a smashing finish...

to a busy day.  last night sometime after 9:30, a woman was parking her car in the lot in front of my window.  she lost control and slammed into the building wall, which then caused my interior wall to collapse somewhat.  it sounded like a jet crash (we live near the airport) and the building shook just a bit.  this was in front of my antique sewing table, which came out unscathed.  the old viking was on the table and didn't budge a centimeter and my laptop also came through safely.  so, today the maintenance people will be here to make repairs.  i offered that this would be a good time to make my room larger and add a much-wanted patio....if only, right?  i slept on my futon in the living room last night just to be safe, although they didn't feel the structure was compromised.  ***** tune in later today and see my little sewing machine wallhanging finished!  i've only one more side of the binding to sew down for completion.  most of the sewing i did yesterday was on this piece.  i also did some machine piecing of christmas scrappy pieces as well.  the studio is off limits today for the wall repairs.  the window frame is broken as well.

closing in

on another finish as the little spools wallhanging, homage to the old viking, is ready to quilt.  it needs basting and quilting and binding and then i can cross it off my list, fantastic!  after i finished college i was also unemployed for nearly 2 years (i told you, vacationland) and i borrowed zillions of quilt books from the library and found this sewing machine pattern in a very old (meaning 1970s) quilt book.  who knew i'd be unemployed AGAIN for such a long time so soon!  anyway, i hope to get this done before friday so i can have another june finish.  ***** being so upset with the state of my life in general for so many years, i struggle at not being angry all the time.  today it's easy, though, because it's the birth anniversary of HELEN KELLER.  if anyone had a reason to act piteous, she did; instead, she accomplished much in her dark, silent world.   she is a true american hero and one of mine in particular.  if you ever find yourself in tuscumbia, alabama, don't miss her childhood home....ivy green.

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.