two oldies but goodies....

that deserve another look.  if you were around quilting in the 1980s, especially here in new england, the names of these two were on everyone's lips.  top quilt is 12 dancing princesses by ruth mcdowell and bottom is ray of light by jinny beyer.  not long after i started quilting, i had the opportunity to see these two magnificent beauties.  there were plenty of other fabulous quilters at that time, but these two works i actually saw in person.  the photos have darkened over time and neither does the original work justice at all.  nice to know these artists are still inspiring quilters everywhere.  ms. mcdowell has made many pieces that i admire, and i do mean "piece" as she pieces all her figures, not applique.  and ms. beyer has made several gorgeous pieces influenced by her sojourns in the far east, and still does i might add. 

friday's fun

this is my jacob's ladder block that bonnie showed on her blog the other day.  the quick cutting and sewing method was indeed that.  i thought i might make a wallhanging with some of my florals, but for now it'll be an orphan-in-waiting. 

all these little strips and squares got cut from scraps.  the scraps do accumulate and every so often i have to take some time and repurpose them into usable shapes....squares and strips.  the plaids are actually going into another project, but the rest just go into their respective shoeboxes for whatever.  the pinks will get used in a baby quilt top, again for whatever.

the stash truth

on a whim this morning, i pulled out ALL my fabric stash and put it on my bed to see exactly (well, close enough) how much fabric i had. photos are from both sides of bed.  i was pleased to see it does all fit on top of the bed, albeit quite snugly.  also on far left against wall (top photo) is what's left of a bolt of muslin and 5 yards of kona white folded.  my plan and hope is to use up most of this, if not all, in my lifetime or at least before i end up in a subsidized shoebox of my own.  what this picture doesn't include are those quilts or flimsies waiting to be basted or quilted.  those are on top of the shelving unit along with the finished items.  *** raining heavily here this morning, so good day to retreat along with the stashbusters.  i probably won't finish anything but could get close.  plus, more quilting on lovers' links will be accomplished.  **** oh, and the red/white schoolhouse piece?  there are no windows and not sure if i'll add them.  i kind of like it minimalist the way it is, but i will try the windows to make sure. 

a perfect day

a seafood shack lunch?  $15
gas for the car?  $25
a lazy drive through flowery glades, the green/blue ocean, boats to gaze at, time spent with relatives....priceless!

ready to baste

this little piece is now ready to baste and quilt.  i took this photo from an angle, which explains the wonkiness of the photo.  after viewing all the red and white quilts displayed in new york earlier this year, i was compelled to make one of my own.  in my new sense of frugality of time, i made a wallhanging instead of a larger piece.  the binding will be more of the red.  my desire to make the schoolhouse block has been quenched, even though i'd really like to have a big quilt in this pattern. ***** just this morning started quilting the lovers' links quilt.  now that summer is officially here, and with temps climbing to 80s today, i'm not sure how long it will take to quilt this bed quilt, but pretty sure it will be done by the time autumn rolls around.  first up, though, is to finish the spools piece to cross off another UFO from the list. 

saturday squishie

these little gals arrived in saturday's mail....how cute!  they are all fused, ready to get put into some adorable projects.  i have a few in mind already!  i'll add them to my list, of course.  this weekend i did get the lovers' links quilt all basted, a dicey task in my very small space.  but it's done and i've got my quilting patterns ready to start the quilting.  with the weather warming up, this quilt and the hawaiian will be worked on as temperatures allow.  ***** this coming weekend is an official stashbuster retreat to work on small stuff.  there's a stack of odd pieces that need to morph into strips and squares, plus i have 3 small pieces ready to baste--the red/white schoolhouse, a christmas tablerunner and the moda wreath.  course, i still have 4 days before the retreat starts, so those could be done before then.  ***** a sunny, beautiful monday and i've got my week's tasks outlined and ready to start!

the design wall, start of the grand tour (9 photos in all)

well, today the curtains finally got hung so the redo started late last winter is complete.  first on your left is the design wall, a little shaky at times but it works.  it's the door to the room and really the only space for the design wall, a piece of flannel on a rod.  i've put these 9 photos in separate posts to keep the descriptions close to the actual photos.  the room is about 11x12 and i think i've pretty much maxed out every possible square inch.  in my dreams, of course, it's much larger without carpet on the floor and more shelving and a larger cutting space (plus more storage), but it works pretty well for what i need to do AND it keeps me from accumulating too much stuff, which is far to easy to do.  some time in the next week or so, i'm going to pull out all my fabric and take photos of that as well, just to see how much there really is.  so, feel free to take this virtual tour if you like. 

closet door aka memo board

here is where the wallhanging of the month gets posted, as well as miscellaneous cards, magnetic poetry and other stuff.  the basket on the door has quilty/sewing tools and the tote was received in a swap. 

the stash and entertainment corner

most of my stash is in these drawers.  the 2 batts are in a bag off to be basted (tops in bottom of bag).  the polyfil needs to go in the bottom drawer, just can't get to it at the moment.  my stencils, templates and rulers hang on the side of the drawers.  that's a collection of wooden spools you see hanging there.  

the old viking aka sewing space

see the new curtains!  they give me privacy from the nosy nellies in the parking lot.  as you can see there is just barely room for the sewing chair in front of the 2 sewing tables, not ideal but it works.  though things are a bit cluttered at the moment, this setup forces me to put things away after they're used.  i am looking around for something with a small footprint for the laptop, which i use with totes underneath; otherwise it's too low.  when i'm sewing, i move it off the table to a safer place.  this setup also lets me pull the blinds all the way up and keep them open for plenty of natural light.