Sewing Room ReVamp

I've been picking at this post for a few weeks but didn't want to post until I could get some pictures.

My sewing area was a nightmare. A state of disarray that I had promised myself it would never get to. The cubbies I originally bought to hold my stash were bursting at the seams. It looked like a fabric store vomited all over my cutting table, ironing board, desk, treadmill, chair....pkgs of cotton batting stacked beside my desk - you get the visual a huge disorganized mess (I purposefully didn't take a before picture).

Bargain Lovers Club

My stash and supplies has really grown since I started this experimental journey. One of the local fabric stores having a 50 % off sale once per month (there was another last weekend) has really contributed to my downfall. I always try to go in and buy at least one pkg of batting and usually end up walking out with a lot more. I also received my monthly Block of the month clubs fabric from http://www.sew-sisters.com/. I have all this stash and other than a few rug mugs absolutely 0 finishes. I better get working on that ratio so I can continue to justify my fabric purchases.

I think he may have over polished that one section
on the upper left - the light reflects off of it in
all my pictures

To solve my issues, Chris found an old grannies cupboard being sold locally. We bought it for next to nothing about a month ago but Chris was in the painstaking (have I mentioned he's the most anal person I've ever met?) process of refinishing it and it's finally done. I love it! Normally, we wouldn't refinish a piece from what we were told was from the 40's but it was previously well loved and had already been modified with painted glass, decals, etc. and was a bit rough around the edges. Seeing it wasn't original, we decided to take the plunge, refinish it to suit our needs and just love it ourselves. New glass bought for the doors and some interesting handles. I spent all Sunday re-organizing everything and ended up moving things around in the sitting area section of the basement as well. Below the doors are missing. He spent extra time finishing them and when he installed them - they are crooked. I won't tell you how many hours he spent before realizing the wood itself has twisted but honestly I don't care if they are a bit off. I LOVE IT!!

My area is so clean, organized and I feel a real sense of peace when I walk into the basement and it's a joy to work in !! It's actually a lot roomier than it looks in this picture.

Scrappy quilt has been getting some love, but I'll be honest hexagons are still getting the majority of my time. The 7 Morris Apprentice mini charms packs are done and it's past time to open the Kona Solids jelly rolls but I've been procrastinating. This is my biggest issue - trusting my color choices. So, itching to do more Hexies I cracked open the Aspen Frost mini's and have been busy. There is something so relaxing with the whole process for me. Only issue is it's after midnight each night and I don't want to stop. If I think back it was like this while working on my first blocks. I think it's a confidence issue. I know it really suffered when I attempted to actually quilt something. When I first started in Feb I didn't question if I could do anything - I just did it ...

Fall fabric picks

Chris has already put another project on my lap. On the weekend I took my little hexagon mug rug that I finished a few weeks ago and placed it on the Lazy Susan on our dining room table to save it from a candle we had burning. He wants me to make a larger one - all hexagons to cover the entire surface. We love that piece of spinning wood but it sure does take a beating. It's the catch all for everything that could scratch/damage the table. Dropped in to the 50 % off sale, I wanted a bit more Christmas-y fabric. My daughter picked out some fall fabric and I picked the solids to contrast (am also going to use the Kona Solid 'Parchment' that came as part of this months Kona Club). I'm going to try to get a few things (ideas that are rattling around in my head) finished in time for Canadian Thanksgiving which is only a few weeks away including something for my Lazy Susan (thank goodness I have a few days off the week before). I've really made a dent towards Christmas so I should put that aside for now besides I didn't find the Christmas fabric I was looking for (though I did find this fun white with red) but of course I found exactly what I want online. Hmmm.....

Batik Lovers Club

Thinking about the needed class/skills building effort I was referring to in my last posts I pulled up my LQS online calendar. They have many beginner courses available but all are during the day (which is not going to be doable with my 8-5 job), the only exception of Thursday evenings. The one evening I can't make it because of other obligations. I can't take any of the beyond beginner courses that are offered until I have completed the level 1. (which makes sense - I personally hate it when I'm giving or attending advanced training and there are individuals who haven't even grasped the basics. It throws the entire schedule off and usually means you never really get to the end of your session ). I'll take another look in the Spring - maybe the schedule will work then.

I'm also a member of craftsy - I probably should take a closer look at their lessons again.

