A sewing day!

Seems like I've had very little time to sew this week. Certainly not what I would have liked! I hope to change that today. The catch is trying to figure out what to do. Shall I continue to make Civil War Diaries blocks? Shall I catch up on Dear Jane? Shall I pin the Double Irish Chain on the longarm and finish the quilting? Shall I pin a top I want to hand quilt onto the longarm and get it basted? I'd love to choose "all of the above" but that's probably not the best idea!

I think I'll postpone the decision until I finish this morning's blog reading. By then my daughter will hopefully have called to let me know she's on her way to pick me up for coffee. Maybe when I get back from Starbucks one of the projects will be calling louder than the others.

I did separate all my Civil War Diaries blocks this morning into two piles - one for each book. I also stacked them in the order they appear in the books. Now that I know I'm making both quilts I want to focus on one book at a time, making the blocks in order so I can start stitching them together. So I've stashed the Love Letters blocks and book in a drawer where it will wait his turn. Before I did that, however, I took a picture of each set of blocks. I love how they all look together. I can't remember when I've had so much fun making blocks!

I'm also posting a picture of my early birthday present. Fred has it lucky - he's not had to go shopping for me for years. And I have it lucky too - he's perfectly happy for me to order what I want and call it my present. My birthday isn't until Wednesday so I handed him the boxes when they arrived from Z&S, and he told me to just open them anyway. I think he didn't want to have to wrap them LOL! I know I'm on a fabric diet, but I figure diets can be ignored on birthdays, right? The taller stack is the new "Plantation III" collection from Windham Hill. Eileen says these are all appropriate for the pre-1830's medallion period, and since lights for that period are very hard to find I figured this was a good investment. The darker stack is Jo Morton's "Yorktown" collection. I adore anything she does, so figured it was OK to order this one as I had stuck to my diet and didn't order the collection that came out before this one. How's that for rationalization LOL!

Sorry for any confusion

Those of you who follow my blog through Bloglines or another such service will probably get a report today that I've dozens of new posts. So sorry about that! I've finally gotten around to put labels on all the posts on this blog.

I've added a list of subject labels to my sidebar also - mostly for my own use when I'm trying to find an old post to link to a new one. It will also allow a reader to find past posts on the same subject as a current post - just in case anyone should be interested.

So - in spite of what Bloglines and other services say, I've written only three new posts today.

After

Much, much better, don't you think?

But I've still not found my missing quilt top! I guess someone is trying to tell me that quilting this top isn't supposed to be what I'm doing right now!

The Black Hole of Calcutta

The good thing about being organized is that when one loses something one knows where to start looking for it. The bad thing about being organized is that if the thing isn't where it is supposed to be one has absolutely no idea where to start looking for it!

I said I thought my missing quilt top was probably folded inside a scrap piece of batting that was the just the right size. So I started looking in my batting shelf. Half an hour later I've unfolded every scrap of batting and found nothing. The scraps are now sorted into poly, cotton, and wool piles so I can start piecing them together into usable sizes. I found a great supply of big batting pieces but no quilt top.

Next I pulled all the tops out of my sewing room closet, checking each one for something folded inside. Nothing there. I've put them on the back of the living room couch for now - might as well bust some stash by sewing backings together for a bunch of them while they are out. And I might as well baste the ones that I know I want to hand quilt or big stitch.

Removing the tops exposed the Black Hole of Calcutta. That's what I call my closet under the stairs. Usually the only time this gets cleaned is when we need under-the-house access. I know what some of the things that are back there are, but some are a mystery. Let's see what I can find.

My 6' x6' portable design wall

A sack of pillow forms of various sizes

A partially used package of polyester stuffing and several sacks of wool fibers for doll hair and stuffing pincushions

Several yards of pellon fleece that I've used as a portable design wall for classes

An empty wicker basket

A huge canvas tote designed to carry quilting supplies, including a 24" x 36" cutting mat

A box of fabric dyes and dying supplies from the early 80's

A box of stencil paint, brushes, stencils, etc. from the early 80's

A box of cotton coil in various sizes for basket making, a couple barely started baskets and three instruction books - all from the mid-80's.

A basket of cross stitch projects and materials. I wonder what this design is supposed to be?

