What Have I Done?

When we moved from California to Arizona I knew I had to own up to my stash. I needed to sort and pare it down. To compound the problem, I don't just have a fabric stash. I also have yarn, fiber and scrapbook stashes. On top of having multiple hobbies was the problem of getting settled and the fact that some of my materials were in a storage unit.

Well, this week I asked my dear Motorcycle Dude to bring all of my "stuff" to the house so that I could begin to deal with the problem. It was scary enough when it was all in boxes, but now that it is out for sorting I think it might take over the state!



I've sorted by kind: fabric, fiber, yarn, scrapbooking. Now I'm fine tuning the sort of the fabric by sorting according to color. What I don't know how to do is decide what to keep and what to give up. That is the next hurdle.

There is one member of the house that is enjoying this process.



Fred thinks that we've just brought in all kinds of lovely sleeping places just for her.

(yes, Fred is a girl. How she got her name is another post)



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My Quilts

I've taken some time in the last month to quilt a couple of my own quilts. I know I was being selfish. I should have been working on customer quilts, but I really wanted to finish "Mashed Potatoes" for the Thumb Butte Quilt Guild's show.



Here is "Mashed Potatoes" before quilting.



Here it is after quilting and washing. It was necessary to wash it before the show. I tried using blue pounce powder to mark the stencils in the solid background squares.



Well, blue pounce powder doesn't just brush off. So, it had to be washed off. It washed out just fine, and now I know it will have to be washed out. In other words, don't use it on customer quilts. I've been told it can be mixed with the white pounce powder and it will eliminate the need to wash. Unfortunately, I've already filled my pounce pad with straight blue.

I did work on four customer quilts between "Mashed Potatoes" and my next quilt. I delivered five quilts while visiting California. I picked up twelve, with another to be shipped. Then I picked up three more last week. For a net gain of ten quilts! Busy? Yes, but I still stubbornly wanted to squeeze in one of my own before jumping in on customer quilts.

I got the borders on the tessellating quilt, and got it loaded yesterday. Yesterday was errand day, so not much quilting got done. I did get it finished today though.






I quilted it with a variation of Nichole Web's Fantasy Freehand. Kind of a everything but the kitchen sink meander. I just quilted whatever motif I felt like quilting or would fit the space. Very fun, very relaxing to quilt.

I don't have a name for this one. I'll have to check with Spicy. I think it's her turn to name a quilt.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday Twinkle Toes celebrated her fifth birthday.


They grow up so fast! Happy Birthday sweet one.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Lighting

Last Sunday I made a big decision. I decided to buy a lighting system for my longarm. I get pretty good natural light in the morning, but as the day goes on I need more. I tried inexpensive lighting fixes, clamp on lights of different types, but they never really worked well.

DeLoa Jones' husband, Dave, offered a special deal for the longarm guild members. he would wave the installation fee. I couldn't resist. I called him and arranged for the installation. The Dee-Lights from DeLoa's Studio looked really nice.

Here they are!
Off


On



Poor Dave had quite an ordeal getting to my house and installing them. He isn't from the area, and didn't really know the freeway system here. Coming up from Phoenix, he got on the freeway heading west instead of east. Then when he got straightened out he got stuck behind an accident. His one hour drive turned into a three hour drive. Then during the installation not one, but two drill bits broke as he was drilling mounting holes. To add to the problem one of the broken bits wedged itself in the frame and had to be dislodged before he could proceed. To his credit he didn't throw up his hands and say, "You're on your own!" Dave persevered, and finished the installation.

The lights are great. Thank you, Dave!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad