and clean and oil it, and I can tell you that those basics have not changed much in the last 77 years since Singer introduced this machine!

I also learned a lot about my particular machine. Based on the serial number mine was made between 1935 and 1938. It has a very beautiful Egyptian scrollwork faceplate.......

..............and a shiny gold oval medallion proclaiming "The Singer Manfg. Co. Trade Mark."












It really does sew a beautiful stitch.  I wanted to do some serious sewing on it, but I felt like I should make a 1930's era quilt block.  I felt like I needed to only sew on 1930's reproduction fabrics with it.  I felt...........Well, I felt hungry!  So we went out for lunch and had a really good visit.

I guess the main thing is that I finally bonded with my Featherweight, and now I am looking forward to sewing on it, even if I have to use those batiks I love so much!

Christmas 2009 - Part Three (Brandy's Quilt)

I don't think Brandy was real surprised, judging by the expression on her face as she started opening her gift.  Usually when a quilter gives you a gift, and it's squishy -- that's a pretty good tip-off. 

Last year when I started thinking about a quilt for my new daughter-in-law  (And I am only telling you she's my "new" DIL because I don't want anyone to think I waited over 10 years to make her a quilt.  That would be a shameful confession from a quilter!!) I asked Adam what her favorite colors are, and he said, "Black and White."  Only Black and White??    "Yes."  Hmmmmmm.   I noticed that a lot of the tops she wears (with her Black and White skirts and her Black or White slacks) are coral or turquoise, so I decided to use those two colors for just a little splash of an accent color.

I thought the perfect quilt would be one from "Thinking Outside the Block" by Sandi Cummings.   I had made a baby quilt from this book in 2005 and it was one of my favorites.

I wanted this quilt to be ready for Christmas so I sent it to my friend Angela at Quilted Joy.com.  She  does beautiful work, and she came through for me with a great quilting design and in plenty of time! She did interlocking ovals all over it and a very cool design in the borders to pick up on what she saw as pick-up sticks in the connector blocks within the quilt.  Very cool.

                 Here's the completed quilt.

One really neat thing that I did on this quilt (because I love to include "back art" on my quilts) was to make the back one giant transition block using the coral and turquoise batiks from the front.  I was pleased with how it turned out!

Since I mentioned the other quilt I made from Sandi Cummings' book, I might as well show it off now!  I made this quilt per special request for a very special baby who was arriving in 2005.  A friend of my husband's was to become a Grampa so how could I resist?

My friend Barb was teaching from this book at our Guild Retreat in 2005 so it was perfect timing, and I had plenty of fun brights in my stash. I used a great stripe for the border and backing (always a good idea!) and it ended up being one of my very favorite quilts ever.

I got a little off track here, but Christmas 2009 is still.......

......To Be Continued!