A wooden frame for doing cross stitch, containing a piece of linen and a barely started project

A crewel pillow or picture pattern on stretcher bars that has never been started. I have no idea whatsoever where the crewel wool is for this project. I think my mother was going to do it then decided not to so she gave it to me. That was probably in the late 70's.

A needlepoint of "The Peaceable Kingdom" that is partially completed. I wonder if I can find the yarn? I think I might know where it is. In a drawer somewhere with a couple more needlepoint projects as well as an entire nativity scene done with plastic canvas - of course not yet started.

A box of miscellaneous craft stuff

Supplies for and a book on Locker Hooking

My last film camera, which still works really well but was relegated to the closet when we got the digital. I wonder if anyone could possibly want this?

My embroidery box, which was a gift from my parents when in was about ten or eleven. I used the box for years and years when I was stitching on flour sack dish towels and stamped pillow cases. It is now full of cross stitch and other types of embroidery supplies, as well as eleven cutwork linen napkins and the thread kits for each one.

I'm sure you have the general idea now. There is a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff too - like materials for printing photos on fabric - that I've never done. Various bloggers have talked about crafting ADD. I think I had big plans for much of this stuff, but once I started quilting I've not done anything else. Several years ago I gave away a huge amount of fake fur, patterns and other teddy bear making supplies, as well as lots of doll making supplies. Each time I clean this closet more goes away. I have now loaded about 75% off this stuff into the back of the CRV. I'm going to head to the thrift store. Someone will decide these things are treasures and will actually use them.

What am I keeping? The cross stitch, embroidery, and needlepoint supplies, the pillow forms, the basket, the stuffing, the canvas tote, the pellon fleece and a couple odds and ends. The rest is leaving. What a great feeling!

The eagle has landed

I got a nice start on my eagle block at Tangled Threads last night. I stitched down his head and also stitched the yellow stripes onto the red shield. Joseph took two LONG naps today, so I finished the block by the time he woke this afternoon. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It was a challenge because I had to cut the eagle in four parts in order to fussy cut the fabric so it gave the illusion of changing light on feathers. Everything had to be sewn "just so" in order for the shield to touch just where it was supposed to on the wings and tail. This made it pretty bulky in the center - several layers deep in the shield stripes. If I want to hand quilt them it'll have to be a stab stitch!

Tomorrow I'll get back to my Civil War and Dear Jane blocks. I have some catching up to do!

************

Gratitudes:

1. Warmer weather and bits of sunshine

2. Blooming dogwoods

3. A nice evening with our kids

4. New flavors of coffee creamer

A new block

I needed some handwork for Joseph's nap times today, and since I don't have a hand quilting project ready I took my appliqué. I've not worked on blocks for the Mid-Century Album Quilt for quite awhile, so it was a refreshing change to work on one of those blocks today. You may remember that I trimmed the last block I made incorrectly, so it had to go into the orphan drawer. That soured me on this quilt for awhile.

This dove is a finished 8" block. I completed all the appliqué while Joseph napped - except for two leaves. I did those when I got home. I'm happy with how it turned out. I have one more block prepped - an eagle - that I can take to Tangled Threads tonight to work on. Looks like I'd better spend Thursday prepping some handwork. Wonder what I can do while Joseph naps tomorrow?

My blog reading is under control

At least for the time being! A month ago I had several thousand posts to read according to Bloglines. I had my blogs divided into the following folders:

• Must Reads
• Want to Reads
• Read When I Have Time
• Craft Blogs
• Designers Blogs
• Others

I was subscribed to over 340 blogs. I was spending way too much time at the computer that should have been spent sewing. I was caught up on the "must reads" but that was it.

I've slowly been working my way through the mess - skimming blogs to determine whether or not they still were of interest to me. Reading the posts on the ones that were. Deleting blogs that were not. Moving blogs into the "must reads" folder if I decided to keep them. Deleting all the folders except for "Must Read" - which I've renamed "Quilting and Craft Blogs" - and "Designers' Blogs".

Tonight I finished working through the entire list. I am now subscribed to 254 feeds - still way too many if everyone posted daily - thank goodness that isn't the case. I'm hoping to keep up with these from now on. If I can't I'll need to do more weeding out. I hate to do that, but have decided I must get my priorities in order. Sewing time is more important than computer time!