I did find this though: Sarah Quilts is doing a "Your 1st Quilt" tutorial http://sarahquilts.com/2013/09/12/your-1st-quilt-introduction/ and included a tutorial on backing/basting. The light blub finally went off. I know exactly one of the areas I've been going wrong. I knew the batting had to be bigger than the top, what I didn't realize was the back should be larger than the batting. What does that mean for me ... well I'm going to have to add more fabric to the backing of my poorly named doggie quilt. It's a good thing I have lots of fabric left over. Looking forward to her next posts to see what other little things I've been doing wrong.

Kona Club

Lessons I learned this month...
Backing needs to be the largest part of your quilt sandwich.
EPP Hexagons are addictive & I am working really hard not to make all my posts about Hexie love.
Don't ever refer to your quilt with a lame or cutesy name thinking you will give a new/better name later. The name will stick and then every time you refer to it, it'll be with a cringe and will feel the need to apologize or admit you know it sucks. (I do still love this quilt despite it's name)

Did you see my counter? I have 2 followers!! Super excited! A huge THANK-YOU to both! I believe I'm following you back, let me know if I'm not.  :)

Lastly, here is a chair that we were recently given from Chris's grandpa who moved into a retirement home. It has so many memories for Chris and is a really special piece. Originally there was a his & hers. Only this one remained. Isn't it beautiful!

Happy Fall Sewing!

Neglect

Yesterday, I posted that I created a new area on my blog to keep track of my WIP/UFO's. I don't sleep well on most nights and lately it's gotten much worse. My previous average of around 6 hours has turned into lucky if I get 4. I finally had an epiphany. A month or so ago I switched from enjoying a decaf coffee in the evenings to green tea. It took weeks for my sleep deprived brain to figure out that green tea unless otherwise specified is caffeinated. Here is a little insight into of one of the many things that I've been obsessing thinking about in the wee hours in between watching the clock, cursing my impending alarm and praying for just a bit of sleep...

neglected scrappy quilt

I've been having so much enjoyment from working daily on my the hexagons that my poor scrappy quilt has been sitting in a box on my cutting table for the past 3-4 weeks.

I feel guilty for pushing it aside. Yes, I realize it's an inanimate object but at night it haunts me like I'm ignoring a child for its more interesting sibling (bare in mind I'm severely lacking sleep). I have come to the conclusion that I need to shift my focus a bit and give it some love and attention even if only for a few minutes each day.

Minky

The plan is still to use chocolate minky as border around each of the 4 - 9 patches sections and backed with the spotted plush fabric I bought on sale months ago. Something you want to snuggle into on the couch.

Plush

I was thinking of making it in sandwich blocks and quilt as you go but haven't fully committed to that yet. I have a pattern rattling around my head to quilt. In theory it's simple enough for me to do decently while not compromising too much of the plushness.

Thankfully, my Doggie quilt (I really need to come up with a better name) is patient and understanding that I'm not ready to finish it in the manner it deserves. Although I've said numerous times that I may just hand quilt it, I still haven't abandoned the hope of machine quilting and binding it. Not to mention, I still have no clue how I'm going to quilt it - I didn't like the look or feel of the straight (or in my case not so straight) lines. All I know is this quilt is meant for my than my current skill level and it doesn't feel right to compromise it just to get it done. I want to love all my quilts no matter if they are destined for a dog bed or the queen. I'll leave the major skill developing to my rug mugs and pot holders for now ;)

Which brings me to my Carpenter's wheel. Well .. with the original layout a thing of the past, I need more fabric. So until I find what I'm looking for he's been benched.

Last night while watching Faceoff and Heroes of Cosplay after we discovered we don't have the 'right' combination of super channels and missed SOA season 6 premiere (FX Canada which we have was showing season 4??) I basted another 20 or so hexagons. The more I work on these the more I'm sure that I'm going to use the Kona solids for the center as well as the originally intended third row. Now, should I use the same center as the surrounding ring or make using different contrasting color? I think I'm leaning towards the latter.

All about hexagons

(this has been another 2 week long post in the making )

I received my package from Stitch In the Ditch on last Tuesday in August (the 27th).

Again It wasn't exactly what I ordered. Yes in the photo that is a pkg of 1" hexagon pieces. All I could think was you dummy you ordered the wrong thing. Checked my shipping invoice to see if it was replacement - maybe they were back ordered on the Dies & sent the pieces as a sorry for the delay type thing. Nope it said 1" hexagons on the invoice. I know what my order amount was and those would be pretty expensive pieces of paper so I looked up my order and clicked on the item I ordered and yes I ordered the 1" Sizzix Hexagon Die not the pieces. Phew!

