Saturday, September 2, 2006

A terrific Saturday

It's now 10:01 and I need to head to bed, but I wanted to write another post first. What a wonderful Saturday I had! Didn't get to sleep in much as Fred was up a wee bit after 6:00 a.m. getting ready to head to the golf course. Usually he's very quiet but between him and the dog and the lights in the hall I was awake by 6:15. I'd really had enough sleep so I got up then. Caught up on a lot of blog reading, had hot tea with milk and breakfast, then headed to the sewing room.

I looked at the It's a Wonderful Life quilt and realized I didn't like the fall border all that much either. I decided immediately that ideas needed some time to appear, so I folded it all up and put it on the shelf to "age" for a week or two while I decide what I want to do. The August installments of the Jan Patek mystery and Lori Smith's Heirloom Stitches arrived on Friday Thursday, so I've decided to skip August and call these the September installments. That way I won't feel behind. I set them at the end of the cutting table to work on either later this weekend or in the next week or two. I realized what I really wanted to do was take care of all my new fabric. But first I wanted to move my new featherweight cabinet into the room.

In the first picture you can see I put the cabinet against the wall just where my old one was. It was great - much smaller than the old table. But my chair didn't fit under it - the seat was too wide, so it pretty much blocked the "aisle" on that side of the cutting table. So I brought a chair down from the small oak table in the family room. That worked but had no support for my back. So I hemmed and hawed a bit, wondered what to do, and suddenly thought about turning it sideways. I couldn't do that with the other table because it was much too large. You can see in the second picture that this was a perfect solution. I have lots of room to move on that side of the cutting table, and lots of room behind my chair. No more backing into all the cubes in the middle of the room! And the chair actually faces the TV I have in the room! What a novel concept. That TV has no antenna and I've not connected it to cable, but it has a built in DVD player so I watch a lot of movies while I sew. The third picture shows the cabinet from the other side. See how convenient it's now going to be to reach stuff like my boxes of thread that I keep in the cubes. I love this new set up - I can hardly wait to try sewing with it!

Now it was about 10:00 a.m., and my daughter arrived for our "Starbucks Date". We went from there across the street to Costco so I could get some food and leave some class pictures from work for developing. I got a couple new DVD's that I hope to watch this weekend. Akeelah and the Bee - I'm really looking forward to seeing this as I missed it in the theatre. The other is a two part HBO presentation called Elizabeth I starring Helen Murren and Jeremy Irons - two of my favorite actors. I love all books and movies about the Henry VIII-Elizabeth I period of English history.

We came home, I got the food put away, and started separating all the new fabric into color piles for prewashing. Two loads of browns, three loads of creams and lights, and two loads of reds. I've got all the browns and most of the creams ironed and put away. The reds are still on the floor for pressing in the morning. I still have the blue, pink and green piles to wash. I love pressing the fabric when it comes damp out of the dryer. It allows me to become intimately acquainted with the color and pattern of each one, and starts my mind spinning with ideas. I'm putting all the new Mistletoe Manor fabric into a big basket as I press it - I can hardly wait to start cutting out my Christmas quilt! While pressing I listened to a Tony Hillerman Jim Chee-Joe Leaphorn audio book. I was going to listen to the Mariner game also, but it wasn't on due to Washington State Cougar football on the radio. So I kept listening to the mystery - I have only one disk left for tomorrow morning.

Had a great dinner of spinach salad and chicken enchiladas both from Costco - a perfect easy dinner - with a glass of white zinfandel. Then back to pressing, fitting in more blog reading in between pressing stints. I'm hoping to get all the rest of the fabric pressed and put away tomorrow so I can actually start sewing. But first I'll go upstairs in the morning while it's still cool and quilt some on Broken Dishes. I'd like to get the quilting finished by Monday evening.

A wonderful, perfect, mostly quilty today is my gratitude for this evening.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

The cabinet looks terrific - it's really pretty.

What a nice day you had and accomplished so much. Bet you went to bed with a smile on your face and a happy heart. :-)

Anonymous said...

That IS a really nice looking cabinet!

I don't have cable anywhere in my house, but manage to pick up the 4 major local channels with only a little snow. But I can get DVD's free from the library to watch. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi, Patti !

Loved your msg today ! I really should take you as an example, about your fabric pre-washing : I must admit that I NEVER pre-wash mines (only testing reds and blues in a bowl of hot water). The reason (excuse) is that I HATE ironing (lazy girl!) and, also, I like the "crisp" feeling of new fabric.......
Anyway, you are right and I should improve about that......
I agree : your quilty day seems perfect !
Kind regards.

Anonymous said...

The sewing cabinet is just too beautiful, Patti. And what a great day you had! Prewashing is such a good idea. I don't - sigh - do it. Like Nadine, I like the crisp feeling and don't know how you all handle the horrible fraying when washing large lengths of fabric.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful, wonderful day! Your cabinet is sooooo pretty. That little machine will really purr now. Keep us posted on the progress of It's a Wonderful Life. Have another wonderful day today!

Anonymous said...

I am glad that you had such a wonderful day! I see you have a thread holder for large cones of thread for your machine. And, you have so many cubbies to squirrel things away in - I would have to label every single one or I would be hopelessly lost! It is a great sewing space!

Cheers!

Evelyn

Anonymous said...

As a sewer, I know what "hemming" is, but what is this "hawing" you speak of? Glad you are getting your sewing room sorted out. I know how good that makes you feel. I am still waiting for my cabinets. Ugh!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like my kind of day. Beautiful Cabinet.

Melanie

Anonymous said...

That cabinet was a great find! Do you use the featherweight for most of your piecing?

Anonymous said...

You are so organised and your sewing room looks so comfortable to work in. Glad you had a good day.

Anonymous said...

Your day sounds like heaven...thanks for sharing it with us!

Carolyn

Anonymous said...

I think 've seen one of those table before. Very nice!! I am getting a Featherweight for Christmas (or a little early). I'd love to have one of the painted ones but too pricey. Regular black is perfect for me!! I think the table position is perfect.

Question: Do you wash all your fabric when you bring them home or just wash before you use them. Always wondered what other do. I wash right before I start the project, because some projects I don't wash...like wall hangings. Just curious!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful day. I like your new sewing cabinet. DH and I visited the OR coast last summer on our vacation and loved it. Thanks for sharing your visit.

Anonymous said...

When I catched up your blog I noticed that I haven't seen it for a long time ..... I am IMPRESSED by your miniquilts. and I LOVE your sewingcabinet for your featherweight.. I have a featherweight and I need to use it. But I am glued to my pfaff... please talk me in to switch it
:-)