Now I just have to convince myself that exercise time is more important than both of the above. I'm working on that. At least in my mind . . . .

A first time for everything

Sure I lose things. I lose things all the time because I put them away and can't remember where I put them. However, these are little things. Usually things that aren't that important in the long run. Certainly not finished quilt tops. I know just where those are. When I was doing my sewing room reorganization I moved them all from the shelves upstairs down to my sewing room closet. Each one is hung carefully on its own hanger waiting for its turn to be quilted.

However, I have apparently done the unthinkable. I've lost a quilt top. I can't figure out how that could have happened! Granted, it is a small quilt top. Very small in fact. Probably about 16" x 20". It's one I finished last fall when I was making a push to finish quilt tops. I remember putting it with the finished tops. So where is it? It isn't hanging in the sewing room closet. I've been through those tops four times and it just isn't there. I went through the batting jammed onto the shelves upstairs where the tops used to be and it isn't there either. I've gone through all the drawers in my sewing room - no luck. All I can figure out is that it may be folded inside a small piece of batting upstairs, and now looks like just another little piece of left over batting. I'm going to check that next.

I really wanted to find this, because it is perfect for my next hand quilting project because it's so small. I wanted something that I could finish quickly. I guess I'm out of luck. At least until it turns up - long after I've finished looking for it!

Congratulations Diane!

Diane from Persnickety is the winner of the Klutz glove. As soon as I hear from you, Diane, I'll get the glove off to you in the mail.

This and that and the other

Saturday several of us bloggers were privileged to attend a gathering at Cher's. The group included Holly, Dot, Michelle and me. Both Dot and Michelle have already written about the great time we had, so I'll just add my two cents. Cher was a marvelous hostess, keeping us supplied with coffee and tea and providing a great lunch as well as a tour of both her sewing and her fabric rooms. Show and tell was marvelous, with both Cher and Dot sharing marvelous quilts of all sizes. We got to see the fun sampler that Holly is currently binding, and I brought a few things to share as well. The time went way too quickly, and I'm sure we will get together again before too many months have passed. From left to right in the picture - Cher, Dot, Michelle, and me. Unfortunately Holly had to leave early so she wasn't there when Cher's sweetie returned home and was pressed into service as photographer.

I worked on my hand quilting both Friday evening at guild sew frenzy and yesterday at Cher's gathering. Today I finished it while watching the Mariners lose - once again - and then Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It's not been that long since I had my own Harry Potter marathon, but Fred is having one now so I joined him so I could keep quilting. This is a very old UFO - pieced in 1991 as a class sample to advertise a class I was teaching at Daisy Kingdom in Portland, Oregon. I started hand quilting the white squares a few years later, but put it away after I'd done four or five. Last year I started hand quilting again, first finishing my Fireworks quilt and then going back to this one. I decided immediately that once I finished quilting the flowers - if that's what they are - I would put this on the longarm to finish it. I'm going to load it tomorrow morning, and hopefully will finish the quilting tomorrow also. I've not finished a UFO since sometime in March, and I'm creeping much too close to the top of the queens list for the Stashbusters UFO challenge. My goal is to have this one done by the end of the week. Don't know what I'll do with it then other than add it to the stack of finished quilts!

Today I also made two Civil War blocks. I've not worked on them for a couple weeks and was really feeling the urge to get back to them. I've decided to make both quilts now that my friend Kathie has gifted me with a few more Abe Lincolns, so I think I'll focus on finishing the blocks in the first book before moving on to more blocks in the Love Letters book. Here are Conscript Law and Merchantable Goods. Notice the green fabric with pink roses in the second block - the same fabric Rosemary Youngs used in her block. This is an OLD fabric - I know just when it came out because I used it's companion print in a Daisy Kingdom sample in 1991. I have a yard, and this is the first time I've used it! It was so much fun to be making these blocks again!

Many of you asked about the seam guide I use on my featherweight. I'm not sure where I learned about this marvelous gadget - either online or in a magazine - but I think it's worth it's weight in gold. It's designed particularly for the featherweight. It has replaced my "wall" of masking tape and little post-it notes that I've used for years and years. It is available from The Buggy Barn - here is a link to the correct page on their website. If you piece on a featherweight then you really need this little gadget!