I called the owner and she looked up my order and apologized. She mentioned that they've been swamped with orders (I know Fat Quarters was as well - I received a message that due to high volume of orders they would be delayed sending mine out). We had a good chat and both came to the conclusion everyone stocking up for winter (I can't get over how nice & friendly people in the quilt community are). I originally said I was going to ship those pieces back. As we were talking I changed my mind. I've been dying to try out making hexies and would prefer to either get the knack for them before I go away (if I go away - I haven't heard anymore on that) or discover now that I hate making Hexies. So I told her to just charge my account for those paper pieces.

She is making sure the Die gets shipped - so probably a week an a half delivery from BC.

Armed with those little pieces I decided to do a test with one of my first fabric purchases - Moda Snap Pop Candy & 3 Sisters Paris Flea Market Mini Charm packs (I love them both but have never found the right project to use them)

I did 2 different flowers machine stitched with a zig zag, one basted and one glued. Then one hand stitched basted and one glued.

Glued vs Basted

Using both methods the Hexies came out with perfect sides and folds so no real difference there. I really love how fast you can make the hexie using the glue, but I also enjoyed the process of basting (only pricked my finger once) Glue is fast and easy but is a bit messy. Basting takes a bit more time (but I was getting quicker with each one) and is a bit fussy.

Hand Stitched Vs Machine

Snap Pop Candy

I had some technical issues with the zig zag stitch on the basted flower but I think that was more a 'me' thing than the actual process. Again, it took under 10 minutes to get those machine sewn. (I had both of these done Tuesday evening)

So my results - machine sewn both glued and basted - paper ripped and was not reusable - maybe I did something wrong!?!

Hand sewn Hexagons papers were re-usable in both glued and basted.

Paris Flea Market

 Obviously whip stitching the hexies together took more time. I found decent lighting is an absolute must for me (otherwise can't thread the darn needle). The more I did the faster I got. The faster I got ... the more I wanted to do. Ack vicious cycle.

Paris Flea Market

So my conclusion is if you want instant gratification & don't care that those papers are trash at the end - use the glue and the machine method. (I had finished this the 4 single flowers within 2 days and wrote this blog but didn't post because I wanted to show something finished - which obviously didn't happen). I did the third ring using only hand basting and whip stitch while tuning into the Harry Potter marathon on the long weekend when I had 'me' time. Harry Potter is awesome. It really brings me back to when the kids were young. I won't say life wasn't hectic and a lot of the time was just pure chaos, but I really miss those days.

On Saturday Aug 31st I received my jelly rolls from Fat Quarter now that I'm looking the colors I'm wondering if it will be too much busy centers then surrounded with the neutral then the white.  I may modify my original plan a bit. Once I get the patterned hexies  done I'll lay them out and make a decision.

Snap Pop Candy

 One thing  I absolutely need to work on is my quilting and binding and figure out what works for me. Either that or I need to switch to hand quilting only! I really suck at it using my machine! Pictured is a pot holder ...

This past Friday Aug 6th, I received my Die. I didn't get around to trying it out until the next morning. My son was  chatting with me and we were talking about how many hexagons I need. So while we were chatting decided to time me to me - 160 perfect hexagon papers in under 10 minutes. Insane! It probably would have been more if I knew he was timing me, but I didn't so I wasn't rushing.

We had a girls day where we all got cuts and color on Saturday afternoon and I was able to do some while my color was setting. Sunday I spent the morning at my parents and afternoon shopping with the girls but I was still able to baste about 100 hexagons out of the the Morris Apprentice mini packs. Only 196 more to go and they will be done.


I also added a new list to my blog named UFO's. When I started this quilting journey I never intended to have UFO's but well there it is. As I said above my machine binding and quilting skills are seriously lacking ... I see a lot of mug rugs and pot holder finishes in my future.

I was able to wipe another item off my wish list this afternoon. Chris went shopping while I was working and came home with an incredible iron for me. I'm in love - no leaks, no water stains, it glides over fabric like butter - it's awesome! Added item more straight pins. I'm going to have to get them in bulk.


I also bought 2 magazines in the past few weeks - both Fon's and Porter. If you look at my collection of quilting magazines it seems Fon's and Porter seem to be the majority. Maybe I'll put a subscription on my Christmas list... along with the Pandora bracelet the youngest said she'd plant hints to Chris on my behalf.

Rereading this the money would be better spent on a class on binding and machine quilting ....:P

Off to celebrate my oldest daughters 17th birthday today.